I’ve only posted a few cookery related entries, but they do seem to be popular so I thought I would post the recipe for Hot Vanilla, which I mentioned in my Random Things Meme. I hope you will try it!

I generally make this in single serving size, and use the microwave to warm it up. If you’re making for several people you might want to warm it over medium heat on the stove. You’ll end up with that old-fashioned milk skin on the surface of the liquid. Oddly enough, that brings back some good memories for me…..

Hot Vanilla (1 serving)

• 1 cup milk (or fill your favourite mug)
• 1 tsp honey, or to your taste
• 1/2 tsp pure vanilla (you can use artificial, but it just feels better to use the real thing)
• a dash of nutmeg

Fill a microwavable mug with milk and stir in the honey and vanilla. Warm on 100% power for 45 - 90 seconds, or whatever yields a comfortable temperature for you. It helps if you stop halfway through & give it a stir. When the drink is warm, sprinkle with nutmeg.

This drink is a wonderful substitute for hot cocoa, especially at bedtime. If you don’t like nutmeg you can use cinnamon instead, or whatever other garnish you like. I would steer clear of chocolate, myself, since this drink is sort of the “un-cocoa”.

Kids enjoy this drink. It’s a good way to get them to drink milk, if you have a child who is fussy and doesn’t like unflavoured milk. And while warm milk may not actually help you sleep, it’s certainly preferable to choose a non-caffeinated vanilla drink over the caffeinated hot chocolate at bed time!

This work was created by Ruby of Freehold 2, and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Canada License.

Excerpts copyright quoted authors. Please visit their sites to read more, and respect the terms of their copyrights. Thanks!

I just read an email on some school-related subject (I think it was math) and I happened to see in the writer’s tag line a quote that made me stop for a minute to think: “Contentment isn’t a matter of having everything we want, but of not wanting everything we see.”

Such a simple thought, but I think very true.

When I was a girl I had all sorts of ideas of what I wanted my grown-up life to be like. I don’t have most of them today but you know, I don’t particularly care. Sure, there are still a few things I’d like to achieve for myself and my family. But most of the things that used to matter just aren’t a priority anymore. Maybe I’m strange, but I take pleasure in very simple things. Going grocery shopping alone with my husband, or reading with the kids. Taking a hot bath with a good book. Walking in the woods.

I like that philosophy: not worrying about what I haven’t got, but instead being happy with what I do. It sounds really simple, but I’m willing to bet a lot of people would find it difficult to put into practice.

We have an autistic son, and some years ago my husband and I attended a series of training sessions together where one day all the parents were read this poem that compared having a disabled child to planning a trip to Italy, and instead ending up in Holland. The message of the poem is that parents shouldn’t mourn the trip to Italy that couldn’t be, but rather learn to find the positives of being in Holland. After we were read this poem the group leader wanted us all to talk about our feelings, and I knew he was looking for us to talk about all the things we were missing out on because of our disabled son. OK, I have my moments of wishing our situation was different. Please don’t think I’m a saint, because I’m not.

But I was already dealing with the fact that I had landed in Holland. And what I was concerned with at that moment was not finding out how to get back on the plane to Italy, but getting the right maps, dictionaries and guide books so I would be able to make my way around Holland. Why sit around yearning for what I didn’t have? I wanted to just do what I could do - and get the help I was supposed to get - so Holland would be a good experience. I don’t think I “passed” that particular session, because I didn’t want to sit around grieving.

I saw some old friends the other day. They’ve all been coming and going to that proverbial Italy, just the way the poem mentions it. I don’t know whether it was pity or admiration for some perceived sacrifice, but my girlfriend went out of her way to tell me I had given up my life for my kids.

I didn’t know how to answer that. Not because I agreed with her, but because I didn’t think she’d understand me if I told her she had it completely wrong. If anything, I am more free because of our situation and because of the choices we have made. And despite the fact that I have much more “Dutch” in my life than “Italian”, I certainly don’t lack for things romantic. Is that because I am lucky enough to have a really incredible husband, or is it because I work at being content? While I don’t think I could ever really answer that question, I think it’s both.

He’s always known what will please me, even before we were a couple. In our early days there were a good number of our friends - mine and his - who thought we were really mismatched when they heard we were seeing each other. But I’ll tell you, all they needed was to see us together once and they knew that our relationship was meant to be. We had many, many people come to tell us how in love we looked, and even after ten years we still have friends that comment on what a sweet couple we make.

I smile to myself whenever this happens, because people act as though it was some sort of magic that brought the two of us together. They give the impression that they wish someone would wave a wand and make it happen for them too. If it was magic that brought me together with my love it was the magic of being open to the good that life brought me, and not being too concerned with trying to steer my life this way or that. Life brought me a man who also is content (most of the time!) and when we’re not happy we work things out as simply as we can. Not by trying to escape to Italy! We’re OK with the tulips and the windmills, and as someone pointed out Holland has its Rembrandt’s too…

It doesn’t take a big fancy bouquet or flowery I love you letter to make us happy. Sometimes a single lily speaks volumes, and a few words scrawled on the back of an envelope are as treasured as any romantic missive. Being content with what we have has brought us a great deal of pleasure, and it’s only when we forget ourselves and start wanting too much that we feel restless or unsatisfied.

I’m not suggesting that people should throw all ambition out the window, and just settle for whatever comes their way. This is what later leads to resentment and discontent. Rather, I think the goal should be to learn what we really need and to strive to get those things. The things we only want, but don’t truly need, these are the things that can easily be let go. They just add to life’s clutter. True romance is free of popular trappings. True love is about regularly and fully appreciating what is right in front of us.

I wish you, dear reader, to be loved and content.

This work was created by Ruby of Freehold 2, and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Canada License.

Excerpts copyright quoted authors. Please visit their sites to read more, and respect the terms of their copyrights. Thanks!

geisharain has tagged me for the 6 Random Things Meme. Here goes:

1. I love the water. I’m only a mediocre swimmer, but once you get me into any decent amount of water - a jacuzzi, a swimming pool, a lake or even just my bath tub - you’ll have to work pretty hard to get me out before I’m darn good and ready!
2. I am one of those people who detests being asked what my favourite things are. I have no one favourite colour, food, book, movie, etc. Why limit myself? When I was in high school the guidance counsellor gave me one of those interest surveys as part of my career education. He asked me several times if I was sure I had done it right, because most of my scores were clustered in the middle, and there were only a very few areas where my score was really high or low. He said he’d never seen anything like it. I wonder if he’s ever met anyone like me afterwards…
3. I can’t stand wearing shoes. At home I am almost constantly barefoot, and if I’m going out I prefer sandals most of the year. Yes, I will wear sandals with socks. The fashion police be damned! When I absolutely have to wear “for-really” shoes, it’s a comfortable pair of running shoes. Boots are the worst. Last winter I think I wore my heavy duty snow and slush boots about twice. It was warm enough most of the time that I got away with a lighter pair of rubber boots when it was wet or snowy. And I put my shoes back on every time the snow melted! This year has not be quite as kind, where precipitation is concerned. Too many boot days….
4. I love tea. At the moment I’m pretty boring and I just drink my good old orange pekoe (Red Rose is my favourite) but a few years back I had quite the extensive collection of teas, tisanes and various other hot drink mixes. Tea was quite the social ritual with me, in those days. I would be quite offended if you came to my home and wouldn’t take a cup of tea (or at least a coffee!) Although there were many other reasons to like Star Trek TNG’s Captain Picard, I always loved it when he ordered up a “Tea: Earl Grey, hot.” I am the only person I know who has ever heard of a “hot vanilla.”
5. I spent a significant amount of time in the 80’s doing macrame. Yes, I was kinda late getting in on that art. I had tried to take a class in the 70’s but it ended up getting cancelled - just my luck! The hobby shop I bought my supplies from must have stocked up too much when macrame was in vogue, and was just selling off their old stock to me & anyone else who didn’t mind being out of step with the rest of the crafters at the time. When they finally ran out, I stopped doing macrame. Luckily, I discovered cross stitching not long afterwards. That kept me out of trouble until I got married and my oldest daughter came along!
6. I am a proud Canadian speller. I am eternally frustrated by the spell-checkers that underline my “our” words in red, that don’t like my doubled l’s, and that disagree with my dictionary on whether a word is spelled with an “s” or a “c”. I’ve spent a significant amount of time in Quebec, so I can sometimes be heard asking whether a word “takes” a certain letter. I also pronounce the letter z, “zed.”

I’m not going to tag anyone in particular for this. Instead if you want to participate in the meme, please post a link to your entry in the comments section.

This work was created by Ruby of Freehold 2, and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Canada License.

Excerpts copyright quoted authors. Please visit their sites to read more, and respect the terms of their copyrights. Thanks!

The latest edition of the Carnival of Homeschooling is out folks! SuperAngel has grouped the entries into a “Political Parties of Our [USA] Government” theme, with some interesting facts supplied as a bonus. Look for my post on recitation under the Federalist Party.

I’m off to do some reading. I’ll see you at the Carnival! You’ll find us at the Daily Planet this week.

This work was created by Ruby of Freehold 2, and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Canada License.

Excerpts copyright quoted authors. Please visit their sites to read more, and respect the terms of their copyrights. Thanks!

This week’s free download at Homeschool eStore is an excerpt from Arabella Buckley’s The Fairy-Land of Science. “Life of a Primrose” was one of ten lectures Ms Buckley delivered to children and which, by popular demand of those children, were later published as a book. Charlotte Mason herself used and recommended this enchanting exploration of the world of science, and the book continues to be used today by educators following Ms Mason’s methods.

If you are following the Ambleside Online curriculum or Miss Maggie’s Old Fashioned Education, you will encounter The Fairy-Land of Science in year five but if your children are younger, please don’t feel that you must absolutely wait until then to explore this delightful text yourself! Living Books Curriculum offers you an opportunity to take a peek at this classic, categorized by the Baldwin Project as “Descriptive Science.” The file is downloadable free all through the week of 24 February 2008. It is in PDF format and ready to print, complete with a colourful cover.

Living Books Curriculum also offers you a parents’ introduction to Charlotte Mason education , a children’s collection of verse and prose, and an affordable century chart for teaching history, among others.

Homeschool eStore offers a superb collection of e-texts for your homeschool, and regularly gives back to the community with its free downloads. If you have enjoyed these downloads please remember to make a stop at the store when you are looking for curriculum or supporting materials. This week one of the featured products is a leap year study. There are also a number of items for Easter and St-Patrick’s Day, coming in the next few weeks. My own latest purchase was a template for Latin and Greek word study, from my absolute favourite notebooking company.

If you can’t make a purchase at the moment you are sure to find other ways to do good for this business that so well serves the homeschooling community: vote for their web site regularly, write a review of one of the free downloads you’ve received, tell a friend about the store.

I hope you are enjoying your introduction to Arabella Buckley! Interested in more? Watch here for more details and resources. I’ll try to get something together for you in the next week or so…

This work was created by Ruby of Freehold 2, and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Canada License.

Excerpts copyright quoted authors. Please visit their sites to read more, and respect the terms of their copyrights. Thanks!