Because this blog has my name on it, I have decided to move it to a different location with a different name. My name is very high-visibility. It is not like my name is Jane Smith or something... If you google my first initial and last name, most of the hits you get are really me, myself, and nobody else. (Although I know of at least two other DMalaments, the hits are mostly me.
So, for my friends, please email me and I will give you the new location of my blog. I'm moving blog entries over there, but, unfortunately, the comments I received from all of you just disappear when I delete the moved blog entry from this blog. It doesn't mean I don't care about you all! Thanks for your understanding.
Well, another blog party has induced me to post again. Terrible the amount of time I am letting pass between entries.
But, my life has been marked by loss:
- dad 4/2006
-step-dad 10/2006
-mom - 6/2007
Since that time I have learned much about estates, wills, court procedures, auctions, real estate, personal property, trusts, probate... the list goes on.
Here's a sad, ugly secret: yesterday I completed a federal income tax form ...for the very first time in my life. And I've been married longer than I was single. I never did a form when I was single, cause dad paid to have my returns be done by his company's accountant. Then I married when I was 20 and had never done it. Yesterday I did it for my dad's estate, which is still not closed yet. I am hopeful that I can get all "estate"s closed in 2008. Theoretically the only one open IS my dad's, even though he died first, because my mom let me help her get trustwork written up. So, once I get my dad's estate closed, I still will have my mom's trust to resolve and disperse... ::sigh::
Well, the Blog Party! Right! Here is what is going on. Christian Women Online (CWO)
is celebrating that they are 2 years old, and to celebrate they are having a "Blog Roll Party". They are giving away great gifts. The first gift they are giving away in conjunction with Art Bookbindery (their parent company) is a Sony Walkman Video MP3 Player with 4GB Memory! It's really cute, and I want to win it. But you could win it to! Go to the CWO website, read the rules, and sign up!
My entry from 12/11 came through entirely blank, and I just created a whole, great, wonderful post here, only to have it disappear... Something about the Active X controls.. I made some adjustments, and it looks like I can make my entry now ...again... (I don't have time or this!...)
Okay, my friend Beth is having a free giveaway on her blog (http://wisdoms-way.blogspot.com/) of a Vision Forum DVD called The League of Grateful Sons. The dvd is a wonderful, provoking dvd to assist us in instilling patriotism and thankfulness in our children, especially our sons, to help them be aware of what our forefathers sacraficed to create our great nation and to give us the freedoms that we enjoy. I would really love to have this dvd to watch and share with my 8 yos, so I hope I win! Anyway, head on over to Beth's blog and sign up.
I'm going to end this here and make a separate entry of a more personal form. Remember, go post on Beth's blog, then post about it on your blog, and be eligible to win this great dvd!
Dec. 9, 2007 - Tiany's Open House and... Some of my family's Christmas Traditions
Okay. Enough about my past year and a half... Today a light hearted entry. Wanted to invite everyone to head on over to Tiany's Open House. Here's a link:
Tiany and friends are giving away lots of great gifts. To enter you post a holiday blog entry, and post her link in your blog entry. That's all there is to it!
So, my blog entry will be about Christmas family traditions that we practice. Here are some things that we try to do every year to help our kids build warm memories of Christmas. Before you think me a heathen, I really do intend to incorporate advent calendar and possibly Jesse tree ideas, but so far that just hasn't happened (and my oldest is 21! ::sigh::) !
Here are some things we try to always do together:
Build a gingerbread house. I had to become practical and realize that at this point in my life I have no time but can afford this cost, so I go to Michael's and buy a kit to build the gbread house. Here's a photo of myself and my JBoy doing this the day after Thanksgiving:
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Go together as a family to cut a fresh Christmas tree from a Christmas tree farm.
Decorate tree together as a family -- fire in the fireplace, hot cider, Christmas music playing in the background...
Walk Thru Bethlehem, event that we don't do every year, but that we are doing this year;
Drive around to look at neighborhoods decorated with Christmas lights;
Drive through our local state park that is decorated each year for Christmas;
Bake cookies, goodies, make candies for gifts, to share, or just for fun. Here's a picture of some homemade marshmallows made last year for Christmas:
Aren't those unbelievable?
Remember our (hubby's) Jewish roots and light Chanukah candles during Chanukah;
Have someone take a family photo of us on Christmas day, one of the only days we usually remember to have a camera out and getting used!
And remember our girl who's living 2000 miles away!
Okay, I know it's been a long time since I've been using HSB regularly, but can anyone tell me why all my photos disappeared out of my "Photos" file on my blog?... It's making me a little crazy... I was looking for a photo I saved here of my son with a spicebush butterfly on his nose...
My friend Karen Solomon, Support for Homeschool Yahoo Group, just posted these great teacher appreciation offers. I thought I'd put them here for others to also see, and so I can delete the other email and not lose the information. Here it is:
OFFICE DEPOTฎ > Office Depotฎ is hosting the 13th Annual Teacher Appreciation > Breakfast. Stop in for free breakfast, a free tote bag > (while supplies last) and 10%* off everything all day. Visit > www.school.com and click on "Star Teacher Program" to find the > breakfast near you. Not a Star Teacher yet? Visit your local > Office Depotฎ store to sign up today! > Note:*10% instant discount is not valid for purchases from > www.techdepot.com, purchases of Gift Cards, computers, wireless, > satellite, Internet or shipping and mailing services. Quantities > limited. While supplies last. > > MICHAELSฎ > Michaels thanks teachers for inspiring creative young minds every > day. Come to Michaels August 20th through 26th and receive a > teachers-only 10% discount off of everything in the store, including > sale items! (School ID may be required.) Also, enter online for a > chance to win a $1,000 Michaels gift card, a classroom full of cool > Crayola products, or other great prizes! Enter at Michaels.com between > August 19th and 26th. For more information about the Michaels teacher > appreciation event, visit www.michaels.com > > WAL*MARTฎ > Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. will be hosting Teacher Appreciation Events > throughout the country from July 21 to July 31, 2006 at more than > 3,000 locations. The Wal*Mart Teacher Appreciation program, now in its > 9th year, is designed to help kick off the school year by showing > appreciation to America's teachers. > > Each teacher who attends the event will receive a gift package > containing samples from Crayola and other manufacturers of > school-related supplies (while supplies last). For more information, > contact your local store or visit www.wal-mart.com > > STAPLESฎ > Teachers are invited to celebrate the new school year at Teacher > Appreciation Day events in Staples stores nationwide. The first 200 > teachers at each event will receive a free canvas goody bag, teacher > planner, and valuable coupons. Find the event near you at > www.staples.com/teacherday (Teachers may be asked to > present school ID.) > > OFFICEMAXฎ > OfficeMax is hosting Teacher Appreciation Events in the last week > of July and mid-August, depending on when school starts in your area. > Teachers can call their local OfficeMax store or 1-877-OFFICEMAX, to > find local dates and locations. Visit OfficeMax.com to find a > store near you.
In an effort to preserve my family stories, I am putting them down here for my family, friends, and posterity. I will try to tie each story up neatly with a bow so that the reader can determine who the story was actually about, so that my children, especially, can understand their forefathers lives better.
I was reading AllisAlley, and the song she had posted really hit me hard today, but it also ministered to me. So, I thought I'd post it here as well and let you all enjoy it. Blessings to you, my friends!
Third Day - Cry Out To Jesus From the album Wherever You Are
To everyone who's lost someone they love Long before it was their time You feel like the days you had were not enough when you said goodbye
And to all of the people with burdens and pains Keeping you back from your life You believe that there's nothing and there is no one Who can make it right
Chorus: There is hope for the helpless Rest for the weary Love for the broken heart There is grace and forgiveness Mercy and healing He'll meet you wherever you are Cry out to Jesus, Cry out to Jesus
For the marriage that's struggling just to hang on Theyve lost all of their faith in love They've done all they can to make it right again Still it's not enough
For the ones who can't break the addictions and chains You try to give up but you come back again Just remember that you're not alone in your shame And your suffering
Chorus:
When your lonely And it feels like the whole world is falling on you You just reach out, you just cry out to Jesus Cry to Jesus
To the widow who suffers from being alone Wiping the tears from her eyes For the children around the world without a home Say a prayer tonight
Oh, and anyone reading this entry today, please remember to pray for Emily throughout the day today as she is having surgery. For more info, click on the link to the right.
Not that I have time for this, but I'm thinking of transitioning my blog colors to something more blue-ish, more in keeping with the fact that I am homeschooling a boy. (I have an 11th grade, too, but she mostly homeschools herself...)
Today I did next to no estate work. Hubby took today. I manned (woman'ed) the homefront. Swept kitchen and laundry room; loaded and ran dishwasher; read to both kids from Understood Betsy, folded towels; dried yesterday's darks, ran another load of darks... Outside the rain did pour. I cleaned old food out of the fridge, made my bed, did some blogging, did some bank business, and the rain did pour. Took daughter to activity at church; hubby got home with groceries, and I put them away. The boy went outside and got all wet, the dogs got all wet, my house got all wet, and the rain did pour. Made dinner, served it, ate it, put away, and the rain did pour. Hubby put boy to bed tonight, I went out, got a Starbucks and a Blockbuster movie, and drove home again, and the rain did pour.
There are new posts on CrystalStar's blogspot. Click on the "Pray for Emily" button for an update, and please, please pray for Emily (and her mom and dad, Crystal and Scott). They are going through a very difficult time right now, and hope is shaky right now...
Boy, who'd a thunk March would be so busy for me? And when I'm so busy and don't take notes, the end of the month comes and I'm left asking myself, "Where did the month go? What did I spend my time doing?" And since I didn't blog through it, I really don't remember... (Signs of aging!...)
Anyway, last night was our homeschool co-op end-of-unit Sock Hop (Tapestry of Grace, Year 4, Unit 3, approximately 1950-1975, included 1950's and we made the '50's the theme for our end-of-unit celebration!). My daughter and I each made poodle skirts for the occasion, shopped at thrift stores to find genre-appropriate sweaters to wear with the skirts, raided my jewelry left me by my grandmother and my husband's aunt and grandmother, and dressed up in penny loafers and bobby socks, pony tails and poodle skirts... I don't have any photos of myself, but I can post a photo of my skirt and a photo of my daughter in hers, as soon as I get them downloaded to my computer.
My other daughter came for the event from college (25 or so miles away) and brought a friend, and my 6 year old went as a 50's 6-year-old, in a cowboy outfit with the hat and a vest, stick horse and popgut (provided by college-sis). Dad went as dad. Jeans always look like jeans, right? A fun time was had by all.
6 yo has a cold, though, so I'm home from church with him right now. Well, guess I should get off the computer for a bit and do motherly things for a few. Blessings!
Sorry I am short on entries right now. My state requires annual reviews of the homeschool program, and my review is tomorrow night. I haven't kept my records very up to date, so I am getting things ready for my review.
My poor son... Day after day, time after time, he goes into the hall bathroom and uses it without closing the door. His sister, grossed out, screams, "Close the door!!!!"
So, today I'm coming down the hallway and I hear the door to the bathroom closing slowly, quietly... Suspicious that he is has scissors or something and is cutting his own hair (again) or cutting the shower curtain (again) or something like that, I slowly open the door and quietly say, "What are you doing in here?" As you have no doubt concluded by now, he was doing what he was supposed to do: closing the door before he used the bathroom. Poor boy.
He can't win. If he leaves the door open, we want him to shut it. If he shuts it, we want to know why. When he starts coming up and announcing, as we are talking to the neighbor or sister or talking on the phone, "I'm going to go potty." We're all saying, "TMI!" (Too much information....) He just can't win!
Ahhhhhhh!!!!!! Unbelievable! I went to take my daughter to her co-op, and the temp. is, like, 65 degrees, headed toward 75 for the day. (Don't feel bad, northern states. Just come visit, if you want!)
DD was so delighted with the weather, and ds (6) was so funny... We walked out the front door, and he had put on his winter coat,... He stopped, and put both hands up, palms up, like to check the weather, and said, "What?!!!" And he shed his coat and threw it at me like, "I'm not going to need this!" and whooped and hollered on his way to the car!
So, we figure to spend some great time outdoors today. Finally we'll get in a good CM nature walk. We listened to a cardinal's song, while we sat in the car waiting for dd to get there. Why do I have so much trouble remembering which song goes with which bird? I'll take my digital camera with us on our walk, and we'll try to keep track of the birds we see. Hopefully we'll be able to note more than just how much trash we pick up! (That was the notable notation in my blog of our last significant nature walk...)
I'm itching to get in the yard and bag those leaves and find that yard. (Yeah, we must have only bagged 200 bags worth of leaves in the fall. What were we thinking? We needed to continue bagging after the temperature had reached 20 degrees...)
Well, I'm definitely not going to spend all day on homeschool blogger today, so I better get off to my laundry and such, which really needs to get started before I can go outside and "play".
I just learned of the death of one of our fellow homeschooling moms, and wanted to ask everyone to be praying for the dad and the children. Missey (at http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/HeartSchooling was expecting the family's 5th child, and was visiting the doctor for a stress test that she had been getting regularly through the pregnancy. The test revealed that the amniotic sac had leaked to a dangerous level, so she was immediately taken for a c-section. However, amniotic fluid leaked into her blood stream and caused a bloodclot which caused her death. She has gone to be with the Lord, but has left behind a shell-shocked husband, a newborn, and four other kids.
You can find more information at Christy's blog, http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Christy, and and Missey's blog, http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/HeartSchooling, by reading the comments that have been added since her entry yesterday, before her appointment. She was a member of the AmblesideOnline community, and was a part of, I think, numerous YahooGroups. I think more of us than we realize have probably known her in receiving advice and encouragement. Please, let's remember to pray for this hurting family.
I am trying to get webmaster Aslan to change my URL to Diana123, because I am not happy that I started this blog using my name. So, if it gets changed, it will change automatically on any of you'all's "Friends" lists. Don't be alarmed if that new name just shows up; it will just be me.
Now, POLL:
I am not getting many comments from my recent humorous posts. Thank you very much to those who did comment that they enjoyed them. For the rest of my readers, I was wondering, have you enjoyed them? Are you offended by them? Do you like my humor? Should I crawl back into "Fluttering FlyBaby" mode and just talk about housework and homeschooling?
I am really interested, so if you read this and can take the time, please let me know.
[Lord, I'm really swamped! I could sure use an excellent wife...]
11 The heart of her husband trusts in her,
And he will have no lack of gain.
[About that, Lord... I'm just not up to the task! And... no lack of gain? Actually, we just seem to major in spending all his money, not helping him to gain...]
12 She does him good and not evil
All the days of her life.
[I know some women who seem this way, but frankly, God, I've been guilty of doing him some evil....]
13 She looks for wool and flax,
And works with her hands in delight.
[Yes, Lord, I've brought home the wool and the flax... I've got about a 10'X10'X2' storage area full of the fabrics... I guess, mostly, I've accomplished the first part of the verse but failed to get the projects made, although it is with delight when I manage to...]
14 She is like merchant ships; [Are you calling me fat?]
She brings her food from afar. [Giant? Safeway?...]
15 She rises also while it is still night, [Not if I can help it!]
And gives food to her household, [Gotta love cold cereal!]
And portions to her maidens. [About that, Lord... I've been looking for those maidens for years! If I could just find them, I could get so much more done every day!]
16 She considers a field and buys it; [No way! Do you know the price of a field in this area?]
From her earnings she plants a vineyard. [What earnings? I just spent my money buying a field!]
17 She girds herself with strength, [Do they sell that in the clothing department at Wal-Mart?]
And makes her arms strong. [That's from carrying babies and groceries, right?]
18 She senses that her gain is good; [No, Lord! I was trying to lose weight, not gain it!]
Her lamp does not go out at night. [Now you're talking my language. That's why I can't get up in the morning while it is still night...]
19 She stretches out her hands to the distaff, [I didn't inherit the family distaff...]
And her hands grasp the spindle. [My sewing machine doesn't have a spindle, just a bobin...]
20 She extends her hand to the poor; [Is that, like, to show them that I don't have any money to give them?]
And she stretches out her hands to the needy. [Would that mean my 6 year old? or my 16 year old?]
21 She is not afraid of the snow for her household, [Nah, we all love the snow.]
For all her household are clothed with scarlet. [But I look terrible in red! And I can't my daughter to wear it either...]
22 She makes coverings for herself; [I wish I had the time...]
Her clothing is fine linen and purple. [Lately I go more for gray polar fleece...]
23 Her husband is known in the gates, [We don't have any gates...]
When he sits among the elders of the land. [If he sits down, I don't think he's ever gonna get up again...]
24 She makes linen garments and sells them, [She must have more time than I do, since she's got those maidens cleaning her house and homeschooling her kids...]
And supplies belts to the tradesmen. [I haven't seen any tradesmen looking for belts...]
25 Strength and dignity are her clothing, [Are those sold at Wal-Mart too?]
And she smiles at the future. [It's gotta be better than today, maybe...]
26 She opens her mouth in wisdom, [Usually it's wiser to keep my mouth shut...]
And the teaching of kindness is on her tongue. [Like, "Please stop hitting the dog with that stick!"?]
27 She looks well to the ways of her household, [I'm looking, Lord, but there's not always something I can do to remedy the situation...]
And does not eat the bread of idleness. [I work pretty hard, Lord, but I feel kinda idle when I'm blogging...]
28 Her children rise up and bless her; [mostly only if I sneeze...]
Her husband also, and he praises her, saying:
29 Many daughters have done nobly,
But you excel them all." [I don't remember him saying exactly that...]
30 Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, [That's good, cause I left it behind about ten years ago...]
But a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised. [I do well to fear because, in spite of His grace, I've still got a long way to go...]
31 Give her the product of her hands, [Is this a curse? or a blessing?]
And let her works praise her in the gates. [Those works are kinda few, Lord. I'm still looking for those maidens. In the meantime, I gotta go now, Lord. The 6 year old has a play date, and the 16 year old needs more driving time towards her driver's license...]
I hope to make this humerous, while bringing truth to light about the real life of a home school mom!
At about 9:30 a.m., the mom decides it is time to get ready to exercise. She plugs her 6 year old into a computer phonics game and goes to put on exercise clothes.
She sees the bed and remembers that she needs to strip the sheets on her bed. She strips the sheets.
She goes to use the bathroom, so that the old, saggy female plumbing won't give her trouble while she is exercising, and she gets sidetracked playing "Jawbreaker" on her Pocket PC. She finally gets up and gets dressed.
She heads downstairs to the treadmill, but halfway there remembers the sheets sitting on the bed that need to go in the wash, so she goes back and gets them. On her way, she sees the tissues that her allergy-prone child has discarded on the carpet, and picks them up and throws them away.
She gets the sheets and goes down and sticks them in the washing machine. While she is at it, she folds the stuff in the dryer and takes it up and puts it on her bed. Since she is upstairs again, she goes into dear son's room and strips his bed as well. While she is in there she puts away his toys, throws away stray tissues, and puts away clean clothes that are sitting on his dresser. She takes his sheets downstairs, and makes sure that she has her hair clip, her MP3 player, and her water jug. She dumps the sheets at the washer and then goes to the treadmill.
She turns the treadmill on and sets it to run Program 1. Seems easy. It's for 30 minutes, and that's what she wants. She starts out the warm up and walks for 3 minutes, and then she sees her dear son poking his head around the corner. She stops the treadmill and asks him what's up. He says the computer locked up. He rebooted it but needs help getting back into Studydog.
She walks upstairs and shows him how to get back into the program, and gets him into it. While she is in the kitchen, she empties the dishwasher and loads the things that are in the sink. She goes back downstairs to the treadmill. She sees part of a sewing project has fallen behind the treadmill, and she squats and squeezes and gets to where it is and picks it up. It is the sleeve to a size 6 months sweatshirt. Her son is now six. ::sigh:: She turns the treadmill back on.
The crazy treadmill does not seem to understand what she wants to do (remember, she selected a pre-set program). The crazy thing keeps changing pace, changing to an inclined ramp, no matter how many times she reduces the speed and puts the ramp back to level. It seems convinced that she should go 6.0 miles per hour. She knows that she will get an inflamed knee if she goes that fast, but it speeds up every 60 seconds anyway.
Dear son is back again. He says big sister kicked him off the kitchen computer. She turns the treadmill off again and sets him up at the downstairs computer, by the treadmill, to play Studydog again. She turns the treadmill on again and is finally able to finish her time on it, with her son resting his foot against it the whole time, giggling because it tickles his bare foot as the treadmill turns.
She turns the treadmill off and closes it (so dear son won't play with it), and goes to check the washer. There is very little time left on the cycle by this time, so she goes into the sewing room to do some pick up while it finishes. She picks up the construction paper that is all over the floor from dear daughter's birthday card project last week. She also picks up pins from daughter's sewing project, and ignores the mouse droppings from whoever had the pet mouse out last.
The washer turns off, and she transfers the sheets to the dryer and starts the next load. She goes upstairs to shower, but since she is still sweating, she puts away the clothes that she brought upstairs earlier. As she reaches the bottom of the pile, she is glad she put them away, because her shower towels were in this load, and she is going to need them.
She goes into the bathroom to shower, and resists the urge to clean the bathroom first. She turns on the water and hops in. She shampoos, conditions, and starts to shave limbs. By this time the water is no longer hot. Remember, she just started the second load of sheets in hot water - necessary to kill dust mites in an allergy home. By the time she finishes shaving the water is truly 70 degrees--not her idea of a good time.
She gets out of the shower and gets dried and dressed. She starts to dry her hair, and daughter comes in to remind her that she needs a ride to work. Hair finished, it is now 1:05 p.m. Daughter is supposed to be at work at 1:00, and it took 3 and 1/2 hours to exercise and shower.
That's why homeschool moms don't usually bother trying to exercise.
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Well, that's about it! Have a wonderful week!
