It is unreasonably cold here in Connecticut. I’m trying to hibernate, but things – events, classes, and Hallmark holidays – keep requiring me to leave the house. At this moment though, I’m settled in front of the fire with a cat on my lap and a large cup of black coffee anticipating tomorrow, which promises to be the most epic Valentine’s Day.
Thank you, The Walking Dead. You complete me.
Please don’t envy my weathered romanticism.
Here’s what’s been happening in our jolly New England life, where we work hard at, you know, everything, while also struggling to keep our blood from freezing in our veins when the wind blows.
The Adventurer attended a Pirate Murder Mystery Dinner Friday night. Her costume required some pirate bling, so I dug out my grandmother’s jewelry box, which has been sitting in my closet for the past eight years missing her. (Me too, except not in the closet) The box is full of vintage costume jewelry, perfect for a pirate, though my favorite 4’10” old Italian lady wore it regularly. She loved conversation pieces, like she loved to strike up conversations with random people in the grocery store.

Costume jewelry from Great Grandma’s jewelry box.
So what about me? What have I been doing? Well. I’ve been trying not to think about life with Donald Trump as president and not reading Dante.
I’ve been about the very serious business of teaching writing to my littlest woman. We are doing a review for the program Here To Help Learning and my extremely reluctant writer loves it. I am shocked and delighted that this program is working for her. I’ll have a full review of the curriculum posted for you early next month.
Here’s a preview of what’s coming up this month in the way of homeschool curriculum reviews:
- Home School in the Woods – U.S. Elections Lap-Pak
- The Climbing Knights
- Help Teaching (online resources for teachers)
- Here to Help Learning (video based writing instruction)
- The Logic of English
- Math U See – Geometry
- Memoria Press- Literature Guides
Things are a little busy here, as you can see. The Adventurer will head off to a Model United Nations conference in a couple of weeks, the Butterfly will be starting rehearsals for Into The Woods (Jr.) soon, and my Princess is busy enjoying her life. We should all be this happy!

Celebrating her 9th Birthday with her cousin (and best bud).