Wordy Wednesday - Halloween

Here is my current letter board which I hung up near my front door.

Below is the letter board saying I had up at the beginning of October

Whatcom Falls Park

small falls at spillway from fishing pond

I had a chance to walk around Whatcom Falls park (Bellingham, WA).  We have been having some beautiful fall weather and I just love all the fall color. It was good to get out and walk with Mrs Epi. 

Accidental Sweet Potato Growing

I had attempted to grow sweet potatoes in the past. I couldn't get anything to sprout.  However I left some sweet potatoes too long hanging out in a plastic bag and low and behold I have some sprouts.  I have heard it is near impossible to grow sweet potatoes here in the Pacific Northwest but I figured it was a sign when I had them growing on my counter.

I planted my slips (cuttings from sweet potato) in some containers on my deck.  In order to keep the soil warmer, I cut up ziploc bags and laid over the surface to help with heat retention.

Well, I was pleasantly surprised at my harvest.  I really wasn't sure if I would get anything. I got quite a few little ones.  I am going to mark this as a success.  Now I have to cure.  I have a couple of ideas. Sweet Potatoes have to be cured (heated up with humidity) so the starches turn into sugar. 

Helpful Links
10 tips
Growing Sweet Potatoes in Pacific Northwest
4 Simple Tips for Curing Sweet Potatoes
Growing Sweet Potatoes - Even in the North

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Trapped in Transition

This is my son's last year in the transition program at the local high school.  For those of you not in the know, a transition program is what local public schools offer for those 18-21 who are disable and provide services. Their high school diploma is held until they turn 21.

Today I go to my son's last IEP, individual education plan.  Today is actually the anniversary of my son's first evaluation back in 2002.  That is where it all started. I have been doing some reflecting or aka ruminating.  The very first IEP I ever attended for my son had at least 8 to 10 people at it.  The one today has 4 and that includes myself and my son. I have literally been to 20 IEPs.  Sometimes these were raw emotional exercises and other times I felt like the right thing was done.  There is no doubt in my mind that these inflicted trauma on my family.  Many times I was told indirectly my parenting wasn't good enough, my son was too much work, and many more times than I can count my son had to listen to how he wasn't enough. But yet we persisted. 

One thing I noticed recently as I apply for government services for my son the difference in the mentality  between schools and government.  Schools always think they can make kids more able.  They are all about progress. Government services only want to know how disabled someone is and have no desire to seek progress for them. If progress is made, participants are penalized often and frequently. Both of these approaches are horribly flawed.

Wordy Wednesday- Chalkboard

I made my little chalkboard with eek.  I think it turned out great. My chalkboard is just a piece of scrap lumber sprayed with chalkboard paint.  I used regular chalkboard chalk.

It's Batty Up in Here - Lighted Bats

My super handy husband and youngest son whipped up some lighted bats. This project is from Rogue Engineer. The cut out the rough outline of the bat with a band saw.  Then used the router to get the precise edge. My husband had made a bat pattern out of MDF.  That is what he attached the rough cut bat too.

ready for paint

We used a 10 string battery operated lights from the dollar store. The flashing was the smallest roll we could find $11 and we had the spray paint and plywood.  We used staples to attach the flashing on first bat and then switched to screws for the remaining bats. We hung them in our front windows with our lit up eyes

October Reading

I am linking up with Modern Mrs Darcy's Quick Lit.  Check out what everyone else is reading.

My reading has slowed to a trickle but I did manage to squeeze out one book.

Walk to Beautiful by Jimmy Wayne is his story about his life and his connection to foster care.  Jimmy Wayne is also a country music star and just as his career was about to take off when he decided to walk from Nashville to Arizona to raise awareness about foster care and those who were about to age out the system.  I love Jimmy Wayne's heart. Jimmy Wayne was lucky to be taken in by an older couple in his teenage years.  It saved his life. Jimmy had this to say about them, " Bea and Russell didn't talk about loving God and loving people, they just did it."

Podcast Love

In the past couple of years, I have grown to love podcasts.  It's not too late to get in on the podcast listening bandwagon.

Podcast 101 - New to podcasts this is the 101 for listening.  I usually listen from their individual websites from my computer.

Serial - loving Season 3 and I also listened to Season 1
This American Life - probably the podcast series that got me into listening to podcasts
Last Seen - investigation about an art heist that happened 28 years ago Boston
Reply All - they investigate internet things and they are also very funny and knowledgeable

*** my favorite scrapbooker Becky Higgins is launching a podcast tomorrow with her friend also named Becky- Cultivating A Good Life  I cannot wait

Halloween Tradition - Haunted House Craft

At the beginning of October, I did some emergency early morning babysitting.  I love this craft because I always get 100% participation.  I have yet to have a kid not want to do this. I know it is total sticker sneeze but even taking stickers off the sheet is a fine motor activity.  There is also usually a good conversation about what is scary. I think with older kids you could do a lot to extend this activity.

materials
haunted house template - I made mine in photoshop
dollar store stickers
black construction paper for house
colored paper for background paper
white colored pencil
exacto knife - older kids can do the cut out of windows with supervision - 10 plus
crayons - neon colors for embellishment

Additional Resources

template- Sarah Jane has a more detailed haunted house template I have used in the past
Draw a Haunted House - Art Projects for Kids