Handy Man

My husband is so awesome! He's Mr. Fix-it and I am so grateful for his skills!

Saturday he was so busy, he fixed this:
sorry, I forgot to take a before picture. Just imagine that the very short piece of crown molding was not there, and it looked very unfinished and silly.)

And this (remember one was missing in a previous post):

Here is a before:

And then an after:
Honey, I love you and I appreciate you!!

hiSTORY

(this post may very well bore you to tears)

I have been reading up on my medieval history. The kids and I are using Susan Wise Bauer's Story of the World series for school. This year we are in book two: the Middle Ages.
And it is just great, we really enjoy it. I am learning about so many new people and so much of history is becoming more real and more clear to me. I wanted an adult level of information to flesh out what I am learning with the kids, so, I tried reading these books:

Civilization of the Middle Ages by Normal F. Cantor

The Oxford Illustrated History of Medieval Europe by George Holmes

Aethelred the Unready: the Ill-Counselled King by Ann Williams

A History of the Vikings by Gwen Jones
(sorry, no picture)

Sword Song by Bernard Cornwell

And frankly, I am very disappointed. These history books are either too broad in scope, covering 400 years in a paragraph; or they are too specific, spending a chapter on listing all the different theories of a very minor part of the story. Sheesh. Even when I tried the historical fiction it is lame, or too graphic, and honestly, I think there were enough real characters in history, I'd rather read about them than made-up people!

It amazes me that with all of this interesting stuff that happened in the past, I am having such a hard time finding out the story of it all! It's like the historians want to keep it all to themselves. Could somebody please just tell me what happened to who, when, where, and maybe why (not too much why though...I like to think about that for myself!)

Perhaps part of the reason I am so frustrated is because last year I read an excellent (story-form) history of the ancient world. I learned so many interesting things! And every chapter had a bibliography at the end so you could get more specific, in depth info. (I highly recommend reading this for pleasure, it was very well written!)
Also, the other big beef I have with historians is, why don't they ever give me a picture of the life of a commoner? Nobody is talking about the common man but there he is...filling up all the history you can think of!

Okay, now that I got that off of my chest, let me ask you some questions; just to test your knowledge of the Middle Ages.

1. When did the Middle Ages start?

2. And when did they end?

3. Charlemagne--what made him so great, anyway?

4. How did everyone forget to read? They used to know how before the middle ages!

5. What is the deal with feudalism?

(for those of you who are LDS)
6. We believe there was an apostasy ... but what was it like exactly?

7. Aethelred the Unready? Who? What country was he even from?!?

8. How did monks and monasteries start? That wasn't part of the New Testament church...was it?

9. You know 1066 is an important year...you might even know the name William the Conquerer, but what did he conquer? And why do you even know that fact?

10. Is it actually worth it for me to try to learn all this stuff, considering that I will probably forget most of it anyway?

Comment your answers and I will tell you if you are right.
Comment your questions and I will try to answer them.
Please comment if you know a good book (or 2) that I should read!
Who knew blogging could be so educational?!?

Take a Peek

If you want to see the virtual tour of our house, go here:

http://homesite.obeo.com/viewer/unbranded.aspx?tourid=514639

Like the Pros

Dave and I have been busily engaged in sprucing up the house. You know, fixing all the little stuff. We have struggled in the past to get employees at the big box stores to help us with simple, yet odd, fixes. So this time we tried something different. We tried specialty stores.

We had such a great experience! You walk into these places and the people who work there are professionals (not just employees!) They really know their stuff! I had this perception that if you specialized, it was going to cost sooo much more. Not true. And they usually make it so much easier to work with them. It's like Customer Service is a verb, not just a desk where you return things. Here are two examples;

Dimmer switch--we had these little plastic things that had broken. We went to a big box to get a replacement. They said you couldn't buy the individual part, only the entire faceplate. $30 was too much to pay for that! Then we checked with a lighting store. Eilene knew when I showed her the broken part exactly who the manufacturer was. She ordered some new ones for me right away. When I came in a week later to pick them up, she even remembered me by name. Oh yeah, and the part was only $2!

Stairs--We had this thing that had broken off of the stairs, I didn't even know what to call it.
We took the broken one to the big box but they didn't have it, or any helpful information. A neighbor suggested Huetter Mill. So I walked in the door (it's a beautiful showroom by the way, you should check it out!) and the lady behind the counter was so helpful. She knew the exact name of the piece I wanted (bullnose)
and when I told her that I only needed one 4 inch piece, she gave it to me for free! Amazing.

Anyway, I have learned my lesson. I could go on and on, but I will simplify by saying: If you need a special part, go to a specialty store. You'll get great, personal service, you'll get your part without alot of hassle, and you'll find that the price is just right.

Big News

I'm not very good at making big announcements. But here it goes:

Our house is for sale.

(Note: this does not actually mean that we are moving. First, someone has to actually buy our house!)

Q--But why are you putting your house up for sale?

A--I'm glad you asked. We found this beautiful house in Daybreak that we really loved.

But it was out of our price range. Then, due to the crazy housing market, the price went down ... way down. So now we think we can afford it, assuming of course, that we can get anyone to buy our house.

We're taking a chance that all the stars will align and;
1) we will be able to find a buyer (who has good financing and doesn't have a long list of contingencies) and
2) that someone else won't buy the house first.

But we'll give it a try. So if you know anyone who wants a cute little bungalow like this:

send them our way.

custard, anyone?

When learning about other cultures, it is important to try their foods. You can really feel a connection to someone when you have eaten the way they do. So we decided to try a recipe from the middle ages...I found a very easy one in this book:


I made a regular pie crust, but baked it in muffin tins. The book suggested letting the kids mix the pudding powder, milk and raisins in a quart jar with a lid on. This was definitely a good idea! We sprinkled cinnamon on top and, voila, raisin custard.


Don't you love how dirty Elliot's bib is? It was lunchtime, what can I say!


Anna doesn't know if she likes it. Instead of thumbs, she's giving it one finger up and one finger down.


p.s. If I get really on the ball and awesome--I am going to try to make a knight's suit of armor which I found in the same book.

Homeschool Biology

It is the beginning of the new year... time for resolutions.

I resolved to have a cleaner house. Dave told me that I could spend some money on a cleaning service (Merry Christmas honey, have a maid!) . So, I hired a cute friend from the ward who did a fabulous job on my cupboards and walls and blinds.

I began to feel much better, cleaner, more righteous somehow; knowing that there were less crumbs and dust and fingerprints in my life.

Since I was in a cleaning kick anyway, I decided to clean under the stove and behind the fridge. I thought I might find a few toys and a lot of dust bunnies, but I wasn't counting on this:



When it was all covered with dust I thought it was just a big chunk of toast...but as I swept it out from under the fridge, the truth was revealed.


Gross. Gross. Gross, gross, gross.

I was starting to feel good, but now I feel disgusting! How long have I even been living with this thing in my kitchen?

I don't know.

I have never cleaned under the fridge before. I may never again.

On the positive side, the kids got to look at a real mouse skeleton up close. We'll call it biology and count it for school time.