1. Hair. I got my hair cut this week. I saw some pictures of myself from the party weekend, and I was quite horrified. Being the efficient soul that I am, I love a mostly wash and wear do. I was being super spiritual the past few months (snort), going even to the lengths of reading my Bible while blow drying my hair. Two birds with one stone, and all that. (in all honesty, I figured it was better to be reading the Bible first thing, than to be on FB. It got my day started off on a good foot. And I usually finished my daily reading while the kids were eating breakfast-after I was done with my hair.)
The effect I was going for was care-free. The pictures instead highlighted more of a don't care vibe. Which was not what I was looking for, because, I do in fact care. I care enough to spend about 5 minutes, and that is about it....
Anyway, I went to a salon-salon on Monday and got my hair cut and styled. The girl was awesome. She chopped the locks, and then showed me how to dry and style the coif for maximum oomph. Moral of the story...reading your Bible while drying your hair is a no-no. Hair drying requires full attention to make it work right. She showed me how to partition my hair, and dry in layers. And, believe it or not, I've got the routine down to about 5-6 minutes. Which works. My new do involves less bang, shorter hair, lots of layers, embracing the gray, and going big. I love it.
Also, I have to be back in the salon on Monday for Meres, and I'm slightly afraid that the hair-stylist is going to look and my hair and secretly think..."well, that's ONE interpretation of that hair style."
2. Painting. It's spring. Which means that it is time for Mr. Hippie's annual Bible study weekend. Which also means that we once again have a distinguished guest from the British Isles staying with us for a few nights. Which is quite the motivator when it comes to cleaning and house projects. Not that the guest cares. But I care. So, we've done some hole patching and painting in our upstairs landing. And the bathrooms will be getting a thorough scrub down before Wednesday (well, probably ON Wednesday).
Since Brian will be gone for three days, I'm not packing away the paint brushes after the landing is done. They will get a good rinsing in preparation for painting the kitchen this week. We've lived in this house for over 10 years, and the kitchen is the one room that has not been repainted. I patch painted once or twice, but it has needed to be completely redone since the tile was put in last year.
Brian put new trim around the doorways, and sanded down the window casing. I'm going to paint the walls and ceiling this next week, and the trim if I get around to it. (I don't want to work too hard while he is away...) I will do the trim in early May if I don't get it done this week.
I will be painting the currently pink ceiling a nice cream color. And the currently terra cotta walls will be a shade called "spiced berry." It reminds me of a burgundy leaning more to red than purple, with a hint of cinnamon brown. It is a dark color, and I think it will look fabulous! I love dark paint colors. The light ceiling and white cabinets will keep everything nice and bright. I might splurge and get buffed silver or bronze plate covers. We will see...
I am very excited. There is nothing like a fresh coat of paint to make everything look new and fresh!
3. Reading. Guys! Meres has finished reading Dick and Jane!!! Whoot-whoot! My goal with each of my kids has been to have them reading by the end of kindergarten. But, I reach Christmas each year, and they are just starting word families, and I wonder if each particular kid is going to be the one who upsets my goals.
Thankfully, not a single one of them has. Meres has made tons of progress on her reading. Her comprehension seems quite good. She tends to guess at words (according to what she is seeing in the pictures), but she is starting to memorize more and more words, and so they just flow out as she is reading.
We will start the BJU first grade readers this Monday, and just work through all of them, keeping on throughout the summer.
What is really thrilling to me is seeing her sitting on the couch with books. She is trying to sound out words, and she is thinking. She loves reading and books, and that makes me smile.
4. School. We have 5 weeks of regular school left, plus one week devoted entirely to fun school. We are all super excited about this fact!!! Me, no less than the kids. Our fun school week will be taken up with finishing our history and art lectures for the year, plus doing double duty on biology to get it close to done, and we will finish our ancient Rome maps and make timelines.
The kids have been doing biology and they are on the dissection module. They are not exactly enjoying it, but at least they are learning-I think.
5. Hummus. I have been making a batch of hummus every week for over a month. It is such a healthy snack, and we all love it. We love it so much that I made four batches for Meres' end of treatment party and I came home with only about 1-1/2 cups of hummus. That's it. I was surprised. I like hummus, and I know other people like my hummus. But, I had no idea that people liked it that much. The BFF thinks I should make and sell it. One of my article club friends thinks I could call it Vampire Slayer hummus, because of the garlicky goodness of it. We shall see, we shall see.
I was sure I had shared this recipe on here. I always send people to my blog for the recipe. But, I guess I never have. Oops. So, here it is....
Hummus
Prep time: 15 minutes
2 (15 oz) cans garbanzo beans
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup tahini paste
2 lemons, juiced
3 cloves garlic, peeled
1 tsp cumin
2 tsp salt
-Drain beans, saving the liquid from one can.
-Add olive oil, tahini paste, garlic, 1/4 cup lemon juice, salt and cumin to the blender, then add beans. Pour 1/2 cup of the reserved liquid in the blender on top of the beans, and pulse until smooth. Add more liquid as necessary to get the thick dip effect.
-Taste and add more lemon juice to get desired lemony flavor.
-The key to good hummus is blending it enough. Even when all the big chunks are gone, blend it more. It will always look gritty, but if it is gritty in your mouth, blend more. And add more liquid as needed. Hummus thickens when it is refrigerated.
-Makes about 4 cups of hummus.
Have a great weekend!
