As of 2007, it’s been 18 years since we began homeschooling! In 1991, we added a mill and whole grains! Both have been quite an experience! Overwhelming at times, yet both so wholesome! Learn with us as we continue to grow! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/favoritethings/ en-us Homeschool Blogger Mon, 20 Jul 2009 00:55:00 -0500 Mon, 20 Jul 2009 00:55:00 -0500 There is a simply STUNNING photo essay of the amazing sites the Hubble telescope has beamed back down to earth!   http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/05/15/slideshow.hubble.galaxies/index.html http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/favoritethings/709512/ Mon, 20 Jul 2009 00:55:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/favoritethings/709512/ It's been a while since I blogged, but I'm still "learning" the "art" of it so if anyone is "out there" in blog-land, please understand!   Like many others, we've just finished little league softball and baseball season, plus it seems this "interesting" economy is causing us to work extra hard, just to survive!  Hopefully, I'll get better at fitting this in as time goes on and I learn more! Wow - a lot has happened since I've written!  Here's a few of the more interesting headlines I thought children and parents alike would enjoy!  (*Parents, please supervise your children's time on the web with these sites!)  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Japan is be-seiged with GIANT jellyfish!   I had no idea jellyfish could grow so large!  Check it out at http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/07/19/japan.jellyfish/index.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ California is be-seiged with GIANT squid!  Some are 5 feet long, I believe!  http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/31964624#31964624  http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/31994069#31891535 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ And one home had the Oscar Meyer Wiener Mobile crash through the side of it! Imagine having THAT come through the wall!  http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/31994069#31994069 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Until we meet again - be careful in the ocean! cindy http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/favoritethings/709508/ Mon, 20 Jul 2009 00:22:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/favoritethings/709508/ For the kids, and the kid in us!   (*Parents…please monitor your child’s time online.  I cannot vouch for the safety of any of these websites so supervise well, but they are fascinating sites!) I just wrote a newsletter (*It's free for the asking!  Just email me and ask to be included, if you'd like!), and here were a few fun things from it!      NEON HANDS interpret “Who am I”, the Christian song by the group Casting Crowns!  Be sure to watch to the VERY end when you get a brief glance of how they did it!   Amazing – touching!   Click HERE! (*or use this address!  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CT7x3VnrqbA) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dog dials 911~ ·         World’s smallest man that can actually WALK on his own!  (*Evidently there’s a smaller one but he doesn’t walk.) ·         Woman with the longest legs!  (*She doesn’t look that tall until you see her boyfriend who is of average height!) ·         And a really BIG snake in Idaho found in someone’s back YARD!  It’s all HERE! on this weird and wacky video! (*or use this address! http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2008/09/19/take.a.look.at.this.fri.pm.cnn)    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ STRANGE, NEW Marine sea life in Australia!  Go HERE! to see it!  (*address is http://www.foxnews.com/photoessay/0,4644,5141,00.html#4_0) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ And guess what’s in the RED Sea???  A fish that glows RED!   Of course!  Check it out HERE! (*address is http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,424001,00.html) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~   Next time you’re in Atlanta, visit NANDI, the Manta Ray!!! Her wings are 9 feet wide!!! The story is HERE! http://www.cnn.com/2008/TRAVEL/08/25/manta.ray/index.html#cnnSTCText   The video is HERE! http://www.cnn.com/2008/TRAVEL/08/25/manta.ray/index.html#cnnSTCVideo   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Meet FAITH – a dog born withOUT her two front legs!   With great “faith”, (*ok, pun was intentional!), she’s been taught to walk on her hind legs!  AMAZING!    A love one has a dog with a very similar situation named “Scooter”. Their dog was also born without fully formed front legs, but with the love and support from her great “people” family, she’s adapted quite well and “scoots” along!   These creatures truly inspire me!    To see these dogs RISE ABOVE insurmountable odds, forsaking all that threatens to hinder them, encourages me to do the same!  I pray this humble dog inspires all to greatness!   She is amazing!  See Faith HERE! (*address is http://www.snopes.com/photos/animals/faithdog.asp) http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/favoritethings/594425/ Tue, 23 Sep 2008 17:53:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/favoritethings/594425/ For the kids, and the kid in us!   (*Parents…please monitor your child’s time online.  I cannot vouch for the safety of any of these websites so supervise well, but they are fascinating sites!)  Molly the Pony – Did you know there is a horse who has survived being an amputee???   I never knew it could work!  I always wondered why because it can work for dogs and cats, but others told me horses put too much weight on their thin legs to be able to stand on 3 legs for any length of time.   They say Molly has the right temperament for it to work, plus she’s small so she’s not putting as much weight on her legs as a standard horse.   Molly can stand on 3 legs, but will tell her owners WHEN she wants the artificial leg!   Amazing story!   http://www.snopes.com/photos/animals/molly.asp - a TRUE story of amazing survival against all odds!   http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/25063046#25063046  - the best video of Molly’s story, by far!  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Lcg9rUZbbo&feature=related  - photo diary set to music http://hoofcare.blogspot.com/2008/03/pony-romps-to-new-role-in-lifeon-three.html http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1612766250?bclid=348391191&bctid=1614766330 http://www.myfoxhouston.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=6859441&version=2&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=3.1.1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkeLgXocwas - *CAUTION – this is the LSU surgical unit and it has some graphic photos of Molly’s injured leg.  I did fine with it, but this video may not be appropriate for small children to see.    http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2008/07/27/crawford.horse.leg.katv - Here’s another small rescue horse that’s been fitted with an artificial leg now!  The veterinarian is hoping to use this horse as a “therapy” horse that could go to hospitals and encourage children who’ve lost a limb that they can overcome the loss.  What a good “job” for this horse and Molly!    Wish they’d thought of this with Barbaro, but I guess he loved to run too much to be happy walking slowly!    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ “Lilly”, the baby giraffe weighs 173 pounds at birth and is 6 feet tall -   http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2008/07/07/norman.fl.baby.giraffe.wpbf ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ GIANT FRESHWATER STINGRAY!  Go here – http://www.foxnews.com/photoessay/0,4644,4602,00.html#2_0 – to see a bigger photo of this GIANT FRESHWATER stingray!  It was found in the MeKong River and it’s where they find GIANT catfish, too!  Notice this is a FRESH water stingray – not one from the ocean, but rather from a river!   Wow – I wouldn’t want to swim in that river!  http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/favoritethings/578048/ Wed, 20 Aug 2008 23:37:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/favoritethings/578048/ Next time your child BALKS at getting a good night's sleep, remind him or her that they will LEARN better if they have a good night's sleep prior!  If they don't believe you, show them this article!  :O)    http://www.foxnews.com/printer_friendly_story/0,3566,159578,00.html http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/favoritethings/578047/ Wed, 20 Aug 2008 23:34:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/favoritethings/578047/  It’s time to plant a GARDEN …..      We just ordered LOTS of seeds (*you can read more about each variety and order at our website www.grainlady.com) and what makes these seeds special is they are either...... ·        Organic  (*i.e. chemical free of all fungicides, pesticides, etc. )  or… ·        Heirloom  (*i.e. an "open pollinated" variety developed BEFORE 1940 - therefore BEFORE mass production!  99% of the seeds from this company are "open-pollinated" (non-hybrid) which means YOU CAN SAVE SEEDS from this year's crop to plant NEXT year!  ·        Non-GMO  (*there are no “animal” genes split into these “PLANT” seeds so no Frankenstein creations should come up! ha!) These are the kind of seeds  GREAT GRANDPA  used!  For the kids, and the kid in us!   (*Parents…please monitor your child’s time online.  I cannot vouch for the safety of any of these websites so supervise well, but they are fascinating sites!)  Gardening with kids website! http://www.gardening-with-kids.com     I have no idea what this is, or WHO these people are, but hey – it looks INTERESTNG!  ``````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` Grow a GOURD and make a BIRDHOUSE!  The internet is FULL of ideas and instructions! http://www.americangourdsociety.org/FAQ/birdhouse.html http://www.gitaland.com/tutorials/tutivy.html http://twostraightlines.typepad.com/two_straight_lines/2007/09/minimalist-bird.html - I love this “minimalist” birdhouse!  So simple, so easy – yet so elegant! http://www.diynetwork.com/diy/kc_recycled/article/0,,diy_13975_2273147,00.html http://familyfun.go.com/decorating-ideas/gardening/feature/famf0502_proj_gourdhs/ TIP – How will I know how and WHEN to plant a garden? There is a WEALTH of information on the Clemson Extension website, such as this page on Planning a Garden with it’s “schedule” on each type produce! (*also at http://hgic.clemson.edu/factsheets/hgic1256.htm) TIP – Our seed source gives this question & answer “How do I save my own seeds?” “Many seeds can be saved for planting until the next season. Simply store your seeds in a cool dry place. An easy way to do this is to place your seeds in a canning jar and store the jar in the refrigerator until next season. Ideally, the sum of the temperature and humidity should be less than 100 (seed storage index). For example, seeds stored at 50% humidity and 40 degrees Farenheit, will have a seed storage index of 90 ( 50 + 40 = 90). In general, the cooler and drier you keep your seeds, the longer they will last. Be aware that the germination will be lower and you may need to plant the seeds more thickly.” Gardening with kids is especially fun!  Watching those tiny seeds push up through the soil is quite a lesson in determination!   And kids are closer to the ground, hence they're great at WEEDING!   cindy http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/favoritethings/533592/ Fri, 16 May 2008 23:33:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/favoritethings/533592/ There is a “Doomsday Seed Vault”….. Kind of sad….and eerie….creepy, even.......but a good idea. I like seeds – love plants! Did I ever tell you that…… I managed the Display department for a large department store, and it all began when I volunteered to water their pitiful, dehydrated, sickly plants!  ;o) Anyway, here’s what I know…. the vault is underground in Norway – owned by Norway, but the countries own the seeds they deposit there. it’s designed to protect the world’s seeds from climate changes, war, nuclear strike, natural disasters like earthquakes, floods, etc. it can hold 4.5 million seed sample packages, I think, each containing 500 seeds! there are 1400 other seed vaults in the world, and this one is the “back-up” for all! giant air-conditioners bring the temp down to minus 0.4 Fahrenheit the seeds can last 1000 years at that temperature! if the air conditioners fail, the permafrost around the seed vault will keep it cold another 200 YEARS!  That’s like, “Hey, the power’s out….don’t open the freezer door, ok?!!!” There’s also another seed vault that holds 1 billion seeds in Sussex, England.  It’s more for “wild” seeds, while the Norway project is attuned to agricultural seeds, designed to insure an adequate food supply in case of castastrophe.   You can read an article about the Norway project HERE (*at http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,332330,00.html) and you can watch a video of the Norway Project, then a video of the Sussex project in England will come immediately afterwards.   It’s at http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/europe/02/25/norway.seeds/index.html.   http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/favoritethings/489827/ Thu, 28 Feb 2008 21:07:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/favoritethings/489827/ FREE stuff! Real Simple magazine (*www.RealSimple.com) lists 23 things you can get for FREE! Like on April 17th, you can get a FREE cone of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream! Go HERE to read about it! (*or http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/wayoflife/02/11/roym.rs.free/index.html) http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/favoritethings/489826/ Thu, 28 Feb 2008 21:05:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/favoritethings/489826/ (*Parents, please monitor your child's time on the internet.  I can't fully vouch for these sites so "tour" them at your own risk, ok?  Thanks!) Want to see WAVES of ice in Antarctica? Click on  Urban Legends Reference Pages: Antarctica Wave or go to http://www.snopes.com/photos/natural/antarcticwave.asp _________________________________________ Want to see an ICY Switzerland, too?! Go HERE   (*or at http://www.jibjab.com/view/110421)  Or click on Icicles pictures from winter scenics photos on webshots (*or at http://outdoors.webshots.com/album/557603804KrjJHf)   http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/favoritethings/489825/ Thu, 28 Feb 2008 20:59:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/favoritethings/489825/ I'm firmly convinced that many in our country have lost touch with WHERE their food comes from.   Since so many “convenience” foods, children sometimes don't have a clue as to the "process" required to MAKE that loaf of bread they see in the store.    I've actually encountered children, and adults,  who don't know where flour comes from!  When I show them a stalk of wheat, with it's tiny kernels, they are amazed!  Inevitably, all want to “taste” a kernel of raw wheat and they like it! By using all processed foods, children also miss out on the “steps”, such as: the farmer grows, harvests, then sells the wheat the wheat is ground, or milled, into flour the flour is mixed with water, salt, sugar or honey, & yeast to make bread the bread is sold by the baker to the store and ready for sale to the ultimate consumer In our shop, we try and "educate" and "inform" as much as possible and there's a valid reason we put so much emphasis on "equipping" our patrons. The Bible mentions people perishing because of a lack of knowledge.  I know it applies primarily to the saving knowledge of Christ's death on the cross, but I think it applies to many other situations in life, as well. For example, I believe weight gain can be a sign of the body's cry for more nutrition.  I know it's that way with myself.  If my body tells me, “I need food….eat something….”, and I stuff a chip in my mouth, my body seems to say, “Hm….that tastes good, not enough of what I needed, but hey - eat more!!! Maybe that'll stop these cravings.” After a while, I'll tire of the chips and it's as if my body says, “I’m still in need of more nutrition…..find something else to eat!". So, I'll grab a cookie, then another, and another, but none of it really “satisfies”.  They just add empty calories that my body has to store as fat.   Ok, maybe that sounds silly, or over-simplified, but I do notice that when I feel the need to eat, and I give myself “junk” food, the hunger isn’t satisfied.  I think it’s because my body is asking for NUTRITION, not just empty calories.   When I give my body the healthy, nutritional foods it craves – whole grains, fresh veggies & fruits, meat, dairy – that hunger is satisfied much quicker and stays satisfied much longer.   I simply find I’m not drawn to as much “junk” as before therefore I don’t “camp out” in the kitchen as often. I still enjoy my sweets now and then, or a chip or two, but they become more like a "treat" and less like the "main course".  Better to fill up on low calorie/nutrien-dense foods.  Let the high calorie ones be a "treat".  Anyway, I'll get off my nutritional soapbox and on with showing you exactly what is involved when we bring in a grain order from Wheat Montana Farms!    My orders must be a minimum of 5,000 pounds so each grain order is a "community" effort!  First, I create the order form, which involves lots of math!   I email it out to all our customers, and they are wonderful at helping us reach that big goal!  In fact, sometimes we go way over that goal - up to almost 13,000 pounds! We must work as a team to make each order happen and I'm blessed with a wonderful "team" of those who order!   (*Grain has gone really high in price right now due to many reasons - too much rain in some areas, too little rain - drought-  in other areas, and just a general lack of grain world-wide.  It's creating quite a shortage.  Read  about it at http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/food/2007-12-17-wheat_N.htm?csp=34). Our dear friends came to help us unload the last order, (*it was around 12,000 or 13,000 pounds) and they also wrote about it on their blog - http://www.milkandhoneyacres.com/search/label/Spencer.  (Check out their site, too, at Milk & Honey Acres!  And be sure to see “Uncle Bob”!)  As you’ll see in their photos, the grain comes in mainly 3 sizes: 25 pound bags 50 pound bags 45 pound pails The bags or pails are stacked on a wooden pallet. Each wooden pallet holds about 2500 pounds (*so that's either 50 bags per pallet, or 36 pails per pallet). Once the pallet is full, Wheat Montana wraps some plastic-wrap – (*similar to what your mom uses in the kitchen only bigger and stronger) – around the entire stack to keep bags of grain from falling off.     The pallets are loaded into the back of a big 18-wheeler truck.   Wheat Montana won’t usually send a truck out until it's full so we sometimes have to “wait” for grain deliveries to come our way.  A day or two before it's arrival, the trucking company will call and give an approximate delivery date.  We used to have them delivered in odd places – anywhere from home driveways, to parking lots of vacant buildings to borrowed warehouses.  Several years ago, we realized the need to have our own place that we could depend on anytime the truck showed up – day or night.  So, we now have a physical “store” with a loading dock!  We sell mills, grains and other healthy things year round now.  We also use our shop to teach others how to mill.  We even give them some of our own "family" recipes when they buy their mills from us.  This way they can jump right into making delicious things like fresh, whole grain blueberry muffins right from the start!  Our goal is to make this process and journey as simple for them to undertake as possible! Another reason we secured our own store was to protect the grain.  Those 25 and 50 pound bags are just layers of brown kraft paper.  If they get wet, the grain could mold.  Moldy grain is a dangerous thing to eat.  It is so dangerous that it can even hurt something as big as a HORSE!  We once had a truck show up to deliver grain during one of our very few snow storms!   Do you know how RARE a snow storm is here in the South?  My fingers got so cold, I couldn’t turn the pages of sales tickets to fill orders!  I was really glad when that order was finished and I could go home to get warm and drink some hot cocoa! To get the grain off the truck, my husband uses a pallet "jack"  It reminds me of a giant car jack that you use to lift the car when changing a flat tire!  The bright yellow pallet jack is slid under a pallet of grain, then it “lifts” the pallet up so it can be slid off the truck and into the back of the warehouse where we unload it.    One day I hope to build a place that’s better suited to these grain orders.  Until I do, we have to unload each pallet by hand after it’s off the truck because the door to our back storage room is too small for the pallet jack to fit through. As we empty each wooden pallet, we also take “inventory”.  This means we count each and every bag or pail so we can be sure everything arrived safely.  Sometimes we’ll have a bag break, or a bag missing, but Wheat Montana does an excellent job so it doesn't happen much or often. Once, when a bag broke in the back of the truck, the kernels were swept off the truck, onto the ground.  A while later, we had the most beautiful, tall WHEAT growing there at the loading dock!   It's proof that Wheat Montana’s grains still have their sprouting abilities.   That's good news for those who like to grow sprouts at home! In the photo on the Milk & Honey Acres blog, http://www.milkandhoneyacres.com/search/label/Spencer, you can see the beginnings of a stack of bags.  That’s the room we use mainly for grain storage.    Grain does best when it’s kept COOL and DRY and OFF THE FLOOR so we try and do that with the grain we stock to sell.   Since this order was rather large, when the workers were finished stack it, there was only about 6 inches of space before hitting the ceiling!  I’m quite short so as my husband left for work, I said, “Hey…..how am I supposed to REACH that high for those bags?”  He had to bring some of them lower for me, plus I still had to stand on a CHAIR to reach them!  Once it’s all unloaded and counted, customers come by and pick up their orders and the shop becomes quite busy!   Things calm down in-between grain orders, but we still have people drop by each week to shop.  New people come in to see a demonstration of a mill so they can start milling whole grains into flour, too.  We keep some of the bags on hand to sell grain, too, until 3 to 4 months goes by and it’s time for the NEXT grain order!  So, now you know how we work one portion of our business here at My Favorite Things.  Check it out at www.grainlady.com and be sure to click on “A Kid’s Story of Wheat” on the right hand side of the front page!  It’s a “book”, filled with the story of wheat!  Until next time- cindy http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/favoritethings/484429/ Wed, 20 Feb 2008 11:29:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/favoritethings/484429/