I've seen this before, but I wanted to share it again!  Enjoy!  (Click on the comic to go to Jason Holm's website.)

Thanks to Money Saving Mom for the head's up! Chipotle Mexican Grill restaurants nationwide are honoring teachers today (Tuesday, May 6, 2008) on National Teacher Day.  (I didn't know today was National Teacher Day, did you?!) 

Bring your ID showing that you are a teacher, administrator or school faculty member to any Chipotle restaurant between 3 and 10 p.m., and you will receive your burritos and tacos for free.

Be sure to call ahead to make sure the restaurant you choose to visit is participating. 

(Too bad there's not one near us.     )

Wow!  What's the limit on the number of favorite books I can share?  I suppose I can share as many or as few as I'd like... seeing as this is my blog. 

Here's the one that comes to mind first:

• The Bible - the inspired Word of God

Here's the ones that come to mind in the following categories:

Fiction:

• The Chronicles of Narnia series by C. S. Lewis
• Little House on the Prairie series by Laura Ingalls Wilder
• The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien

Non-Fiction:

• books by Kevin Leman - I've not by any means read all of them, but I enjoy what I have read.
• The Power of a Praying Wife by Stormie Omartian

Younger children's fiction "picture" books:

• Curious George series by H. A. Rey
• The Berenstain Bears series by Stan and Jan Berenstain
• Clifford the Big Red Dog series by Norman Bridwell
• Amelia Bedelia series by Peggy Parish
• The Topsy-Turvy Kingdom by Dottie and Josh McDowell  (This book was written as part of Josh McDowell's Right from Wrong campaign in the mid-90s.  It's written in a fun-to-read-aloud rhyme.  As it may not be as well-known as the others I've listed, here's a brief synopsis:  A king must leave his kingdom to go to war.  While he's away, the citizens decide to do things their own way... walking on their hands, taking someone's purse, etc.  Then, the king returns... )

I thought I'd take a look at Blogger Friend School again, and see what's been going on. This assignment (#24) on recycling is rather timely for us.

First part of the assignment --


Within the past few weeks (or months, I can't remember for sure which), we started collecting recyclables on a more regular basis. The main problem with this is how to store all of the paper, plastic, and cans while they are waiting to be loaded up and taken to the recycling center. Also, I wonder at the cost of the gas to travel to the recycling center as neither of the two that are "closest" to our house is very convenient. And neither is close to any routes we regularly take. But, alas, we want to be good stewards. So, there's a little of our dilemma.


Other things that we do to be good stewards of the earth and the resources God has provided:

• We try to be conservative in our fuel usage by combining errands.
• We pay many of our bills online or via automatic draft.
• We've cut down on the amount of paper usage by signing up for paperless statements (credit card, telephone, etc.).
• I try to re-use crafty-type materials (i.e. toilet paper rolls, paper towel rolls, use both sides of paper - poster board, copy paper, etc.).
• I've even been known to retrieve half-used papertowels to use on other spills... but not in a gross or insanitary fashion.

And now, on to the second part of the assignment --


I know that this verse is not necessarily referring to stewardship of "stuff," but I think it's a good reminder to be servants and stewards of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

It's very early in the morning (3:47), but I can't seem to get to sleep.  Hope everyone enjoys the first day of May!!!

Well, since absolutely NO ONE "took me up on the offer" to guess at a word's definition, I'm extending the deadline for commenting on my last entry. 

The winner of the "contest" will receive the joy of winning.  (Guess this "lame" prize is the reason why no one has left a comment.) 

It's a rainy Sunday afternoon here in Southeast Tennessee. Our 8 yo dd is off with the GAs to do a service project. My dh is snoring in his blue recliner, our almost 6 yo dd is playing a computer game on the laptop after taking a 10-15 minute pseudo nap on our bed.

My dh recently started reading a library book entitled, Racketty-Packetty House, by Frances H. Burnett to our girls. It was originally "released" in 1906, and the language is somewhat reflective of that time period.

Here's an excerpt from the book that I copied from this Project Gutenberg file. I changed the color of the font for one of the sentences to demonstrate the length of a typical sentence from the book. Reading books from this time period (especially when reading aloud) can be difficult because of the wordiness, but they're such fun! (Please note that I changed a word in the first sentence because of its current definition. See the brackets [ ] below.)

For a long time they led a very [insert a word that rhymes with 'day' and starts with 'g'] and fashionable life. They had parties and balls and were presented at Court and went to Royal Christenings and Weddings and were married themselves and had families and scarlet fever and whooping cough and funerals and every luxury. But that was long, long ago, and now all was changed. Their house had grown shabbier and shabbier, and their clothes had grown simply awful; and Aurelia Matilda and Victoria Leopoldina had been broken to bits and thrown into the dust-bin, and Leontine—who had really been the beauty of the family—had been dragged out on the hearth rug one night and had had nearly all her paint licked off and a leg chewed up by a Newfoundland puppy, so that she was a sight to behold. As for the boys; Rowland and Vincent had quite disappeared, and Charlotte and Amelia always believed they had run away to seek their fortunes, because things were in such a state at home. So the only ones who were left were Clotilda and Amelia and Charlotte and poor Leontine and Augustus and Charles Edward Stuart. Even they had their names changed.

 

 Last night, I picked up reading the book where he (my dh) had left off the other night, and I didn't want to put it down. However, seeing as it was nearly 11 p.m., I decided sleep was the more prudent alternative.   So, I'm looking forward to reading some more of it to our girls tonight.

BTW, without looking it up in a  dictionary or on the Internet, does anyone know what "antimacassar" means?  (I had to look it up.)  Here is the word used in context...

The whole Racketty-Packetty family gave a great gasp of joy and sat down in a ring all at once, on the floor, mopping their foreheads with anything they could get hold of. Peter Piper used an antimacassar.

 

OR

 

Then he took an antimacassar out of his pocket and fastened it round the edge of his torn trousers leg, as if it were lace trimming and began to walk about like a Duke—with his arms folded on his chest and his ragged old hat cocked on one side over his ear.

 

Like I said, don't look it up... yet.  I'd like to see what people think the definition is, and then on Tuesday or Wednesday this week, I'll post an entry about the real definition.  Please don't spoil it for anyone, and please leave a comment with what you think it might mean.

I think the biggest happy habit for this "school" year has been our music classes.  The habit of getting up and going to music class every Thursday has helped us stay happy.  The girls get to see many of their friends in each of their classes, and they often get a chance to play with them outside of classtime.  Also, they've made several new friends and learned that the discipline of doing their music "homework" has more rewards than just stickers.  

If your children are not involved with a group of homeschool students, I encourage you to get involved and develop some "happy habits" of your own!  And, if you live in the Chattanooga area, consider Jackie Shellabarger's homeschool music classes.