Jul. 21, 2008
Home Spun strip #248
Posted in Home Spun comic part 13
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Jul. 18, 2008
Home Spun strip #247
Posted in Home Spun comic part 13
 How my children love books! Pages have been crumpled and ripped in the excitement of seeing the pictures and the need to see what happens next. Artwork has been added. Always in a non-erasable marker or crayon. Each child has left their own special mark on a number of library books. We own them now. The library has had many new books courtesy of my toddler vandals. I always report the damage because it's what I want others to do. I used to worry about how much we paid in late fines and book replacements. I now realize it is a direct result of how much we use the library. Yes, books go missing for months every now and then because someone forgot to return it to our library book shelf, but they are being read. Our days of written-on and torn-page books is now past, but the love of books and libraries grows with every year. |
Jul. 16, 2008
Home Spun strip #246
Posted in Home Spun comic part 13
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Jul. 14, 2008
Home Spun strip #245
Posted in Home Spun comic part 13
 Our libraries offer a summer reading game every year. Each library does it differently, but all offer prizes based on how many books the children read over the summer. The intention is to get children reading more. The thing is, most of these programs top out at 50 books. If your child read The Hobbit in a week when she was eight years old, this isn't particularly challenging. It was useful for my more reluctant reader, Chase, who was all about the prizes and read for the pleasure of getting something. I signed up Sierra for the reading game this year hoping to inspire her to learn to read. We'll have to see how that goes. Now if I could just find a summer writing game, I would be set. |
Jul. 11, 2008
Home Spun #29-31 Knitting Tangles
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I'm still busy! Can you believe this? Where's my summer vacation? At this rate, I won't be relaxing until Christmas! These are some of my earliest strips. I'm posting them for Bonni, to make her laugh. It's amazing how far we've come. Back when I wrote this, Marina was only starting to knit. Now she spends time on knitting sites and is working on her first pair of socks. Complete strangers come up to her when she is knitting and ask questions I don't understand because they speak in knitting code.    |
Jul. 9, 2008
Home Spun #134-136 Don't Complain
I am posting reprints while life is busy.    |
Jul. 6, 2008
Home Spun #122-124 The Flower Experiment
I'm posting reprints while life gets in the way. I hope you enjoy revisiting "The Flower Experiment." If you have a favorite strip you would like to see again, please let me know.   |
Jul. 5, 2008
On Enjoying Life
Posted in Stream of Thought
Every now and then I like to explore a quotation collection. It's a weakness. Today I explored quotations under the subject of life at the World of Quotes site. Some of my favorites:Enjoy life. There's plenty of time to be dead.I know not everyone will agree with my perception of life, but I'm glad I could find some quotations that speak to me. I wish I could help everyone to understand my perspective. I think the "Life is suffering" crowd tend to get more coverage because they are "serious" and I am "not serious." It's funny how wanting to enjoy life labels you as someone who is shallow and irreverent. As an artist, I revel in Creation. I love the natural world and appreciate what I have been blessed with. There is such beauty and happiness in life, how can I avoid enjoying it? I believe it is there for us to marvel at, not to fear. I try to stay present minded that I might enjoy the now, instead of mourning the past or worrying over the future. In my life I have gone through periods of depression and I know how easy it is to focus on the negative and become buried in sadness. But it is just as easy to lift yourself with the simple joys that surround you. A flower in bloom, a fledgling bird following its parents, a firefly lighting up in darkness, all these small things bring a smile to my heart. Laughter recharges a weary soul. I want to share that happiness with others. |
Jul. 4, 2008
Home Spun strip #244
Posted in Home Spun comic part 13
 Have a fantastic Independence Day! I'm not sure if I will be able to get next week's comics up in time, so I will post some reruns next week. May everyone have a safe and happy July 4th weekend!
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Jul. 2, 2008
Home Spun strip #243
Posted in Home Spun comic part 13
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Jun. 30, 2008
Home Spun strip #242
Posted in Home Spun comic part 13
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Jun. 27, 2008
Home Spun strip #241
Posted in Home Spun comic part 13
 It's nice to have a friend with a big house. It's nicer when that friend enjoys hosting homeschooling activities. Especially when those activities involve things like costumes and scenery. I remember the first year Erynn and Joe's kids put on a production. They had used a script from an American Girl play. Joe directed and Erynn hosted. Her back porch was the stage. A blanket was the curtain. The kids were fantastic. Since then, Marina has participated in a number of their plays. Last year, two of her friends wrote short musicals. We were humming their tunes for months after. At this point, the kids do everything (think The Little Rascals) and the cast is growing. Chase and Sierra are even going to be in some of the plays this year. |
Jun. 25, 2008
Home Spun strip #240
Posted in Home Spun comic part 12
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Jun. 24, 2008
Knife Juggling and Cake
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Some highlights from hubby's birthday: Juggling knives The dreaded under-the-leg trick:  Chase is becoming quite the photographer. This next photo is my favorite:  Not bad, eh? While he played, I thawed the Cold Stone ice cream cake.  And no, I didn't let him cut the cake with those knives.  |
Jun. 24, 2008
Happy Birthday to my Love
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So I was going to post a picture of my hubby juggling knives to demonstrate that even though he's another year older he still has his rapier wit, but the knife juggling pictures came out too dark because Chase decided to shoot them from inside the house, through the window, without a flash, at twilight... Ah, well, the best laid plans... Today is the birthday of my best friend, my juggling partner, my helper, my lover. The father of my children and my husband of almost 17(!) years. Where does the time go? Happy Birthday Hubby! I Love You!
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Jun. 23, 2008
Home Spun strip #239
Posted in Home Spun comic part 12
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Jun. 21, 2008
I Put Down My Weed Whacker, And You Put Down Your Thorns...
Posted in Stream of Thought
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I truly admire weeds. I think God made weeds to show us how to be strong in the face of adversity. Think about it. Have you ever tried to pull out a weed? They have many ways of proving they are mightier than you. Some weeds have deep roots. Plants like dandelions and Queen Anne's lace have thick carrot-like taproots, while vines like bittersweet and poison ivy boast stringy roots that spread in every direction. If you don't pull the whole root out, the weed simply grows back. And laughs at you. Some weeds protect themselves. Aside from the itchy oils of poison ivy, some plants protect themselves with various sizes of thorns and barbs. Stinging nettle will not even tolerate a stirred leaf. Its tiny barbs really do sting. The brambles and wild roses sport various sizes of thorns. Some weeds are prolific. I know, I know, pull them out before they go to seed. The trick is knowing when that is. Every year the garlic mustards shoot up and become seedy before I even notice them. And some seeds disguise themselves as a toy. How many pounds of dandelion fluff have been blown across my yard by a happy child? The seeds themselves are ingenious. They can be buried for years in layers of dirt and mulch and happily sprout when I inadvertently expose them to light. (This usually happens when I dig a hole for a sad shrub that will weepily wilt for a year before it decides whether it wants to live under my care.) Please don't point out the shelves of weed killers. They deplete the soil, they are hard to isolate from the plants I like and anything with "-cide" in its name is not something I want to use where my children are wont to roll around. Besides, I am a noble gardener. I respect the strength of will in my foliaged foe. If I need to kill a weed, I will use my bare hands, as God intended. Sportsmanlike. |
Jun. 20, 2008
Home Spun strip #238
Posted in Home Spun comic part 12
 I've often found that my dreams of a lazy summer are more of a fantasy. When I let them have time for themselves they seem to naturally settle into unschooling. Even I tend to over-plan. There are books to read, yardwork to tend to, things to build. If I didn't try to get to yoga regularly, I would probably never sit still! |
Jun. 18, 2008
Home Spun strip #237
Posted in Home Spun comic part 12
 I have a very good reason for not getting ruffled when someone asks my kids, "No school today?" I realized that I use it too! How can that be? I'm a forward thinking homeschooling mom and I use such a cliche term. What's wrong with me? Simply put, I don't know what to say when the neighbor kids drop by. I fall back on the obvious as a way to communicate, to interact with my young visitor. I suppose it is the child equivalent of "Nice weather we're having," "How about that game last night?" or "How are you today?" Perhaps I should start gathering a list of child-friendly awkward silence fillers while I'm standing in the doorway, waiting for Sierra to put her shoes on. "Play any good games lately?" "What a nice pair of shoes! Are they new?" "Don't you have a birthday coming up?" "I hear there is a new Wii coming out." Or maybe I can tell Sierra to put her shoes on outside. |
Jun. 16, 2008
Home Spun strip #236
Posted in Home Spun comic part 12
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