ArtsyMama - Homeschool Blogger

taking a break

Fri, 27 Apr 2007 11:29:00 -0500

Taking a break for an undetermined amount of time. We have had much sorrow here ~ and much change is on the horizon. Too much stress for bloggin', so I wanted to post it here.

Pray for my Geckmeister who bravely watched through a wall of tears and sorrow as his beloved Siamese was put down two days ago. This "nearly human" cat would sleep with, play tag with, chase with, cry for, obsess over, pour love over my son for four short years. He would actually clean my son as if he was his kitten every night. (gross... he'd even try to clean out his ears!LOL!) He had advanced heart disease with congestive heart failure. We went from a "healthy four year old cat" to a euthanized cat in less than twelve hours. No kidding. That fast. We are stunned.

How do people survive the loss of a child? I mean, seeing your child in pain or hurting is AGONY, especially when you are powerless as a parent to spare your little one pain and suffering. This is minute compared with that, but my little guy is hurting. He cries off and on. He asked if our cat was in heaven ~ I assured him that God loves him and loved his cat enough to create him, and that there will be animals in heaven, and as God is preparing a place for him, He wouldn't overlook the smallest detail. I'm confident that God would recreate this little cat just for him and just for His pleasure in watching one of His Own children shout joyfully at reuniting with this little creature. I'm positive that God must think like that because He is a Father, and I'd do the same thing as a parent. Of course, once he knew he was going to heaven, Geckmeister said in all earnestness, "I want to go to heaven now too! I hate it here! Life is awful and I need to be in heaven NOW!" Heart wrenching words. He is growing out of the happy-go-lucky kid stuff to the meaty, prickly stuff of life. I'm running behind with a stupid box of worthless bandaids trying to soften these wounds which are inevitable in life. Like all Moms do, I suppose. So, pray for my little guy. He's watching our other Siamese (who hates Geckmeister, by the way) wander around the house crying for the one who was lost. My heart aches...

We are looking at an out-of-state transfer sometime this summer. I must get rid of TONS of stuff. You know how we homeschool families can be Savers of Quite a Lot. Yeah, that's me. I even found a piece of driftwood "to be painted later" from my honeymoon 16 years ago ~ LOL! What am I thinking???

ManofthePlace's family is being deeply plowed right now. Remember the crazies? They are stealing from each other, going to jail, getting arrested, breaking into each others homes, BANANAS. Again, thank you Jesus for recessive genes.

My parents are getting older and sicker. I'm praying for God's Hand to protect them when we move away. Tough stuff....

So, I might update at some point, I might not. Not sure right now.
Happy summer to all...
~ArtsyMama

Beautiful Day

Tue, 17 Apr 2007 06:44:00 -0500

What a beautiful day it is here.

Is spring springing where you are?

I was just perusing our plants yesterday and noticed all the baby leaves on the bushes and trees are "freezer burnt" about half way down. Knowing leaves don't regenerate until NEXT spring ~ I sighed and accepted the fact that they will just have to look that way all summer long. Still, I was amazed that the deep freeze that happened all last week didn't kill my tulips. Hearty little ladies~!

Okay, so EEEEMommy gave me great directions on how to upload a picture onto this blog~! THANKS a bunch, EEEE! I have tried to get onto any and all hsblogger pages, including my own, for the past couple of weeks and have not been able to. I am just directed to that icky orangey brown blank screen with a frustrating little "Done" alerting me at the bottom that it had failed to connect to the desired blog. Aaaack. But, I fully intend to get some photos uploaded this week. I have some pretty cool ideas I want to show you.

Viruses, viruses

Wed, 14 Mar 2007 10:31:00 -0500

I think we have been fighting viruses for six whole weeks. We take turns like every good homeschooling family should do. So sharing, so giving... I never thought I'd wish my kids wouldn't share. Last night Zoozoo had a 103.6 fever. >sigh< Here we go again.

I've been too busy spring cleaning and weeding out a huge pile for Goodwill to do any artwork. I'm waiting to get the next painting for a child gone to heaven too early. I should start that one late spring.

My Zoozoo was stashing her money. I found nearly 100 dollars the other day in her room!!! I asked what she was saving it for. She said, "A baby sister." Oh, my heart aches to adopt a new baby... How do you tell your little girl that her saving is in vain? I just told her that God is the God of miracles, and you never know what His plans are.

Will be window washing today... maybe a little organizing... maybe a little oil painting. STILL wish I could post pictures here. I'll look into the "Help" button and try to figure it out ~ again ~.

contest

Mon, 12 Mar 2007 08:01:00 -0500

Here's a cool contest... I LOVE the thought of winning something unique, something I cannot buy anywhere.

Check it out!

www.homeschoolblogger.com/nsremom/296680

Okay, so you have to cut and paste... I think. Not sure if I did it correctly. Techno-twit, here. Why don't I have a little friend next door who is a homeschooled fifteen year old techno-girl/babysitter? Maybe when we move... I gotta pray for that right NOW.

Time for a new look

Sun, 4 Mar 2007 07:39:00 -0600

Seeing how the only thing I'm intelligent enough to change about my blog is... letters, words and choosing a new template. Here's a fresh template design. Not altered of course, because that would take some computer savvy. I actually tried to change my avatar. I even found the screen and tried to download a mini watercolor I had done years ago into that little box thingee. It supposedly downloaded to 100% but then never uploaded. Is that right? I'm staring at my screen whispering... is that it? Do I push "save changes?" What now? I'm still represented by that little funky twiggy lady with books on her head and curly legs. I also have the frustrating little porch right here on my blog... which makes me look at the little pad outside my front door and think, "I wish it were a big, Southern Porch."

I quit.

'Puters frustrate me.

Why can't I just paint my screen and have it magically change???

Okay. enough of that.

What do you typically look forward to when spring is right around the corner? I yearn for warm weather, flowers, green grass, spring winds, my kids running in the back yard with their arms flailing, return of the summer birds, my garden, nature walks in the park, flying kites and air hogs airplanes, picking strawberries at the local U-Pick, washing my windows and smelling the sweet breezes through them, hosing out my garage (and van! LOL) and putting a smooth coat of paint on the walls, thunderstorms, spring bulbs peeking here and there, and fresh mulch around my gardens. Spring sure is a season of "relief".

sickies

Thu, 1 Mar 2007 12:07:00 -0600

Ugh, we've been sick for two weeks now with cold/flu symptoms. I have been making a homemade chicken soup a few times and am thoroughly finished with chicken soup for the rest of winter. It's a basic soup, you know, a chicken boiled in water with salt, three cloves of garlic, an onion, some carrots, celery, powdered ginger, pepper, parsley, a bay leaf... let it all cook down, remove the chicken, bone and reserve the breasts for chicken salad while putting all the rest of the meat in the soup (amazing how much there is besides those breasts... or like my sensitive friend likes to call them... "chests" >grin<). So, throw in a few leftover veggies in the end, and voila... basic chicken soup (with no msg or artificial anything) to aid in healing of body and mind!! Okay, so that's a bit dramatic. I do have a whopper case of cabin fever.

Have any of you had problems with homeschoolblogger? I seem to have to set a new password all the time, and the new format is difficult to manage. It seems as if it is always freezing up. And even though my Control Panel says I can allow comments, for some reason the option has been unavailable on my blog for a while. grrrrr. I'm actually thinking of moving to another blog hoster. We'll see.

Today, while my sickies are sicking, I'm going to try uploading a picture from my digital camera onto this blog. We'll see how that goes! (had some really cool photos but can't figure out how to get them here ~ this stubborn woman is actually giving up on this. What a techno-twit I am!)

Oh, and someone asked about our math decision. We are doing Singapore math, some math workbooks from Walmart, and the local public school's textbook I picked up at a second hand sale. We rotate. It keeps things interesting.

In several weeks the manoftheplace and I are going to our local homeschool convention. I can't wait to peruse it all!! After the second or third aisle, my thoughts usually vaporize completely and I zone-out from so much information all at once... so this year I'm going to organize, keep to a list and budget, and stay focused!

Time flies

Thu, 22 Feb 2007 16:02:00 -0600

We have been busy and sick and holidaying (is that a word? It is now.) and schooling. Way too busy to blog, but the good news is: I got a digital camera for Christmas! Well, manoftheplace and I bought it for each other. Do you ever do those kinds of things for gift giving with your spouse? You know, you want something specific but don't "need" it... so the holiday becomes the excuse for buying it? We do this all the time.

Hey... we have had a serious ant problem on our island in our kitchen. They aren't IN the island, rather they come out of the half wall on the back of the island and creep onto the countertop. SICK. I have tried every product at our local superstore, every remedy, every grandma's potion. nothing. The smarties are still coming all the time.

A friend recommended a product only available at our local hardware store. She promises it will work. If it doesn't we're tearing out the island, sealing up the foundation, and reinstalling it. Desperate situations call for desperate measures.

So, I had to laugh out loud like a crazy woman at the hardware store. I was reading the back panel of the Terro Ant Killer. Here is what it says:

ATTRACTS AND KILLS ALL COMMON HOUSEHOLD ANTS INCLUDING:
Argentine ants, Ghost ants, Cornfield ants, Pavement ants, Acrobat ants, White footed ants, Little black ants, Odorous house ants, Crazy ants, Big headed ants, and other sweet eating ants.

LOL!!!
Acrobat ants??? Did they leave their friends, the fleas, at the circus and join a colony??
Excuse me... CRAZY ants? (shouldn't that be spelled Crazy Aunts?)
Also, aren't ALL ants "Little black ants", or was this added for the ego protection of the Ant Novice in pretending it's an actual species?
How did they know their feet were white? In fact, how would I know their feet were white?
Odorous ants... who smelled them, and how did they keep the ant from flying up their nostril?
Big headed ants versus what, Big butted ants?
And, in case they actually die and come back to haunt you... GHOST ants.

GOTTA love it.

Digital Camera Advice?

Wed, 29 Nov 2006 20:30:00 -0600

Man-of-the-Place and I have decided to go digital. I just spent $70 on developing 35mm film... hubby's 40th birthday photos, Thanksgiving photos, TN vacation photos, and Geckmeister's 9th birthday photos... and you know what? 75% of them didn't turn out. GGGGGRRRRRRrrrrrr. ALL those moments are now only sweet memories with nothing but grainy, dark shadows for film.

So, being completely Digitally Challenged, I was wondering if you might just tell me what camera you use and why you like or don't like it? Maybe you heard a horror story about why such-n-such camera is awful? Maybe you wished that your megapixelthingees were different~?

I'd LOVE to know!

Thanks,

Funky Family and the Amish

Sun, 26 Nov 2006 20:53:00 -0600

My friends, The Yoders, think we're liars now. (by the way, yes, they are Mennonite/Amish upbringing... how interesting is that!?) We invited their family for Thanksgiving dinner with many descriptive warnings about our funky, extended family. I think they came just to get a bang out of seeing these strange people we have been referring to, but too embarrassed to introduce, for nearly a year.

So, this is my description of the last Thanksgiving dinner spent at The-Man-of-the-Place's Grandmother's cave in the boonies years ago. (Please be aware that after this Thanksgiving which I'm about to describe, we made a firm Pinkie Promise never to spend Thanksgiving anywhere but in our own home):

First you have The Great Great Grampa who, when spoken to, simply says 'yyyYYYYUUUUUPP!' to everything that is said.

Then you have The Grump who just sits in the corner, brooding; refusing to speak to anyone.

Then there was The Aunt whom we had to hide our purses from (who is currently serving 6 years in prison in IL for forgery, drugs, theft, DUI).

There were her two roommates in attendance... The Lesbian who was eyeing me within minutes, and The Entertainer who was getting jealous as a result of said creepy-eyeing.

There was The Alcoholic, his wife, and her schizophrenic mother who was making strange noises while eating and chatting to some imaginary person.

Then there was The Gentle Crone who likes "critters" in her swill-like dressing which actually pours from a ladle. (ie: critters = oysters. Yeah, scared me when she first called them that the first year.) She just chews her food and doesn't speak ~ but when she does, she's always kinda pleasant. A small thing for which to be grateful.

Then there was The Felony-Charged Teenager who shows up tainted by the latest chemical his "friends" have so graciously shared with him.

Then there was The Cousin, the male teenager who wears makeup, idolizes Liza Minnelli, and wears his mother's clothes.

Then there was The IcyMIL who has given me approximately nine hugs in nearly twenty years... she's given me eight rubber spatulas, seventeen pots and pans, 30ish Yankee candles, more kitchen gadgets and clothes than I can count... but NO HUGS FOR YOU!

Then there was The Dog who got smacked in the chops when he peed on the carpet, yet nobody got up to clean it. (Me, the Germophobe Intruder cleaned it up after seeing nobody do it...eeeeewwww)

Then there was My Man who, thank you dear Jesus, has very recessive genes and doesn't resemble any of them. (NOT kidding here. They consider him a freak of nature. 145 IQ, college degree, polished, modern and handsome as can be!)

And there was me, holding our little Geckmeister very close and trying to make pleasant conversation about anything which might resemble something normal, but volleying every subject into a haystack. I really think I could have sold tickets or done a documentary or something had I not been so stunned. Had Geckmeister been of homeschooling age I might have even made a film directing project of it and put it on this blog just so you would believe it.

Share Jesus with them, you say? Yes, we tried that. Boy, could you hear the crickets chirping and the fleas jumping. We actually found that to be a great way to empty the room.

Back to The Yoders. Five of the afore mentioned people were invited for Thanksgiving. Guess what? They actually formed sentences. They chewed graciously, used napkins and conversed intelligibly. They said thank you and used utensils. Nobody shouted or cursed. Great Great Grandpa said something other than Yup. Of course they left in less than two hours, but still... amazing. Now we are trying to get a Pinkie Promise out of The Yoders that they have to come to every Thanksgiving from now on, because when they do, giant pods come out of the Mothership and replace our relatives with fairly normal people.

Conveyor Belts

Thu, 12 Oct 2006 12:02:00 -0500

Manoftheplace and I are going to just "rest". I'm not even "waiting" or "watching" at this point. I'm so tired of trying to figure out everything and trying to read the signs as to where the Lord *might* be leading. Know what I mean? So much of my time has been spent waiting and watching and dreaming for the next thing that I have somewhat overlooked the joy of the moment in my children's lives right in front of me! I'm always straining to see what's ahead.

You know, I was hit hard with this very thing... and my eyes flew open to my tendencies to run ahead. It was during our trip. We went to the Ripley's Aquarium in Gatlinburg, TN (awesome aquarium, by the way. You would all love it.). My kids were peeking at one thing and running off to the next in warp-speed. Then we saw an opening on the bottom floor to which Geckmeister said... "No! I wanna go see these fish again!", pointing to a little aquarium to the left which was nearly empty. We insisted he obey and dragged him along into the opening. We found ourselves in the glass tunnel which went under all the giant fish tanks. I started walking and the woman attendant told me to stop and stand on the conveyor belt, please. It was going so very slowly... I mean slllooooowwwwwlllyyyy and the tunnel was very long and curvy. My initial thought was, "GREAT... this will take all day and I wanna see the Next Thing." There were many other people of all ages on the belt and do you know what? It was nearly silent in that tunnel! We were all calm ~ all staring at things which we would have never seen had we even been casually walking. We were letting the creator of the museum dictate how quickly we were moving through the tunnel... how amazing! How relaxed we all were. How MANY things we would have missed had we hurried. We noticed and enjoyed even the smallest movements as we went along. We noticed colors and shapes of fish we had never seen before. We observed how differently all the fish, sting rays, sharks, sawfish move and glide and interact with one another. Those creatures actually came alongside the glass and LOOKED at us and STUDIED us because we weren't whizzing past. God speaks in mysterious ways, my dear friend!

So, I'm standing on His "conveyor belt" and absorbing what He has in front of me. Yeah, my desires will always be there, but He will have to do the work this time as our strength and resources are tapped out. I can't believe time hurries along so quickly. I'm so so so convicted by this. Sometimes I think I have a lot of work to do to try to slow down. Then I remember it is just simply stepping onto a conveyor belt... HIS conveyor belt. I don't have to DO anything to STOP and REST. Silly me :o)