Lovely Rain

It is raining out! Most of the storms have missed us recently, and the grass we have grown to enjoy has begun looking like the grass in SW Oklahoma does most of the year.

I had intended to cook a "beer can chicken" on the grill... except I lacked a can of beer. And the rain also would of made this more challenging. Instead, having already thawed the undismembered chicken, I fell back on this summer's best friend: the crock pot/ slow cooker. I softened 1/2 stick of butter (1/4 cup) and added some Bell's Tomato-Basil Salt free seasoning, some garlic powder, and onion powder. I loosened the skin on the chicken, and really stuffed the seasoned butter up under it, and slathered the rest of the butter over the outside of the skin. Then I put it in the crock pot on high... since it was already noon. Tom had had a sandwich for lunch, and failed to put away the fixings, so I used the remainder of an onion in on top of the chicken, then decided to add some of the bell pepper and onion seasoning mix I keep in the freezer. It smells sooooo goooood! Another two hours til supper though... so I turned it down to low. I set out some (boxed) Southwest Potatoes as a side dish, and will probably heat up either green beans or Ranchies to go with it.

I crossed the halfway mark of my (150 mile by Oct.20th) goal today! So far, I have lost about 5 lbs. It doesn't seem like much payoff for the effort, but I will keep it up! At least I have strengthened my knee so that I no longer need the knee brace just to walk.

I still haven't looked into what all the boys and I will be doing for school this coming year. I need to find a science curriculum, for sure. We have plenty of math, history, government, politics, and such materials on hand. MUST. GET. MOTIVATED!

The boys are self-motivated in many areas, like art and music. They have tended to drive us all a bit insane with some of their "future plans" to be in the steam powered world, and build a paying dirigible business... but! In all of their planning, they have had to do a lot of math and logistics, as well as research. (SHHH, don't mention it is educational!)

Oh, dinner is smelling way too good. Hope it tastes as good as it smells. (Brilliant idea... just had Dan go add a handful of fresh basil to the pot!)

Have a blessed day!