March has come in like a lamb.......

No lions so far, as a matter of fact,  there is no horrific weather expected this week---so far!

I've got my seed catalogs, my garden plans and my dreams all ready to go.  Just 3 more months before I can actually plant anything, LOL!  Or, 2 1/2 months to be more accurate, but any north east Ohioan knows that to put anything in the ground before May 15th is asking for failure.  You just never know here.

Hubby came through again!  We haven't gotten the cube shelf started yet---money, illness and a general malaise had stopped that project for the time being, but remembering that he had picked up a substantial bunch of wood from a lady who had posted it for free on Craig's List, I thought----we have to fill up the rest of the wall where the cube shelves will go---why not just regular shelves???  I presented my idea to Scott who looked like he needed a project to work on---he'd been indoors with the boy all weekend and hadn't left the house to do his usual projects or chores.  He grabbed his measuring tape, listened to my ideas, measured and scratched his chin and then went into the barn for a couple of hours.  This is what he came up with:

Pretty cool, huh?  I figure I can store our vast amount of magazines we've saved and can't part with yet on the upper shelves and use the lower shelves for the fabric that is crammed on the plastic shelves next to the new ones.  

 I helped too!  I'm the painter in the family.  As soon as the boy went to bed I ran upstairs to paint my new shelves while watching the closing ceremonies.  Ignore my horrible hair---I had to cut it short last fall.  It was long and halfway down my back but being ill all year had taken it's toll on my hair, a lot had fallen out and it was very scraggly and dry and just unhealthy looking--so I cut it off.  Now,  my hair is back and healthy but it has decided to be curly, or at least more curly than it ever has been in my lifetime.  The problem is that it is curly in some places and not at all in others, LOL!  I'm working towards a perm---I'm a wash and run kinda gal, I don't like spending an hour to make my hair look perfect, which is what it approximately takes with my hair.  It's all just to bide my time until it gets long again and I can braid it or wear it up or whatever---I hate short hair!

Wow, I went on a tangent there, LOL!  Anyway, my shelves are cool, I am so lucky to have a talented, smart, accommodating husband.  I think he felt good getting out of the house for a few hours so it did both of us some good!

Building a snowman

 
Making a snowfort

Visiting the chickens, they are hanging around the food and water cooler, chatting away about how irritating the roosters are, LOL!

I'm not going out there!

Snow is getting deep, yet Seamus seems to float on it!

  

 Of course, I managed to find the post hole and fall into it!  I thought I had gone far enough to the right of where I assumed it to be---you know what they say about assuming.......

King of the mountain!

Jaret trying real hard not to smile.

Our snowman.

Hey, if you have read through my post, thanks!  I like to say hey to those who take the time to check my site out so please, leave a comment and leave a link and I'll visit your site!  We're off to the library, see ya later!

TTFN,

Leslie:-)

Another week gone by.....

As I mentioned in my last post, after much deliberation, I've decided to pull the boys out of the e-school and go back to eclectic homeschooling/unschooling.  YAY!!!!!!!  Sean says he still wants to go to high school---which is fine with me, he's got a year and a half before that happens but we can do some fun learning again instead of regimented learning to pass proficiency tests!!!  The funny thing is, he came downstairs today as I was cooking breakfast and said to me that he had been looking up stuff about spiders because he saw one in his room.  He kept reading more and more and going to science pages and learning about all sorts of spiders and now he wanted to study spiders!  I was so happy, already he's figuring out how to learn in a relaxed, fun manner--now that the pressure is off, he wants to learn again.  That's awesome!

It's been real snowy that last few days---we had a snow day on Friday and we've gotten at good 18 to 24 inches of new stuff in the last 2 days.  Jeremy, Jaret and I had the task of shoveling the driveway, it was fun!  I actually like shoveling--something about working so hard outside, in the cold but I am warm from exertion, and the payoff is so obvious!  Click on the pictures for a larger version, if you want to see it better!

I'm looking like a crazy woman in the first picture, my hat had fallen off and the wind was blowing my hat head hair all over!                                               

     Jaret and I after a job well done!  It took us 2 hours to get the whole driveway and the path up to the house---that's a lot of snow!  Our snow hills are at least 3-4 feet tall!

 

Here is the path that Jeremy shoveled up to the house, there was a good 15 inches of snow on the hill and the deck!

You can barely see our snow hills in the background along the driveway.

After, Sean felt compelled to flip and dive into the snow.

 

 

How fun, I wish I could do that without killing my back or breaking a leg, LOL!

I've been cooking up a storm since we've been snowed in!  Friday I decided to make Shredded beef sandwiches with Au Jus.  We didn't have any rolls and since I had to bake bread anyway, I decided to make rolls as well.  I used a recipe for french rolls---it was the perfect bread for these sandwiches!

Before:

And after:

I had pictures of the total finished meal but they disappeared or were accidentally deleted.  I'll assure you it was beautiful and delicious!

Here is what I was up to today!

What is it, you ask???  I found this recipe on Bakerella's site

Chocolate chip cookie dough brownies

Here they are cooked--now to cool so I can frost them with Chocolate Ganache

 YUM

Is it chocolate heaven or chocolate hell??

I made homemade pizza for dinner---A pepperoni and sausage, a chicken alfredo with sausage and a pepperoni calzone for Jaret:

 It's been snowing for days.  After we were done with the driveway, we figured the major snow was done.  Our area was taken off the storm warning so we figured a few flakes here and there but now big deal.  Were we wrong!

Big fat flakes coming down

Tama is starting to blend in!

Our grill snow gauge is getting over full!

The planter is over full, LOL!

This snow drift is on a hill and it's 2 feet taller than our deck!

This is the view out my living room window, beautiful!

Our pine is heavily flocked!

Time for sleep, time to gather energy for shoveling tomorrow!

We've got a nice fire going in the woodburner:

We've got some yummy brownies:

Some hot chocolate (not this but nearly as good!)

And we've got each other!

Life is good!

Studio is coming along!

I've been working hard on the studio, it's starting to look great!  The painting is done.  I am going to paint the hallway and stairwell leading up to it as well, I was going to do it yesterday but I got sidetracked by playing outside with the kids and taking a drive with the hubby and the boy.  We had a fun, low-key day.  Ok, now remember the pics of the studio from the last post---here it is now---so far.  I still have a lot to organize and put away but that won't happen until we get the cube shelves done.

New additions to the sewing room, my ironing/cutting table.  Hubby and I went to the Habitat for Humanity ReHab Store and got the cupboards for a nice price.  Hubby made a top for it and we covered it with batting and cotton fabric.  I'll make a removable cover for it as well so I can wash it if needed.  I'll use the tall skinny cupboard for storing cutting mats and the other one for battings and stuffings.

Another new item, my pegboard wall which I absolutely adore!  I can hang so much stuff on it, keep my scissors and sharp items high away from the little one and there are baskets and other cool things I can use on it as well.

The wall that the rocking chair is against will be where my cube shelf will be built.  While looking at hundreds of craft rooms on Flickr, I noticed that a lot of people had the Expedit book shelves from IKEA which I really, really liked.  My problem is that the nearest IKEA is 250 miles away and shipping costs are nearly as much as the product itself!  My frugal self said--no way (hubby said no way, too, LOL!)  So, he took a look at it and said he could make me one in one day---so I'm taking him up on it!  We're getting materials together---I'm trying to find everything we need on Freecycle or Craig's List.  We got a bunch of MDF from a woman right here in town who listed it on Craig's List so that can be used for the inside shelves---now we have to find the wood for the outside.  We'll take a look at the Habitat for Humanity ReStore  Saturday and I am confident that we'll find something without having to go to Home Depot!!!  I love recycling!  The studio is coming together, I still have to paint the hallway and stairwell outside the studio but that'll be a quick and easy job.  Once I have the shelves built and painted, a lot of the boxes and bags that are around the room will find new homes in the cubicles.  I'm excited!!!

Onto Homeschooling news:

I've been struggling with our e-school for quite a while now---it is not the same school as it was 4 years ago when we first joined.  The whole goal for the school is to get all students to score well on the Ohio proficiency tests so the kids are expected to master concepts each week in math---many times concepts that they haven't even done yet or aren't anywhere near learning.  They have to take these Scantron tests each week, if they fail they have to do supplemental lessons with the teacher until they get it--and they are expected to do Study Island as well---and all this is on top of their regular schoolwork.  It's too much.  I loved the school at first because they respected homeschoolers and their desire to let kids learn at their own pace.  The teachers say this is still a goal but I don't see how it can be when the kids are expected to learn concepts that might not even be covered in the lessons they have for this year!  The real issue is that the e-schools are public schools.  They are required by the state to hold up the state laws and expectations and they are expected to have students pass these damn proficiencies or else the state looks bad compared to other states.  It's not about the kids---at all.  These are some of the issues that led me to take the kids out of the brick and mortar schools.  So, we are going to unschool for now and I'll let the boys decide (with me and hubby) what they want to do next school year.  Sean talked about going to high school---he's got a year and a half before that happens.  Jaret will probably be better served homeschooling---but if he wants to go back to school too, I'll put him back in school.  Seamus will be busy with his developmental preschool so I won't have to worry about homeschooling him for a few years, yet.  And who knows, maybe with an IEP he could do well with the school district we are in---our former school district would not have been ideal!  Things are all up in the air right now, but what I do know is that I am feeling better and we are all suffering from extreme cabin fever so it's time to get out and about!  We've got some fun field trips lined up and we're getting Sean signed up for guitar lessons, Jaret will be taking fencing lessons and we're looking at some art classes for the both of them as well.

That's it for tonight, I'll have more to post this week but my eyes are tired and my typos are getting worse and worse so I'd better pack it in for now!

TTFN!

Leslie:-)