Facebook Continues to Stack the Deck Against Me!

I have tried to soldier on with my blog's Facebook Page, but since Facebook went public, they have not been so friendly to all of its users.  Only a third of my Facebook followers are able to see any of my Facebook posts.  Facebook wants me to pay money for each post to my page in order to show those posts on my own followers' news feed!  So, I now need to follow the lead of what other, smarter, bloggers have done.  I am opening up my personal Facebook page to my followers.  So, if you'd like to see everything I post to my Twitter, Instagram and Facebook Page, send me a friend's request to my personal, Jessica Clark, Facebook page.  I will gladly and gratefully accept your friend request because you honor and humble me with your interest and following.

Thank you so much for reading my thoughts and plans and our homeschooling journey.  I love and appreciate you all!

"I'm tired of looking at those peppers!"

That's what my brother told me last week when we were on the phone.  He didn't really yell at me; there is rarely any elevation in his voice.  But I took creative license b/c the title of this blog post would not be as effective nor eye catching if it had a period instead of an exclamation point.  ;o)  So, I'm writing a new blog post just for him, so he does not have to look at the Philly Cheesesteak Stuffed Peppers at the top when he visits my blog.

We bought a twin sized blowup mattress 6 years ago because we were tired of sleeping on Ben's floor when he was sick.  We also bring it out when someone sleeps over.  My brother is our most frequent sleepover guest.  :o)  We blew up the mattress and put it on bedroom floor Friday night because, after what happened in Connecticut, the hubs and I wanted us all together.  B and the hubs slept in our queen size bed and I slept on the blowup.  I love that mattress; it's so comfy!  Just like a select comfort bed, I adjust the air to the squishy level I like, I lay down and stay in that position all night long.

B has never slept on the blowup mattress so we let him sleep on it Saturday night.  And the hubs let him sleep on it last night, as well.  I woke up around 2am this morning because B was moaning.  I went over to wake him, thinking he was having a nightmare.  He wasn't.  He was already awake and moaning because he felt like he was going to throw up.  He also said that he felt that way the night before but never said anything to us.  We got him up to put him in our bed and he started to gag.  I got the trash can and he gagged again, but nothing came up.  He laid down in our bed and the hubs and I started going through everything B ate to find a common denominator that would make him sick 2 days in a row.  After a minute, B said he felt much better and a few minutes after that he felt all better and fell back to sleep in our bed.  Then the hubs figured out what it was: B had gotten motion sickness from sleeping on the blowup mattress!  He gets motion sick so easily.  SMH

B said 2 things yesterday that I want to share with y'all:

1. God makes the weekend, but our family makes it fun!
2. If I ever propose marriage during Christmas time I would get down on one knee, hold out the ring and say, "(Insert name here), with your love so bright, won't you guide my life tonight?"

Philly Cheesesteak Stuffed Peppers

Back in August, I told you about a recipe from Peace Love and Low Carb that has become one of our favorites, Pan-Seared Chicken with Balsamic Cream Sauce, Mushrooms and Onions.  It's a mouthful to say, but worth it!  Tonight, I made another one of PL&LC's recipes, Philly Cheesesteak Stuffed Peppers.  These are so delicious!  I was quite surprised that the peppers were still brightly colored (more so than the picture captured) and that they were still crunchy; I thought they'd be pretty soggy.  So flavorful, so pretty and a big hit in our house.  I highly recommend then!

Upcycled, Children's Christmas Crafts

Yesterday was supposed to be the November meeting of our homeschool group's Craft Club.  Unfortunately I had to cancel the meeting because B was sick.  But that did not stop us from doing the crafts, ourselves, at home.  We had 2 crafts to do, making gift boxes and pencil cases out of cereal boxes and making an Advent calendar.  Both crafts took a lot of time, but we had nothing but, so we put on the Christmas carols, spread everything out on the family room floor and had a great afternoon together.  B was really upset that I canceled Craft Club.  He didn't think everyone needed to be disappointed just because he couldn't go.  He asked me to leave him home and go do the crafts with the other children without him.  Such a big heart on that boy!

This is the link to the gift boxes we made.  This is the template for the pencil case we made.

I originally planned to make this Countdown to Christmas Calendar with the Craft Club.  But since B was sick, I hadn't been able to get to the craft store to get the necessary supplies.  Then I found this Advent "Calendar" idea using toilet paper rolls and I knew this is what we should make.  October's Craft Club meeting included making these spooky eyes in the bushes and I saved waaaay more toilet paper rolls that I needed to!  So, we made the toilet paper roll Advent calendar yesterday and used up 24 toilet paper rolls.  I still have tons of TP and paper towel rolls left, so I need to keep searching for craft ideas for them...  Inside the TP rolls, I placed a piece of leftover Halloween candy and one of these 24 printable Christmas jokes.  We went through magazines and cut out numbers for the days, 1 - 24, and B still plans do to more decorating on each roll.  He has placed the rolls in our Christmas tree.

I plan to add some other activities to these toilet paper rolls after reading Creekside Learning's great Advent Calendar activity ideas.  Julie at Creekside Learning has inspired me and I will include the following activities: my dad likes to take B to see Santa every year; my mom has B over to bake Christmas cookies (I do make food gifts for people at Christmas, but not cookies), we're going to see a holiday performance at a local high school; I found a gift card worth 2 movie tickets so I'll take B to see Rise of the Guardians one weekday; etc.  As the wise Julie at Creekside Learning does, I'll put those special activities in each day as the month rolls along, just a few days ahead of time, to ensure it fits in with our schedule.