The Soup Edition

In between billing and posting loads today, I am simmering a pot of taco soup.  The weather isn’t that cold…yet.  However, I am making it to take over to Scott’s Mother and Step Dad.  His mom had a pacemaker put in Saturday.  She is doing really well, but still should be taking it easier than what she is.
 

And bless her English soul, she loves any kind of soup.  At her and Grandpa Dave’s ages (80 plus), they don’t do a lot of cooking and eat a lot of Campbell's out of the can.  I told Scott to give her a choice of two of three soups:  Potato soup, taco soup or vegetable soup.  They chose Taco and Potato.  

Taco soup is sooo easy…and I probably never make it the same way twice.  The ingredients are simple and this time of year most people have them on hand.

 

Ingredients:

1 lb Ground meat browned (venison, beef, pork, turkey…your choice)

½ cup diced onion (for us RAD folks, pic sweet sells them already diced or buy fresh from produce dept)
Combine with:
1 can tomatoes with chili’s
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can stewed tomatoes
1 can black beans
1 can red beans
1 can corn
2 tablespoons of taco seasoning (homemade)
2 tablespoons of ranch seasoning (or one packet)

I don’t do this at home like most folks would.  I add the can of tomatoes with chilies to the browned meat and onions.  Then add one half can of black beans, one half can of red beans and drained can of corn.  Blend remaining beans and can of stewed tomatoes in blender and add to soup pot.  Then add the final can of tomatoes.  I also add about two cans of water rinsing out the tomato cans.

Add the taco and ranch seasonings, stirring well.  Allow the soup to simmer.  The longer it cooks, the better it is.  Now if you like soupier taco soup, add an additional can of petite diced tomatoes or a can of beef broth.  I prefer tomatoes.  If it is “too” spicy, reduce the taco seasoning.  In other words, cook it to you and your family’s taste!

Other than the pain of opening cans (Santa please bring me an electric can opener…my wrists will be so grateful!) and the onion chopping, this is very easy to throw together.  My girls like it served with grated cheese, sour cream and tortilla chips.  It is also wonderful with some Granny Fussell Egg bread. 

I am going to put the cooled soup in two medium sized containers in the freezer.  This way, Grandma Peggy can take out just the portion that she and Grandpa Dave need for one meal.  This is also very easy to double for a crowd or if you want to fill up that freezer for the busy Basketball season!

 

Up next…Potatoe soup:  It is wonderful too!

The Work Rut

I guess for some of us, the work rut is just a habit.  A really bad habit that we fall --- no plunge into head first.  The trucking had been very busy for nearly four months and guess what feel to the wayside while it was so busy.  You got it, my health.

Now if this was the first time, or the second time, I allowed…yes willingly allowed, my work schedule to dictate my health I could say, “oh, my bad…”  But for me, this is just the same old rut…the one I very comfortably go back to.  I work like a dog and run myself ragged looking after the kids and everybody BUT MYSELF.

Well, guess what?  As usual, it has caught up with me.  The loads starting slowing down and as usual, I started fretting.  Oh, my gosh…no loads! What will we do?  And as usual, eventually during praying (more like talking to God) I finally got the message.  He must think I am so dense.  Duh…maybe the work has slowed down because I need to slow down.

It was like a smack right between the eyeballs.  Yes, I did partially quit my full time job to help Scott with the business.  But mostly, I quit to have more time to REST and to invest the rest of my time into my children and family.  A decision made after many long arduous hours of prayer.

Since I didn’t have as many loads to bill, this Sunday afternoon the girls and I went to the park.  The park that has a playground, walking trails, four super nice basketball goals, soccer fields, softball fields…and only about 3 miles from the house.  Maddie, Carlee and I shot hoops while AnnaB played her heart out on the monkey bars.

Well, I shagged balls while Maddie and Carlee worked on shooting drills.  The weather was cool and we enjoyed just getting out.  We are planning to go back today weather and homework permitting.  And I’m looking forward to my one-armed woman ball shagging date with my girls!

If I won the Lottery

The joke use to be, if I won the lottery I was building a gym for the girls’ former school…a big gym, with air conditioning and some nice soft seats with a mezzanine.  However I’ve since had a change of heart.  No Gym.  I’m gonna build my baby school…
 

Reality is if Mama won the lottery nobody would know…until the crushed ice machine was installed…that would be my dead giveaway.  After paying some bills, buying a really large (used, I know always cheap) diesel motor home, I would give a lot to charity.  Then I wondered what charities?  Then later that day I watched a 27 minute video about the amazing Dr. Ben Carson. 

And then I decided…I would build a school.  That’s right, an LD school, South of Macon.  It is amazing at the resources that are available north of Macon, especially if you have deep pockets.  But nowhere in the rural south is there a Bedford school for children who learn differently.

Click here  to learn about Bedford….http://www.thebedfordschool.org/

So if money and budget weren’t an object or I had the money in the bank, how would I do this? So I thought some more.  I would partner with an existing independent, preferably parochial school.  Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have an LD school on the same campus with an existing school?  A school within a school…

The students would get the best of both worlds…an established campus and infrastructure along with a learning environment specifically designed to assist with their learning. 

I would build a separate wing with 8-10 classrooms.  The classrooms, much like the ones at Bedford would have state of the art technology and be very organized.  The teachers would be trained just for LD kids and the curriculum and daily schedule would reinforce methods that will allow them to succeed.

Class size would be limited to somewhere between 6-10 kids per class and would have grades K5 through 9^th grade.  The goal:  to equip students to enter high school with the background and skills to be successful while also provide services to transition through high school and on to post secondary education.

Would this be expensive?  Most certainly.  Bedford is about 17G a year.  But in south Georgia this education could be offered much more economically.  And y’all know I’ve crunched the numbers.  Let’s say that typical private education tuition averages 5 grand per year with a targeted enrollment of 15 per class.  That class would generate 60,000 in revenue to cover teacher pay and overhead.  This is revenue per student NOT cost per student.

 

If half that enrollment would be optical for a LD classroom, say 8 students, then an LD school class would need to generate $7500 revenue per student.  Compare that to 17,000 per student.  Now look around.  Would a school with this type of student population be able to draw full enrollment for K5-9^th grade?  That is a total of 80 students. 

I would have happily either commuted or relocated to this type of school had this been an option for my child.  Now I want to know are there 79 more parents and students that are would do the same?

And I also want to know where is a school that has a heart for LD kids and a vision to offer this very needed service in South Georgia? 

Very sadly and very regrettably, I have realized that my child could have had that Bedford education…and had it near her family and friends.  I didn’t crunch the numbers…the cost is actually small, the tuition even though more than the average independent school in South Georgia is still attainable for many families with LD students. 

For less than a million bucks we could have a Bedford South.  If you are interested in building this dream, if you have a vision of an alternative other than moving your entire family or if you have that million (or a few hundred thousand), please let me know.  I’d come back for that.