Leftovers....Whatcha Gonna Do?

We grilled a pork tenderloin the other day and had about half of it left over.  I usually don't like leftovers but I feel so guilty about throwing anything away.  So we threw together this salad and it was real good, y'all.

Real good...ya hear me?

I dug out some spinach leaves, a cucumber, some tomatoes, mandarin oranges, slivered almonds, and blue cheese.  Then I sliced the tenderloin real thin like and laid it on top.  Whisked together some balsamic vinegar, EVOO, minced garlic and a splash of agave nectar for the dressing.  A little salt and pepper and voila.



Oh...

And don't forget the wine.  Two Buck Chuck Cabernet here....a perfect pairing for leftovers.  Frugal yet delightful.

Like me.  (my husband is laughing about the frugal part).

Nursery School

As I've stated before....I  wasn't planning on doing this homeschooling thing so soon.  I had no reason to believe our house would sell before school got out for the summer, so I didn't imagine I'd be finishing up kindergarten and k-4 with my older two just now.  Which wouldn't be so bad if we didn't have Stuart, aka Taz (the nearly three-year-old tasmanian devil) destroying everything in our path on our learning adventure.

So  each day I try to come up with things to do to involve all three of them.

Like gardening.

(those who know me well are laughing hysterically right now).

This was our school day today.

First we started with some dirt and seeds.



Then after Stuart ate some of our dirt and we replenished our container, we sprayed it with water.



Next, after Stuart tried to poke everyone's eye out, we took our pencil away from him and made small holes with it in the dirt to drop in the seeds.



Then it was time to water everything...



even our paci. (yes he's nearly 3...yes I should probably take it away...and no I don't because I'm afraid of him.)  (Don't judge me).



We hope our little seedlings survive.

We hope  we survive the remainder of our school year.   We're sorta counting the days until Stuart goes to boarding pre-school.

Sorta.

Remedial Gardening Part II

Look, y'all!

School is For the Birds

We have joined a homeschool group here since (a) we don't know anyone and (b) we don't know anything about this homeschooling thing.

They invited us to come to their Bird Co-op at the state park. Even though I had no idea what a bird co-op was or how to get the state park, I enthusiastically accepted the invitation.

Oh my gosh I'm so glad we went.

What fun.

We learned about eggs and the different part of the egg. AND....that no matter how hard you try, you can NOT break an egg. (even though I usually don't have much trouble somewhere between the Wal-mart parking lot and my driveway). Even if you squeeze it really hard. It won't break...as long as you apply equal pressure and don't stick your thumb into it.



Go ahead. Try. You know you want to.

Then we made bird feeders with pine cones, peanut butter and birdseed. I hope the birds enjoy eating it as much as Stuart did.



Then we got to pet some birds.  There were blue birds.



Pink birds.



And an unfortunate orange bird that nearly got squeezed to death by the Stuart.



There were games.  (Egg race.  Get it?)



And more birds.



The best part though?   Just being together.

I think we're going to like our new school.

Remedial Gardening

I love flowers.  I mean...I love them.  Truly.  I get so excited when the first hint of spring arrives and the stores all of a sudden have a plethora of gorgeous blooms and I feel like they are all screaming  "take me home and plant me and care for me and watch me grow!"   So I spend a fortune on whatever I think is the prettiest (not necessarily giving thought to burdensome things like watering, sunlight, soil conditions, etc.  Bleh!).  I get home with all my new beauties, put them in pretty pots and then in a few weeks toss them in the trash can when they die.

And they always die.

Sigh. 

It's a sad little cycle and I do it every single year.  Every.  Single.  Year.

Except for this year.  I've been too busy unpacking boxes and lining drawers and cabinets to notice that it was time to kill some pretty flowers again.

Anyway....

I walked into the backyard the other night and was trying  to get to the water hose and had to scramble behind some gnarly, bare looking bushes with these prickly sticky things all over them when I recognized that these were....

Rose bushes!

And within just a few days they had leaves. 



And then buds.

I'm so excited.  Even though I don't know nothin' bout birthin' no roses.

Wish me luck.

Better yet....wish them luck.

Mrs. Mama

Just before we moved to Georgia, I sat my older two children down to tell them that we would be homeschooling when we moved.  It went something like this:

Me:  Hey guys....What would you think about going to school at home when we move to Georgia?

Them:  Yea!!!!  (jumping up an down, hooping, hollering, etc.)

William:  That's awesome!  But....who would my teacher be?

Me:  Well....I will be your teacher.  What do you think about that?

{Deep thinking} 

{More thinking}

Then....

William:  (obviously very worried) ... Well, Mama....I mean....Do you know anything?

Me:  (obviously somewhat offended) ... Yeah, well, maybe one or two things.  I might be able to teach you something you don't know.  At least I'll try.

Catherine:  (speaking for the first time)   Will we call you Mrs. Mama?