APPLIE’S PLACE

This year in our homeschool co-op, I have the honor of facilitating the PE class.  The class is called The Siblings because they are the siblings of the 6th through 12th graders in the co-op. 

We are participating in the Presidential Active Lifestyle program.  To begin our day we march to warm up.

Donna Young was kind enough to write a marching song just for us.

Homeschooling is number one
It’s a lot of work and fun
Our teacher is our mama
The principal is our papa
We don’t know, but we been told
Our brain is worth a ton of gold.

Sound Off!
One, two,
Sound Off!
Three, four
Sound Off!
One, two, three, four
Three, Four!
          ©Donna Young

Thanks Donna! The kids love it.

Next we stretched and did some jumping jacks.

After getting the body all warmed up, we played with the new Scoop ‘N Toss equipment. I have a set of six scoopers and matching plastic balls. Later in the year, I’ll have to think of odd, fun activities to do with these.  If you have any ideas, just let me know.

Each Monday I hope to have a different PE activity for the class, because …

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Every once in a while, I’ll ask Sir William to make something for me.  This time around I asked for a wooden platform with a stick in it, to hold my cone of yarn.  That’s all the instructions he needed.  LOL

Here is what he made to hold my Merino Tencel (Colrain Lace), to make the Crocus Bud Shawl. 

It isn’t finished. He said he has to polish the round disc at the top. He likes to make things pretty for me. Gotta love that! Notice the bottom is not square; he cut the corners to make it look nice, painted it a glossy yellow (because that is all we had), and added a thick cork bottom. The cone of yarn, fits right over the top.

In the above photo you can see there is another disc that fits under the cone. This is to keep the cone from sliding all over the place on the dowl.

Once the first disc in on there, just slide the cone on top, then the top disc, goes on top of the cone. In the above photo you can see where Sir William cut a groove into the disc. That sits snuggly on top of the cone, to keep it from wobbling.   Different sized discs will be made, when needed.

It is a very nice tool and worth having, especially since the husband goes out of his way to make it extra special.   My next request will be to make something to hang on my wrist to hold small balls of thread.  I’m thinking a metal washer will be involved. LOL

My SIL made this for us one Christmas.  Since then it has been a family favorite at any get together. 

Jenni’s Wild Rice Salad

Cook 1 cup of wild rice according to directions.

While the rice is cooking, combine the dressing ingredients in a jar with a tight-fitting lid and shake well. Refrigerate unitl ready to use.

Dressing:
1/2 cup canola or olive oil
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
2 Tbsp. grated Parmesan
1 1/2 tsp. honey
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. ground white pepper
1/4 tsp. dry mustard
1/8 tsp. paprika
1 clove garlic, minced

In a large bowl, combine the salad ingredients with the rice.

Salad Ingredients:
1 (6-oz.) jar marinated artichoke hearts, drained and halved. (Reserve marinade)
1/3 cup coarsely chopped green bell pepper
3 green onions, chopped
1 cup cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
2 stalks celery, chopped
1/4 cup slivered almonds
1/4 cup Craisins

Add marinade and 1/2 the dressing. Cover and chill or eat at room temperature. Just before serving, toss again and taste. Add as much of remaining dressing as desired

I married this man.

I would do it all over again.

Sir Husband and I will be celebrating our anniversary by going to Savannah, GA, for two nights. Yes, without kids!

Since we will be able to go out to a nice dinner…alone, I wanted to wear something nice. I decided I needed this Crocus Bud Crocheted Shawl. It was very easy to make. I used a size larger hook and added just a few more stitches to get the right gauge.

Blocking was difficult. I used our kingsized bed and it took me over an hour to block it. I never did get it to the right size. I am disappointed in the width of it, but other than that it is nice.

I am not sure if I will try and reblock it. I will probably make another one twice the size, in black.

Here is the finished product.

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I finished two crochet projects, this weekend.

The first one is a shawl that I am making for a young girl at church.  Her mom has given us lots of clothing and I just wanted to make something for her.  I hope she likes it.  It seems to be more of a blanket than a shawl.  I’d rather use a lighter weight of yarn next time.

This is the Snapdragon Shawl by Tish. I used I Love This Yarn (which I don’t), in light pink. Yes CC, it was very difficult to work with that color. =) The shawl measures 28 x 45 inches. 

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A few months ago, my FIL stopped by to pick up a drill.  While chatting with dd#2, he picked up the drill and pretended to shoot her with it.  Not to be out done, dd#2 picked up her favorite stuffed-up friend and shot my FIL. 

To shoot a Manna-Gun, just lift the flipper, pull it down, and say, “Kapoosh!”

Now dd#3 likes to copy, but still do her own thing. She picked up her favorite stuffed-up friend and shot it, but in a different way.

To shoot a Cata-Gun, pick up the back end, lift the back leg, pull the leg down, and make a gassy “raspberry” sound.

This has got to be the father’s DNA.

We leave the small town of Hannibal, where everyone is related, and you have names like Lynnie, Markie, Shelleybabe, TeddyAnn, and Sunboy. We leave behind businesses with names like Puddin Head and Jumping Frog, Becky this and Tom that. Where the main drink is Sodies and lunch is dinner, and dinner is supper. My children still crack up when, at noon, I call them to dinner. At least I don’t ask them if they want a sodie.

We move on up north, toward Wisconsin.

As we are driving on the boring express ways, we are always looking out for something exciting.  I mean the kids are, because I am crocheting and I don’t care what is outside, until someone yells, “HEY! Look at that!”

This is what we saw this time.

Sir Husband said they were fan blades probably around 100 feet in length. It was something to see. And this is what they are used for.

Sir Husband said it wasn’t a good day for the windmills that day. Most were not moving, which means they were not producing electricity. They are only useful when the wind is blowing.

I still thought it was an impressive site.

From our visit in St. Louis, we made our way up the east side of Missouri, to a small, but well known town of Hannibal.  Hannibal is the boyhood home of the famous Mark Twain aka Samuel Clemens.  Many people don’t know this, but Hannibal was also the home of another famous person…me.  That’s right. I was born in Hannibal, MO. 

At a very young age, my brothers and I were thrown into the Tom Sawyer Days events.  We rode in a firetruck in parades, we dressed up, and I have blocked out whatever else we had to do.  At one point my brothers and I came in third place in the Tom and Becky contest.  Because I was so cute, the news became national news, and it made it all they way to Maryland, where we lived at the time.  Told you I was famous.  I won’t mention that my dad worked for the newspaper in Maryland.

Anyhoo, I use to visit my grandmother every few years, until she passed.  The house she lived in was sold, but it is still exciting for me to see my home town and where my grandmother lived and the place I stayed all summer long and once a whole year!

Here is the drive up to the street.  This is a steep hill, at least a 30 degree slope (according to Sir William).  At the age when my friends and I were immortal, we would take off and ride our bikes down that hill.  We would go so fast that we ended up half way up the other hill, without using the pedals.  It was so steep we had to ride is an S curve all the way back up the hill and ride down again.  I am still amazed we were not hit by a car.  As I got older, I became mortal and stopped riding my bike down that hill.

Now here is my grandmother’s house as it is now. It is very run down and looked empty, but I was told it wasn’t.

Below is a picture about 22 years old. The top photo is the same house as above. I was visiting my grandmother at the time, with my sister. The bottom photo is my sister and I. Recognize it? LOL

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Our next stop on our trip up north, was Hannibal, MO.  Please stay tuned for more details.

• St. Louis, Part 1
• St. Louis, Part 2