Join me this school year with weekly writing assignments (for moms) with The Homeschool Blog Awards's Blogger Class Mates 2008-2009.

Visit their page at: http://homeschoolblogawards.com/2008/08/blogger-class-mates/

I am looking forward to writing assignments *just* for me!

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Happy Mother's Day!!!

May this day be beautiful (including weather)!

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Lisa at Homestead Originals has a new contest to win a copy of her brand new ebook, Homestead Simplicity: A Primer. 

Visit Lisa's blog to find out more about her ebook and how to enter the contest.  She wil be giving the ebook away every week in May, so visit her blog weekly to enter to win!

~Good Luck,
Adrienne

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I got up with DH.  Munchkin ended up getting up with us.  DH got ready and left for work.

Munchkin and I got cereal for breakfast.  I unloaded, loaded, and started the dishwasher.  I washed all of the stuff that was soaking in the sink. 

K-Man got up after DH left for work.

I started a load in the washer.  I got a bunch of laundry from my huge basket put away. 

I've checked email, updated my blog, and made sure that we all got some food.

Off to do more...and to look at the snow falling, too.

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The snow continues to fall here!!!

It is very pretty and it's sticking.

Hopefully, DH will get home before traffic gets too bad.

I'll update later on the snow status.

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We woke up this morning to it snowing again!!!  This is the third day in a row that it has snowed.  It was sticking to the deck earlier, not sure if it still is or not.

The flakes are huge and are coming down super fast.  It is really pretty how it looks - everything's white.

I have a bunch of stuff to do in the garden, but that will just have to wait until it stops snowing.

Hubby went to work today for a lunch meeting.  He'll probably come home right after, so that if the snow gets worse he won't get stuck sitting in traffic (Friday traffic plus snow equals a really bad time).

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We woke up this morning and there was still some snow left on the ground from yesterday's awesome snow shower.

Then, the next time we looked out the window - 99.99% of all of the snow had melted.  The sun was shining.

No more than ten minutes later, it was SNOWING.  Wow - weird.  The flakes were decent-sized and it seemed to be sticking.

Then it stopped as fast as it had started.  The sun started shining again.

All of a sudden, it was snowing again.  The flakes were bigger this time and they were falling even faster.

This continued to happen for the rest of the afternoon.

It was fun to watch and for the boys to see that we can't predict the weather.

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Today my friend and I (you know who you are in WV) did some missions together.

We each did missions of daily household items as well as some things we have been putting off for awhile.

We try to do missions together daily - or at least during the week.

We chat online, pick a mission, say, "Ready?  Set?  Go!!!" and then set our timers for 15 minutes.  Then, we'll come back and talk about all that we did (or didn't) get accomplished.  Then we pick another mission and do it all over again.

It is AMAZING how much easier it is to get things done when you know someone else CARES enough about what YOU are doing!!!

I love my best friend in WV, she is a forever friend.

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After DH got home from work, we were watching a movie with the boys.  All of a sudden, my husband exclaimed, "Whoa!  It is SNOWING!!!"

He had said that the weather forecast on the radio had mentioned a "light dusting" or "a little snow but no accumalation".

Well, that's not what happened at all.

It snowed and snowed and snowed some more.  The flakes got bigger and they started coming down faster and faster.  Then they started to stick.  Then the flakes got bigger still and dumped even faster.

We got about 2 inches!!!

The boys went out for a few minutes and played in it, I mean got some firewood.  :)

We wonder how long it'll last...

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This afternoon our friend came over with her roses.  She brought the four plus one that had an off-shoot.  So, she brought five!

She helped me plant two before she had to leave.  Then I got the remaining three planted.

One is yellow, one is deep red, one is pink and therefore so is its off-shoot, and the other one is called Fourth of July.

I am super excited to have five more rose bushes in my front flower bed!!!  I love roses and they really brighten up the whole area when they're in full bloom.

I'll try to post photos of them this year, so stay tuned.  :)

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Today my father came over.  He helped me pull all but one rhododendron from my front yard flower bed.  We wrapped each one with a chain and then he connected the chain to his trailier hitch on his 4x4 truck and yanked them!

A friend of mine is redoing her back deck and has four rose bushes that need to be transplanted.  Well, she is giving them to me.  (They're expensive roses.)  So, now that I have room because the rhododendrons are gone, I have room for the roses!!

More later... 

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While at the produce market today, we got 10 perennials and one pot with bulbs in it.  We also got a pot of tullips (red and white mixed - very pretty petals) that was discounted (had been on the Valentine's Day shelf - pot was wrapped in shiny pink paper). 

We got the following perennials - not including the tulips in the decorated pot:
(I will list tomorrow what we got. )

The sun was shining today and I just wanted to get out into the garden and GARDEN.  Both of the boys had high fevers today, so, I stayed inside to take care of them.  Maybe tomorrow I'll get out and get some work done in the garden.

I have been working on planning out our garden for this year.  Due to DH's injured back (and more pain than last summer), if I want a garden this year, I will have to make most of it happen myself.

If my best friend in WV lived closer, I *know* she'd come over and help me while our children played together.  (Wishful thinking, I know.)

More tomorrow...

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Today I did missions with a friend in WV and a friend in NV at the same time!!  We had a three-way chat conversation and did 15 minute missions together.  It has been an absolute BLAST. 

I accomplished:
*Room under stairs completely emptied, swept, mopped, and ONLY the items that I wanted in there, put back in neatly.  My boys helped put stuff back into the room. 
*Laundry room - rug taken out and put into donate bag, swept and mopped, top of dryer cleared and cleaned, and supplies organized.
*Dishwasher emptied and restarted on a regular basis.
*Got rid of some hot spots in guest room and living room.
*Cleared off top of piano (all that is supposed to be on the top is a table runner).
*Laundry is caught up - all washer and dryer loads are done.  I have a few things to put away, but most is already folded.
*Got the mail - walked in the house and dumped all junk mail straight into the recycling bin, so that the junk mail doesn't sit in a hot spot for months.

I'm looking forward to more missions with two of my mission buddies!!

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I have had a migraine off and on again for about a week now.  A couple of days I did eat stuff that I shouldn't.  But, usually, it doesn't last this long after eating food that I know trigger migraines.  Last week was extremely stressful and difficult.  A very close relative died suddenly and that was very hard to deal with.  So, a couple of days I ate whatever sounded good - whether it was good for me or not (meaning I didn't care if it could give me a migraine or not).

I keep taking medication to help ease the migraine pain and discomfort.  I am probably not taking it regularly enough to work.  It's just once the medicaiton kicks in and I'm feeling better, I forget to take the next dosage.  By the time I remember, it's way past the time for the next dosage, so I have to start back at square one.

I'll try and post soon.  Sometimes it is just too difficult to be on the computer when my head is pounding and feels like it is going to explode.  Plus, there are times when my eyes hurt so bad (pounding right behind the eye balls) that I just can't keep my eyes open for long at all.

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Our friends in WV are also doing rocks and volcanoes.  It's wonderful to be sharing resources on this topic - as there is a lot out there.

I selected chocolate and ice cream.

My oldest is the one that said he needs to learn more about rain forests, trees, jungles, outer space, ocean life, hurricaines, tornadoes, and more.

We've checked out a lot of DVDs and books from the library.  I need to write down what we got, so I know what we have watched and read.  That way, I won't put stuff on hold we've already had (unless we really want it again).

How are you coming along with your resource list, Dianna?  (And everyone else, too!)

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Today is our first day of school.  We learn year-round.  However, we are "starting" our new year today.  The public schools in the area won't start until the day or two after Labor Day.  WE are starting TODAY, because we are doing unit studies together with our friends who are starting today.  We are in Washington State; our friends are in West Virginia.

We will be studying rocks and volcanoes.  Also, this year, we have scheduled to learn all about chocolate and ice cream.  We have chocolate factories and dairies close that give tours - so we have lots of field trips planned (just need to schedule them).

Other units we have discussed (but not on the schedule, at least, not yet) are rain forests, trees, ocean life, jungles, outer space, hurricaines, tornadoes, and more.

We're focusing on math more this year.  I would like to focus more on handwriting...but we'll see.  The amount of reading that my oldest has been doing lately is increasing.   I have always been a bookworm and I am hoping it passes on to both of my boys.

I need to go check the math work that has been done.  Check back often for updates.

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Our first misson today was to unload/load the dishwasher (whichever step we needed to do next) and start if full.  Then after that we were to spend the remaining time clearing counter clutter.  Well, I unloaded the dishwasher and put the rest of the dirty dishes in it.  There wasn't enough to start it - but as soon as it's full I will.

Our second mission was to rotate the laundry and spend any remaining time in the living room clearing the hot spots and clutter.  I got the only load into the dryer and then picked up in the living room.

For our third mission, we each chose something that we needed to do.  I chose to wash some clothes given to my son by a friend.  I realized that whatever laundry detergent/fabric softener was used was giving me a headache.  So, I started the first of two loads (the washer already being empty) and added some vinegar to help rid the load of the smell.  As soon as that load is done, the second load will go in.

We haven't been doing our missions together this past week because my family has been sick.  I have been dealing with a migraine (possibly the laundry detergent/fabric softener that was helping it to stay around) the past two weeks.

I am glad we're back to doing missions together. 

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Our three 15-minute missions were:

1st - Clear any flat surfaces in the master bedroom that were not done yesterday.  So, I worked on clearing the headboard - wow - LOTS of dust on the top.  The top is now 100% cleared and NOTHING is on it.  That took the full 15 minutes.

2nd -   Choose something that needs to be done.  I started a load of laundry, cleared more clutter from the bedroom, and put some more items where they belong.

3rd - Clear the kitchen counters.  I unloaded the dishwasher.  Then I loaded and started it.  I cleared off three spots that way.  After that, I got rid of stuff on the counters and put all items needing to go into the dishwasher in one spot on the counter directly above the dishwasher.

Now, my 15-minute break is about done.  :)  

We have REALLY gotten a LOT done these past three days!!  Tomorrow will be three more missions - so keep tuned. 

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For our first mission, we started off in the master bedroom:  Clear the clutter from nightstands, bookcases, dressers, headboards - basically anything with a flat surface that has become a hot spot of clutter.  Then, polish/wipe and put only the stuff back on that belongs there.  Well, I got half-way through the top of my dresser when the timer went off!

For our second mission, we spent time in the kitchen doing dinner prep, dishwasher (unload/load and start), and table clutter.  I only got as far as the dishwasher before the timer went off.  However, I did get all of the bad/old food out of the fridge and either into the trash or the compost bin.

For our third mission, we went back to the kitchen to do whatever NEEDED to be done next.  So, I finished dinner prep and cleared some of the table clutter.

We have decided that after every third mission (45 minutes) that for our 15-minute break we will chat with each other online and post an entry to our blogs. 

Time for some more missions...

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I just completed the third 15-minute mission with a friend.  Our 1st mission was to walk into our master bedroom and clean that immediate area - if it was garbage, put it in the trash; if it could be recycled, into the bin it goes; if it needed to go to another room, put it there.  The 2nd mission was to strip and remake our beds.  The 3rd mission was to continue working on getting rid of the clutter in our bedrooms.  WOW - I was able to get rid of a lot of stuff in a very short amount of time.  I just LOVE doing missions with my "mission-buddy" who is in WV - we get so much more done when we know we're 'not alone' in doing it.

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