Delight Yourself In The Lord
• Sunday, July 20, 2008 - Help! Does Anyone Subscribe to BHG??
Posted By diamondsintherough
Hey everyone, while I was waiting at the doctor's office last week I copied a recipe for some different-sounding chocolate chip cookies out of a magazine. (I am pretty sure it was the current issue of Better Homes and Gardens...?) And I can't believe I did this (why not -- I do this all the time!), but I promptly lost it!  The writer said her husband takes buckets of these cookies to work each week, and that this was the first time she had shared the recipe. It looks pretty normal, except the instructions say to soak raisins in the egg and vanilla for an hour before mixing up the batter. Someone help me out here. I know there's a subscriber out there somewhere! Thank you ~  |
Comments (0)
:: Post A
Comment! :: Permanent Link
|
• Sunday, July 20, 2008 - Mom's Best Playdough Recipe
Posted By diamondsintherough
Try this recipe for quick home-made playdough:
1 cup flour
1/2 cup salt
2 tsp cream of tartar
1 cup water
1 T oil
Mix all the ingredients in a large saucepan over medium low heat, and stir constantly. When the dough is stiff (it only takes a few minutes), turn it out on to your counter and knead until cooled. You can add food coloring, or even a packet of KoolAid for color and scent! This soft "dough" will keep for several months if it is stored in the refrigerator in an air-tight container.
The dough cleans up easily with soap and water, doesn't stain, and is nice and pliable. I love cheap stuff like this, that keeps little ones busy for a long time!  |
Comments (0)
:: Post A
Comment! :: Permanent Link
|
• Jul. 20, 2008 - week 1 year 10 complete!
Posted By Dawn
Wow! It still amazes me that we have been on this homeschool journey for 10 years now and love it more all the time! How cool is that!! Well, the littles and I are using Story of the World (SOTW) this year and may I say we love love love it. So far it is just what I wanted with very few of my own additions. In fact looking over the first few months there is very little I would add. I actually own alot of their extra reading suggestions too. We kicked off the new year with an archaeological dig in the sandbox. I buried about 40 things and the kids all had their own section. After they dug up the household items they told me what they were used for and what it said about our family. They loved this activity.
We then moved on to making handprints out of plaster of paris to remind ourselves what our hands looked like in 2008. Another great way to understand history in a hands on way. LOL!
The kids also loved doing cave painting. They really worked at it until they were pleased with the outcome.
The top one is done by my Tom Sawyer (6).
The kids enjoy coloring the coloring pages that come with the SOTW workbook while I read to them and are also having fun with the mapwork. We are starting a time line so they can watch history go by. (more on that in another post). Reading and math are getting off the ground too and I hope to have circle time going by next week.
The big teen is off to a good start with his studies. However, the nature center that he interns at has asked him back for an additional week as a camp counselor so I guess we will have to school light for another week.
BLessings,
Dawn |
Comments (2)
:: Post A
Comment! :: Permanent Link
|
• Saturday, July 19, 2008 - Busy Day
Posted By diamondsintherough
This entry is for my most loyal fans, just a recap of the day. Got up at 5:30 and went for my (almost) daily two-mile walk. I can't believe I am still doing this, but it's getting to be a habit.
Then we went to the funeral of our oldest church member, a man who had (still has -- his wife is still with us) four generations of his family in our church. What a blessing to see so many saved in one family, and what a heritage. We tried to wear cool clothes and look dressy at the same time, but we weren't very successful. Alizona and Booklover provided violin and flute music again, which was great, because you don't normally get "Oh How I Love Jesus", "In a Land Where We'll Never Grow Old", or "Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus" for music at a funeral home. The preacher gave an excellent message on how to be confident of heaven, as our brother in the Lord was while he was living. Most of the family who were present were lost people who believe it is a sin of presumption to say you know for sure you are going to heaven. Can you imagine that? Sounds to me like someone wants to control them with fear or something. Imagine God leaving us to wonder about it until the moment we die. How can a person ever have peace in this life that way?? The Bible says you can KNOW (present tense!), and the preacher did a good job of showing that we can KNOW for sure, by God's Word, by his work (not ours), and by his way. It was about a hundred and eleventeen degrees outside, and the funeral director was well prepared with a chest full of iced bottled water at the grave site. Whew it was hot. Even in my "cool" clothes, I could feel the sweat trickling down my chest and back. Whoever invented nylons was inspired of the devil, I am sure of it.
When we got home I threw a roast in the slow-cooker so I wouldn't have to come up with supper at 4:30 pm, and I congratulated myself for my foresight. Spent the afternoon pre-reading A Light in the Forest for Booklover. Pretty good book, but I sure didn't like the way it ended! So sad!
After supper we all decided we wanted to go along with Daddy to Lowe's. Building stores are so fun, don't you think? Well, only if you go with a good idea and lots of money, that's what I think. But the kids love the big car carts. We were on the hunt for one of those electronic bug/rodent annoyers that keep them away from your house. You plug it into the wall, and a signal runs through the electrical system and transmits a high-frequency noise that they can't stand. (Kind of like shopping at WalMart and being forced to listen to whoever the latest stage god is.) We didn't find the kind we wanted, and we decided to look online. All the reviews by pest control people said those contraptions don't work, and all the ones written by consumers said they are the best thing since mousetraps. As an experienced consumer, I can tell you the good ones do work. Ours conked out after, oh, maybe seven years, and soon after we unplugged it a rodent work crew took up residence in our bathroom wall. They have spent hours remodeling in there in the middle of the night, keeping us awake with their hammering (probably more like chewing). So we now have one of those gizmos on order, and that will be the last of the rodents and the occasional little bugs we get in the house. It's way cheaper than a monthly service contract with Adieux or Baron or Bugbusters, and certainly a lot healthier for us than having chemicals sprayed in our human living area.
On the way home we stopped at Dollar Tree and managed to spend $7 on junk we didn't go there for, and we didn't find what we wanted in the first place!
Before we could go to Lowe's, Carrotlover had to have her hair combed out. This is the one I was telling you about a little while ago, who gets dreadlocks overnight. We had that problem solved for about three days, and then her hair rebelled again. It is just impossible!!! Solution: scissors. Her long, straight, thick hair WAS about 2" above her waist, but now it is about 2" past her shoulders!!! Thankfully she really likes it shorter, and I did not have to put to bed a crying little princess who was mourning the loss of her beautiful tresses.
And in other news, the toilet got stopped up tonight for about the thousandth time since we had our new sewer system put in, sigh... my DH is threatening to start "The Poop Blog", just so he can have a place to anonymously vent his frustrations over the naughty toilet. |
Comments (1)
:: Post A
Comment! :: Permanent Link
|
• Jul. 19, 2008 - Bear Attack ~ ACK!!!!
The dog was going crazy out in his bed by the chicken yard a minute ago and I could hear the rooster squawking like he was dying!! From the house I can't see the chicken yard or their house so I was a little scared to go outside! We have our resident black bear here again right now and he is very owly so I wasn't going to rush out just in case I came face to face with him, but it finally quieted down and I just finished creeping out to find the fence torn down :(
Whatever it was (I'm assuming it was the bear) crashed through the corner of the pen taking the fence post and wire down with it and crushed another section to. Luckily I was able to pull the post back up and put it in the hole, so for tonight it is up enough but will need repair and Dh just left for work again :( All of the girls appear to be there still so it wasn't trying to eat them.
UPDATE: Just as I was finishing this post I heard terrible crashing out the front of the house towards the vacant property next door. There he was!! It was the bear. He's sooo early this year :( Usually he doesn't show up until the apples are half grown on the trees in the orchard. He's getting more brazen this year to by storming the yard in the daylight. Yesterday my mom watched him come down her garden path on the hillside garden so I guess I won't be letting the kids out alone during the daytime anymore, and I better stash the garbage can to. He LOVES my garbage can *grin* Found that out last year when my can disappeared and there was a trail of trash a mile long :) Hmmm, I'm not happy about this.
Blessings,
 |
Comments (1)
:: Post A
Comment! :: Permanent Link
|
• Jul. 19, 2008 - Kinder Kids
Hi Faithful Readers, Visitors and Friends....
Well, I am not sure how much learning we actually accomplished in Kinder Kids this week but, it definitely was a full productive fun week....
We had some Basketball time with Dad...
Bumblebee and I actually managed to get some Daisy Girl Scout Stuff Done.....(among mom's reorganizing the school room and school stuff...remember our Keepin It Real Post? if not you can check that post out...our Update "Keepin it Real--Organized Chaos" pictures we will be posting on Monday evening or Tuesday at the latest, I have to add some finishing touches.
Bumblebee working on girl scout activity...
Bumblebee and I also played her Butterfly game.
If your interested in Bumblebee's Butterfly Learning.
Bumblebee and I playing the Butterfly game with her Brainquest learning cards.
We also visited the further library this week for Bumblebee's Last Fabulous 4 class til Sept.
They were learning and making Submarine's.
Now I know some disapprove and some approve....
But, for us we approve.
I have my ears pierced (just once) and my daughter wanted hers..so since her Birthday is coming up in a couple weeks we got them pierced for her Birthday they look absolutely beautiful and adorable..
Now of course with how hot the weather has been here where we live this week up close to the 90's the Kiddos have done alot of swimming in the backyard in the pool in between mom's reorganizing of course and our Pizza Pool Party on Thursday.
We had three mom's make it and 9 children plus of course myself and our 4 children.
They all had a blast and it didn't cost me nearly as much as I had originally planned...it was absolutely worth every penny..all the kids had a blast...we plan to have another near the end of August.
The kiddos and I made homemade Bubble Solution...
(from left to right: Our Son Spiderben, Our daughter Bumblebee and their Friend D for Short).
This is what happened with that solution...they decided to swim in it...
Bumblebee was covered head to toe..LOL
Her Brother Miah on the right is getting ready to rinse her off with the hose.
SpiderBen or is that BubbleMan?....her Brother was just as covered...LOL
It was so wonderful, a blessing seeing the kids have homeschool (kids) and potential friends over....I am so thankful after 2.5 years here that we are finally making Friends.
It was such a joy and blessing seeing all these kids in the pool...
It was like this is why we bought a house, a big yard and a pool to share.....
Nothing like a Splash from a new friend...
We have had a great and blessed week with swimming, reorganizing and cleaning getting rid of items and gaining some new free ones too meeting some wonderful people and making some new friends.
Hugs,
*~*Sheila*~*
What are you doing with your Kinder Kids?
What Fun Learning or Life Skills are you experiencing with your kiddos or what have they discovered and learned?
Do Share with us! We post on Friday's but, you post on the day it's easiest for you and add it to mr. linky.....
|
Comments (0)
:: Post A
Comment! :: Permanent Link
|
• Jul. 19, 2008 - Weekending
It feels so good to be on this side of VBS. Truly, the kids and ladies I worked with were great and the week could not have gone more smoothly. We had over 1000 kids attend each day. Our class of 5th graders was the largest with over 60! I thank the Lord that they were the best mannered children I have ever been with! And everything was so organized that no one had time to get into mischief.
This weekend I will be preparing for my sweet girl's 9th birthday on Monday. I need to make her a giant cookie. She decided on a M&M cookie. I am not sure what decoration theme she wants. That is typical. I won't know until the moment arrives! We've already changed from cupcakes to an ice cream cake, to the giant cookie.
I hope you have a fantastic weekend enjoying your family. I'll be around...hopefully.
 |
Comments (5)
:: Post A
Comment! :: Permanent Link
|
• July 19, 2008 - The Lord blesses, regardless of us
It's been quite an interesting week this week. It has been filled with lots of emotional time, crying, heartache along with growth, healing and blessings. I'm not going into all the details, but I do what to share of the Lord's blessing through it all. So sorry if this is vague.
It began toward the beginning of the week. A misunderstanding, an expectation that was not met and a dream that was shattered. And then through the emotions, the ups and downs during those events, feeling, hurts and emotions from my past came back and compounded things. At a point during it all I was mad, mad at the person with the misunderstanding, mad the situation and mad at God. Yes, I was mad at God. I felt like He allowed a dream to start growing, just to pull the rug out from underneath me. I felt like He was a mean God. I was mad at Him, and I told Him so. Through this pain and anger I prayed, not just angry prayers, but hurt prayers, confused about the situation prayers, needing comfort prayers.
On Thursday night I went to bible study. Nothing really settled, actually things had gotten a bit worse. This is when I was dealing with the issues and hurt from my past that seemed to come up. I was still angry at the situation and feeling the Lord did this all just to hurt me, as I went to bible study. The bible study was good, the Word encouraging. My friends prayed for me and it was sweet. But most importantly the Lord blessed me there. He blessed me with something I had wanted that I never thought I would get. He blessed me because of Him, not because of me. I was still angry, I was still hurt, and yet even though I didn't deserve it He blessed me.
I know that salvation is by faith alone, that we don't deserve it, I understand that. But I still have this thing in me that feels like He's only happy with me when I do things "right" (which in my perfectionist mind means flawless). That He'll only bless me when I'm in good standing with Him. That for Him not to be disappointed with me, I have to be perfect. But last night He showed me His blessings on me have absolutely nothing to do with me. He doesn't bless me because I'm doing things 'right' and He doesn't take things away because I'm doing things 'wrong'. He loves and accepts me despite my sin, and gives us things we don't need, just because sometimes.
I would love to say that everything is perfect and worked through. And I will say there has been some great growth and healing that has taken place through all of this. There is still an 'issue' out there that might flare up, though I pray it doesn't. But for me, most importantly, is that I have seen a part of God's love and acceptance of me I've never seen before. Thank you Lord for that and for your blessing that you've given me. I pray I will always remember what you have taught me when I use it.
OK, so what was this blessing He gave me? Well if you remember from this post I wanted to set up a reading area in our bedroom. I had priced gliders and they were all well out of my reach financially. Truthfully the whole reading area was a wash, I just couldn't afford it. So at bible study I casually asked if the ladies new of anyone selling a glider cheap, would they let me know. I thought maybe I could put things together bit by bit, though truthfully I wasn't to optimistic about it. After I say this to the ladies, the leader says, "Come here. Do you mean a glider like this?"  She points out this beautiful glider sitting there. I'm like, yes exactly, how much do you want for it? She responds, "Oh nothing, you can just take it."  Then she says do you need a little table too? What?!?! Of course I do, oh here's one you can just take too. That was my facial expression, along with some tears. I just couldn't believe it. The Lord had given me my reading corner. Just given it to me, in the midst of my anger at Him, not because I deserved it, but because of His love for me. It still brings tears to my eyes. OK, here are the pictures of my new reading corner.
The before pictures (I didn't think of taking them until I started emptying the drawers  )
The after pictures. Isn't it just great?
  |
Comments (4)
:: Post A
Comment! :: Permanent Link
|
• Jul. 20, 2008 -
Posted By Valerie (SoCalVal)
• Jul. 19, 2008 - Solomon Reversal
Posted By SmallGreenRiver
So here I am minding my own business when my wife has to spend the night with a daughter who has to be administered IV drugs unexpectedly. I immediately step into the mom-substitute role, relishing it to an extent. You see, with just me here, they can't say "Mom said I could". They do try "Mom lets us", to which I reply "Do you see Mom?"
Bam.
Well, as it turns out this time, instead of just tolerating me, they actually NEED me. Other than the fact they get takeout pizza for dinner, they also have a real need that only I can fulfill. There are 2 of them, a daughter and a granddaughter, who are going to Vacation Bible School, and tonight they get credit for bringing a parent. They have been puzzling all day who gets to claim me (they are on different "teams", so it can only be one who get me). I told them they needed to work it out. Isn't it exciting?
I'm only intervening if they come up with the Solomon solution.
I am WANTED! |
Comments (0)
:: Post A
Comment! :: Permanent Link
|
|
Recent Entries
