The Cottage on the Hill

Food supplies and money was limited during the Great Depression.  If eggs were to be had, they certainly couldn't be wasted in luxuries such as cakes.  Still, cakes were needed for special occasions to lift spirits during such hard times.  Ingenious housewives came up with this cake, named Crazy Cake, because it uses such simple staple ingredients and, crazily, makes a delicious and versatile cake! Depression Era Crazy Cake 1.5 cups + 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour 3/4 cup granulated sugar 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon vinegar* 1.5 teaspoon vanilla extract 5 tablespoons oil** 1 cup water Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8 inch round or square cake pan and lightly dust with flour. Mix dry ingredients. Indent a smiley face using the underside of a tablespoon; eyes, and mouth. In one eye pour the vanilla. In the other eye pour the vinegar. In the mouth pour the oil. Pour water all over the ingredient...

Who is feeling the struggle? It's ok.  It is a struggle.  For many, if not most of us, emotions were strong this past week.  Children pushed boundaries, were distracted by all the wonderful things they have at home, and you had the added stress of making sure you can feed everyone without extra grocery store runs only to face empty shelves.   Give yourself and your kiddos grace.  Lots of it!   Remember, this was thrust upon most of us last minute; for me, literally the day before.  We didn't have time to plan, prep, organize, or even ease into it.  This. Was. Hard.  Even if you thoroughly enjoyed it, it was still hard. There are more weeks to come and it can get better.  Here are things you can do this weekend to prepare for next week's homeschooling: 1.  SLEEP!!  You, parent, need sleep!  Your children need sleep.  Take care of yourself. 2.  Clean.   Ugh, right?  But, hav...

A little early 20th century ingenuity can keep you out of the grocery store. One of the most worrying things happening right now are all the runs on the grocery stores.  People are buying and hoarding like crazy!  A lot of it, I think, has to do with our single-use prepared meals, and lack of kitchen skills.  I'm sure, for the parents who still have to work AND home educate their children, now, time constraints limit their kitchen creativity.   The problem is that this craziness could lead to that which we are trying to avoid, which is the government having to mandate rationing.  We've already seen time rations as businesses open doors to vulnerable society before anyone else can shop.  If we keep our heads, now, we can avoid bigger problems later. Keep in mind ways you can save foods. For example, if you purchase a whole chicken, you can stretch it into 3 or 4 meals.  Here's how: Day 1:  Roast chicken with mashed potatoes ...

Homeschooling doesn't work out for every child. So, what's a parent to do now that they are forced to homeschool? I wanted to homeschool all my children from the start, and at first I did.  It went very well with my oldest child.  It was a nightmare with my 2nd.  By what should have been 3rd grade, she was still at pre-K to Kindergarten level in math, reading, and writing.  I decided to enroll her in public school because she need help.  I had her evaluated and the tests came back that she didn't qualify as having a true learning disability.  Their words were, "she's not bad enough" and "she doesn't fall within the state parameters" (of having a disability/needing an IEP).  Thankfully, her public school 3rd grade teacher was very understanding and superbly supportive.  Despite being in 3rd grade, she met my daughter where she was at academically, and for 2 years (I had her repeat 3rd grade), this phenomenal teacher got her pretty much ...

It is a daunting task to organize and execute your child's education. Keep in mind that I am a veteran homeschooler and I am not working full time at home, too.  Your homeschooling will look different than mine.  This is just how I'm doing it.  You may glean from it, or you may not.   My oldest is homeschooled.  My other 3 are public schooled, and are currently home due to the coronavirus mandates.  While the school is offering resource packets, I decided to use this time to fill in gaps my children have developed.  We're working on key points they struggle with in public school.  Child A:  Spelling and reading, hand motor skills exercises, cursive, grade level math practice, practical math:  telling time and counting money Child B:  Handwriting, hand motor skills exercises, he's my most academic child, so I'm mostly continuing grade level practice work from grade level supplementary workbooks. Child C:...

With 4 children at home resources can get quickly depleted. I'm brainstorming ways to make sure our supplies don't run low or out too fast.  It's easy for kids to boredom-snack and get wasteful because they aren't truly hungry.  Plus, with them home, they are using things like soap and toilet paper much more.   1.  Thankfully, I have mostly boys, so their TP usage is limited to their daily #2.  I'm teaching them to wipe, fold it over, and wipe again.  Of us two girls, I use the most TP.  My daughter too easily gets UTIs, so I'll have her keep using TP or a squirt bottle.  I'll cut up a towel and make little washable wipes for myself or use a squirt bottle.  (This is for #1.  #2, we'll still use TP.) 2.  Soap is what it is.  We'll just have to do the best we can.  Hands must be washed. 3.  I'm scheduling meal and snack times.  My 3rd child is underweight with a crazy high metabolism, so he nee...

I woke up this morning with a headache and already exhausted. The weekend has taken its toll on me.  This is a good day to ease into our new routine and make sure I take care of myself.   I took a long shower, had a healthy breakfast, drank my coffee slowly, took my serotonin boosters, and plan to take the day slow and steady. Don't feel you have to jump right into schedule and schooling.  Sure, work on establishing structure and routine, but do so at ease.  Establish calm and breathing.  Your kiddos are likely to take advantage of the "vacation" they may feel they are getting and push boundaries and be difficult to get you to cave to not doing school work.  Today is a good day to address those issues without doing a full day's schooling.  It's a good day to be alongside your children as you all adjust.  Watch the educational programming with them.  Cuddle on the couch, or even in bed.  Read together.  Do chor...

Your pantry is low, so you head to your local grocery store only to find that the coronavirus situation has left you with empty shelves.  Don't feel stressed.  Here's a list of alternatives to help you thrive like our historic foremothers in these unsure, lean times: No bleach?  Buy vinegar, instead.  Use vinegar to clean and disinfect until you can get bleach again. No bread?  All you need is a bag of flour.  Flour and water can make simple wraps. No laundry detergent?  Purchase borax and/or washing soda.  If those are out, purchase baking soda and vinegar.  Look for laundry soap bars.  If those are out, you can use cheap body soap, like Ivory.  If those are out, just use the borax, washing soda, or baking soda, and vinegar for the time being. Soaps getting scarce?  Purchase from local artisan soapmakers, or get a big bottle of castile soap.  The castile soap can be use as shampoo, body wash, hand soap, dish s...