|
Went to turn on the furnance last eve and NOTHING HAPPENED. Which is just bad. Hubby says the burners arent lighting, which is really bad cause its an electric ignition. So anyhow it snowing here and there, is supposed to feel like 18 above zero tonight and there is NO HEAT!! Thank God we have one nice size space heater and my sister in law is going to bring us more. Tomorrow hubby will pick up the basement and if he still cannot get it to work we will call someone out. Fun fun!
|
|
Very rarely do I go back and read my threads. Never do I do spell check. So forgive the typos! On with your reading. |
|
When... When did we stop standing up for what we believe? When did we start letting fear rule us? When did we decide that negativity was the way to win? When did we decide that someone else will say what we think? When did we become so lax?
Lets start with the first one... When did we stop standing up for what we believe? Just yesterday on an Unschooling list someone asked that we unschoolers admit that unschooling doesnt work that it breeds illiteracy. This person and a few who im sure agreed with her was a bit put off that noone would agree with her. This list has a good number of members only a handful spoke up and said ummm no we wont say this, many cheered on those who spoke and many just stayed out of it. In a forum for Unschooling I would have thought thered be alot more standing up. Now what about religion, this country has way more Christian, Catholic, Muslim, Jewish etc etc religions than we have athesists but yet we allow those who believe in nothing to systemattically remove religion from all areas of our life. We has a collective group havent said NO wait a minute we want to call it Christmas. No we want to have prayer in school even just a moment of silence for each belief to pray. What will be enough? I havent heard anyone says that the Jewish religion should call Hanaka anything else or hey dont have it, it bugs me that any store owned by Jewish families would be closed in celebration. Thats what we are allowing to happen to Christmas though. When did we start letting fear rule us? We no longer live in a country based and ruled on freedom we live in a country based in fear. In all the school shootings all the terrorist threats I havent heard anyone say you know what these are acts of crazy people, dont let them win, live as you did because YOU CANNOT STOP CRAZY PEOPLE. You may be able to shift it from something horrible like 9/11 but crazy people will do crazy things no matter what laws and rules you have in place. My mother asked a great question recently when did people stop commiting suicide? At first I was shocked it was another one of my MOM what are you thinking moments but then I got it, people just are not killing themselves, they want to die so hey lets take 5 people with us. Maybe its a way of saying hey look at my pain... Ive heard alot said recently to me that with the state of schools people are thinking of homeschooling. Great but you know seriously your not really safer. Someone could come into your home and shoot you that happens A TON more than school shooting, we go to unschool group there are more of us in one room than people in the Amish schoolhouse, someone could come in and shoot us. My point? Live life for what you feel Live life for what has meaning for you dont make decisions based in fear. All im going to say on negativity is im going to be writing in alot of names on ballots this year because if I saw heard or read a negative campaign ad im not voting for that person! To say what you think.... My grandma is 90 she says what she thinks its nice. Whats with all the political correctness? I understand tact im not saying be tactless, im saying dont be a ZOMBIE! Say what you think! On this past friday both Oprah and 20/20 had topics on Laxness. Parenting laxness. I suffer to some extent on this. We want to be their friends, we want for them to like us, we want for them not to go to school and shoot their peers.... We have stopped parenting. Alot of it is fear. Your kid gets made at you and calls childrens services your life is going to suck... we have given our kids all the power. Wonder how we get it all back? |
|
I hate to cook... I hate to cook the day before payday even more. Food should just come healthy and prepared.... we have figured out to have junk come pretty much prepared why not healthy food that tastes good??? My son has had alot of toast today, we are out of milk so cant make oatmeal with water eww he says, out of chicken nuggets, out of smooth PB his whole day has just sucked lol! On a good note hes going with his aunt and grandmother and cousins to the zoo tomorrow... he knows something is up so he has been pretty patient today even though hes not aware of forsure whats going on. Tomorrow night we will have no kids, this I dont think has ever happened in 10yrs of wedded bliss a night with no kids that we didnt plan so therefore can just sit home!! WOO HOOO. Bethy will be at my moms house for a sleepover and Jake is staying the night at his aunts. Im just POSITIVE that we wont be bored lol. Although I have a confession to make I always look forward to when the kids go and do (its always been just one or the other though) but I always feel empty and sad while they are gone, like what should I be doing with myself. Ok oven should be preheated can we all say FROZEN PIZZA!!! |
|
Do you ever just wonder? Not about anything but about everything. Thats the way I feel. My life is shifting, everything. Friendships are changing, Im changing, the kids are changing. It started with the shift and the change in how we spend money. I spend money now on fri what isnt gotten on fridays what bills arent paid, well its just not. This is shifting though eveything I know. Im used to getting what we want not thinking if we need it, its eye opening. The most amazing is whats going out of the house. Youd think since im not spending id be hording but its the opposite, its alot like since I cant bring it in and I have to focus on what we have I need to see what we have. So we have thrown away alot. I have freecyled alot. Ok shameless plug moment if you read my blog and youve never heard of freecycle you have to go check out www.freecycle.org it will change you! Now I just need to figure out how to start purging my life. We have every weekend through nov 11 planned then you get past that and you are rapidly approaching the holidays. It blessedly is not all about me, Larry and Jake have some things going on so thats nice! Tomorrow is unschool group YAY!!!! |
|
We are not early risers..... We just are not. We have been up since 7am and the crabbys are coming out of us all. Jacob as we are waking up was very elequent in his words.... I hate mornings!! lol He knows. Thank Goodness that he lost a tooth last night otherwise I would have never gotten him out of bed, but a whisper of I wonder if the tooth fairy came had him up and downstairs pretty darn fast! Bethy was pretty easy to get up since it was for her we were all out of bed! She was serving breakfast at the lions hall for Girl Scouts. YAY sold almost all of our extra cookies too! I sat there in my corner selling cookies and watched the people come in and go out and it struck me.... we are part of a community. Thats so cool. Small towns can be hard and they can be great and what I realized is that they are alot like family. I spent from age 12 til 20 in Phoenix so thats what I always thought was the enviroment I wanted to raise kids in.... Today I realize its not. I want my children to just belong and they do. Just by existing they belong.. we think different, we are that realitive that has a messy yard and house and we still belong just because. I think thats cool and rare and I just dont see us moving! |
|
Wow the last day of sept!! Normally this means my life has settled into a routine and gotten calmer.... just not so yet this year. We LOVED unschool group this week, its such an awesome group of moms and dads and its like a weekly mini conference. The kids come home refreshed and having gotten to play with others and I come home thinking ok I am doing whats right for us. We are learning and learning well. We are HAPPY and thats just huge for me. We are enjoying everyday and thats good. I realized we just spend so much time dwelling on what we are NOT doing. It seems to be that school mentality. For those that pulled their kids you know what Im talking about its the " your child is a joy but HES NOT staying in his seat, or HES NOT reading, or SHES NOT progressing as wed expect. We are set up from when we were in school to think in terms of what we are our children are not doing. So thats my 30 days to a new habit goal to only think in terms of what we are doing. We ARE reading together, We ARE spelling words the way they sound, WE ARE having fun every day, WE are playing games all the time. We ARE doing things that empower us and saying NO more to things that bring us down! Life is good!!! |
|
Well we are winding down tues which means mid week for us in a big way! Wed is Unschoolers group then we get through thurs and daddy/hubby is home for 2 days. Normally by this time Im stressed, tired and somewhat cranky. Not so this week, I blew off everything we should have done on mon didnt do the one thing we coulda today and just hung out at home! The weather has BEEN AWESOME. Honestly I dont remember the last time we had 2 such perfect days in a row. Highs have been mid 70s its been sunny and a slight breeze. The kids have been outside ALL DAY both days! My son wins the award for stinky feet he has played so much... 2 showers in a row!! WOO HOOO We have built forts... we have dug for buried treasures... we have played with the dogs and ALL of it has been without my prompting they have just exploded with creativity and play. I read a book yes a whole book, Talked on the phone non stop.... its been such a needed rest. Tomorrow we will enjoy group thurs do housework and from there..... back to our routine!! |
|
Another lazy sunday I spend the week waiting for this day, then feel guilty that I did nothing. Kids are doing art, making hats. We had such a busy week last week... not one day spent at home. This week could be that way, but im going to try and be home at least 2 days. We shall see how that goes. Not much to say! |
|
Do you ever really learn this lesson? For obvious reason if you have a definite lack of funds this is easy to tell whats what, but what if your just right in the middle. Take caffenine im a pepsi addict if i dont have 2 or 3 a day I get wicked headaches but is having pepsi really a need? We like to snack between meals are the snacks needs? We are trying to relearn how to spend relearn how to budget and have money in the bank... wow wouldnt that be nice. Its quite the eye opener though to try and rethink how we look at needs and wants. |
|
Winter is COMING!!! I am always so shocked its hot one week here in the midwest and then freezing the next oh wait not a week just a few days . Today was a high of 54 which if it were spring it would feel like a heatwave but its not so it just felt darn cold! Kids and I played The Oregon Trail today. We died well I killed us cause I KNOW ALL lol and of course I dont so as normal I pushed to hard and kicked it. It is a fun game though to learn history and for the kids to ration food and problem solve. Tomorrow is the unschoolers group, we all really enjoy this one so I look forward to it. Im off to lala land so hopefully I will be rested! |
|
So all those days that I didnt blog hehe today is a 2 post day! I have to share another wow moment that happened way early this morning. I had to use the bathroom ok so thats not so wow. Anyhow it was about 6am came downstairs did my business stood at the bottom of the steps and thought do I want to stay up or go back to bed...not too much thought there of course I went up to bed. It wasnt really light out, yet as I layed there I started thinking if we were in school id be waking the kids up about now for breakfast... if we were in school my day would be crazy right about now. Instead I flipped over and closed my eyes just has I was drifting back to sleep I hear the school bus going by wow its 7am kids are up kids are dressed have eaten and are on the bus... smiling to myself wondering when my kids will get up.... For those that wonder or care Jake was up about 9 and Bethy 11, who awoke with a headache. Which made me think of all the kids that awoke this am at 6 not feeling good yet not sick who were made to get on the bus and go to school. How great is my life I got to hug my 9 yr old ask if she wanted some tylonel be told nah nothing is going on this am that I really wanted to do so im just going to lie on the couch til this passes. By about noon she was writing words that popped into her head and then wanting to go outside. But what could have been if 6am was our start time........... |
|
I dont know how to deal with random or not so random acts of kindness. We have a broken front picture window. Very expensive window that we just dont have the money to get fixed yet knew it had to get done before winter. For no reason other than to be nice a father of a friend of my daughters showed up with glass to fix it today. Nothing is wanted in return nothing is accepted in return When I asked his wife repeatedly what I could give him or do for them I got just keep doing what you do for our daughter. Wow made me feel good inside but also made me realize I undervalue myself. I without thought do for others and give of whatever I can give but to recieve is so foreign my mom sad something though that just struck a cord. I have to allow others to fill their cup......... hmm. Anyhow tonight just reaffirmed my faith in mankind and made me rerealize that God does provide. |
|
Today started out as an amazingly sunny day high of 90 we have moved into a rainy day working towards storms and a low into the 50s. I do believe this is the beginning of fall. All week the highs are not supposed to be out of the 60s. Before the rain the kids started making a fort. Its so fun to watch the process and also to see the variations between Bethy and Jake. Bethy plans everything out make marks into the ground for where she wants her posts to go and just all around has a vision for what she wants the end result to be. Jake on the other hand just moves with it. Trying something retrying stuff that didnt work adding this going to gather this its the process that is fun to him. Thats his goal to enjoy the process. Bethys goal is the end result. Just something kinda neat to see and realize. Bethy has been big into spelling all of a sudden we are sounding out words and spelling. Same with reading she has showed little to no intrest not she is reading everything she picks up. Its a fun time!!! Jake is becoming more trusting of himself and human kind. Yesterday for the first time in as long as I can remember he expressed sadness. Now he is often sad or upset buy things but it always is expressed as anger. Yesterday it was expressed with tears and words oh yea and projectile vomit..... yes anyone reading is thinking huh vomit?? So here is the story. Hubby unkowningly cut a dead branch out of Jakes favorite tree. This is his space ship tree where he thinks. Its also an apple tree that didnt produce apples this year because of dead branches. So hubby decided to fix this issue and out came a large branch. To Jake any change in the tree was going to be a trauma which I realized and tried to deflect and explain as soon I saw the cutter going into the tree but daddy didnt realize this was THE SPACE SHIP. Anyhow after much sobbing and getting himself totally worked up throwing up our snack right on me was the outcome. The final verdict about an hr later ohhh Im not sad anymore he didnt cut my sitting branch just that old dead one.. Ahh to be 7. |
|
Ok so this wont be a daily thing.... which I kinda figured since I dont have that much dedication. Ive discovered recently that I hate noise. Im thinking maybe its a big deal because lately even the slightest noises bug me. Not like ok slightly annoying bug me but OMG I want to rip out my hair and scream bug me. Voices are starting to have the effect lately too. So I spend alot of my time saying please shhh I need you to lower your voice, Id appreciate 5 minutes of silence. With that said it doesnt happen often that I get those needs met.... so often I feel stressed to the max.
Its loud now its always loud when hubby is home...... I used to appreciate the loud anyhow. |
|
My daughter is 9 today. Im not sure how that occured, I mean I know I was here for all 9 yrs and I know it happens but wow is this even possible? She in this last yr has jus blossomed into this person who thinks for herself. She has always been independent but in this child no longer agrees with me just because I AM THE MOM lol she disagress more than she agrees she wants to know my reasons for saying stuff and I find that alot of the time she has really valid points. We had a sleepover friday night her for birthday she was able to ask 2 friends over for the night. She just had a great time. My husband not so much lol he swears he did not know that girls could giggle that much, I told him he has to pop in during our next girl scout sleepover try 30 girls and seems like nothing! Jacob spent the night with his cousins friday night so that he didnt have to be around all the girls... it was as much for him as his sister who didnt have to say MOM can you make him leave us alone all night... ok ok really it was for me. This week is one of those that I dread its run run run all week which is overwhelming. Jacob gets grouchy he would rather hang at home and well so would I at least 2 or 3 days. Next week the only day its feasible to be home will be thurs we shall see if that even happens! |
|
I have become so unaccustomed to traffic. I forget what its like to have patience and not get frustrated with having to wait through 3 or 4 traffic lights. For those who dont know me I grew up and got my drivers liscense in Phoenix, I learned how to drive in intense traffic going 45 or 50 miles per hr between traffic lights!! Now im in the farm country portion in IL (yes I know it was a shock to me too) and traffic is being behind a tractor and not able to pass. Also keep in mind we are under an hr from chicago city limits I JUST DONT GO THERE. With all that said we are doing a unschooling group up closer to the CITY so yes you guessed it there is traffic. I did ok though kids didnt cry I didnt cry I only called hubby on the cell phone once to complain all in all okie dokie. Kids had a blast. My shy one Jacob just loves this group I even find him playing with others nicely which is just too cool. I wish adults would stop and think the impact their words have on kids, Jacob was in Kindergarten when the teacher labeled him the Bad Jacob and the other little boy the Good Jacob, even now he is scared to put himself out there and when he does most of the time acts up fully believing hes going to get in trouble no matter what he does so why bother trying... sadly some of that is daddy too. Jacob is just so passionate about everything he does and that seem to rub people wrong... ah well he is what he is im just thrilled to see him having so much fun! Bethy of course is all about group situations and this is just more fun for her!! Tomorrow I have to get housework done... Bethy is having her first slumber party this weekend and I havent been home all week and the house looks it. Youd think not home to mess it so it would be clean... doesnt seem to work that way though. Kids came home from group and went outside and started there very own rube goldberg machine that bethy learned about in science club today so as tire ramps legs from table and other neat things were brought to the backyard in anticipation of a great invention and then the sun went down im sure they will be well occupied tomorrow. Ok off to lala land! |
|
You have to love holidays.... right? I love the days but the week of being confused on what day it is, not so much. So it rained which isnt so bad the kids and I love kicking back and just being bored but having all 3 dogs with no outlet for their energy can be overwhelming. Today just seemed like one of those days that I missed. Got up late, had a ton of phone calls then had to be out the door for cheerleading pictures and then to my girl scout leader meeting. Im actually looking forward to this year with girl scouts, as the service unit manager and my daughters leader it has been overwhelming in the past but im thinking good vibes this year! Tomorrow is unschool group which the kids just love so it should be a great day! Well Im off to bed and hopefully tomorrow will feel more like wed! |
|
Labor Day in a small town. Something that was totally foreign to me but my children will grow up forever putting labor day with parades. Bethy was in the parade this year for cheerleading. She loved it. 3 miles walked most of it cheered center of attention. Jacob on the other hand was supposed to walk with daddy for Boy Scouts but after much tears last night decided not too. In his eyes everyone would have been looking at just him and that was way to much to handle. All in all a perfect parade. I love that for days like today im able to blend my family with Larrys family and not feel uncomfy, its nice.
On another note we spent mnths and mnths homeschooling in the literal sense before coming to unschooling. We deschooled for what seemed like forever but ended up only being just over a year. Spelling was such a struggle talk about fights with Bethy over writing and memorizing the words. Today she hands me a note book and says here I wrote down some of my favorite cheers so that you know the words. Is the spelling perfect? No. Is it perfect for us? YES!! Every words is understandable! WOW!
My mom thinks im depressed... maybe im repressed. I just have spent so long being what other people expect me to be that I have no idea who I am. Something to ponder...... |
|
Im always in awe of other peoples really cool blogs, always thinking I should do one. Yet never doing it. So today is THE FIRST DAY! Im sure I can come up with lots to chat about as I always seem to have something to say. We are an unschooling family, which leads to all kinds of topics, like those who dont agree loudly to those that passivly think we are ruining our kids. Im also the mom to an amazing almost 9 yr old with special needs who everyday teaches me about patience and how to try and try again. I also am the mom to an awesome 7 yr old who is painfully sensitive at times and who teaches me its ok to cry and laugh at the same time! Im also hoping that by blogging I will see what all we do and realize Im not screwing them up totally! Smiles well this is the first day so we shall see how this voyage goes! |