Weekly Wrap Up

From the Heart: I am stepping away from many of my memes for a season. This is a busy busy time for so many of us! I love Carols meme of Weekly Wrap Up and will be posting this each week. I will have photos eventually.. and updates on so many areas of our goings on. I will also continue to do my weekly menu as I have found this very helpful. And most of all I will visit and read all of TWTs, S and T, and WLW, and TTBIAY with Suzi. So thank you Carol for this meme that helps me use my time more wisely during a very busy season and still allows me to keep in touch with my dear friends!

Spiritual Growth: I am still behind on my weekly bible readings but working steady  so I can finish the bible in a year. I am going to start a morning walk so I can go out  by myself ( without kids) for some more quiet time.

On the Homefront: Hubby is in the process of properly rewiring the electrical upstairs in our home. This home was built in 1895 as a carriage house  ( like a barn with rooms for servants). !n 1900 the house was turned into a home. As with many of the homes in this neighborhood the electrical is mickey mouse! Scarey. Even though it had been "rewired and updated" before we bought it, it is not enough to handle todays load of gadgets. The entire upstairs and one room downstairs was on one circuit.

In the School Room: Hunting and Gathering for next year! I am in the process of finding used curriculum, borrowing curriculum, etc for the next school year. I am very blessed to have a large network of homeschoolers to pool from. We borrow a lot from each other. I had to laugh last year when one of my first borns algerbra books came back to be borrowed by me for my daughter. I had sold it years ago and my friend apparently bought it.

I am also looking into a shadowing program for my oldest daughter at an architecture firm.This will help her to know if this is what she really wants to do.

Wrapping up this year very soon. Both daughters will be doing Math through June but all other subjects will be done by end of May. My that is really soon! The year has gone by so fast.

We will begin our summer "school" as we call it next week. We go to many local free museums, home tours, ect. My oldest daughter is into architecture so we will be visiting many older neighborhoods. This also pleases my younger daughter as she loves to draw. So we will go off with our chairs and art bags and find something to draw or design. Many of these neighborhoods have beautiful gardens so it is a treat for me too!

The gals will also choose books for their summer reading. ( we use the library). I require 6 books each.

In the Literary Scene: Reading my daughters biology book for next year, and Following God With All Your Heart by Elizabeth George I read slow! Or maybe I should say I need more time in the day to read. It takes me a while to get through a book.

On the Mission Field: Homeless Ministry. We took last week off. Too many things on the calendar for the whole team. Going out today and looking forward to it.

Still seeing a steady increase in the food pantry clients. Also many blessings. We were able to pick up over 500lbs of free food this past week. It is such a blessing to help others with such a practical need.

We spent several hours this week purging the clothing closet at church. All the winter stuff must go! So far we have removed 33 bags. It all goes to the Salvation Army. My daughters have a real gift in organizing the room. I am glad as it often overwhelms me!

The gals are going on a missions trip this August to a work camp.  ( here in the US). This will be DD1 second experience and DD2 first time. Not sure is my 18 yo is joining them or not. http://www2.lifeway.com/fuge/index.php/mfuge/

On the creative side: See In the Garden! Also working on restarting my daughters quilt. I am thinking I need to use a different fabric as it is so thick and hard to work with.

Tightwad Living: Our thrifty find this week was a pair of free workboots, a pair of free water shoes ( new), and a bag of name brand nearly new and new clothes for my daughters. ( given by a friend at church) I really needed the work shoes for in the garden! They actually fit perfectly! I have a very wide foot that is hard to fit so this was amazing!

In the Garden; The gourds are ready to clean, sand, and paint!!!!!!!! I will be posting photos of the process soon.  Go here to learn about our  gourds  http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/solidrock/618948/

 We are digging a new very large flower bed. The hardest part is removing the grass/lawn. Over the year the kids have bought me lots of  flower seeds. It will be cool to see what they all look like.

I will be cleaning out flowerbeds, pulling trees that have sprouted, and weeds.

Hubby purchased a hibiscus for me! It is so pretty! We plan to put it in the new flower bed. It feels great to be out in the garden again.

Lifestyle Change Progress This is a busy season! I need to be extra dilagent in watching what I eat, and making sure I carve out time for stretching, walking, and exercising each day. I am maintaining a weight that goes between 122 and 115 each week. I have no clue why the large spread. But as long as I do not gain I am happy! I am going to start walking two times a day. AM and PM. I am sure the dog will enjoy this! I am pleased with the changes I see in my self. I will always have ceberal palsy therefore I have poor balance, an unusual gait, ect. But loosing weight and exercising has given me more strength, better balance, and more confidence. I am working on arm strength. ( I use cans and bands)

In the Kitchen I will be posting the recipes on a different post. Here is how I am able to keep up with a menu each week...I post what we had last week so I have all week to create the following weeks menu. I plan to put all the recipes that are "winners" by my family in a family cookbook. This weeks menu plan ( or last weeks!)

Manacotti, Greenbeans, Salad, french bread  ( made by my daughters! Yummy)

Crab Salad , beets, Sliced Tomatoes ( this was so simple! Great for an out the door day)

Enchilladas, Salad, Raw Veggies, Tortilla Chips  ( made by my daughters...very yummy)

Pork Roast, all the fixings ( we did not need meat but found Pork Roast in bulk at Sams for 1.48 a lb. Cheaper than hamburger! So we stocked up)

Stir Fry ( using leftover Pork) Our stir fry has mixed veggies , eggs, rice, meat, water chestnuts. The veggies are still crunchy...raw is really best.

Steak on the BBQ, baked potatoe, Salad, Raw Veggies,

We went out on Mothers Day. ( a surprise to me as we had Steak the day before for Mothers Day!) We went to a new mexican place. It was very good! I had a great Mothers Day Weekend! The kids got me clothes, gift certificates, jewelery. Hubby got me a pedometer. ( which I love!) and a hibiscus plant. ( orginally a piece of exercise equipment which I sent back as it was not what we thought...did not work well)

New recipe I am trying this week: Granola. I have a ton of oats left over from winter that need to be used. I figure I can use up quite a few this way. Recipe will be posted on Whats for Dinner post.

Last but not least...we took lots of photos on Mothers Day. Ever had a time when none of the group photos were good!? You know someones eyes were closed, someone else had a goofy look and so on. It seems we had a very non serious day so I had to crop and cut to get photos.