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Save In Piggybacking

In all the changes that I have made this year I have been learning the importance of "piggybacking".  Piggybacking is when you butt one thing after the other and save because it is already heated up.  For example... to dry one load of laundry after the other and save because the dryer is already heated up.  Another way I have piggybacked my savings is when I roast my coffee beans.  I roast what I need for that week...one batch after the other. A third way that I can think of right off the bat is piggybacking while baking or cooking with the oven.  Get the biggest bang for your buck by baking several things together and right after the other.  In the winter time it is also a nice way to raise the temperature a little in your house.  I guess you can say it is like multi-tasking your energy use and save.   .

Now to join in the fun of Tightwad Tuesday....

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  Link your TWT post click on MckLinky and give exact the URL of your post.   (each Tuesday that  you join in on the fun)  

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example of a URL ...

http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Canadagirl/693425/

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  Now go ahead link and read and comment on all these other's wonderful TWT's. 

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 Lets save our pennies, nickles, dimes, and dollars  together !

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"There are only a few big ways to save money but there are many small ways ....that all adds up."

 

Hey, ya'll!

So sorry that I havn't been on. Well, I mean posted. lol. I have been on...heh heh

Anywho, we've been making lego movies, that's why I havn't posted. cuz it takes my whole turn, and I'm the "audio producer" he he! 'Tis fun! Anyway, here's a lego movie by our favorite producer: "Indiana Scones and the Quest for the Platyum Waffle". Google "Lego Indiana Jones" on Google videos, and it should pop up. Like I said, we like it.

Thanks, g2g cuz Micah's crying!

sam

So far no fever, just sore throat and congestion. Sigh.....I feel 'it' coming on too.. ugh....Now I have a legit reason to shop our new CVS that opened yesterday not 4 blocks from us

 

 

Tonight's workout: Dumbbell Complex - the Bear!

(i don't know what it means, but T got it from crossfit.com)

We set up each child with their own little area, and their own kettlebell or dumbbells - we made a safe place for baby to play, but she ended up wanting to be with us, so everyone had to be really careful. Finally, Wyatt ended up trading his heavy weight for a 20 lb baby, much to her delight...

We did five reps each of deadlifts, cleans, and thrusters, every minute, for 20 minutes.  I fell behind a couple times taking video (it was so cute!) - but i probably was the most pooped - the little guys had a blast!

T says this is our new after dinner activity :) before any glowing boxes are lit... (tv, video, computer, etc etc)...  Nobody is complaining!

We have a tiny camcorder.  It's not even a camcorder - it's more like a cell phone camera that takes movies, wtihout the cell phone :)...

it's tiny, it cost less than 100$ and the quality isn't that great.  Which means that i let the little guys take it and film their daily life whenever they want, and supposing i can find two alive AA batteries (the little thing eats batteries, so unless you remove them after every time you shoot something, they are dead by the next time you want to take a movie.  which is a pain in the bottom, since that means if baby is doing something cute, you have to insert batteries, turn it on, wait for it to warm up, and then push record.  by then, she's graduated from university...

but i digress...

I took some movies of the littles working out with me and T tonight - it was so cute, there was music pumping and baby got to be Wyatt's "weights" for part of it, and afterwards, i was looking at the movies and decided to title some of the other movies i've dumped into that folder.

At least half of them are not by me.  Of the ones that are of me, they are mostly me filming baby's milestones - i don't want to miss any of them - but really, i need to start taking movies of the other children...  They are shaky, and strangely colored (especially when we film in the basement - greenish cast to everything).  They are chaotic, with people running into the frame to ask me a question about homeschooling, or to thrust a lego creation in front of the lens.  Little men without pants, but wearing undone zip up ties (you know who you are...)... 

And i realized - this is it - this is my life.  No, it's not always pretty, yes it's messy, yes, it's chaotic.  But it's a fun life, even if it's not perfect, or perfectly documented...  I wish i had time to sweep before they film their "two feet off the ground" movies - i wish my children all wore pants! ( you know who you are!) - but this is good enough.  I'm doing all i can, and we're still happy and sane and loving God and each other - and when i watch my littles on their home movies, i am so glad for each little one He's given to our family, and can't imagine a space where that child is...

This morning at breakfast I got to wondering: What would you miss if  your dear children went to public school and you did not spend quantity time with them?  I am looking for specific answers that don't readily come to mind. If you have some, post them in the comments, and I shall compile a list. I think they would make wonderful reasons to encourage others to homeschool.

My inspiration: the sudden realization that if Miss Dog Lover were not here with me, I would not hear her twanging a concert on the elastics the orthodontist provides for dental alignment. Not even iTunes provides that service, last I checked. :)

Arby reports that (he) "would miss Major Havoc’s long-winded explanations of those random ideas that roll around his noggin’ but take FOREVER to be explained, and the huge grin that he gets when he realizes that I understand him. Those are moments that classroom teachers rarely have time for, leaving the Major Havocs of the world frustrated and disappointed."

My friend Christina ,over at JugglingPaynes, says she "would miss the endless random discussions that pop up in the course of a day. Most topics revolve around superheroes lately, for example why do Spiderman's villains seem unable to live through the end of a movie? Batman's villains are much better at surviving. If you kill all your villains, who is left to fight? New York needed something like Gotham's Arkham Asylum, where they may as well have installed a revolving door considering how easy it is to escape. ~~ Hang on, the conversation just picked up again over here... "

Your kids have had the flu for what seems like months now.  Your routines lay shattered around you.  Your heart is sinking with the mess all around you.  Anyone relate?  If you are not there, you will be at one point this winter.  So what are we to do when those dulldroms come? 

 

The greatest gift we posses as homeschoolers is our opportunity to change.  We can change things up when school starts to get us down.  Change the location where you do school.  Change the books you are reading for awhile.  Change your attitude! 

 

Remember that quote from Charles Swindoll I posted the other day?  Attitude is in our power to control.  Are you going to see the negatives only?  Or are you going to see what treasures you have laying all around you?  It's up to us, Moms.  We set the tone of our homes. 

 

I delared this week to be "Serve Others Week" at our home.  We made dinner for friends with a new baby.  We babysat for friends.  We visited our elderly grandparents in a nursing home.  We wrote thank you notes to others who have been kind to us. 

 

I tell you these things not to brag or make you feel bad about yourself.  I tell them to you because I want you to be encouraged.  The antedote to feeling blah is to serve others and to be thankful for all you have.  It is really that simple.  How that looks in your world will be different from how it looks in mine. 

 

"You live more fully once you realize that any time spent being unhappy is wasted." 

~Ruth E. Renki

 

"Happiness is contagious.  Be a carrier. "

~Robert Orben

 

"What the mind dwells on, expands."

~Norman Vincent Peale

 

I challenge you to find ways to shake things up next week in your studies if you are feeling blah, take a walk in the fall sunshine, rake leaves together, write letters to others, visit a shut-in, whatever that is for you,  just do it! 

~Jenn

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Lord, make my words gracious and tender, for tomorrow I may have to eat them!" - Author Unknown

Taken from "The Power of a Woman's Words" by Sharon James

I have decided after much prayer that I need to close Show and Tell Friday.  It has been wonderful connecting with so many ladies this way.  I feel like I need to scale back some in my life.  Thank you all who have joined in ALL on the fun over the last couple of years. 

Tuesday Miss Dog Lover and Mr Gingersnap had medical appointments in the big city. So, we decided to make a day of it and visit the plant conservatory there. This was a pretty routine field trip with lots to see and Mom talking altogether too much instead of just letting the student body look. However, Mom was greatly relieved when Mr Music quit making Darth Vader sounds in his efforts to help the plants grow by exhaling extra carbon dioxide for them.

Melrose, of course, begged to go along. Here he is, in a banana plant.

And again, in a different one. He did not eat any bananas whatsoever.

And this is called a Flamingo Plant. I include this for the owner of the world's most amazing fish and who happens to love flamingos. Hopefully seeing this will make her feel better.