Homeschooling through the sickness...

I find having to school with even one sick child challenging.  Today I got three children through all their subjects and one partially through and the sick kid... she spent a lot of time on the couch.  It was clear that the sicky would not be able to concentrate on bookwork.

I thought perhaps that I could turn on the TV and find a history or animal documentary but those things don't exist anymore.  It seems these days everything on channels that used to be somewhat educating are now swamped with "reality" shows that offer little besides a lot of bleeped out words or cheap entertainment.

So tomorrow the snow is supposed to let up some and I am heading to the library.  I am picking up arm loads of documentaries and non-text books to keep her busy on the couch and yet still learning at the same time.

Any other homeschoolers out there have any tips on how to have a "sickie" learning under the radar?  I'd love to hear some ideas on this!

Cookie Cheer Up!

Well, we have a snow blower that works but unfortunately I don't have a snow blow operator!

Yesterday after plowing the drive and my wonderful path to the barn, Farmer John started to complain about his wrist hurting. He was in so much pain before work this morning I told him to go get it checked out.

Diagnosis... Tendonitis! Yah... so no nice plowed path to the barn.  We aren't quite ready to give that responsibility to our son with anything more than a shovel at this point in time.

Had another surprise diagnosis today... strep throat for my nine year old!  Keep the good times coming!

So what can you do when it is cold, snowy and you have "patients" to keep happy?  Make Christmas cookies!

Who doesn't feel better after a frosted Christmas sugar cookie? 

Usually we have a traditional recipe we follow but I found a new recipe that includes sour cream in it and it seemed like a good day to give it a try.

We didn't mess with Christmas shapes today since it was just a "test" run.  We stuck with easy-peasy circles.  Plain white frosting and simple sprinkles.

The verdict... Yum! I think this may be my new traditional recipe!  I will definitely need to make lots so that my son has fuel to snow shovel my path to the barn.

You can find the recipe for  Cut-Out Sour Cream Cookies and frosting here!

They certainly boosted spirits at Creek Cottage Homestead.  Happy baking, frosting and eating!!

Sickness Is Finally Retreating!

I don't know about you but this was a hard week for me.  Not much got accomplished.  My brain felt like it was wrapped in a wool sweater for most of the time.  This week's word was BEFUDDLED.

I spent most of my time resting and reading.  I blew threw many a tissue and also Veronica Roth's Insurgent.  Great read and I can't wait for the third installment in the Divergent series to come out. (Due out Oct. 22nd of this year.)

Today my brain is finally full speed, my house is clean and jars for canning apples and tomatoes are washing. A time of rest is always welcome but I'm ready to get back moving! 

I drank half of Lake Michigan while I was down and consumed a lot of citrus in the form of orange juice and lemon water.  Herbal Teas w/ honey also are a favorite of mine when sick along with one comfort food that probably has no health benefit but it is tasty... Red Robin Clam Chowder.  When I'm sick I'm their best customer.  (I'm fairly certain it tastes so good because it is thoroughly laden with msg but when I'm sick there is nothing that I want more.)

What do you all do when you are sick?

Fighting Summer Colds

I think I found out why I was so dang-dog tired last week.  I was coming down with a cold.  I don't believe I've ever had a summer cold before.  Winter colds... check, spring colds... check, autumn colds... check, but never a summer cold.  I guess there really is a first time for everything.

Usually I get colds during the change in seasons where temps and weather are varying by large degrees.  That might also explain why I picked up this one. We had a week of 90 degree temps with really high humidity.  We didn't run air conditioning so we were HOT! Now we are having a week with mid-60 to mid-70 degree temps.  My body evidently couldn't process the change very well.

The virus that causes a summer cold is the same that causes any other at any time of year. The symptoms aren't any different.  You may be tempted to think that this is allergies but I've been fighting those all summer (and still am) along with the added dragged behind a bus feel of a cold.

How do you fight a summer cold?  The same as a winter cold:
1.Wash your hands often.
2. Drink plenty of fluids... I like Yogi's Echinacea Immune Support and cold season teas infused with lemon and honey.  Also plenty of water with lemon in it.
3.Get plenty of rest... supervise summer activity instead of participating.
4.Eat well... take advantage of the bounty of summer fruits and veges (especially berries) and the nutrition they have to offer!

There is one different treatment for a summer cold...
5.Lay out in the sun! (It's a rough life, I know.) Let the sun's natural vitamin D do its thing.

So while the kids are weeding today,  I will lounge in the sun and sip iced lemon water.  Perhaps this cold thing isn't so bad after all.

Earaches and Antibiotics

My son has gotten himself a monster of an ear infection. We are living on a Motrin/Tylenol mix and I wish antibiotics but it turns out the doc wrote a script for horsepills of the non-chewable nature. My son doesn't do pills. So tomorrow I get to call the doc back and ask for a new script of liquid antibiotics. I really wished I had made sure at the office that I was getting liquid but I never thought he'd give a nine-year old horsepills.

I certainly hope tonight and tomorrow are better then the previous night and today. Crazy! Okay, I have to go try and get some sleep.

Back after the flu!

Whew! Sorry for the unplanned break on the blog. I was unprepared for the flu to hit the family mid-last week. Nothing is harder than having a five month-old vomiting after every feeding. But we survived and are back to normal.

On the news front: I received- courtesy of newbaby.com - an easy to operate, hot pink vado pocket video camera. Soon I will be adding videos to the blog! I just have to get used to being "on camera". It's kinda weird as usually I do the shooting or photos, not be in them. The camera is great and easy to use even for a non-techy like me! Even my eight year old can just grab the cam, push a button and start recording. (That did mean deleting seven minutes of Sponge Bob he chose to video off the t.v.) When I'm on video I plan to enlist my 12 year-old to shoot but I can also use a tripod too. Here is a question for my readers: What do you want to see? I know the Grandparent's answers but what about the rest of you?

Okay, on with the day! I have a big pile of mending calling my name, a family to feed, a garden to plan and hopefully a trip to the farm store to see the little chicks and research coop options. I love being an Artisan of the Home!

I have surrendered!

Yesterday I finally sent the DH to the store for saltine crackers. I couldn't stand the constant "sick" feeling any longer. I think today I should buy stock in Nabisco. The crackers have helped a lot. I also find that if I'm craving something and eat it, it doesn't make me sick. However, if I'm not craving something and eat it- sick. Fair enough... I should eat what I crave. Unfortunately that has been seafood. Salmon, crab, lobster, shrimp etc. Not exactly frugal items. My husband treated me to Red Lobster last night but that can't happen too often.

The DH is fishing today but it is a catch and release only river. Sigh... I would love fresh pan-fried trout for dinner. Why can't I be craving pickles? So much easier and cheaper! I know several of my readers out in blog land are pregnant too. Do/did you all have cravings? What are/were they?

Also, I have read that cravings usually mean your body is deficient in something. If I'm craving fish and seafood what do you all think my body is needing?

Book Review: Auralia's Colors by Jeffrey Overstreet

I had a "hankering" to read something "new" as I climbed out of the hole that was the Lewis house flu of 2008. So on a grocery shopping trip to Costco, a couple of days ago, I skipped on over to the Christian Bookstore across the street (something I rarely do) and sent myself browsing through the fiction section. I wasn't in the mood for anything particular, I just browsed until something grabbed my interest. I settled on Auralia's Colors by Jeffrey Overstreet.

I love fantasy. C.S. Lewis is my favorite author and I hope to sit on bookshelves next to him some day as C.L. Lewis. I also love the Harry Potter series. (Can a Christian admit to that? Please don't stop reading me just because of that.) I was hoping to find a new world I could love.

Unfortunately, in my opinion, Mr. Overstreet did not deliver. Though I can tell he is a gifted writer, full of beautiful prose, I feel the way he chose to tell the story left us distant from his characters (of which there were far too many of) and I never really grew to love them or the land he tried so very hard to create. I was lost half of the time trying to figure out what was going on. I think he was trying something allegory-ish but I don't think he suceeded.

There are two fantasy styles: The C.S. Lewis type and the Tolkien type. As mentioned above I fall in line with Lewis side. I think perhaps my dislike of Auralia's Colors was because of its similarities to Tolkien and the Lord of the Rings-therefore I do not want to get into the details of the book. I want to leave it open for you to explore. You may love this new world that Overstreet has created.

Auralia's Colors is first in a series. (I don't know how many are planned.) I do not plan to continue on with the series but I wish Mr. Overstreet the best in his writing. I am hoping the fantasy market will open wide in Christian publishing. I do so enjoy delving into new worlds.

Return at last

Thought I'd post a scary picture of me for lack of anything else more appropriate for my ramblings today.

It's been a tough few weeks for the Lewis family. It was 1 1/2 weeks to 2 weeks of sickness by the time we all got through it and then last week was spent catching up on school, chores, laundry. Whew! I'm finally getting the last of the "sick" blankets washed, the house is finally clean again, school is back in and now I can get back to blogging.

I didn't think I had much to say but when I started writing it all down in a list I found I had way too much. I'll probably be doing a couple of posts a day to catch up.

First... I did take a look for sugar/creamers at Target and at the mall. I didn't find anything our style a Target. (They had japanese styles and soda fountain types.) I did find the perfect thing at Restoration Hardware. Unfortunately, the stacking glass container was priced at $69. Can you imagine the DH's face if I had made that purchase? I did not make this purchase. Who has that kind of money to spend on a clear, glass jar? I have clear glass jars at home that are much bigger and cost much less. (The DH said they'd be too heavy if I used them for cream and sugar.)

Pottery Barn had a few choices but I passed on those hoping to find something more creative. Though I must admit, the prices weren't too bad. They had a cute $5 one but I need two, one for sugar, one for creamer and they didn't come in two different colors to differentiate the sugar from creamer. I will look at the local grocery/everything store (Meijer) today when I'm doing my grocery shopping. I also need to take a look at thrift stores and antique stores but I haven't had time to squeeze those stops into my schedule.

I know there is something out there for not much $, I just have to locate it. I know that the proper items will "speak" to me if they are the ones. However, it is just a sugar and creamer dispenser so it isn't too high on the priority list.

Higher on the list is fixing the mail box. It has been slowly falling apart and two days ago the wind and snow storm that swept through finally got it. It is in two pieces... the post and the box. I did a quick fix today while digging a path for the mail truck. I piled snow up around it to keep it in place. LOL! Isn't that terrible. I hope my DH can get to it soon. Even though the snow is clear from it, I'm not sure how stable it is for delivery. Our deliverer is very picky... too much snow in front of the box and no delivery, the college kids next door park to close to it- no delivery... falling off the post- assumption of possible no delivery. We shall see.

Flu Update

The Lewis Family's health has been run through the shredder!

Well, whatever strain of flu or sickness this is, it is holding us in a vice-like grip. I have now been officially sick 7 days. Three of my kids have been sick 5 days. My oldest is coming down with it now. It took 4 days for my fever to break but I, even now, still feel somewhat sick in the morning and really sick in the evening. I've been doing okay in the day time. I feel that is God blessing me so that I can take care of my children and take care of meals and dishes- I've also been able to do one load of laundry a day. (The DH has had to forage for himself. He is not sick- got a flu shot.)

No sweeping or vacumming has been done but I've been able to keep the upstairs fairly picked up. The downstairs playroom and kid's rooms can wait.

I did have a root canal done at the dentist on Wednesday and have to take antibiotics just to be safe. I am hoping that perhaps the antibiotics might kick the remainder of what ever I have out. It started with a bad cough, progressed to fever/chills and cough along with the I've been hit by a truck feeling and then progressed to small cough with low fever and truck splat feeling.

Now I have no fever, a little cough, runny/stuffy nose, headache, loss of appetite and in the evening queasy stomach. It seems to have morphed from one thing to a complete other thing. Most of my day is spent resting. Being healthy seems like a far away dream.

On the bright side... it's snowing! Thanks for listening to a sicky! Oh... another praise... we've been throw up free thus far!