Tuesday, March 26, 2013

"Semi" retired?

Yesterday we were set to pick up one oversized load, that turned into two. We had already been told we wouldn't be getting night permits, so I thought we would have an easy day. It turns out, we will have a pretty easy week. We have a fan case that is 134" wide (standard trailer width is 102"),  in addition to the planned 108" wide engine. Instead of being oversized only from Newark NJ to Hebron KY, we will be oversized all the way to Houston TX.
I would think most homeschooling families get up, have breakfast, "do school", eat lunch in there somewhere, and fill in with whatever else they need to do. Well, I usually wake up, drive, "do school", start dinner, and then sleep. I would guess my "day" is more similar to a woman who home schools, after she works third shift. This week, we all get up together, shortly before sunrise, have coffee and breakfast, my hubby drives while Bonnie and I get the schoolwork done that requires me, I give her the rest of her assignments, start dinner, and then I get to help with routing, and just relax. I am blessed that my husband would rather only have him drive this load, because I freak out in tight spaces. I keep thinking this must be what it is like to be "semi"-retired. Wow! How relaxing, and yet I am afraid I will be bored by the time we deliver. Beware, I may end up finishing all the blog posts I have started and never finished.
To share a little of what we have been doing, we are almost finished with Beyond the Desert Gate. The part where Hylas talks about Jerusalem will be destroyed because of their unwillingness to submit to God's control hit home. Bonnie started reading Flame Over Tara shortly before St Patrick's Day, and is now about half through with it. Math is coming along, as is science. This week we are reading the book of James. Those of you who are familiar with Sonlight will recognize we are nowhere near the halfway point on the curriculum, but we are enjoying our laid back times. I guess this week will get us back up to speed a bit. Only 2 more months of school, but I plan on schooling right through the summer.
I hope everyone is being safe. Be aware with an oversized load, we have so much larger blind spots, so help the driver out when you can.

Sunday, March 24, 2013

"No" is NOT Easy to Say

Some days I feel my children think "no" is the easiest thing in the world to say. I remember Momma tell me, it is easy to just go along with what their children want, but it is difficult to tell them, "No." I remember when she said it, I thought she was just making things seem harder than they were. As an adult of adult children, now I honestly see the validity in what she said. I hope before it is too long, my children can see the same thing. When my two oldest kids were teenagers, I was the only one who disciplined them. Yes, their fathers have been absent from their lives, but I had "help" from my mother. However, my mother was basically setting me up. When I would tell the kids no, she would just go behind my back and give them whatever I said no to. That included dogs, phones, clothes, nearly anything. This included lying to me about saying yes, and lying to me about the specifics. It led to my middle daughter being involved with a married man when she was barely a teenager, and allowing my eldest daughter to continuously interact with a man twelve years older than her, when she was just sixteen. Neither of these things were acceptable with me. Now, I suppose my daughter's lives are ok because my mother has accepted, and even condoned, what they are doing. Their decisions are not acceptable with me.I don't really want to go over all of what has happened, but their choices have changed me. I have had to say no to my middle daughter who wanted to move back home, because she wasn't willing to give up a cat that pees where it wants when she is not around. I have had to say no to her borrowing my car because she has not taken care of hers. I have had to say no to my eldest daughter moving back home because our house has a couple of walls down due to issues with the plumbing, and frankly it is not ok for my grandchildren to be there right now. I have had found out my eldest daughter has lied to me at every turn. I have also found out my eldest daughter is a stripper. I have found out my little sister would much rather cause drama than to be an adult. My life has changed over the last few days, all because I have found out these things. Mark 10:25 says, "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God." While, this scripture has long been identified as dealing with not treasuring your money, I would contend it deals with so much more. Not only are we not to treasure our money, but we must submit to God wholly. Submitting to God is not easy. Sometimes, God says no, not because of any other reason than because it is not what is best for us. God is much like a parent, who doesn't like saying "no," but knows they have to because they must consider what is best. 
Is it best for my daughter to be at home, possibly. However, I know that just saving her, and not forcing her to stand on her own to feet is not what is best. I have to remember, if my daughter would have just cleaned her room, and done what we asked, she would have still been at home. Is it best for my daughter to be a stripper, definitely not! While my mother seems to just see it as "dancing," I remember it opens the door to so much more. No matter what she does, or any of my children for any matter, I will still love them. Doing what is good and right is not easy, but it is what SHOULD be done.

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Prepped Food is GREAT

I recently shared about prepping a month of food. While storing the food is a bit of a challenge on the truck, and it took a bit of time, I am still in love with this idea. It is definitely something I would do if I lived at home, because then you take all the "cooking" time in one day instead of spending a lot more time throughout the month. I have been able to pull out a couple of bags from the freezer to thaw, and then just start the cooking as we go down the road, and with very little effort the meal is done. Sometimes, it makes my husband want to stop sooner because the food smells so good.
Most of the recipes are from A Year of Slow Cooking. I found the blog when someone posted one of her recipes on Pinterest, and decided to see if any of her recipes could be adapted to freeze ahead and then cook on the truck. I know I have looked at a few other blogs, but for some reason can't seem to find them right now. I apologize ahead of time for the great tableware, but keep in mind we live in a truck.
Coconut Curry Chicken
Coconut Curry Chicken (I slightly modified the recipe)
1 can Coconut Milk
1 cup Chicken Broth
1 Cinnamon Stick
1 1/2 tsp Curry
3 Sweet Potatoes (peeled and cubed)
1 Red Pepper (minced)
6 Chicken breasts
I placed all the ingredients in a Ziploc bag, and put it in the freezer. When we picked it as one of the meals, I just thawed it, and cooked it in the crockpot on high for a few hours, then switched it to low when I knew the chicken was going to cook. In the original recipe, it called for baby carrots, but since I am the only one who likes cooked carrots, I figured I would leave them out. The red pepper was my addition as well. This is definitely one of those things I would like to make again.

Mongolian Beef
Mongolian Beef
1 pound stew meat
2 tsp olive oil
1 onion (minced)
1 Tbsp minced garlic (I may have added a little more)
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup hoisin sauce
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 cup water (I left it out, and it was just fine without it)
Again, I dumped everything in the bag, and cooked it on high for a bit, then switched to low when the meat was almost done. We served it over brown rice cooked in the microwave. We loved this as well.

Teriyaki Chicken
1 cup Teriyaki sauce
2 Tbsp minced garlic (we love garlic)
1 can cubed pineapple
1 red pepper (minced)
1/2 onion (minced)
6 chicken breasts
I put all but the pineapple in the freezer bag. When ready to cook, I dumped everything in the crockpot, including the can of pineapple (juice and all), and cooked on high until done. We ate this one also with some brown rice. This is something we have done several times, and somehow I forgot to take a picture of it.

I challenge you to try a few recipes, and prep a few meals. Believe me it is a great time saver.

Thursday, March 7, 2013

Insight Into Our Life

There are so many things that happen in each person's life that allows them to give them insight to people who aren't in your shoes. While we were home I was asked for insight into the company we are leased to, and approached for help in another. While answering questions or concerns about a company is something most in the trucking world are familiar with, the request for help came as a shock to me. I know my family has a tendency to look down their nose at our lifestyle, and somewhat don't care, I never considered there were others who honestly want to be in our shoes.
My life five years ago was so different than my life now. I was just finishing my Bachelors degree in Accounting. I thought despite having businesses I did accounting for close, I would still be able to find a job in my field. As a last resort, I went back to Customer Service. As many know, the economy was (and in my opinion still is) in a slump. My husband decided to start looking into trucking. (He used to drive in the 90's, and considering the paychecks he was receiving was considering it again.) We were barely making it, and many times had to give up lots just to be able to somehow make ends meet. Life was a struggle, but we were home and living a rather traditional life.
Three and a half years ago we boarded a bus bound for Salt Lake City. After a lot of research, and talking to people who would end up being very dear friends, we decided on Central Refrigerated as the company we would start with. (In my opinion, they are a decent starter company, but you must remember trucking is your way to make a living, and treat it like a business whether you lease from them or not.) While we were there, many things happened (like our Chi passing away) and many people began forming opinions of how wrong we were for starting this. Obviously, we couldn't take the kids with us during training, so our oldest son was left in charge of the girls at home. Slowly we worked our way toward owning our own truck (including leasing a truck from our company), and being able to have our daughter on the truck. 
I have ALWAYS wanted to homeschool my girls, but never felt like we were able to do it. I am in awe of the people who can homeschool at home, but staying home (reducing the household income) and schooling the kids was not something I ever thought I could do. Well, trucking and homeschooling to me just fit. Now, I could homeschool my daughter and still work! I knew it would be hard work, but I wanted to do it. I have learned homeschooling is a lifestyle many look down on, but a choice few admire it. Since trucking is much the same, homeschooling on the truck definitely something a great many look down on. 
Last year we chose a curriculum we thought would work because it would be easy (Switched-On Schoolhouse). While the curriculum would work for some, it felt like we were fighting the curriculum and fighting each other on learning. It just was not for us. We spent the the latter part of the school year considering what curriculum we would use this school year. We discussed many choices, and finally I chose Sonlight for the main portion of the curriculum, Apologia for science (saving the experiments for when we are at home), and (based on the suggestion from Sonlight) Teaching Textbooks for math. I think the curriculum has been a great fit. I love reading, and now that love of reading has been passed on to my daughter!
My daughter reading while we wait for service to be done on the truck. I love that she chose to read.
Homeschooling on its own can be difficult. Trucking can be difficult. Combine the two and you have so many opportunities for failure. There are many times I have literally fallen asleep reading with my daughter. I plan out what we will do each day, but then we do what we can when we can. Sometimes we struggle with getting things done, but every day I see progress! It is amazing.
Among the concerns for homeschooling in general, which homeschooling on the truck magnifies, is the socialization. Does my daughter socialize with kids her own age? No. However, consider your own friends. How many friends are within a year or two of your own age? Not many, I would guess. My daughter may not interact on a daily basis with people her own age, but she can show respect for people older than her, and help people in many places. She is a wonderful young woman (of course I am a little partial). We are blessed with a large family, and she has been able to spend time with many different people along the way.
While our life is not typical, I am happy with the choices we have made. I am happy we are together on the truck. It is difficult, but to me it is so worth it. 

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Ready and Waiting

We have been at home for a bit, which most people in our circumstance would look forward to, but when we are home, it is because something on the truck is going wrong. This time the truck was leaking so much, electronics were shorting out. Ugh! I thought we fixed this issue last year! I guess not.
This time we replaced all the lights, rewired, fiberglassed and painted the cab. I don't think it will be leaking soon. We discovered there were broken brackets, replaced them. The new lights and redone cab look great.

One of the things I do when I am "wasting time" is to consider all the things I COULD do if I was at home, instead of living on the truck. One of the things I would love to try is Once a Month Cooking. I have looked at several different sites, considered several pins, and decided even if I was at home I would end up making up my own menu instead of following anyone else's.
Well, this time we were home, I decided I would do all I could to get as close to it and pack the stuff in the truck. Success! I did it. I have successfully prepped 24 dinners! I know, not quite 30, but considering leftovers and life, 24 is as close as most get to this accomplishment. Most of these meals can  be made in the crockpot (my favorite tool on the truck). Below is a brief explanation of how I did it.
First I planned out what meals we wanted to have, wrote the recipes out, tried to verify what supplies we had on hand (and still ended up getting some duplicates), and added some wants from my daughter and husband. Not counting that time, the start time for the following was 11:45 in the morning.

Shopping
Considering where we live, I usually opt to shop in Ardmore instead of driving into Huntsville. Considering this, I like being able to get the 5 for $20 meat deals at Piggly Wiggly. Dollar General has most everything else we need. The list was filled between the two stores (all except the Airborne - a must have on the truck), for only $457! Above is a picture of most of the bags, as we were bringing them in.

Sorting and Prepping
The dry and refrigerated products used to make the recipes.

The meats
I didn't even look at the clock to see what time I got home from shopping, but I do believe it was about 2:00 in the afternoon. It took a little bit to separate the main groups, but thankfully I had my daughter to help with prepping the veggies. Her help was GREAT! We labeled the bags and dumped the meals into the bags, and put them in the freezer. My husband said there was way too much food, so I tried to fit it all in one drawer in the freezer thinking that would work. We were eating at 7:00 at night, so I really don't think 7:15 for shopping and prepping wasn't too bad.

Today we had our third dinner from this adventure. The first meal was something we usually put in the crockpot, but decided to try it in the oven. Failure! I guess the crockpot keeps in all the moisture and makes it SO much better.
Perogies, diced chicken, frozen peas and Alfredo. This is in my bowl with a little Parmesan on top. Notice the slightly browned Perogies.
The following morning, I tried French Toast in the crockpot. I thought it was too moist. My daughter thought it was barely edible. It ended up more like bread pudding than French Toast. It was definitely strange to have breakfast ready before coffee.
Last night I made Lasagna. I am sure everyone has their own recipe. I was prepared to do this on the truck in the crockpot if we were ready to roll, but we weren't.

Today, we finished loading the truck and now are ready to roll and waiting on a load. Packing the meals in the freezer was VERY difficult. We no longer have any room for the ice cube trays or the ice packs (let's hope we don't have any injury that needs to be iced), but the meals fit. The picture above represents nineteen meals frozen. It was all I had room for. I guess from now on, I will only do two weeks at a time, which is just fine since that is how often we are paid. The fridge was just as full, and has two meals waiting to go in the crockpot, and some leftover lasagna. 
I will let you know how this goes. I am hoping it goes well. Meanwhile, we sit here waiting for a load, and hope it doesn't take long, since when the wheels don't turn, we don't earn. Hope you feel successful at something, even if it is just filling the fridge and freezer with a month of meals!