A Week In Review

This weeks Backyard photo, taken, and chosen by Nathan is of Lindsay, doing one of her favorite things, reading outside in the sunlight.

It's been another busy week around the homestead. Thursday's adventure began at the library as usual, where the kids found oodles of reading material to keep them busy for the week, and they signed up for the annual Summer reading "contest", which they look forward to each year. While we were at the library, Daniel made his run to the Post Office, returning with several items I'd been anxiously awaiting. The book I mentioned last week was there, as well as a shipment of yarn, some really great pattern booklets an online friend had sent me, and a couple other things I'd ordered. We ended up making two trips into town as we had an extra, rather time consuming chore that needed dealing with on Thursday. Pa had managed to pick up a nail in one of the trucks tires, so we paid a visit to Les Schwab. That is one popular place to visit! Fortunately, we were able to drop the tire off and set about our shopping, but as busy as they were, they still weren't finished by the time we returned an hour later, so we needed to return on Friday.

Thursday's shopping took us to the Grocery Outlet, a rediscovered regular stop for us. With the high price of gas, and the resulting higher grocery prices, this oversized bargain bin has made for a substantial reduction in our weekly grocery bill. Besides, it's kinda fun seeing what new offering they may have each week, including items that are new to us, and priced so we can afford to try them.

Friday we returned to town to finish our shopping at Albertsons, where we were fortunate to find a few things we needed on sale. I gotta admit, sale prices are providing me with quite a shock these days. It seems most items, at sale prices are higher than normal prices just a few months ago, and each week brings a new shocker. I'm beginning to wonder just how long it will be before those "sale" prices are only good for a few days, with prices going up daily, rather than weekly. It's getting downright scary! Needless to say, my hopes for a bountiful garden harvest this year are increasing right along with those prices.

Summertime At Last?

It's beginning to look like the weather is finally considering a more seasonably appropriate behavioral trend. Friday, the official Summer Solstice was spent in warm clothing and jackets, Pa and Nathan spent a good portion of the day splitting wood, which Lindsay neatly stacked, and we used to heat the house. That evening I enjoyed the warmth eminating from the woodstove as I got caught up on my knitting. Our Sunday dinner consisted of roast turkey and stuffing, mashed potatoes with gravy, and, of course a turkey dinner isn't complete without cranberry sauce. So, we took advantage of the cooler weather and came up with some frugal leftovers for this week. It would seem we made it just under the wire, as things started warming up a bit yesterday, and, according to the weather guessers, things are going to continue to warm up this week. We may be able to yank those fleece sheets, and winter blankets yet!

Saturday Night At the Movies!

This weeks big movie event was one the kids had been looking forward to for a long time. Daddy Day Camp is a sequel to another film the kids watched awhile back and really enjoyed, Daddy Day Care. The kids found this movie to be highly entertaining.Pa and I had a differnt take on it. We felt the humor too rude for a childrens movie, yet it was lacking for more mature audiences. It felt like they had attempted to merge the two, making it appealing to both worlds, ending up making it less than worthy for either one. Daddy Day Care, while pushing the envelope a bit for viewing by children, didn't quite break through and was entertaining. The sequel had some entertaining moments, but they dropped the ball.

Sunday evening Pa and I sat down to watch our weeks choice, Strictly Ballroom. It was, in many ways a typical formula, yet we found it oddly enjoyable. The dancing talent was great, and I think it spoke a bit to my rebellious nature as well.

School Days

As homeschoolers, we've opted to school year round, finding that any break longer than 2 weeks results in needing to go back over previously taught subjects. However, there is a certain something about summer, compounded by the neighbor kids vacation time, that just begs for release of some sort, so we try to get our schooling out of the way a bit earlier for summer fun in the afternoons. We also find summertime to be the most fun time of year for certain school activities. Science is probably the most prominent of those subjects. This weekend I went in search of the perfect Summer Science project. After finding it, I then went on a much more extensive search for the lowest price. I was amazed at the wide span I found, anywhere from (rounded to the nearest dollar) $125 to $170. Obviously, we went for the lowest price, which, I was pleased to note, was also the vender located closest to us, in California. When I spotted this item and read about it, I got excited. Each site I visited, searching for prices, as well as reviews, I learned more, and became even more excited. Not meaning to be a tease, but I will be posting more about this project, and our experiences with it in the weeks, and months to come..

Last week, we made another purchase for school. Again, I went for the best deal I could find, which still seemed an expensive purchase at around $70, but I've no doubt it will be something we will get a lot of use out of for years to come, both for school, and for other applications. This was a Triple beam scale. The kids just finished with their other lessons for the day, and my laundry's done washing, so I need to get my clothes hung out to dry while the kids have their lunch, then we need to get everything ready for unpacking our new scale , and set to work reading instructions, and hopefully managing to get it put together and functioning. I'm just as excited about this purchase as I am about our science project, yet to come.