You aren't the first and you probably won't be the last! - Homeschool Blogger

Have you ever? (beauty)

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 20:47:00 -0500

Have you ever looked a picture of yourself with caring eyes? I'm talking about seeing your own reflection through the eyes of someone who likes you. How often do we look in the mirror and try to find something wrong. A hair out of place, a bulge, a spot. Why can we not take a step back and think, "Someone can see beauty in this reflection. Someone chooses to spend time with this person. Someone likes this person." We look at people on television or online, or in magazines and think, "They are so lucky to be beautiful, to know they are sought after, to know they have an audience who adores them." They have people who make sure they are always looking their best. And yet, do we ever stop to wonder what they looked like when they were discovered. Someone saw them in their unaltered state and knew they had potential. Someone picked them before they were famous. I know so many people who hate to see photographs of themselves. They hide from the camera because they don't want to be reminded of how they look. I used to feel that way. Having my picture taken was a chore. I wish my friends would realize how pretty they really are. I with they knew how often people looked at them and made positive comments. I have one friend with the most beautiful hair I have ever seen. It is long and has just the perfect amount of wave to it. It is effortless for her to grow it out it seems. I often look at her and wish my hair were long and beautiful like hers. She is to me what Anne felt about Diana Barry in Anne of Green Gables. I have another friend with brilliant blue eyes. They look like sapphires. I was talking to her one day and realized that I had completely forgotten what she was saying because I was suddenly focused on her eyes. I NEVER notice people eyes. My own husband asked me what color eyes he had when we were first married and I had to look at them before I could answer. Some friends are pretty in a way that I just can't put my finger on. I guess they have the right balance of features, not too big a nose, not to prominent a chin, etc. Some of my friends have started showing signs of age in a beautiful way. They may look at a face that is older and more worn or wrinkled, but I see such peace on them, and I hope I look like them as I age. Of course, some of my friends are just pretty, and they know it. They somehow figured out how to achieve the ideal look, or they have the gift of maintaining their figure year after year. Those are the ones I am confused with when they start to complain about their looks. So I guess all I'm trying to say is, take another look at yourself. Look in the mirror through different eyes, and see what your closest friends see. They see a person who is desirable. They see someone who has captivated their attention and caused them to want to get to know them more. Stop looking for things that must be changed, and start noticing things that are already perfect.

All-American

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 18:36:00 -0500

I just got home from Wal-Mart. I know what you’re thinking… “What’s so important that she feels the need to blog about it???” It was a rather uneventful trip, but I shopped a little differently this time. My friend and I were talking about the importance of buying US made products. We were doing searches online for things that are made in the USA, and came across some really nice stuff. Well, of course, reality set in and I realized that eventually I’m going to have to decide if I’m willing to spend my time and money actually buying only American made products. This means no more impulsive toy purchases for the kids since most of the things they like are made in China. This means no more flippant purchases of beauty care products. Here are a few things that I found. First of all, the Wal-Mart “off-brand” (great value) seems to be mostly made in the USA. Everything I purchased in that brand was, I can’t vouch for things I didn’t buy. I was looking for some cheap toys to add to my “toy store.” The toy store is an incentive thing I’m doing for the kids this year. If they do well in school they earn gold coins (I bought them before I decided to go all out American from oriental trading). At the end of the month they can use the coins to buy toys and candy from my store. I read somewhere that the Slinky brand was still made in the USA. I found some windmill spinners from “Slinky” that were $1 a piece and they said in bold print “Made in the USA.” I also found some cardboard puzzles that were very inexpensive from “Briar Patch.” Made in the USA. I had some trouble with some of the hair and body care items. They mostly said “distributed by…” I’ll have to do some research on those. I did, however find that Herbal Essences are definitely made in the USA. I also found some off brand spray-on sun block, “Ocean Potion.” Have you ever tried that “Malt’O’Meal” cereal that comes in a big bag… you guessed it… it’s American made. Of course, things like fresh produce and the gallon of milk I bought aren’t labeled “Made in the USA.” I would hope they were grown here… surely the Chinese haven’t discovered ways of producing and shipping those things cheaper than we can. Now, lest you be concerned about my possible racial prejudice against the Chinese, this simply isn’t the case. Some of my dearest friends are Chinese. The main reason for this sudden shift in personal policy is simple. 1) I realize we’re in a recession and millions of American’s have lost or are in danger of losing their jobs. I prefer to support American companies right now so that I can help out even if it’s just one drop in a very big bucket. 2) Certain countries (like China) are currently governed in a way that I do not want to support. While I certainly wouldn’t have a problem buying things from, let’s say, Great Britain, or Germany, I do not wish to buy them from places like Cuba or China. And finally, 3) I want to start teaching my children the value of cheap vs. quality stuff. Oh and one more thing. If you don’t want to do this, or if you don’t think you can. I’m not trying to make anyone feel guilty. God provides differently for each person, and He grows each of us in a different way. It makes us all unique and adds a different dimension to the world, and I wouldn’t want it any other way. I will say, though that a lot of the grocery type items I found that were made in the USA were much cheaper than popular name brand items.

More Randomness

Tue, 11 Aug 2009 09:49:00 -0500

Why is teaching reading to a kindergartner so exciting, but teaching reading to a first grader is mind numbing. I guess it's one area of teaching where I haven't developed patience yet. I tend to do that, ya know. I expect my kids to get something on their first try. I mean, after all, it's sooo easy for me to do it. ;) I did the same thing with potty training. I did great for the first couple of months because my expectations were such that I figured it would take a few months for them to master the art. With each child I was proven wrong. Now, with my fourth, I expect potty training to take at least two years. With my third I finally raised my expectations from a few months to 1 year. She's still having accidents. On that note, I've learned that my third child cannot drink tea unless there is a bathroom readily accessible for the next several hours. I've never known tea to affect someone in that way before. It's a bit frustrating because I really would love to have tea with her more often. I am about to go through my house and throw everything away... again. I am surrounded by piles of paper and useless objects. I want to get rid of my children's toys, but I know they would like to play with them. I keep most of them locked away because it's too overwhelming for them to keep all of the accessible and still be able to clean up after themselves. I used to hate the idea of barrister bookcases. Those are the ones with the sliding glass panels that drop down over the books. They are beautiful to look at, but they make it more difficult to access the books inside. Now that I have children who like to get all the books off of their bookshelf and lay them all over the floor, barrister bookcases seem like such a nice idea. One thing I certainly haven't mastered as a mom is the delicate balance between controlling my children and giving them freedom to learn from their own mistakes. This is one area where I would really love to excel. Of course, I don’t want to learn this over the next several years of motherhood. I just want to be good at it right now. :) Maybe I've ranted about this before, but it frustrates me that I have three little girls and I have no time to sew for them. I realize that when they are older I will have more free time. I realize that when I have more free time I will be able to sew more often. The problem is, I want to sew clothes for them to wear now. I'm sure that my grandchildren will be inundated with homemade clothes from grandma, but it frustrates me that I cannot do this for my girls now. I wish my baby was more cuddly. I have had cuddly children before. I love my baby, but she doesn't want to cuddle. I feel like a moron writing that one out. I feel like some will read this and judge me as one who doesn't appreciate her child's uniqueness. But that's truly how I feel. Sorry if you're offended. My son has only been doing 6th grade for one week and already he has impressed me. I hope his determination and hard work will continue as the school year progresses. I want to take him to the Melting Pot sometime, but life keeps getting in the way. I wish we could spend more time together one on one.

Always have a backup

Wed, 18 Mar 2009 11:03:00 -0500

After about 5 months of school this year my son's hard drive crashed. He uses Switched on Schoolhouse by Alpha Omega. This program saved him from being held back a year and enrolled in a Christian school. (After a horrible 3rd grade year using mixed curriculum we tried to enroll him in a local Christian school thinking that homeschooling just wasn't for him. The school had him take a placement test and the result was that he would have to repeat 3rd grade. We decided to try a last ditch effort and bought the SOS program hoping we could get him caught up in 4th grade and enroll him the fall of his 5th grade year. We have been using SOS ever since, and have had very good results.)

My husband is a programmer and works with computers all day, so I didn't panic when my son said he was having trouble with his computer. Little did I know the extent of the damage. He uses a Dell laptop and keeps all of his schoolwork stored on the hard drive. Everytime we closed the school program it asked us if we wanted to back-up his work. Last year we had some issues at the beginning of the year, so I backed up all the work he had done to a file... on the hard drive.

Then one day my son told me he couldn't turn on his computer. I told him his dad would look at it when he got home. The bad news came that night. There was something wrong with the hard drive. The good news: we got a new one from Dell for free because the laptop is still under warranty. The bad news: we had to erase the original hard drive to prove that it was truly broken. All of his work for the past 5 months was lost.

By the time we got everything fixed he had lost another month of school. So, now were playing catch up. It's very frustrating.

My advice: always back up your work to an external source as well as the hard drive. That way, if one goes, the other one is available. It's so much less frustrating than having to repeat over half a year of schoolwork.

Child Development

Wed, 18 Mar 2009 11:02:00 -0500

So, I know from previous experience that second (or third...) siblings tend to excellerate their learning when it comes to rolling over, crawling, and walking. Of course, this isn't taking into consideration a child's God given talents. Some children just do things early because they're good at it.

Richard talked very early. He just had a lot to say and couldn't wait to get it all out. He still talks more than all the other girls combined. I wasn't really expecting subsequent children to pick up that trait early... in fact, I was mentally prepared for delayed speech. My friend Kathleen said her 3rd daughter didn't speak for a long time because her 2nd thought it was her job to answer all of #3's questions. Hearing this story I figured Richard would do that to Deborah. He did.

Deborah decided that she loved music so much that she began to sing before she could talk. Instead of regular baby coos, I realized one day that she was actually maintaining a steady melodic note. This was her favorite thing to do. She still sings more than she talks. Without music in our house, I think she would shrivel up and languish.

I can't really think of anything off-hand that Hannah did as an infant, but she is an excellent actress. At age 2 she completely fooled me into thinking she was asleep. She didn't crack a smile or react when tickled. The manipulative tools I used on the other children to discern if they were truly asleep or pretending didn't work on Hannah. After finally convincing me that she was truly asleep she popped her head up and smiled the biggest smile to prove she had indeed fooled me. She still fools people at church at times. With her up and down emotions that I noticed from birth I wouldn't be at all surprised if she made a career out of acting.

So, here comes Amelia. I don't really know what to expect of her. She's only 3 months old and nothing has caught my attention. Although, she has a seemingly long attention span for a 3 month old. She can stare deeply and fixedly on a person's face for minutes at a time. The average attention span at her age is measured in seconds, not minutes. I know some of my friends would disagree with my holding to the idea that God still speaks though words of prophecy, but I do. Amelia received several preophetic words regarding strong mathematical, and technical abilities. Her long attention span could certainly help her in these areas.

So, there you have it. I hope this note encourages other parents out there to take stock even at a very early age of what their children's abilities may be. Don't ignore the little signs. Get to know each child as an individual, and not as what you wish they would be.

Amelia Grace

Tue, 13 Jan 2009 11:06:00 -0600

So, I'm not pregnant anymore.

Amelia Grace was born December 11th. She weighed 7 lbs 13 oz and was 21 inches long. She has very dark hair, much like Hannah's when she was born. Hannah's gradually lightened to a dark blond, but Amelia's seems to be staying pretty dark. Her eyes are dark blue right now, but They will probably change color even if it is only to lighten to the color of Hannah and Richard's eyes.

The C-section recovery has gone very well. I still have pain, but I don't need painkillers for recuperation. I take them mainly for my shoulder pain. I have this bad habit of holding the baby and trying to look at her all the time. It ends up with my neck being held at a very odd angle. I try to catch myself and straighten up, but I just want to look at her. I think she's beautiful... but I'm kinda biased. I'll let you decide.

I'm very happy to not be pregnant anymore. The pregnancy was long and hard. Although there were no real emergencies, I did not enjoy feeling sick for 9 months straight. I can now eat salad and drink water again whithout reflux.

Well, being the mom of a newborn is a very busy job... have to go soothe a fussy baby... bye now!

Pregnancy

Thu, 23 Oct 2008 09:20:00 -0500

For anybody who has spent time in my presence recently, there is no secret to the fact that I don't like being pregnant. I love the concept of being able to hold my new baby soon, but that is the only reality that keeps me going. I don't like feeling nauseous for 9 months, or not being able to sleep, or breathe, or any other of the malady's my body goes through while nurturing an infant in-utero.

On the other hand, I hate to complain. I know there are millions of women who would give anything to trade places with me: either because of the inability to carry a baby to term, or bareness, or even still-birth or birth defects. I have every reason to be thankful.

I guess this also plays into the fact that I don't like being pregnant. I have these thoughts in my head, and because of my elevated hormone levels I can't think of them rationally. Rather, I oscillate between guilt over not being more thankful or sorrow over the plight of these other women.

One of the good points of this particular pregnancy is that I have not had any real overwhelming cravings. During past pregnancies I have been unable to consume certain foods due to my taste buds turning them into something detestable (like chocolate with Deborah), or wanting to eat only particular odd flavor combinations (like Rueben sandwiches with Richard). So far this pregnancy I have not had any foods that drove me away (other than the taste of fish being a bit off), nor have I had any foods that I could not live without.

That is to say... up to now. As of this moment, I can honestly say that I finally have a craving. The kind of craving that makes every other food taste dull and lifeless until that craving is fulfilled. The unfortunate thing is that it is a craving for something that is relatively hard to obtain. This time it is a particular soup that my good friend Jodie brought to me yesterday. It is her homemade version of Olive Garden's "Zuppa Toscana."

Now, I could go to Olive Garden and try to satisfy the craving with their version, but it just would taste right. I could try drowning the craving with several different soups available to me at the local grocery store. Unfortunately, I already know from past experience that trying to satisfy a craving without actually eating the food craved only leads to engorging without actually satisfying the craving. So, my only option is to call my friend and beg her (on the promise of supplying any necessary ingredients) to make me a gallon of the soup. This way I can eat it till I'm not pregnant anymore.

Oh, one more thing. If there isn't a Slush Puppy machine at the convenience store near church, I'll be very disappointed. (Feel free to ask if you want to know that this is all about.)

One

Thu, 23 Oct 2008 09:18:00 -0500

This song means a lot to me.

Is it getting better?
Or do you feel the same?
Will it make it easier on you now?
You got someone to blame
You say

One love
One life
When it's one need
In the night
One love
We get to share it
Leaves you baby if you
Don't care for it

Did I disappoint you?
Or leave a bad taste in your mouth?
You act like you never had love
And you want me to go without
Well it's

Too late
Tonight
To drag the past out into the light
We're one, but we're not the same
We get to
Carry each other
Carry each other
One

Have you come here for forgiveness?
Have you come to raise the dead?
Have you come here to play Jesus?
To the lepers in your head

Did I ask too much?
More than a lot.
You gave me nothing,
Now it's all I got
We're one
But we're not the same
Well we
Hurt each other
Then we do it again
You say
Love is a temple
Love a higher law
Love is a temple
Love the higher law
You ask me to enter
But then you make me crawl
And I can't be holding on
To what you got
When all you got is hurt

One love
One blood
One life
You got to do what you should
One life
With each other
Sisters
Brothers
One life
But we're not the same
We get to
Carry each other
Carry each other

Bored

Sun, 14 Sep 2008 15:35:00 -0500

So, Hubby left for a 4 day business trip today. I'm really bored. I certainly don't feel up to cleaning the house, so that kinda removes the ultimate mommy boredom reliever. So I am writing a blog about how bored I am to have something to do.

Counting my blessings

1) I'm glad I'm not on bedrest. I have had pregnancy backache pretty bad (thus the reason not to do housework) this time around, and all last week I couldn't walk very well. But, at least I'm not on strict orders not to get out of bed. That would be terrible, and I'm going to be very thankful that although it's not pleasant, at least it's not any worse than it is.

2) I'm glad the kids are all easily entertained. It would be very frustrating to have to micro-manage them right now, and they are all being very well behaved. If I had a 2 yr old I probably would not be sitting here able to type a blog post un-interrupted.

3) I was able to take a nice nap. I suppose it goes along with the last post. I would love to curl up and go back to sleep, but then my schedule would be all messed up and homeschooling would be terrible tomorrow. Maybe that's why I feel bored. You know how it is sometimes. You take a nice nap, and it's so nice that you really don't wake up fully. Then it's hard to get going the rest of the evening.

I'm sure there are other blessings I could count. but that's enough for now. I'm going to go surf the web and try not to spend any money on anything unecessary.

I never thought I'd see the day!

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 11:06:00 -0500

So I was at the mall yesterday stocking up on bath gel when the kids started clamoring that it was time for lunch. I headed to the food court and asked them along the way what they would like to eat. I was prepared for the usual response of pizza all around when to my amazement my second born said she didn’t want pizza. She asked what there was to eat. I rattled off the usual things she likes. Chicken nuggets, tuna from subway, and Chinese noodles. She said she didn’t want any of those and asked if there was anything else she could get. I told her that the rest of her options consisted of things she had turned down repeatedly in the past. I told her she could have salad or tacos or a hamburger. To my amazement she said that she would like salad as long as it didn’t have any dressing on it. Her younger sister (who’s never had a hard time eating greens) followed her example and shared a salad with her.

I kept hearing from the “experts” that if you expose your child to a food often enough they will eventually learn to accept it. After 10 years of parenting I was beginning to doubt. I was so proud of her for choosing something so healthy. Another testament to the fact that miracles still happen today.