new car

Our old "little" van had been dying a slow death so we knew that we were going to need to buy a new car soon. I socked away as much cash as I could as we were determined to only buy with cash.

The van reached 211,000 miles and the radiator cracked. Brian took a gallon of water with him everyday and had to refill before he came home.

So he withdrew $7000 cash and we went to the local dealers. Our only requirement was that it had to be a Honda, Toyota or a newer Hyundai and have relatively low miles. We needed a commuter car as the van only got 18 mpg. We didn't want to pay more than $6500.

The first car we test drove was a Toyota Corolla with no power anything. It was fine but didn't thrill Brian. I spotted a Honda Civic at the rival dealer lot while on the Toyota test drive (ha!) so we went there next.

The Honda Civic was a 2002, power everything, A/C and had a CD player. It only had 92,000 miles and was in great condition. Well, it actually had about 143,000 kilometers as the car had come from Canada.

We test drove it and loved it! The list price was originally $7500 and we offered $6500 cash and that included all registration/DMV fees. They accepted. It was rather easy. I'm thinking they were glad of the cash and glad to get rid of a Canadian car.

Here's Brian pulling out the Ben Franklins. I was hoping we could get $1000 bills but having all those $100's was impressive too.


Picture of the car outside of the Goodwill Outlet store.


Brian had to get used to driving 100 kilometers/per hour on the highway and we may get the dashboard changed to miles.

I'm so thankful we were able to pay cash and I hope never to have a car payment the rest of my life. How refreshing it was to walk out of the dealership owning the car and not being a slave to the bank. It was a big sacrifice to save all of that money but totally worth it!

drawing

Every morning when I sit down to breakfast at my desk, I can count on Graedon asking me for a piece of paper. The boy draws ALL.DAY.LONG. When I tell him that I have no more paper, he simply tells me to go buy some more. Easy, right?

Here is the boy drawing. Check out how he holds his pencil.


Grae is 4.5 years old and mostly only draws superheros. You know the normal Spiderman, Ironman, The Tick, Captain America. Like this:



Here is Ellie dressed as Captain America.


But occasionally he will draw things he has sees or likes. He drew this for me yesterday. Can you guess what it is?



It's a skier in the Olympics (see the 6-ringed flags? He didn't know they only had 5). He is skiing down the hill on a slalom course. I love his little hat with the dingo ball on top.

I'm amazed at what details Grae sees and then draws! I didn't realize he paid that much attention. So I guess I will just have to takes Graes advice and go buy more paper just to see what he comes up with next!

thrifting

So far this week, we've been to all four Goodwills in our area. We're looking for a dresser for Laruen & Ellie's bedroom so our first stop was to the Goodwill Outlet. This place is amazingly dirty and we come out feeling grimy but you can't beat the prices for books & furniture. Although we didn't find a dresser this time, we did come away with this desk for $5.00. I really couldn't pass it up as it was MY color!


It has a big gouge on top but I have plans to fill it in and decoupage a map on top. Ellie has claimed this desk for herself but has to fight off Grae and Molly to sit there.

On subsequent trips to the various Goodwills, I picked up all of this.

I needed a spice rack and have been on the hunt for something. I saw this for $2.00. It was originally a brown wood sleigh with a duck on the back that said Happy Holidays. I spray painted it my favorite red and now it works perfectly. I still need another one but at least this is a start.


Here is a totally fun Mood clock I had to have. It was only $0.25 at the outlet store. It's hanging in the kitchen above another thrifted shelf I bought and painted my favorite blue. It currently holds printed out recipes that I need to get into a binder but never find the time to do.


Isn't it totally fun! I was moody yesterday so that's why it's set to moody. Ava changes it to "dangerous" when I'm working out.


I've been picking up colored glass for a project above the tv. Just waiting to get the shelf installed.


The globes are my current obsession. They will also go above the tv, I think.


So that's all for the thrifting. I've run out of money and time to go do more this week. Now onto the decorating!

super crunchy?

We've finally taken the step to grinding our own wheat. Our trip to Bob's Red Mill was successful and we purchased the NutriMill grinder, a bag of Hard Red Wheat, Soft White Wheat and Spelt Berries.



Breads do taste better using whole grain freshly ground flour. They are way more filling then using refined white flour. Our goal is to get off white flour completely but we're keeping some on hand until we get the hang of baking with whole wheats.

I made spelt bread today and it is delicious.


Here are the grains in the hopper waiting to be ground.


And what you we end up with. Fresh flour ready to be used! Smells good too.


I'm using my bread machine today as I do not enjoy kneading bread.


And into the machine and three hours later...


you get this...


Yum! I'll post the bread machine recipe below. I'm waiting on a book from the library by Peter Reinhart that is supposed to produce amazing whole grain breads.

100% Whole Wheat Bread for a 2lb loaf
1 3/4 C Water
2 Tbs Butter or Oil
1/3 C Honey
1 tsp. Salt
5 C Whole Wheat Flour
2 Tbs Vital Wheat Gluten (optional but I added it)
1 T Yeast

Load according to your bread machine. Mine calls for me to load the wet ingredients first followed by the dry and ending with the yeast on top. Program it for wheat bread, 2lb.

Enjoy!

what happens at sleepovers...

My daughters finally got their most desired wish - a sleepover! Three of their closets friends came over and ate junk food, didn't sleep, giggled way too much and made movies.

Here is one of their creations. It is a skit based on Julian Smith's hilarious "Malk".



They also did a western but I haven't been able to edit it yet. As tired as they were the day after, they are already planning another one! Kids...

school time

I've been home-schooling year round for a few years now. I hated the idea of taking breaks during the summer and then spending a month catching back up. So we just took breaks as needed and plodded on. My friend Melodie developed a year round school schedule that follows the church calendar and schedules in breaks every 7th week. This is based on the days of creation. God created the world in 6 days and on the 7th day He rested. So we have school for 6 weeks and every 7th week we rest (well the kids do, I'm busy preparing for the next 6 weeks).

This week is our rest week and so far we've been to Bob's Red Mill, had a sleepover and the OMSI museum today. Tomorrow is art school and then Thursday is a walk/picnic to a park as long as the weather is good.

When we are back to school, this is our schedule.

Monday, Wed, Friday
Read out loud Bible time (going through the Bible in 2 years)
New Bible verse to memorize that week
50 Stories Read Aloud
History - Middle Ages
Science: Maddie/Ava, Exploring Creation Flying Creatures; Lauren, Exploring Creation General Science
Shurley Grammar 7
Math Drills printed
Math: Maddie/Ava, Saxon 6/5; Lauren: Algebra

Tuesday, Thursday
Read out loud Bible time (going through the Bible in 2 years)
Bible Verse practice
Piano
Student Writing History - Middle Ages
Spelling/Vocabulary: Wordly Wise
Math Drills
Math: Maddie/Ava, Saxon 6/5; Lauren: Algebra

We also read: Trial & Triumph, Drawing with Children, a typing program. Ellie has Singapore Math, Teaching Reading at Home, and various other spelling, reading worksheets I print out from the web.

Lauren will be starting a Latin program as soon as I save up some more money and then a Logic class at Veritas Online in the fall (hopefully!) as well as volunteering at the local library.  It's really important to us that our children have a full and rigorous education. We'll be adding in more subjects as they get older. I love that I can tailor their schooling to their interests as well as their learning style. Homeschooling is great!

making a movie

The making of a western movie....the morning after the "best" sleepover with beloved friends.