euphrasyne

The videos that go with them teach advanced math at the same time they teach basic numbers and counting.  As you learn 123 you are learning squares, super squares, arrays, it really sets up advanced math concepts in a very basic visual and song based way.   It is the opposite of learning basic first then building and it really works quite well!  It tells how numbers like 4, 9, 16, etc are special because they are square and other very advanced concepts.   It sets up knowing that certain numbers can do more than others in an interesting and entertaining way.  

I've found that mastering basics first then building usually means relearning the entire concept from the beginning.  The introduction of 'this has more to it' from the start then explaining the more in greater detail later tends to stick better and provide more functionality.   It is closer to the Chinese and Korean math teaching methods which have proven to be vastly superior to the currently taught western methods.  It irks me that we still focus on teaching kids the 'hard way' first so they will appreciate the easy way to hand calculate things.   Sometimes it is good to have backup methods, but there is no point in saying math by memory or hand can only be achieved by doing a dozen extra steps unless you are interested in historical mathematics--which IMO should be an extracurricular class.  (math is my favorite subject next to reading so I'm completely biased.)

I forgot to say that the warmer your counter is, the faster it will work so you need to feed it even more often.  If your kitchen stays in the 80s you should remove a cup daily and feed it or sometimes even every 12-18 hours if it is very warm.  The cooler the environment, the longer you can go between using/feeding.  If you need to feed it without using it, just pour a cup off and toss it.  Ideally, you always want at LEAST 2c of starter which is why I suggested a quart jar--that gives you room to mix or overflow.   If you have it in a pint, it will be almost impossible to get your ratios correct.  

Make your own sourdough by using yeast and letting it sit out.  Don't just wait for the air to bring it.  Sourdough likes heat better than cold.  Freezing flour is fine, but let the flour come to room temperature before you use it.  You can actually freeze the starter then thaw it out and use it.  It can also be dehydrated and rehydrated (I was sent some at one point a few decades back.)  

If you are getting that much dark liquid (hooch) off your starter, then you are not feeding it enough. Hooch=starving yeast.  You need to feed it more.  Also, you need to use it every 1-2  days if on the counter.  If you are keeping it in the fridge, it will take MUCH longer to rise and you should use and feed it every 4-5 days.   Pour off a cup, feed it and keep going.   The easiest and most common feed is a 1:1:1 ratio of starter:water:flour.  Some people also use other things in the feed such as potato flakes, but that can be more tricky for ratios and is slightly more advanced.    Also, it would do better in a bigger container like a quart.   It gives you more room to work with.  

We have had great success using the Numberblocks videos and manipulatives.  River can count to 10 and recognize the symbols for the numbers out of order or context so we are doing quite well with math.  She is getting better with letters, but is much slower there than with math. 

We bought this set and she plays/ learns with it every day quite happily.

Amazon.com: hand2mind MathLink Cubes Numberblocks 1-10 Activity Set, 30 Preschool Learning Activities, Building Blocks for Toddlers 3-5, Counting Blocks, Linking Cubes, Math Counters for Kids, Educational Toys : Toys & Games

They can have my $$ we will definately be buying more of this brand.  

I visited with Littlesister yesterday.  River tried to touch ALL THE THINGS and nestled down in the fabric Littlesister generously gave me.   I thought she might take a nap, but she rallied with the flower she pilfered from the front yard when left and did coloring and math for the rest of the day.   Apparently the flower is the BEST THING EVER and she would not go to sleep until I moved the vase into her room.  The teen is thrilled with the fabric and we have plans to make several things.  After the visit and seeing some of the organization, I have an idea for a rolling cart with bins to preplan meals.  I may need to wait until River is slightly bigger since she tends to move things around at the moment.  

Today is bill paying and cleaning: Dishes, Laundry, Floors. 

I am relaxing a bit today.  The last month has been crazy busy.   Teen started 10th grade.   She is in all honors, president of the Art Club and taking German 3 this semester.  Every weekend I seem to have a billion teenage girls at my house doing art stuff.  River turned 3 and is into everything.   We are doing a structured homeschool preschool that I put together half the day and she is well ahead with math (Numberblocks is amazing!)

My family is feuding back down south and I'm doing my best to stay out of it.  "He said he would SHOOT me if he saw me at [house]!  I'm scared for my life!"  Lots of drama and I do not want to be involved in it, but they keep calling and trying to embroil me in everything.  It is exhausting and time consuming so not much else has gotten done.  

So we splurged, bought a new mattress so our backs would hurt less and today we just take it easy (other than dishes and laundry.)

You know what is eternal? Dishes and Laundry.   Death and Taxes are normal answers, but when the funeral is over and the piper has been paid, there are still Dishes and Laundry waiting in the wings.  

It is impossible to narrow books down to just 1.

As already mentioned above, I love the following also:

Clan of the Cave Bear series

Anne of Green Gables series

Little Women series

Lord of the Rings has several periphery books that read like Clan of the Cave Bear on the worldbuilding front.  

Discworld series by Terry Pratchett

The Hallows series by Kim Harrison

Anything by Jayne Anne Krentz (pseudonyms Jayne Castle, Amanda Quick, Stephanie James, and Jayne Taylor)

I'm on a romance kick this year and I've read or listened to 483 books since the beginning of the year.  My goal is to hit 600 or roughly 2 per day.  

I saw a meme the other day-I like to invest in metals.  In good times I like gold and in bad times I like copper jacketed led.  That completely explains my beliefs.

I've had migraines for my entire life.  My earliest memory is refusing to eat and crying at age 2 because my head hurt.  MSG has zero negative effects on me or my family.  All of the professional studies done show no negative side effects, so a reaction is not common.  I usually treat it like an allergy that some people have and it is up to those that have the allergy to inform those cooking --no different than nut allergy or lactose intolerance.  My take on all allergies is that those allergic are responsible to passing on that information.  I personally am allergic to fish and shellfish.  If I don't cook it, I either ask or don't eat it.  

I also have an extreme reaction to poison ivy.  I have to get a steroid shot and a medipred pack every time I get it because it spreads internally on me.  My mother can swim through it and have no issues.  If someone mows it in the lawn down the street and it blows into my yard, I get it.  Life is not fair.  

Beetons Book of Household Management is a very good one.

I also like:

The Fanny Farmer Cookbook 1918

Family Receipts or Practical Guide for the Husbandman and Housewife 1831

Recipes Tried and True 1894

Student's Manual in Household Arts Food and Cookery by Martha L. Metcalf  1915

The Female Economist or a  Plain System of Cookery for the Use of Families   1818

All should be available in the internet archives library.  I have copies of each if needed.  If you are looking for antique methods of preserving and cooking that are less focused on quantity needed, I have lots of pre 1930 and pre 1900 books.  

Happy Birthday!

I was cleaning out my office today and I found the crochet backpack I made for DD20 when she was a baby.  I used it as a diaper bag and I made it in bright orange so it would be easy to find wherever DD20 left it.   I've never repaired it and at roughly 20 years old, it is still in great shape.    It has a rectangular base and is done mostly in sc and hdc.  The top edge has a series of open holes that I threaded a crocheted cord I made through and it ties closed in a bow.  

PocketBooks app for your phone will read aloud any book document it can open.  It is a very flat tone, but any book can now be an audiobook using pocketbooks.  It is free and I've used it for years.  

Yesterday, we make a 1200 mile road trip to drop off the teen for summer.  We drove to Lenoir City, TN (basically Knoxville,) traded the teen who is continuing on to Northwest Arkansas, and we turned around and came home.  We are super tired and the baby is sad about missing DD15. We will repeat the trip in about 2 months.  I am not looking forward to it.  

The plan for today is to see how lazy we can be. 

Matting a picture is much easier than you might think.   Look at the back, draw measurements on the back.  Use sewing pricker to make the marks that travel through the light chipboard (you can use cardstock as faux chipboard if no one is going to look at it too closely. )   Turn the cardstock over to the front and use a exacto blade to cut at an angle.   A Silhouette or a Cricut will also cut the correct shapes without any measuring or other stuff.  I never pay for matting.  

You can also do scrapbook style reverse matting by cutting cardstock to size and layering the smaller on top of the larger rather than cutting through.  That makes the picture raised rather than recessed.  That requires nothing more than a paper cutter and some acid free double sided tape.  

I did a year and a half of homeschool back when DD20 was in 1st grade.  These days I have 2 in their 20s so they have aged out.

DD15 is in honors high school at the public HS (we moved here because it was a good one).  They just let out for the summer.  Next year, she has honors biology, honors history, honors English 2, honors algebra 2, art 2,  PE, and German 3 &4.  

DD2 soon to be 3 is doing early learning at home with me.   We are focusing on letters, early math, and reading as well as practical skills.  

It is hard to see what size frame you need, but I found these recently when I was looking for a long thin one:

Amazon.com - 5x10 Black Gallery Business License Frame with 3.5x8 Mat - Wide Molding - Includes Attached Hanging Hardware and Desktop Easel - Display Panoramic Picture Certificate or Retail Licenses -

Amazon.com - Americanflat 8.5x14 Picture Frame in Black - Engineered Wood with Shatter Resistant Glass - Horizontal and Vertical Formats for Wall -

I think it looks good and the sigils look like old style manuscript illuminations.  The Grey was a good choice.  

Thanks.  I can't eat cake, but I did get a happy birthday fruit bowl.  It was delicious.  

She sounds very similar to how I tend to make my recipes for kids.   Thanks for the introduction to her channel.   I love that she talks about the teens eating more.  My husband eats 2 hamburger patties while the rest of us eat 1.  Actually, I usually eat 1/2 and DD15 eats hers and the other half of mine.  We aren't picky about eating around each other.  

I'm jealous because I'd love to have that many children or bonus children.  

I have been having a hard time cooking for fewer people for the last decade.  I'm slowly getting used to it.  I usually don't cook on weekends and we have du jour leftovers on those days.  

I love how she says 'this season of life'  it completely reflects my thought process.  

I make my chicken, tuna, and egg salad all the same--though I do make  a 'different' cranberry chicken salad upon occasion for me and DD15.

No measurements:

chicken/tuna/diced boiled eggs or combination

Mayo

Mustard

Diced Pickles

Salt/pepper

Celery Seed

I definitely add her to my YouTube subsection.  

my recipe for bisquick (i call it baking mix) is:

Baking Mix:

8c flour

1 1/2 c powdered milk (2c of the non instant)

1/4 c baking powder

1 T salt

2 c to  1 1/2 c lard or crisco

Mix all and store leftovers in freezer.  

I made some yesterday and made sausage balls from it.  I had about 3 c leftover.  I use this recipe all the time.  I never ever use sugar in it.  

If I made it in a mason jar for shelf stable, I would use it within the week as lard makes flour go bad quickly.   Sugar makes is appropriate for pancakes or muffins but makes horrid biscuits or other savory things.  Do NOT add sugar to the mix or else your are making pancake mix and not bisquick.  

What is your Favorite? 

Favorite Color: dark Pumpkin Orange verging on terracotta or copper

Favorite Season: Fall.  I love Harvest season.  It is the time to gather in your work and prepare for a time of rest.  Leaves, air, new beginnings as school year starts.

Favorite Drink: green tea.  I drink it all day long.  Hot or cold.  

Favorite Food: Chicken Scaloppini (without the pasta)

Favorite Book: Enemy of the People by Henrik Ibsen or else Recipes Tried and True copyright 1894

Favorite Movie: I have 3 that are equal:  The Dark Crystal, The Princess Bride, Labyrinth

Favorite Tool: jewelry pilers because I use it so often.  

Favorite Pet: Terry Cat who is in my current icon pic

Favorite Camping Spot: Over in Luray, VA.  I love forest, mountains, and caves.  

Favorite Place to take a Vacation:  The mountains in the spring or early fall.  

Favorite Garden Seeds/Plants: Basil, Rosemary, Tomatoes, & peppers 

Favorite Comfort item: Bah the goat.  It is a small stuffed goat that I use to diffuse situations.  He hops out on my finger and starts chanting 'bah bah bah!'  I also tend to use him like a worry rock and rub my finger across it to calm me down.  

I adore how  similar and different food is across the world.  And now I am seriously craving dumplings.  

Dumplings like fruit cobbler dumplings and chicken and dumplings are delicious.   They share nothing in common with traditional stuffed Asian dumplings.  The ingredients are occasionally similar, but the amounts are never the same, the cooking methods and duration are never the same, the texture is completely different. 

Bread dumplings like what you would think of as in chicken and dumplings, the fruit cobbler, and the red lobster are going to have a crumbly, biscuit like texture.   You could potentially stuff a western dumpling biscuit type dumpling, but it would completely fall apart if you boiled it in liquid like a normal western-style dumpling.  The only way for it to hold together is going to be to bake it and then it is going to turn out more like a stuffed biscuit or muffin.   Which are delicious!

Note that there is a 3rd type of dumpling that is the western baked dumpling.  It is basically something like beef wellington, or apple dumplings and it is an item covered in dough and baked.   Sometimes considered a traditional European baked dumpling, it is always baked and has a somewhat crispier outer crust.  

A picture is worth a Thousand Words:

Western Boiled Dumplings--never filled, boiled in a liquid.  Noted for its crumb, thickness, and lack of crispiness as a whole.  

Eastern Dumplings--always filled and fried/baked/steamed/boiled.  Noted for its thin, pasta like texture and savory or sweet fillings.  

European Baked Dumplings--always filled and baked (though I have seen them deep fried in some modern applications):   Usually crispy with a crumb noticeably different than boiled dumplings.  

Dumplings are more like Asian ravioli than biscuits.   They are boiled, fried, or steamed.   Sometimes rice flour, wheat, or semolina.  Otherwise they are basically ravioli.  Traditionally they would never have cheese, but fusion can be fun.  I would skip any traditional Asian sauce if using the feta.   Instead dip them in some type of marinara, pesto, or alfredo based sauce.  If you google feta ravioli, you will find a million fillings, then you can just use your dumpling dough instead.  Keep in mind it will be better steamed than boiled with such a wet filling in the dumpling dough.   

A more biscuit like approach that would be stuffed would be a bao bun or a pork bun.  --Those are made and steamed rather than baked.  Asian food is almost never baked.  

I make a similar red lobster recipe.   I do the flour/fat/baking powder/buttermilk/cheese and bake it.  Then I melt the butter, stir in garlic, and brush it over the tops of the done biscuits.  The garlic flavor is more prominent that way.  

I hope no one things I'm egotistical as I had a PM or 2 to recreate this thread.  

This is the buggy my late aunt cross stitched and I got.  There are no words with that one. 

This is the squirrel I painted in my living room:

I used to sell crochet on consignment, but not in the last few years.