Apr. 20, 2009
Calling All Those Who Need Help with Writing!

I'm popping in to let my homeschooling friends know that I have a new blog that is specifically geared to writers, writing instructors, and writing students. You can check it out at www.encouragingwordsforwriters.blogspot.com.

I'm adding some elements specifically for homeschooling families such as teaching tips, samples of student writing, and some writing assignments as well, so check it out and stay tuned for more stuff for homeschoolers.

Stop by for a visit!

Mar. 2, 2009
March Update

I'm still considering what direction to go with this blog and I'm posting so that it won't be deleted due to lack of usage. You can visit me at my new blog at www.bonitalillie.com.

New news:
-It snowed yesterday and we're headed out to play and make snowmen!

Apr. 21, 2008
Bloggy Giveaway

If you happen to stop by here, come on over to my new blog the week of April 21-25 to sign up for a giveaway. I'm giving away a copy of my curriculum and a writing book. Check it out here.

Apr. 2, 2008
Come to My Party!

In case you're wondering where I've been, check out my new home at www.bonitalillie.com. I may still keep this blog too, not sure yet, but that will be my primary blog. So, click on over!

Mar. 28, 2008
Who's on What?

Life with teenagers is really interesting and getting more so by the day. I don't know why I thought that life would get easier when they were old enough to "do stuff on their own". In ways, I suppose, it did get easier, but it also got a lot more complicated. Take, for instance, my son's new job.

I'm thankful that my son is working and he's certainly excited about it, but it has just thrown me for a loop schedule-wise. Generally, I somehow manage to show up where I'm supposed to be when I'm supposed to be there, but this one shift and change has really messed me up. I've narrowly missed showing up to a few events, I've totally forgotten others, and I find myself having sudden moments of panic like, "Oh my gosh, wasn't this the day I was supposed to...?"

It makes me seem pretty thoughtless of others. I keep forgetting stuff. Sorry, Big E., that I forgot your birthday that just happens to come the day after mine! My friends and family are constantly saying, "Don't you remember this is the weekend I'm going on my trip to such and such?" or "Remember how I told you that I'm doing thus and such this month?" No, I don't remember any of it! I don't even know my own schedule for yesterday or tomorrow so I can guarantee I don't remember anyone else's stuff.

Today my cousin called to schedule a dinner date with our family. First off, I couldn't find my calendar. I had to search through my "Life" book that is "supposed" to house all the vital information for my life. No calendar there. Finally, after searching multiple bags scatttered throughout the house I found it. Then she started proposing dates. No, that's my daughter's softball practice. No, my son might be working that evening, but we won't officially have his schedule until tomorrow. No, that's John's only night home this week. No, Toastmasters night for me. I could not give the woman a date for dinner because our time is that scattered and unpredictable. Honestly, folks, I have to calculate each evening exactly how many of us will be home at the dinner hour or even sleeping in the house for the night.

The other night I was lying in bed drifting off when the phone rang. My husband answered it. It was my friend, Tina, calling to say she was coming by to drop off her son. Did I remember that her son was spending the night and riding to co-op with us the next day? Of course not. Had she called any later the house would have been on lock down for the night and her poor boy would have been sleeping outside. This has happened much lately. I come to the kitchen in the morning and discover that I've birthed more full grown teenage children during the night. I don't even bother to count anymore, but just start assigning chores for the day to whoever happens to be at the breakfast table. It's a blur as to who my real children are these days. Maybe I should host a "To Tell the Truth" episode and ask the real Lillie children to please stand up.

I'm not sure what we'll do when my son's baseball season starts and when he takes concurrent classes in the fall. By then he will have his license, and though I never planned to get him a car so early in the game, I almost think it will be a necessity.

But that's all I can say about the busy lives of parents of teenagers because I just remembered that in less than an hour my friend, Melissa, is picking me up to take me out for a birthday lunch. Did I mention that I'm still unshowered and sitting in my bathrobe? And do you think I wrote this little event on my calendar- that I can never find? Of course not!

Mar. 23, 2008
Happy Easter and Other Ponderings

It's Easter today. HAPPY EASTER!

It's also my birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!

Do you know what I did on the day these two monumentous occasions collided? I slept and ate high cholesterol. Wooo! Don't you go getting jealous!

I got up really early so I could go to church to set up some stuff for the early service. I was so tired I could hardly stay awake during the preaching. When I came home I changed into sweats and went straight to bed. I was in dreamland before my husband could even leave the room. About an hour later Baby Girl came to wake me up because she had made crepes with strawberries and homemade whipped cream as a present to me. I ate and went straight back to bed for three hours! Then I got up and watched a movie with the family as I laid on the bed, of course. I ate KFC chicken and a slice of Little Caesar's pizza for supper, now I'm blogging, and then guess what I'm doing. Just guess! I'm going to bed again. Just can't seem to get enough sleep.

I guess this is how people celebrate when they get my age. They take double naps and have a cholesterol fest. Wooo, what a party!

Speaking of my age, I'm 44. Last night I decided to look up that number to see if it has any spiritual significance. One site said it meant "suffering". Oh yay, I'm so looking forward to that! Then I decided to stick with just looking up the number 4 and doubling it. That means this year is a double dose of the universal judgment of God. Wow! It just keeps getting better doesn't it? Would it work if we just added 4+4=8? Eight, now there's a good number. It means new beginnings. I think what God is trying to tell me is that when you reach 44 it doesn't matter what it means because all you have to look forward to is napping and high cholesterol chicken. 

So, that is how I spent Easter. Jesus rose from the dead, but I couldn't get out of bed. See why I need Him so much? 

Mar. 20, 2008
Quietness

Mar. 15, 2008
Selectively Organized

Mar. 14, 2008
Another Snip at the Apron Strings

Mar. 12, 2008
That Saved A Wretch Like Me

Mar. 10, 2008
A Bit of English

Mar. 10, 2008
Eureka!

Tonight was a light bulb moment. I've discovered why I don't understand technology. My son was helping me set up my domain name and a new email address and all that jazz. I was getting so frustrated just watching because he had to go to like 25 different places to get the information he needed and get it all worked out - whatever he was doing. All that hopping from this page to that page to this site and back to the first page and looking for itty bitty bits of information that is hard to find was frustrating me to no end. I'm a "How do you turn it on and off?" kind of girl. I'll be glad for the day I can just tell the computer what to do and it does it.

First of all, God bless my son for his patience with me. I know I ask the most ridiculous questions and get frustrated so easily. He has the patience of Job. He's a smart boy in that he kept giving me word pictures. "Think of the computer as a dictionary, Mom. You want a word that begins with "A" so you turn to the first page and expect it to automatically be there, but it isn't and you have to search through the "A" words to find the one you want." Obviously, he understands that Mama is an artsy fartsy girl and can't deal with black and white computer jargon. I need a picture to understand things.

When we finally got things squared away we discussed why computers comes so easily to him and his generation, but since I didn't even have a VCR until I was in high school I just wasn't indoctrinated into the age of technology. Then he said something that made my little light bulb ignite. He said, "Mom, technology is like a language. You learn that certain symbols and things always mean the same thing." He then proceeded to show me that a circle with a line through it is always the on/off button. He pointed to the computer, several pieces of computer related equipment, the printer, and even the TV remote and, sure enough, all of them had that little circle with a line in it. This was a big revelation for me. Would you believe that I had never noticed that before?

And this explains why I don't "get" technology. As soon as he mentioned "language" my mind went back to French class in high school. I just couldn't get it. Somehow I made it through 3 1/2 years of French and all I learned was how to say, "Hello", "I love you" and "strawberries". Now, that will get you real far in France, don't you think? I had a good friend that went through all those years with me. He sounded just like a French gentleman and he could speak it fluently, read it easily, and boy could he conjugate those verbs with ease. He even thought in French! I, on the other hand, sounded like I was reading from a Dick and Jane primer and thinking in French never even entered my mind. 

Thus, my revelation: Technology is like a foreign language and I'm a one language kind of gal. English only, thank you. This is one of the chief reasons, though I'm certain there are others, that I just don't grasp technology. Now, I can rest easy tonight because I understand why I don't understand.

Mar. 10, 2008
A couple of quick updates

Mar. 8, 2008
8 Goals in 2008 Check-up

Well, before I can address my goals, I must say that I inserted the little image above all by my lonesome. Granted, my son gave me a brief explanation of how to do it before he ran out the door to coach his sister's softball team and I had to try multiple times before I got it, but there it is and that's all the matters, right? I have reached a new techonological goal today and, for me, that is HUGE!

Now on to the goals.

1. Lose 15 pounds and develop a regular exercise program. I lost 1-2 pounds this month. It seems to vary day to day. Overall, I've lost 8-10 pounds total since the beginning of the year. I'm still eating well, though I'm not sure I'm as strict as I was a month or two ago so I need to really buckle down again. As for exercise, that definitely needs work. It's been rainy, cold some days, and I've been ultra busy meeting deadlines. Okay, enough excuses, exercise just isn't happening the way I'd like it to at present.

2. Feed my spirit (more than just a daily quiet time. Well, I still have a strong, growing relationship with the Lord, but I've also found that all of the busyness affects it. First of all, I'm more tired and find it hard to get up in the mornings and when I do get up I have a tendency to want to go like gangbusters doing something that requires movement, not sitting and reading. Plus, at night I confess that sometimes I want to do something mind-numbing like playing Mahjong or watching American Idol rather than studying my Bible. I'm convicted that it's time to get more intentional with this goal.

3. I want to build family relationships. Have we had family night or done all sorts of nifty little exercises designed to promote family bonding? Not really. However, I've been much better at grasping bonding moments as they show up. I think our dialogue has increased a lot and I've been talking a lot with the kids about their futures. Also, Sunday dates with my husband have been more regular and that always improves our communication.

4. I'd like to try some new avenues of writing. Well, I've spent a lot of time this month working with editors to revise my curriculum. That's a new experience for me. On one hand it's so nice to have other people to help with brainstorming, people who genuinely care and have a vested interest in the project. On the other hand, it's taxing and challenging and seems like the never-ending task. It really makes you understand and appreciate what it really means to be an author.

I also went to a writing workshop this week and experienced some new creative types of writing. We also worked a little bit on fiction exercises and fiction always stretches me.

5. I'd like to create a pretty, comfortable home. Well, I added three pieces of furniture to the house and did more cleaning than usual in the last week or so. My mother-in-law picked daffodils for a vase on the kitchen table. Does that count? I'm definitely more conscious of the decor in my house, but it just hasn't ranked high on the agenda yet.

6. We will get out of debt this year. We are steadily plugging away and I'm happy with our progress.

7. I will set aside regular writing time, preferrably 15 hours per week. I wish I was writing 15 hours per week. This last month it's felt more like 90 hours per week. Because of the editing and meeting some deadlines on several projects it's been pretty consuming and, frankly, I'm ready to shore it back down and make time for other things again.

8. I want to learn to relax. I've taken several downtime days this month where I did absolutely nothing of consequence. I can also see where I've lowered my expectations (in a good way) in some areas of life. I'm learning to focus on the majors and let the minors slide a little.

I always like to mention something about speaking as well. Even though it's not really my goal, it definitely seems to be a goal God has for me. I'm enjoying Toastmasters and learning a lot. I spoke to a homeschool group this month and it was a new experience because it was in someone's home and I only knew one person there (I didn't think I would know anyone). I'm also lined up to speak at four homeschool conferences this year in various parts of the country. I'm believing that my steady plodding in Toastmasters will pay off. I've already noticed some improvements in both my speaking and my comfort level.

I don't think this was a stellar month as far as meeting my goals, but I think I maintained and didn't lose much ground. I'd like to do much better before April 8 rolls around. The cool thing, though, is that I have these goals and can really say that I'm living more intentionally rather than just letting life happen randomly and not really knowing where it's leading. I'm not in control, God is, but the goals help me to keep moving in a forward direction rather than just waffling and wasting a lot of precious time.

If you'd like to read about other people's goal-reaching adventures go to Elisa's blog here.

Mar. 7, 2008
A Very Interesting Afternoon

God answered two prayers for me this afternoon in some very unusual ways. Recently, I prayed that the rising gas prices wouldn't affect us, but that He would provide. I also prayed that God would add some more humor to my life. These weren't gut wrenching intercessions, but just prayers in passing.

Well, today, we were headed out to take my son to Key Club and following that he would have his very first job interview at Chick-Fil-A. I was slap happy as all get out and forgot what I was doing. I meant to stop and get gas, but I went the wrong way and we had to swing back around to the gas station, adding minutes to our trip. I was standing there pumping gas and the power went out. I mean the gas pump just shut down. I looked around thinking I'd really done something wrong, but I saw another customer doing the same thing and we both realized it wasn't us, but it was actually the pump. We went inside to inform the clerks and they were as surprised as we were. After much fiddling of switches they hit the right breaker and turned the pumps back on. However, I'd used an ATM card and one clerk told me I'd need to start a second transaction to finish pumping my gas. When I actually looked at how much I'd already pumped I thought it was enough and just about that time the machine spit out a receipt anyway. It had the date and time, but no amount.

I marched inside again and asked for a receipt with the amount on it. One lady printed off a receipt that was for three times the amount I had gotten. I said, "No way!" The other clerk looked at it and said, "Oh, this was the person before you because they used American Express and you didn't." So I said, "How do I get my receipt?" They replied that evidently the machine hadn't charged me because it lost power in the middle of my transaction. I said, "So what do I do?" They said, "I guess you don't get charged for what you've already pumped." I stood there looking at them not knowing what exactly to do, but they weren't wanting any money from me so I said, "Thanks" and walked out, getting my gas for free. I think they just didn't want to go to the trouble to rectify the situation so they just wanted me to skeedaddle and forget it ever happened.

After dropping my son off at Key Club my daughter and I went to the library. We were a little giddy to begin with, but then something ridiculous happened. On our way to the librarian's desk to check out our books I picked up a magazine about local events. I don't know what was on it, but just as we reached the librarians desk I had an allergic reaction and my face started itching so bad that I was screeching and rubbing it vigorously with both hands. I'm not talking about a little itch that you can scratch discreetly. Picture a swarm of mosquitoes all attacking your face at once. I'm screeching, "My face, my face, what's wrong with my face?" and clawing at it. My daughter is trying to help, but she's laughing so hard she can't and the librarian is standing there dumbfounded looking like she's about ready to call the guys with the little white straight jackets. For the rest of the afternoon my face would periodically just start itching so bad and we would all start laughing so hard which only seemed to make it worse. Weird!

To top it off when my son was at his interview the manager told him that he'd really like to meet his mom when she came to get him. I'd already forewarned my son that "Mother's hair is all awry today and she's not at her best so I don't want to meet him today if he wants to meet me." Thank God I'd already told him I'd meet the manager at his second interview because who knows what he would have thought of some puffy, red faced screeching mimi. And what if I'd had an itch attack right there in front of him?

As if we hadn't laughed enough already, tonight I brushed my teeth only to discover when I finished that I had just used my husband's toothbrush. Oh, gag me! Dental cooties aren't something I want to share!

Mar. 7, 2008
Help for California Homeschoolers

The courts in California have ruled that it is now unconstitutional for parents in the state of California to homeschool their children without a teaching certificate. I will refrain from commenting on how I feel about this because I have some strong words that probably don't belong on a lady's blog. I will, however, tell you how you can help these California families.

To find out more about this atrocity you can listen to the Focus on the Family broadcast here.

To sign a petition against this ruling you can go here. You do not have to be a California resident or a homeschooler to sign this petition. If you care about parents having the right to decide what is best for their own children, I encourage you to sign the petition.

Don't think you're safe if you don't live in California. You are only temporarily out of target range. Don't think you're safe because you don't homeschool. If they'll take away this freedom, they'll take away others. Right now, California families need our support and help. Let's make a difference.

Mar. 2, 2008
My Weekend in Words

Feb. 29, 2008
My Deeee-licious Day!

Feb. 27, 2008
Visit My Publisher's Website

Feb. 27, 2008
My Very Stupid, Stupid, STUPID Mistake