<begin mild rant>
There is a nasty bit of a rumor floating around out there. You know, the one that says that homeschool parents don’t like/appreciate/respect teachers? And that teachers don’t like/appreciate/respect homeschool parents? I’m going to lay that rumor down right now.

Frantically Simple. Fighting injustices every day.

I love (most) teachers. They are dedicated, hard working and truly have their students best interests at heart. I don’t homeschool to keep Newt away from evil government schools and unrighteous influences. I homeschool because it works for our family.
Most teachers that I know get that and respect it.
</end mild rant>

Toning it down to an appropriate level: “Teachers of the World: I appreciate you!”
Better?

If you’d like a cute and simple way to show your appreciation for a favorite teacher, read on.
Note: Merely reading this tutorial will not be enough. Once you have read the instructions on creating the following project, you will have to actually create one. Or make a card. Or buy something. Or just say, “Thanks.” One of those ought to do it.

Newt and I made a chalkboard flowerpot for her piano teacher a couple of years ago. It’s a cute, simple, and cheap and easy to make little gift.
Purchase a small terracotta pot from your local gardening store or crack addiction recovery center Wal-Mart.
If you are going to plant directly into the pot, instead of using a liner, you’ll want to seal it. Thompsons MultiSurface Spray Water Sealer works great. Brush on or spray the interior of your pot and allow to dry according to label instructions.
Once the sealer is dry, paint the outside or your pot with chalkboard paint. A little goes a long way; you don’t need to buy a large container of it.
Allow to dry for 24 hours before planting. Have your little darling chalk a message to his/her teacher.
I suggest, “Teachers of the World: I adore you (and also would like to smell your hair)!”
And now we are back to awkward…
I’ll be home all next week. Go ahead and drop the restraining order by any time.

Amazon affiliate links are being used for your convenience. Feel free to pick up your supplies where ever you like.

What I’ve Been Reading
Under the Never Sky
Why, oh why do I love YA Distopian futures so much? I eat them like candy. Thankfully, there are a lot to choose from. Under the Never Sky was a fun one. I loved the contrast between the highly technologically developed Dwellers, the humans who went inside to survive when the climate changes, and the more primitive Outsiders, those that stayed out and became physically hardier and developed other unusual skills. I’m excited to read the next one.

Cinder: Book One in the Lunar Chronicles
Dude. Cinderella as a cyborg. What more need I say? It was just as awesome as you’d hope.

On Writing: 10th Anniversary Edition: A Memoir of the Craft
Such amazing advice on how to write well. I just wish there was a slightly less potty-mouth version.

When You Reach Me
One of the best middle-grade books (for the tween-set) I’ve read in a long time. So realistic and grounded, in a fun way, that even the time travel aspect feels like an “of course”. Loved it.

What I’ve Been Reading to Newt
The Children of the New Forest (Free for Kindle)
This is a literary suggestion from Ambleside Online, the homeschool curriculum we are following this year. i have loved all their other suggestions, but this one? Not so much. Too rambling. We are hanging in there, with the hopes that it picks up.

The Hobbit
I love this book. We read it together when Newt was six, but with the new movie coming out late this year, she’s requested it again. I believe it to be the most light-hearted of the LOTR series, making it a great read aloud. On the negative side, the chapters are so long. If we don’t have time to read a whole chapter, breaking it is difficult.

What Newt Has Been Reading
The Hunger Games Trilogy
She just started Mockingjay, but so far Catching Fire is her favorite. As a big fan of the same author’s Gregor the Overlander Series, Newt has been begging to read these for a couple of years.
I made her wait until I felt she was ready. I think that time is now.
We have been having some good discussions about it.

My Manuscript – she’s giving me a pretty thorough critique. I’m relieved to say she likes it. She also likes, no loves, finding all my typos.

What have you been reading lately?

two
We’ve had a friend of Newt’s staying with us while her parents are on vacation. I know we’ve only had her for a week, but I’m going to go out on a limb and say it: two children are far easier than one.
After all the times I’ve been told, “You must have it so easy, with only one”, that feels good to say.

three
We went to see The Avengers Friday night. By the way, it was awesome, but on the way home I found myself wondering: Is it really summer blockbuster time already? I’ll be running after the ice-cream man in no time.

three-point-five
As much as I love healthy foods, I also recognize that everything has its place. This is why I try to make it a summertime policy to always keep money on hand for the ice-cream man. It didn’t take him long to figure that out. Now, on those rare occasions that we choose not to buy, he parks in front of our house and plays his song for at least five minutes.

four
Cannibals. I don’t know why, but they are often on my mind.

What’s on your mind?

I make awesome fish tacos, if I do say so myself: lightly spiced, pan-seared fish and a crispy cabbage slaw wrapped in a corn tortilla. Me gusto!

Want to be an awesome fish taco maker too? The recipe is near and dear to my heart: it was one of the first ones I ever made up. It is highly adjustable. Feel free to use more or less spices.

Enjoy!
Pin It]]> http://franticallysimple.com/2012/05/fish-tacos/feed/ 4 http://franticallysimple.com/2012/04/i-see-your-texas-bluebells-and-raise-you-oregon-tulips/ http://franticallysimple.com/2012/04/i-see-your-texas-bluebells-and-raise-you-oregon-tulips/#comments Thu, 26 Apr 2012 00:05:34 +0000 Simply Heidi http://franticallysimple.com/?p=4430
Sorry I have been so quiet; I am madly working on edits to my little manuscript, getting it ready for my crack-team of beta readers.
I’m hoping to wrap it up soon, but in the meantime enjoy these pictures of Oregon in the spring, okay?

]]> http://franticallysimple.com/2012/04/white-bean-chicken-chili/feed/ 9 http://franticallysimple.com/2012/04/not-quite-fearless-but-close-enough/ http://franticallysimple.com/2012/04/not-quite-fearless-but-close-enough/#comments Wed, 11 Apr 2012 02:44:40 +0000 Simply Heidi http://franticallysimple.com/?p=4412 These things scare me:

• Driving over bridges
• Getting lost
• Clowns
• Dolls

My worst nightmare would be getting lost in a strange, bridge-filled city, looking in my rear view mirror and seeing this:

Image Credit
Sometimes fears are good; they keep us safe. A fear of jumping into a pool filled with man-eating sharks with frickin’ laser-beams attached to their heads, just might keep you alive should the wrong set of circumstances converge.
A lot of the time (perhaps even most of the time?) though, fears have a way of holding us back. Safety is important, but one day, when I look back, I don’t want to say, “That was a good, safe life”.
I want to say, “That was spectacular”.
Succeed or fail, I want to do it in a big way.
Eleanor Roosevelt said, “Do one thing every day that scares you”. I’m not quite at the every day level yet myself, but I’m working on it.
That’s why I’ve decided it’s time to give this writing thing all that I have. I’m working hard on finishing my first novel and I’ve begun outlining a couple more. I signed up for a writer’s conference. I’ve joined a critique group* in a nearby city and and looking into forming a new one here. I’m making a go of this and it’s absolutely, positively, terrifyingly wonderful.

What fears would you like to break free of? What’s stopping you?

*Oh yeah, and the leader of my critique group? She’s a professional clown. Seriously.

We’ve made more freezer paper t-shirts. Doctor Who themed, of course.

Exterminate! Exterminate!

Since Newt wants to become a vet, and lots of dissections are in her future, we both felt it would be a great opportunity. That is how I found myself inviting some friends over for a good old fashioned spring break dissection party.
I have to admit, I was a little unsure how any of us would handle it, but once we got through the first few cuts, we were fine.

Fascinating stuff, that.
If you have the stomach for it, I created a set for the rest of my photos on flickr.

What else have we been up to?
Lots of sleeping in. Reading. Writing; I’ve made a fair amount of progress on my book. Time with friends. It’s been a nice break.

What crazy plans do you have this spring?

two
Cookies are over. Can I get an amen! To thank me for my service as cookie mom, I was victim to the sweetest act of vandalism ever. Loved it.

It actually made me cry a little. In a good way. Especially when I saw the one signed by Newt:

Since her facination with Dr. Who (especially the 10th Doctor, played by David Tennant) has become a full-blown obsession, I was truly flattered.

two-point-five
So, uh, Heidi, if cookies are over, what’s up with the sparse posting on ye old blogge?
Oh, that. Well, I’ve got a couple of other projects up my sleeve.
First of all: homeschool. We’ve buckled down, at Newt’s request.
Another Amen would not be inappropriate here.
We are finishing up our first 12 weeks of Ambleside Online’s Charlotte Mason-style curriculum.
Non-homeschoolers, just smile and nod. This part will be over soon.
Can I just say that I love this curriculum?
Of course I can. 1) I just did and 2) it’s my blog. I can say whatever I like.
Anyway, AO has breathed some new life into our school day. Very exciting stuff.
However, as such, I am trying ever-so-hard to block out larger portions of my day for this oh-such-important stuff.
Even though I still check in with social media far more than I probably should. I’m looking at you Facebook and Pinterest.
Second of all: I’ve been writing a middle-grade children’s book.
My book is about Captain Hook’s daughter. She’s stuck in a stuffy finishing school and desparate for adventure, but she may get more than she can handle when she is charged with hunting down the crocodile that killed her father.
Want a tiny sample?

Let me see, how to describe the girl…
Ah, I have it! Have you ever been privy to witness a great disaster, such as the burning of a circus?
Picture it: a great trumpeting of elephants and snarling of tigers. Ladies, both beaded and bearded, fainting of terror. A mighty bucket brigade made of midgets and clowns, sword-swallowers and finely dressed dandies, all shouting and sweating as they passed bucketsful of water up the line to the source of the flames. Now look to it, the great and tragic circus tent aflame, its colors more vivid than life, and all the more beautiful wrapped in disaster…
If you can imagine that, you will have a pretty good sense of young Jocelyn Hook.

Since I have been spending more time in that world, I’ve had less time for this one. However, I still intend to keep touch with y’all at least once a week.
[note: Heidi is not from the South, but the occasional ya'll still slips into her writing. In addition, she also called the library today to see how late they were open and asked about it with a fake southern accent: "Yes Ma'am, how late are ya'll open tonight?" Heidi is weird like that sometimes.]

three
I have the best friends. Earlier this week, several of us got together to learn all the insider tricks to cutting up a whole chicken.

After we cut them up, we did this:

Which, as you know, is not exactly a health food, but sometimes a girl needs some fried chicken. And, like I’ve said before, at least it was homemade.
We ate the chicken with a potluck of potato salad, deviled eggs, buttermilk biscuits and collard greens, while watching The Help.
Come to think of it, no wonder I’m ya’llin’ y’all today…

four
It’s been nearly 24 hours and it’s still snowing. Ya’ll better send over a St. Bernard with a barrel of brandy herbal tea on it’s collar. We may need it to dig us out.

What’s the weather like where you are? And if it’s nice, how do you feel about house guests?

Julia gave us many wonderful things to discuss. She did not start cooking seriously until her 40s. Before that, her meals were often disasters. We talked about the importance of life-long learning. At 6’2″, she stood out in a crowd, but never seemed to be bothered by it. We talked about how being different can be an asset. Mostly, we talked about how her “no fear” attitude was inspiring.
Most of the girls had taken time before the meeting to watch episodes of The French Chef. It was a big hit.

After a brief meeting for our discussion, we loaded into my car for a field trip to Oregon Culinary Institute in Portland. We ate fancy food, prepared by chef students, in the school’s restaurant.
Note: If you have plans to be in the Portland area, make reservations. Nine dollars will get you a wonderful three-course lunch, eighteen will get you a four-course dinner.

The girls sampled such fare as Grapefruit and Fennel Salad, Smoked Salmon Mousse, Lamb and Potato Gnocchi, and the delicious, if not exotic, Chocolate Dream Torte. Although they did not all love every single thing on their plates, each girl tried new things and no one uttered a single “gross!”. Success!
After lunch we were treated to a tour of the school kitchens by one of their female executive chef/instructors. It was a fantastic way to cap off our study of Julia Child.

Newt is going through a "I don't smile in pictures" phase. One consequence of being a blogger-mom.

Feel free to use the notebooking pages and writing prompts I created. Non-commercial use only, please.
Writing Prompts for Julia Child
Julia Child Notebooking Pages

Bon Appetit!

Next month: Annie Jump Cannon