Meet My New Girls

I love, love, love cows, so when I stumbled upon this painting it was love at first sight. I have always had a passion for interior design and fell into it as a profession several years ago. Needless to say I have always had a flair for the unique and odd statement piece to put in my house. This piece speaks to my odd sense of humor and style. These two lovely girls are prominently placed in my dinning room overlooking our family meals. Good thing I was raised vegetarian and we don't eat beef. Can you imagine the guilt sitting there eating a burger or steak with these two lovely gals staring at you. For the record my 8 year old thinks the picture is great, my 11 year old on the other hand says it's a creepy painting. That's the thing I love about art, everyone has an opinion. Believe me this piece has made for some interesting responses by my dinner guest.

Do you ever ask yourself, why did I want to homeschool?

Have you ever had one of those days when you look at your kids and say, these wild animals can't possibly be mine, NO Definitely Not My Little Angels! Or maybe you think, they were switched at birth or they must be just like their father and certainly nothing like you. I think every mom has had those days and adding the pressure of homeschooling only increases those not so pleasant days. Let's face it we moms try to do it all and somehow have the expectation that peace, love and thankfulness will be poured down upon us. What's worse is when our kids don't bend at the knee and praise us with thankfulness we get hurt and take it personally. Why do we moms do this to our self's? Because we moms are liers. Lets face it when was the last time you sat around in a group of mom that were really honest. They never tell you they were in tears all day the day before. That they fed the kids cold cereal for dinner all last week. Or (yes I'm guilty of this one) they put the kids in the hot tub and call it bath time. Oh no, all you ever hear about is about how little Johnny was reading at 3, doing long division at 5 and creating world peace by 10. So you sit and listen to these stories and think, wow I must be a complete failure. You think what am I doing wrong, my kid is 8 and still struggles with reading or my kids cry when they hear the word math. What's worse is we moms completely buy into the competition instead of remembering why we wanted to home school in the first place.

A couple years ago I was on complete home school burn out and quite frankly my hubby had enough as well. One of the best things I found was Todd Wilson's website and his books. They are very short quick reads that gave me a light hearted way to stop being so hard on myself and start enjoying my kids again. Even my hubby read the books and wow what a difference he stepped up and started getting involved in the kids school as well. Since finding these short little books I have given several out to my friends and all I seam to hear back is thank you so much I needed these books, thank you, thank you! Check out Todd's books and website.

http://www.familymanweb.com/

Shirataki Noodles, Love them or Hate them?

The new super noodle is everywhere right now. You can hardly turn on a cooking show without seeing Shirataki noodles being used. After all what could be better than a low carb, low calorie, gluten free, healthy guilt free pasta.

Well after doing extensive tastings here's what I found. They seem to have a love hate relationship with my family. I love them the rest of my house hates them. These noodles are not at all like a traditional gluten filled Italian pasta. They are much more an Asian noodle. They work wonderfully in a stir fry, miso soups and all kinds of dishes on the Asian side. As for the Italian side I found them to be a little to mushy and chewy to work well. I will say they have a bit of a funky smell when you first open the package. After rinsing the noodles the smell goes away but I think that may have been what turned my family off.

I would recommend getting a package and trying them for yourself. check out the link below for more info on these noodles. They also have some recipes on their website you might want to try.

http://www.house-foods.com/

Homeschool Day at Biltmore Estate September 22 & 23

Growing up in the Asheville, NC area was one of the most enjoyable times of my life. I can't believe I've never taken my kids back to see my old stomping grounds. Well it's time to remedy this with Biltmore's 10th Annual Fall Home school Days. Check out the link below to get more details. I would highly recommend this event for the kids.
http://www.biltmore.com