Stuffed Acorn Squash for Dinner

I found a new recipe, and for my normal repertoire, it's pretty gourmet! I made this stuffed acorn squash a couple weeks ago, and it was so good, I made it again last night. Hubby loved it, but the kids liked the stuffing better than the squash. I found it superb. It's definitely a keeper. I found this recipe on another blog, that of the "Gluten-free Goddess". The only thing I did different from her was to replace the ground beef with a mix of cooked brown rice, millet, and quinoa because we are vegetarian. http://glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com/2007/09/stuffed-acorn-squash.html

Young People's Concert (Symphony Orchestra)

We went to the Young People's Concert today. It was a show geared specifically for kids, and had contributions from the opera, the ballet, and of course the orchestra. We had a great time! We have been going every year now (missing a year, I think) for several years. It is so neat to see the kids getting a little older, and therefore more appreciative of the performance. Before we went so that they could "get used to a little culture" now and then, but I believe that the kids actually enjoyed today's performance. All 3 kids liked the number including the ballet the best. They danced to the "Can-can". The same song was my favorite, as well. Geared for kids, the show is just an hour long. This year, it seemed short, we enjoyed it so much. But it's good that it's not too long, so that the kids get bored. Instead they were wishing for more.... :-) I found myself learning a lot too, since they explained so much about what they are doing, who wrote the songs and why, what part of the world it came from, and even translating the foreign opera song into English. I admit, I am trying to get some culture in my blood too, even if it's a bit late!

What made this orchestral production even more valuable to us this time around, are the orchestra classes we have been attending recently. (We have just one more orchestra class to go before they are finished.) The kids were picking out the instruments we have been learning about. We even recognized one of the performers in the percussion section on stage. He taught the percussion class that we attended in Aug. The kids thought it was neat that they "knew" him when they saw him on stage. I would have taken pictures of the show, but pictures were "strictly prohibited". I had to settle for a quick picture afterward of the kids. They are posing with another family's kids. They are homeschooling friends of ours, living in our neighborhood.

King David's words about God's Holy Hill

In my reading of the book of Psalms for worship this morning, I found this:

"The Character of Those Who Enter Heaven--

Lord, who may enter your Sanctuary and live with you forever on your sacred hill? Those who are sincere in words and actions and, with your help, obey you, who do not lie, gossip or wrong others in any way, who despise wickedness but honor those who love you, who loan money without taking advantage of those in need nor accept bribes to testify against the innocent; whoever does these things will someday live with you forever." Psalm 15

Lord, please help me to live up to Your standards. I cannot do it alone. This is my prayer.

Shocking Discovery

H discovered this 5 foot 1 inch Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake on our property Tuesday afternoon. It was coiled up and rattling his tail. H managed to run the 2 dogs back into the backyard to get them safe, then ran inside to tell us what he had found. He knew exactly what it was, so our nature study is paying off! Anyway, with the dogs securely safe in the garage so they wouldn't get out, we went back outside to locate the big guy. I have never been more thankful for our bright orange ATV until now. We didn't have to worry about stepping on him while we searched. We were able to find him, even though he had moved a considerable distance by the time we found him. We then took care of the situation. This picture of him coiled was taken after the fatal shot. (Actually, the pic. of hubby holding him was stone-cold dead too!!) We coiled him around for a better visual picture of what to look for in the brush. We don't want to step on one in the future! The kids also looked long and hard at what he looked like stretched out straight and slithery-like. Luckily, we have lived here 3 yrs. and this is the first time we have seen a rattlesnake. But we have certainly had enough excitement for a while.

The Secret Garden play

We enjoy attending plays occasionally as part of our homeschool literature studies. On Tuesday, we attended The Secret Garden play with some homeschooling friends from church. The kids loved it. The actors did a great job with the story. We have listened to various Secret Garden books on tape, as well as the different movie productions of the story. The Secret Garden is certainly one of our all-time favorite stories so far! The kids' favorite version is by Focus on the Family, which we listened to again on the way to and from the play. It was fun for me to listen to the kids discuss the differences between the "story" and the play's portrayal of events. For C, it's still harder for him to think of the book as the "real" story, and maybe because he's more visual, refers to the movie as the authentic version. Incidently, The Secret Garden is the only book I remember my mother reading to me as a kid. (I had spent the night at a friend's house and her mother read to us from the book. My mom had to get our own copy so we could read it. I wouldn't let up until she did!) And when I was about 9 yrs. old, we traveled to Montana from Oregon, and my sister and I play-acted scenes from the book in our host's gardens and back yard. It was such fun!

Our Harp Orchestra Class

Our harp orchestra class was really neat. The kids have really been enjoying these. This was the 4th class in a series of 5. The musician holding this harp class for us was great with the kids. She let the kids try out her instruments, and even gave each family a free copy of her CD that she produced when she was 12 yrs. old. Our final orchestra class will be highlighting the more commonly thought-of stringed instruments. C must have really been impressed with her harp music. He's requesting we listen to it over and over again. H would rather listen to our norm: audio books!

Off to a Rocky Start

Well, after much difficulty getting started, I am happy to announce that I finally figured out how to enable the comments capability on my blog. Now I can invite friends to view my posts. I didn't want to lift the cover off if nobody could pipe up and tell me what they thought! So, comment away, and have fun.

Now, I have some catching up to do!

Unexpected Surprise

We came home yesterday and found a package in the mail for the 3 kids from my father. It was very unexpected. You see, I have only visited with my father 2 times in about 25 years. It's a very long story, but he and my mother separated then divorced when I was 6 yrs. old. I had very limited interaction with him, and what we did have, was tumultuous. I didn't see him at all after I was 11 yrs. old until Thanksgiving 2 yrs. ago. He came to visit and stay with us from Oregon. He came again in June of this year, and was actually here for my birthday, although he didn't plan it that way. Also, it just so happened, that he was here the same time we were moving into our new house, so during all the chaos, he actually helped with a LOT of the heavy lifting, but with absolutely no grumbling about it. But after he left in early June, I hadn't heard from him since. (I can't call him since he has no phone of his own and I never know where he is.....) So, with this little background, you might imagine why I was so surprised by this unexpected event. It turns out he was so thoughtful, though. I want to quote the note that he sent along with the package because it struck me as so endearingly thoughtful, yet funny too. "Call it early Christmas or B days, or just hello--or gifts thinking of you. Love ya all, & P.S. You boys help Dad with the home work and your school. P.S.S. Some things for Mom's quiet refuge: the BATH!! with kids knocking at the door." He sent money for the boys, and the most beautiful beaded purse for B, but he included some surprises for me, too. There were several Burt's Bees products, as well as some handmade Oregon Lavender soap! It smells so good; the scent was permeating the box it was packaged in. How cool is that? My consolation prize for missing the soap-making class I was scheduled to attend until it was cancelled and then on-again before I even knew about the rescheduling. Anyway, I was tickled pink. He did call later the same day, so we all got to say our "thank you's". It's still kind of weird, though, because even though he's my father, I don't have any warm, fuzzy feelings for him. He pretty much abandoned me and my sister, for my entire life, and the father-daughter closeness does not blossom overnight. I think he's starting to understand that, but it was weird and kind of strained when he did visit. It's even harder to explain all this to my kids. They can't fathom the kind of childhood I had. It's like nothing they have ever experienced. Even my hubby doesn't understand fully even though he tries.

Country Living

This is my first post on my first blog. I have been reading the blogs of several friends, and I thought I would give it a try too. It should be fun, if I can get it figured out alright. I am by no means computer literate.

We were very busy this weekend. My hubby and boys cut a lot of sod from the back of our property, and moved it up around the house. It's sure been a blessing to have access to sod for free. He estimates we have already saved about $2500.00 in free sod.

Meanwhile, we had to haul our goats over to a neighbor's house. They are going to live there now. We have to reclaim our land for agricultural pursuits. Pictured above, are our 2 female goats, Rosie, and her baby Petunia. Rosie is 2 1/2 yrs. old, and her baby is about 7 mos. old. They sure are sweet, and we will miss them in our back yard, but at least we can visit them everyday if we want.

I did my work inside the house this weekend. There is never an end to the piles of laundry, but I am quite caught up at the moment. I also made my 2nd batch of applesauce with the help of B, of course. At 4 yrs. old, she likes to help quite a bit. Hopefully she's learning at the same time. So now we've got 24 pints of applesauce in the freezer. The trick is to get it into the freezer faster than the kids can eat it! We also made 2 batches of gluten-free bread using a new recipe. It worked very well, and I think we like this recipe the best of any we have tried so far. I guess I was in the kitchen quite a bit this weekend. Yesterday we made potato leek soup for the first time. Boy was it good! Even the guys liked it and asked for seconds. I froze some, so we'll see if it thaws well. I really want to try and put away some things in the freezer for meals in the future when time for cooking is somewhat lacking. Thanks, M, for the inspiration!

The guys had their heart set on dove hunting this evening after working all day, but after their sod duty, it began to rain, and by the looks of the radar, will not let up for a while. (And thank God for the rain! We need it so bad....) They actually took it pretty well, and will try again this week sometime. Now, if I could only get them to put their camo, shotguns, and shells away! It seems like with guys, things just end up where they are cast off....we'll have to work on that. It's definitely a case of "Like Father, Like Son", only X 2 sons, not one.

C is so funny, though. He was hoping to "kick up the bobcat" as they trekked about for the doves. We believe there is a bobcat den on the line between our property, and that of our neighbor's land. We have seen the bobcat(s) several times. Everybody's seen them except for my hubby. He's still miffed about that. We have seen a panther just a 2 blocks from our house. We have also seen bald eagles, great-horned owls, red fox, numerous raccoons, coyotes, and various types of snakes, frogs, lizards, gopher tortoises, turtles, etc. C and my hubby saw a large coyote again this weekend. C thought it was a really big fox, because it had a tan-colored tint to it.

I read a book yesterday. It was pretty good: Brooklyn Rose, by Ann Rinaldi. I really like juvenile historical fiction. Even better, it was somewhat based on a true story; the grandmother of the author.

We are headed to another orchestra class tomorrow. This time it will be a lady playing her harp. It's a preview of sorts for string instruments, before our strings class in another 2 weeks. So far, we've been to 3 other orchestra classes in the series: percussion, wind, and brass. They have been very good so far.

Well, I guess that'll be all for my first post. It was actually pretty harmless. Of course, it's not posted yet. I don't know if I can erase something if it turns out wrong! It's such a learning experience. I guess I can learn in our homeschool, too!