is good enough, good enough?

We had Charlie's second quarter conferences on Saturday.  His school keeps his grades and assignments posted on line, so we can check in whenever we want, and know what type of progress he is making.  We had already reviewed all of his class assignments and grades before we went in to talk to his access teacher, so there were no surprises.

The school he attends is tough.  He has one to two hours of homework a night, and expectations are high.  There are no excuses, such as leaving your homework in your locker.  But I think that is a good thing for this age, and that is why he is at this school.  On top of that, he is incredibly smart, so the work is not over his head.

Charlie's grades dropped from first quarter.  While he got mostly A's and a few B's in the first quarter, his grades dropped to B's in the second quarter.  He is now smack dab in the middle of his class in terms of grade point.  And it isn't because he doesn't get the work, it's because his assignments were late, or turned in less than complete.  Because he has decided B's are 'good enough'.

Mike and I have never been pushy about school, or rewarded grades with money.  We don't review all of his assignments before he turns them in, or ask to see every test result.  We do monitor his planner, to see what his work load is like, and check his on-line progress reports.  We see when assignments are late, or when he obviously didn't study very hard for a test.  And we talk to him about it, and find out what is up.  And encourage extra credit, or prod him to study a bit more in the classes where he is falling short.

Last week he had an eye exam, as the school had done a screening and his vision was not great.  So now he is getting glasses, and I am thinking that may have played a part in his deteriorating grades, as his eye exam this summer showed his vision was fine. This quarter will tell.

I remember being very stressed out about school, always striving for an A and feeling bad if I got an A-.  I remember having falling grades in junior high and FREAKING OUT and it turned out I needed glasses too. 

Part of me is glad Charlie doesn't freak out about getting an A-, as I don't think that's healthy.  But part of me wishes he would want to try harder, and not just be happy with 'good enough'.  He is smart enough to do the work, and if he really wanted to he would be getting straight A's.

So as a mom, do I push?  Do I enforce stricter study times?  Or do I let him figure this out on his own, and perhaps he will come to the realization that he wants more than 'good enough'? 

The Lego age was so much easier....

a cup of feel good

Back in November, when we had our holiday boutique, one of the artists shared a cup of tea with me that has changed my life.  Well, maybe that sounds a bit drastic, but this tea company makes the most fabulous tea-ever.

I have been an occasional tea drinker in the winter months-I would usually buy Good Earth, or try other types at a friend's house.  Maybe a cup a week, when I remembered.  I was more likely to make another pot of coffee in the afternoon, rather than turn on the tea kettle.  Now, I drink at least 2-3 cups of tea a day!  I have cut back on coffee, I drink only one or two cups, and only in the morning.

Yogi tea makes over 50 kinds of tea, and each kind is formulated to help your body in some way. 

The first one I tried, and the one that got me hooked, was "Breathe Deep".  After that cup, with flavors of licorice, thyme, and eucalyptus, I found myself feeling really good, both physically and emotionally.  And I vowed to find it on my next grocery run.

Super Target carries several of their flavors, but not the one I had tried.  So I bought "Cold Season", and also "Bedtime".  And unlike many teas that end up languishing in their cardboard boxes in my cupboard, and get thrown out the next winter, I have been going through BOXES of Yogi tea.  Right now I am drinking 'Egyptian Licorice" and can't wait to try more.



Yogi tea is more expensive than other brands, but the flavors are so complex and beautifully balanced-they are more than worth it.  They have teas to help with digestion, skin detoxifying, even natural laxatives.  When you go to their website (I will provide the link in a bit) you can choose your tea by what kind of mood you are looking to achieve and/or what kind of flavors you like, and they will recommend teas for you.  Here is the link if you want to explore:  http://www.yogiproducts.com/

I can honestly say that I can't wait to put the kettle on!  I even have Charlie drinking tea now, he likes to have a cup when he is doing his homework. 

Are you a tea drinker?  Leave me a comment, with your favorite kind, and I will have a drawing at 8 am Monday morning.  If you are a winner, I will send you a sampler box of Yogi tea!  Then you can find out for yourself how amazing it is.

Please note:  I have not been paid to talk about Yogi, those of you who read me know I am not a 'professional' blogger, and do not get paid for my blogging.  I just wanted to share something wonderful with you!

button button...

I've got lots of buttons!

I've been busy playing with my buttons, and will have more things in the shop soon.  I will  have a  huge line of made to match Matilda Jane hair goods and bracelets this month too!  They will have vintage button accents,  and even some vintage zippers too.  The line is full of bright spring color, just what we need this time of year.  Stay tuned for the fun!

If I can keep the carpal tunnel at bay, that is...

recipe box Wednesday

"Away in a meadow all covered with snow

The little old groundhog looks for his shadow

The clouds in the sky determine our fate

If winter will leave us all early or late."

- Don Halley

And more than any year I am pretty sure we are all praying for early...and I heard that was the prediction, so we will see.  As Al Roker just said, that animal is no meteorologist...

In honor of Groundhog Day, a lovely meat stew.  I guess you could use groundhog, but I am thinking it would be a little gamey...I will stick to beef, thanks.  Have any of you actually ever seen a groundhog?  And how did they get the honor?  Why not a woodchuck, or a badger?  Or perhaps a gray squirrel?  Maybe I should do some Groundhog Day reading....and isn't it amazing that if I really wanted to do that, I could, with just a few strokes of my keyboard?  But I digress...


From my nearly endless library of Ina Garten cookbooks:  Parker's Stew  (Please note, you need to start this at least one day before you want to eat it.)  This one is from the book on the left.  Just another wonderful addition to the Barefoot Contessa collection!

Cook time: 2 hours, 20 minutes   6 servings

Parkers's Stew


Ingredients


2 1/2 pounds good quality chuck beef, cut into 1 1/2-inch cubes

1 (750-ml bottle) good red wine ( I used a just okay bottle, couldn't bear to use the good stuff...)

3 whole garlic cloves, smashed

3 bay leaves

6 oz. bacon, cut into 1" pieces

2 cups all-purpose flour

Kosher salt  & freshly ground black pepper

Good olive oil

2 yellow onions, cut into 1-inch cubes

2 tablespoons minced garlic (3 cloves)

1 pound carrots, peeled and cut diagonally in 1 1/2-inch chunks

1 pound small potatoes, halved or quartered

 1 (14 1/2-ounce can) beef stock

1 large (or 2 small) branch fresh rosemary

1/2 cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

1 (10-ounce) package frozen peas

Directions

Place the beef in a bowl with red wine, garlic, and bay leaves. Place in the refrigerator and marinate overnight.

The next day, preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.

Brown the bacon in a large (12") saute pan for 5-7 minutes, over med-low heat.  With a slotted spoon, transfer the bacon to a Dutch oven.  Combine the flour, 1 tablespoon salt, and 1 tablespoon pepper. Lift the beef out of the marinade with a slotted spoon and discard the bay leaves and garlic, saving the marinade. In batches, dredge the cubes of beef in the flour mixture and then shake off the excess. In the same saute pan,  brown half the beef over medium heat for 5 to 7 minutes, turning to brown evenly. Place the beef in the Dutch oven with the bacon and continue to brown the remaining beef, adding oil as necessary. (If the beef is very lean, you'll need more oil.) Place all the beef in the Dutch oven.

If needed, heat another 2 tablespoons of oil to the large pot and add the onions, carrots, and potatoes. Cook for 10 minutes over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Add the garlic and cook for 2 more minutes. Place all the vegetables in the Dutch oven over the beef. Add 2 1/2 cups of the reserved marinade to the empty pot and cook over high heat to deglaze the bottom of the pan, scraping up all the brown bits with a wooden spoon. Add the beef stock, rosemary, sun-dried tomatoes, Worcestershire sauce, 1 tablespoon salt, and 2 teaspoons pepper. Pour the sauce over the meat and vegetables in the Dutch oven and bring to a simmer over medium heat on top of the stove. Cover the pot and place it in the oven to bake it for about 2 hours, until the meat and vegetables are all tender, stirring once during cooking. If the stew is boiling rather than simmering, lower the heat to 250 or 275 degrees F.

Before serving, stir in the frozen peas, season to taste, and serve hot.

I made this Tuesday night, after marinating the meat starting Monday night. I realized in reading the recipe I copied over here from the Food Network site, that it was a little different than the one in the book.  So I have revised it to reflect the one in the book. The one on the site did not include bacon but added mushrooms, and it used chicken broth rather than beef broth, and used a bit less garlic. 

This was a fairly labor intensive meal, you should have seen the mess I made when I was flouring and browning the beef cubes!  But then, I am a pretty messy cook to start with...

It was very good, and had lots of flavor.  I would use a better bottle of wine next time, as the flavor really does come through since the meat marinates for quite a while. I would use less pepper in the last addition, it seemed to be a bit too much.  It was a wonderfully comforting meal for a cold and windy night, I whipped up some biscuits to go along with it.

I have a lot of stew recipes, and this one by far takes the most time, so I am not sure how often it will get made.  But it made a big batch, and we will have yummy leftovers for the rest of the week!

the boys of summer

Last Saturday Mike and Charlie trekked up to Little Falls for the annual District 23 end of year banquet.  It's a night of food and fun and reconnecting with people who they spend a lot of time with in the summer.  There are enduro riders, harescramble riders, motocross riders, hill climbers, and quad riders.  Food is eaten, awards are given, and there are even door prizes for the lucky.

Mike got second overall for enduro, and sixth for harescramble (even though he didn't make it to all of the harescramble events).  Charlie got 10th place in his class, which made us so proud, as he has only been riding for a couple of years, while some of these kids have been riding since they could walk. 

For the last several years, Mike has compiled a short video with highlights from the previous year.  Each year he refines it, and this year's was the best yet.   And here it is! (make sure it loads fully before attempting to view, and put it on full screen if you can). 

He has worked on this for MONTHS, and I am pretty amazed by his talent.  He taught himself not only how to take pictures and video, but learned the editing software-which looks unbelievably complicated to me.  I think he likes picking out the music the best...

What a great sport, and fun people.  Not a bad way to spend a whole bunch of endless Sundays!