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Thursday, August 27, 2009 - Honest Scrap Award
My friend Jennifer over at For Such A Time As This gave me this award a week or so ago and I humbly accept it.
Here are the rules regarding this award:
In accepting this award I need to do the following:
Say thanks and give a link to the presenter of the award.
Share ten honest things about myself.
Present this award to seven others whose blogs I find brilliant in content and/or design, or those who have encouraged me.
Tell those seven people that they have been awarded the Honest Scrap and inform them of the guidelines for receiving their award.
So here are my 10 honest things about myself in no particular order of importance.
1. I don’t like to follow recipes. I always seem to add my own touches to them and don’t seem to stick to the measurements.
2. And speaking of cooking, I really dislike the whole thing. I don’t like trying to figure out what to make for meals. But I really love to bake.
3. I totally love homeschooling, homemaking and being a wife. There is no better calling in my opinion.
4. I am outrageously tenderhearted. I am moved to tears during sentimental movies. I have even been known to cry over sappy TV show episodes and commercials. (Have you seen the ASPCA commercial that Sarah McLachlan does? I have to change the channel.)
5. I have very few people that I call friend. I have loads of acquaintances, but very few true friends.
6. I really love my job and all the opportunities that have come my way over the past three years.
7. I love cold sheets and flip my pillow often at night for the coolness. But I don’t like to be cold. Go figure.
8. I don’t like to shop. I try to do what I need as quick as I can to get it over with.
9. I very rarely wear make-up because to me it’s too much work, but when I do I love the way I look. But then again, even though I thoroughly remove it, you can bet I will have a zit in a few days.
10. I feel so guilty that I don’t make the time to swing by all my blogger buddies blogs to leave comments. I usually try to stay caught up using the RSS.
So how’s that for coming clean?
Now I need to pick 7 blogs I find brilliant in content and/or design, or those who have encouraged me. That’s a hard one because I love all the blogs I read. So to narrow it down to 7 was really hard.
Dawn over at my4sweetums. She always encourages me by sharing her ups and downs of life at her home. She inspires me with her creativity and how she homeschools her children. She is an awesome lady whom I admire greatly.
Heidi at Reviews by Heidi. My dear friend Heidi always has the most interesting posts both about the books she reviews and about her life. I especially enjoy her destination Disney meme. And she is always coming up with great finds. This girl is amazing. I have no idea how she does it all.
Anne-Marie at Song of the Sagebrush. Ann-Marie writes the loveliest poetry and allows me to have a glimpse into life on a ranch. She is ever so encouraging to me and I love reading about her family adventures on the farm.
Kellie Ann at The Pirate Mom Dot Com. I absolutely love the down-to-earth humor Kellie uses in her posts. She tells it like it is no holds barred and it usually is a hoot. Her blog is a great pick me up for any day.
Carol at School in ‘R Home. She always has something fun and wonderful to share on her blog. Her posts are always colorful and as full of life as I bet her homeschool is. She is so clever.
Bridget at purity seekers -- psalm 119:140. To me this is homemaker extraordinaire. I enjoy reading the recipes she shares and all her crafty posts. And her tales of raising her children are warm and lovely.
And last but certainly not least, is Leah, who has two blogs I love to follow, Good Reads and The Courtney Six. On Good Reads she gives her honest opinion on various books that she has read and on The Courtney Six she shares her life with her readers. I so appreciate her candor and honesty.
Thank you again Jennifer for passing this award on to me.
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Wednesday, August 26, 2009 - To Join or Not to Join? That is the Question.
I have been looking into joining a homeschool support group but have been hesitant to do so. I really don’t know what to expect from being part of one. I would love for my kids to enjoy a bit more group activities but wonder how much involvement is expected. I also don’t know how much time I, personally, will need to contribute. I’ve researched the benefits and have also read about the cons regarding the chance of over-scheduling and participating in too many things. Also there is the uncertainty of what activities these groups sponsor. Quite a few of the museums require 10 or more to have the classes even for homeschoolers so often we cannot participate in them due to this. But is there any way to know if a group participates in any of those programs. In order to know what they are doing you have to be a member. So what if you pay your fees and then find out there are no children in the group your kid’s ages or they don’t participate in things you are interested in? I am at a loss. I would love to hear about your experiences and how you decided what group to join. This is the first year I have even considered it and would really appreciate your opinions.
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Tuesday, August 25, 2009 - Easy Stir Fry Ramen Noodle Lo Mein
Would you believe last week we had some leftover steak? Well I hated to re-heat it which would have probably led to it being over-cooked. So I decided to use it in a stir fry concoction. It was delicious.
Ingredients:
About 1 lb leftover beef, cut into bite size pieces
2 bags of frozen stir fry vegetables (I used a broccoli, carrot, snap pea, water chestnut combo, and an asparagus, carrot, peppers, broccoli combo)
2 packages of ramen noodles, prepared and drained
1/2 cup stir fry sauce
All I did was put the vegetables and beef into the pan and stir fried them until the vegetables were tender. Then I added the drained noodles and stirred in the stir fry sauce. Easy to do and only about 15 minutes from start to finish.
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Monday, August 24, 2009 - Hubby's Birthday Surprise
Well, my big surprise for my husband's birthday went perfectly. Thursday morning my oldest met my younger son and I at my Dad's house at 6:00 in the morning to pick up the gift. We brought it into the house and set it up. When my husband came home almost 2 hours later than we thought he was totally shocked...
and very happy...
to see his big surprise.
A 50" TV for his 50th birthday.
As far back as I can remember he has been wanting a big screen TV. He often eyed them in the stores, but I always told him it was just too big and not needed. I still think that way, but this gift wasn't for me. It was to give the man who has always put others first something he really wanted. I saved for months and was so happy to find a good deal on this.
After seeing his surprise we had dinner of lasagna with sauce I had made from the tomatoes from my garden. (This is before I baked it. I forgot to get the after.)
My daughter made him a special dessert (we had special birthday cake on Saturday that my mom had custom made for him).
I thought I had a number five candle but it seems lately we have every number except the one we need. So my daughter just used 5 regular candles, 1 for every 10 years and a "0".
My husband really enjoys Oreo Pie so that is what my daughter made for him.
He really loved his gift and keeps saying to me, "That's a really big TV."
Thank you Lord, for allowing me to get my husband a want instead of a need for his 50th.
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Wednesday, August 19, 2009 - Birthday Surprise in the Works
I am so excited. Tomorrow my beloved will turn 50. We have been teasing him for a while now, but he is taking it all in stride as he always does. And do we have a surprise for him! We have been saving for months now to get him something he has been wanting for as long as I can remember. It may be an extravagant gift to some, but you only turn half a century once and I wanted to make it extra special for him. I don’t want to divulge what it is today just in case, but I know he will be shocked. The kids have been so good about keeping the secret too. There have been no slips. We are so excited we are walking around like grinning Cheshire cats. I so hope all goes well. I’ll let you know.
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Tuesday, August 18, 2009 - Confessions of a Clutter Bug
The 1828 Noah Webster Dictionary defines clutter as a heap or assemblage of things lying in confusion; a word of domestic application.
I define it as part of my life. It seems that I struggle daily to keep control of it often losing the battle. Now that is not to say that our home is a total disaster area; far from it. But I fret over what I call organized clutter. The basket of magazines I hope to get to read someday, the stacking trays of unfiled receipts, the weekly grocery sales circulars sitting on the counter waiting for me to make a list, the stack of books that need to have a home, the baskets of laundry ready to be washed. When I open the kitchen cabinets, I have appliance clutter, kitchen gadgets that I use occasionally and can’t bear to part with and my pantry is a constant battle. My night stand has a catchall basket with who knows what in it and don’t look under the bathroom sinks.
I think I have narrowed down the problem. We live in our home and we have stuff. Lots of stuff. Now I’m not talking about junk, just the everyday stuff that fills most homes. And because we live in our home and have stuff sometimes we don’t get a chance to deal with our stuff piles right away, so then they become the definition of clutter. As I re-read Noah Webster’s definition of clutter, I believe the last part fits literally, “a word of domestic application”, because clutter in our home is surely domestic in its application to our day to day. I think I will no longer look at our clutter as a battle to be won but as something to be kept organized and contained and accepted as a fact of life. I guess being a clutter bug is not so bad as long as I don’t become a clutter giant.
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Monday, August 17, 2009 - Back to School 2009
We had our official first day of the new school year today. I had a few moments of grief from my kids early in the day but I nipped it in the bud and the rest of the day went much better. I haven’t quite got my schedule between work, school, and home totally worked out, but I’m working on it. I will be taking Algebra 2 and Chemistry alongside my son this year as I never had those courses in school, so technically we are all going back to school. I am planning to add more field trips into our school year also. Last year we really did not go to too many extra places and I missed that as much as the kids did. So, as I told my husband tonight after supper: 1 day down, 179 to go.
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Friday, July 31, 2009 - Vacation Procrastination
This past week has been very full with preparations for our vacation. What I mean by that is that we have been cleaning and finishing up projects before our family arrives from Maine. They did arrive last night, a day early, which really threw us into a cleaning frenzy yesterday. I honestly think that "procrastination” should be removed from existence. I sometimes feel like I am the queen of procrastination. I can hear myself thinking “oh you have another day to do that” or “that will only take a few minutes to do” but then all of a sudden those minutes and days are gone and things are left undone. So now we will be packing and making ready with 4 other people in the house trying not to be rude but all the time needing to accomplish much.
I have been forbidden by my family to take my computer along with me so I will be “unplugged” for a week. This is probably a good thing. I am praying that when we return I will have planned out a working schedule to prioritize and organize my “have to’s” and my “want to’s”. When we return, we will begin our new school year refreshed and revived.
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Wednesday, July 29, 2009 - August Writing Prompts Calendar
Here is my writing prompts calendar for August 2009.
August Writing Prompts Calendar
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Monday, July 27, 2009 - 2009-2010 What We Plan to Use
Last week I finally got my paperwork into the homeschool association for registering this year. I dove into my Rainbow Resource catalog and finally made some decisions on what we will be using for some of our subjects next year. Being such an eclectic homeschool leaves the options wide open, but I was looking for things that I thought might keep the kids interest without becoming overwhelming. Even though we are going into our sixth year of homeschooling I am still learning something new every year. So many things look interesting and it makes it hard for me to decide, but I think I have found some new things that might work well for us. I let the kids help me choose some of the books we will be using and we are also going to use some of what we have used in the past. This is what we decided on:
*New to us
10th Grader:
English 2-Learning Language Arts through Literature-American Literature
Writing-Write with the Best 2, Journal Writing
Algebra 2-*Saxon Algebra 2
Chemistry-*Exploring Creation with Chemistry
Government/Civics-*Amanda Bennett’s American Government Unit Study
Economics-*Money Matters for Teens-HS level
Geography-Trail Guide to U.S. Geography
Bible Study-Old Testament Survey
Auto Mechanics- *Auto Mechanics & taught by older son
Computer Skills
Spanish- The Fun Spanish
7th Grader:
English- Learning Language Arts through Literature-Gray Book; *Language Lessons for the Secondary Child
Writing-Journal Writing
Math-Saxon 87
Science-Exploring Creation with General Science
History-Continue Study of the Presidents, *Amanda Bennett’s American Government Unit Study; *Money Matters for Teens-Elementary Level, All through the Ages
Bible Study-Old Testament, Beautiful Girlhood
Computer Skills
Spanish-The Fun Spanish
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Wednesday, July 22, 2009 - YouTube Homeschool Girl
I saw this a while ago but was reminded of it a the other day. If you haven't seen it, it really is a catchy tune and clever video.
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Friday, July 17, 2009 - Flashback Friday-Apollo 11
Do any of you remember this?
I was going into first grade when this took place and I still remember the excitement. We had gone from talking about the man in the moon to talking about the man on the moon. God had taken us to new heights, new explorations and new wonderment of His creations. Despite the efforts of atheist Madalalyn O'Hair in her lawsuit against NASA to prevent astronauts from public prayer, Buzz Aldrin chose to take a private Communion shortly after landing on the moon and before returning to earth, in a television broadcast, he summed up his feelings by saying, "Personally, in reflecting on the events of the past several days, a verse from Psalms comes to mind.’When I consider the heavens, the work of Thy fingers, the Moon and the stars, which Thou hast ordained; What is man that Thou art mindful of him?'" Try as they might, as in every important discovery, the undeniable Hand of God cannot be ignored.
40 years have passed since the first steps were taken in space. Many have given their lives to further our explorations of the heavens and they will be long remembered for their sacrifices. Because of that fateful week in July, 1969 when the world held its breath, the words of Neil Armstrong will be forever recalled after every great accomplishment. “That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”
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Wednesday, July 15, 2009 - What I've Been Doing
Yesterday I mentioned that we have been super busy this summer. One of the things that I have been working on is the Splish Scavenger Hunts in the Old Schoolhouse Store. I have been creating the rhyming clues that has taken hundreds of hunters throughout the store and on to their final rewards of great freebies. There have already been 7 hunts that I've set up in the store and we are halfway through week 8. There are only a couple of more weeks left. This week we are giving away one my best-selling e-books. So if you have yet to participate in Splish's Scavenger Hunts maybe this would be a good week to start. You can find your first clue HERE. While you're there, there still time to get into the Summer Reading Splash. Look around at what Splish has for motivating you.
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Tuesday, July 14, 2009 - Poor, Poor, Neglected Blog
I have come to the conclusion that summer has been just so busy with everything that my blog looks like I have abandoned it. But I haven't. I think of it often and even come up with ideas about what I would like to share, but, alas, time slips away and the hours slip into days and the postings get fewer and further between. I have good intentions to share new found insight, random ramblings and other sorts of chatter. My original "To do" list is getting shorter, but new ones are being formed. I am working on huge projects for work and planning for the new school year. We are looking forward to my sister-in-law and her new family coming down from Maine the first week in August and I really would like to pull together a tag sale to pare down the endless clutter. So, if I haven't totally lost my readership, don't be dismayed. I shall return now and again to add a little TLC to my poor, poor, neglected blog. 
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Tuesday, July 7, 2009 - Recommended Post to Inspire you
My dear friend Heidi at Reviews by Heidi recently posted a wonderful interview with Renee Walker. This is a must read. I was both moved and inspired by this woman’s story and wanted to be sure that you all had a chance to read it.
I’d like to introduce you to a very special friend…
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Thursday, July 2, 2009 - July 2009 Writing Prompts Calendar
Here is my July 2009 Writing Prompts Calendar. Hope you enjoy.
July 2009 Writing Prompts Calendar
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Wednesday, July 1, 2009 - Summer Projects Update
A couple have weeks have passed since I posted my Summer Projects list and we have been able to accomplish a few of them. The garage is now complete. It took 2 days to get that done but it is really nice to find something when you are looking for it. For father's day we bought my husband the bottom rolling cart to his toolbox, so now all his tools are sorted. What amazed me was the number of screwdirvers he has. They fill a whole drawer, yet for the longest time when we needed one we could never find one the right size.
We've also been able to go completely through the three bedrooms and clean out the clutter, but those are a continuing battle.
We have been baking a bit more. Yesterday we made a Zucchini-Carrot-Coconut cake and baked a zucchini-carrot bread in the bread machine. While the cake is more of snack bar than a cake, it is very good and super moist. And the bread- well let's just say that the doorstop has some competition. I got the recipe for the bread from the internet, but I will definately not make it again unless a need matching bookends.
I am hoping to tackle a few more items on the list over the next month, but not sure how many will get done. I think the "Laze around when it's too hot to do anything" will move to the top of the list.
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Tuesday, June 30, 2009 - How do YOU get your Kids to Read?
How do you get children who really don't like to read to read? I would love to incorporate a whole lot more reading of good literture into our studies in addition to the "have-to-reads", but both of my children would rather clean the bathroom than actually read a book. I've tried finding books that I knew they would enjoy, like Call of the Wild for my son and Hitty Her First 100 Years (which is one of my favorite books) for my daughter. My son really enjoyed Call of the Wild and started to read White Fang but gave up on that, and my daughter did not get past the first section.
We do incorporate unabridged audios of the classics into our life so I know they will at least know the story lines, but I wonder if that is the same as reading them?
I would love to hear how others deal with kids who just don't like to read.
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Monday, June 29, 2009 - Summer
The summer sun hugs the earth,
As its rays kiss the morning sky,
An exhale of warmth fills the air,
And welcomes the day with a sigh.
Gentle waves of green whisper hello,
Calling out to the dancing flowers,
Sweet perfume paints the breeze,
Lingering fragrance lasting for hours.
A brand new day God creates
A season for rejoicing in wonder,
The magnificent memories in my heart,
The joys only found in summer.
VMD
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Thursday, June 25, 2009 - Out with the Old, In with the New
I took a bit of time today to fill out the kids’ legal paperwork with our homeschool association. I had already turned in what they needed for the end of the year, but I needed to register for next year to get the discount. I am glad that I have a basic idea of what we will be using next year because I had to fill that information in for the main subjects. This is the general outline of what we will be using next year for the school basics.
For my 7th grade daughter:
Math: Saxon 7/6
English: Learning Language Arts through Literature
Science: finish Exploring Creation with General Science, Exploring Creation with Physical Science (unless I can find an advance weather study for her)
History: Amanda Bennett’s American Government Unit Study Set, History through the Ages, Money Matters for Teens-Middle School Level
For my 10th grade son:
Math: Algebra 2; Keys to Geometry
English: Language Arts through Literature-American Literature
Science: Exploring Creation with Chemistry
History: The Story of the Constitution, Amanda Bennett’s American Government Unit Study Set, Money Matters for Teens-HS Level
There will be several electives thrown in also including Bible study, Spanish, art, and music. I only need a couple of things and we will be set to go. I plan on beginning our new school year August 12th, but that is not set in stone.
So here is another thing I can check off on my ‘to do’ list. (I finished cleaning the garage last week.)
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