Happy Hollow Homeschool - Homeschool Blogger

Foothills Parkway 5-23-09

Sun, 24 May 2009 19:20:00 -0500

This is a scenic parkway near our town. We never had ventured up it before, so while we were killing time it seemed the perfect opportunity!

The sign said it was 11 miles to Look Out Rock. So, we made that our goal.

Here are some pics of the drive up to the parking lot for Look Out Rock....

Here is a panoramic (poorly done by moi) of the view off of the lower rock.

The actual tower is a .5 mile hike up to it and then another .5 mile back down. Pretty steep going up, but paved. Some views from atop...

This one my son swears looks like a man..

Some pics of the tower itself..

Here is a picture of a 'nice boulder'. The kids said it was Donkey's boulder (off of Shrek).....

Memorial Weekend 2009

Sun, 24 May 2009 19:18:00 -0500

Here's how my saturday went.... (sorry no pictures)

We started out by heading to eat at our local Burger King. Yummy and not too busy today!

Then, we ventured back down past our house to a furniture sale that I spotted the night before. They were sold out of the mattress set that we had hoped to get, so we ended up with a newer set of our current size. Ohwell, so much for upgrades!

Back to the house to unload the new mattresses, pack up for our night at the drive-in, and move some new-to-me books from the back of my suburban.

After getting all packed up and ready to head up towards Maryville way, we stopped at a local produce stand. Nope, we didn't buy anything because their prices were jacked up! I thought that Food City wanted a lot for their watermelons...I won't be so picky next time!

Now, we don't go over Maryville way that often. We usually drive down the Wears Valley route or all the way down Chapman Highway to get there. Today, we decided to try our luck at not getting lost and taking the shorter route and turn at the 'y' (as we locals know it). We made it through the first try! Yeah, I know...it was a straight shot...who cares!

Stopped off at their Food Lion and signed up for one of their store cards. Now, I'm an official Food Lion card holder! Woo Hoo!!! Picked up some grub, including a watermelon for $3.99. Some sandwich meat that we didn't even eat any of. Got directions to the local Little Ceasars Pizza.

Headed out of the parking lot to get lost, but didn't since I know that part of the town. $22 bucks and four pizzas later, we are officially headed towards the drive-in where they have a flea market before the movie.

Flea market sucked...off to find another adventure. (boring writing so far). We ended up turning right onto the Foothills Parkway. (I'll post seperately for that one).

Anyways...we spent eight hours at the drive-in. Price $24 admission for all four of us. $4.50 for a large bucket of popcorn that we are still eating today. Three movies later (Night at the Museum 2, Fast and the Furious 4, Wolverine) and it's now past three AM. AND..I still have to drive all the way back home...in the sprinkling rain.

Needless to say, I slept in today!

What in the world?....

Sun, 24 May 2009 19:12:00 -0500

I haven't ventured out lately to look at strange items, but I've found a couple close to home. If anyone out there in bloggy land knows what either one of these two pictures are of....I'd love you even more!

First off, this picture was taken in Cataloochee. You can find my picture of it in an earlier post of mine. Someone was kind enough to lighten it up for me, so here it it! This is located in the third floor of a really old barn!

This one is an item found at our local Goodwill. My daughter picked it up and asked what it was. YEP..I was dumbfounded! It looks this way on both sides. My first thought was some sort of grater or strainer. Upon closer inspection, the rough sides are on the inside, so no go on the grater, and I put it up to the light and you can't really see through it, so still wondering about the strainer.

Any clues?....

Impotent Bullets...what?

Sat, 31 Jan 2009 22:37:00 -0600

Today was pretty boring, as usual. A few things to note:
The littles were playing with legos. (That is unusual in and of itself.) They were building toy guns with the legos, not sure why. DS2 proclaims that his gun has IMPOTENT bullets. Now, I'm in the kitchen cleaning and I hear this word..and this word only (selective hearing). I start to listen to the conversation going on. DD proclaims that HER gun no has impotent bullets. I'm completely confused...I can't figure out what word it is they are trying to say. (--update later--)

Anyways, I go into the main living room and work on a crocheted grocery bag. I had seen a pattern and wanted to check it out. Now, it has a cd in the bottom of it, but I tested it and it holds a bunch of crap, including cans! The pattern works up pretty easy too!

I go back into my room to work on MIL's birthday blanket surprise for her and hear some more conversation from the classroom. Now, they are trying to shoot things with their guns with the impotent bullets. One is shooting while the other one knocks stuff down. At least they are playing together. DH came home from work and killed two of our chickens. He's been telling us that he was going to do this for sometime now. These two particular chickens were dropped off by one of his uncles. He had dropped them off for us to do whatever with. Now, we didn't raise these roosters from babies, but the kiddos did name them...and that makes it a little difficult. The littles both said that they were NOT going to eat these chickens and hoped we were having something with them. DUH! He skinned them and cleaned them out...that leaves me with having to wash and bake them. I got them into the oven without throwing up..kudos to myself! When they come out of the oven and hit the table, DH proclaims that EVERYONE has to eat some of these chickens. I cut off a small amount of breast and put it on my plate (I had to show the littles that I was game). I then topped it with a ton of BBQ sauce. The littles got a leg each. DD didn't eat all of hers. DS2 ate his and another...and then started on the breast of one of the chickens. I guess he does like chickens he watched play earlier. LOL I didn't care for it and hope we don't have to go there again!

Now for the update on the impotent bullets. Later on while they were playing with the same guns, DS2 said he didn't have to worry about running out of bullets because he had INFINITE bullets. Thank the Lord they weren't impotent anymore! I could have laughed my head off! Things kids will say....

Crocheting Thru Boredom - PIC HEAVY

Sun, 4 Jan 2009 06:46:00 -0600

I went through a LONG boredom spell before and around Christmas. This year, we decided not to do presents. I did make some fudge and chocolate covered pretzels for three families (they got us some stuff). To fill the void, I crocheted some. Here are the pics...

The first one is made with crochet thread..same pattern as the next three.

The next five are hotpads. (3 different patterns)

Next, we have a Jack Skellington skull ball. I think he is from Nightmare Before Christmas. (not sure)

Then, we have a new stroller seat for DD's stroller. I sewed her a replacement seat already..and she lost that one too. Now, I hope she keeps this one.

The two skulls are done in tapestry crochet. Something new I learned.

The little green circle is just a coaster.

The pink granny-square afghan was made for DD. She chose all the colors.

The last one is the first square in the afghan I'm making for my MIL. I currently have two of this color. The squares are 16".

....and that's that! PS...

If you haven't joined ravelry and you crochet or knot...you really need to check it out. I love it there!

Eggs, Eggs, and More Eggs

Sat, 3 Jan 2009 07:00:00 -0600

I'm going to start this off by saying....I DON'T LIKE EGGS! We have numerous chickens at our house. They currently live outside in their own little chicken coop. At one time, they did live in our dining room as little bitty baby chickens and ducklings. Now we've had these chickens since around Easter in 2008. The fist egg laid was on October 21. At least, that was the first egg we found. You see, these chickens used to roam wherever their little hears desired...the ducks still do. UNTIL, the chickens were attacked by some neighborhood dogs. (We currently no longer have a dog due to them getting ran over all the time. Weird, because there are only about three houses past mine on a dead end road.) After we caged them all up, we started to find egg nests here and there and EVERYWHERE! Now we find them in the chicken coop...as it should be. The problem..?... We don't actually eat that many eggs. We deviled some, pickled some, scrambled some, fried some, and used some in baking. We STILL have eggs and they just keep on coming. What do you guys that own chickens actually do with all these eggs. I'm tempted to just let the chicken mommas sit on the things until we get more chickens. BUT, that would just lead to more chickens laying more eggs. It never ends.... Back to me not liking eggs.... Everytime I crack an egg, I gag. I find them that disgusting. More so now that DH had told me what the little white stuff in there was...NEVER again will I eat an egg. He tells me it's just nature. I don't care...I'm not eating a chicken that I have loved and cared for and I will NOT eat their babies. End of story...

Our Crazy Goats

Fri, 2 Jan 2009 09:00:00 -0600

Someone had asked me awhile back to blog about our goats. Well, I'm just now getting around to it...so here goes...

We wanted to get some goats so they could mow dow the underbrush in the woods around our house. I also think that DH wanted to get some milk goats..why?..I'm not sure, because he would be the ONLY one to drink said milk.

We had to drive into the next county and purchase some from this guy at a local flea market. He had a bunch to choose from, but we wanted some smaller ones. Smaller in hopes that would learn to love us just the same. Maybe ALL goats are just hard-headed. I know that our two are. We purchased a male and female and set off back to the house.

Now these two goats are tied to the back of our pickup truck and riding down the highway. The kids are constantly staring at them...to make sure they don't jump out. We had a dog jump out right around the corner from our house.

My DD named the goats just as soon as we got home. The male who is white is named SALT. The female, who is black, is named PEPPER. Get it....salt and pepper. She sure is cute.

These two goats fought like crazy as soon as they got home. We had them tied to the apple tree in the back yard and man oh man did they butt heads! One was even bleeding! I was wondering to myself , what had I gotten into? It seemed that everywhere we tied these two goats up, they either were trying to fight each other (even moved apart) or trying to escape by eating their collars. Move forward in time to the electric fence that costs a fortune. We purchased all the equipment for this stupid fenc. DH walked the line and plugged it in. They think it tickles. Even the chickens would just walk right by it brushing it on their backs. WASTE OF MONEY! It now just sits there unplugged.

These two goats get to roam the acreage freely. We have since given up on tying them up or caging them in. They have learned to love each other. If one gets away from the other...you'll hear it! They both show up on my back door steps banging their horns on the door for me to come out and play...or maybe they just want some corn. I can't walk outside with a bucket (empty) without having one of them come up and sniff it. DH will take a bucket of nails out to fix something and he'll have to keep an eye on it...they will try to eat the nails!

Question...would I get more goats? Probably not. I can't stand the goat droppings everywhere. I can't stand getting butted..for fun. I can't stand worrying about the goats getting on the mustang. I can't stand worrying about the day that DH wants to kill one and eat it...that would mean I had to be the one to cook it..YUCK! I'll leave you with that.

Monopoly: Here and Now

Thu, 1 Jan 2009 21:14:00 -0600

Have you all seen this version of Monopoly? I'm not sure if it's new or not--since I don't get out that often. The family often plays board games after dinner and Monopoly is a family favorite. The only one we had we the Elvis version that my Mother gave me some odd years ago. I'm not exactly sure why the Elvis, but oh well...it's Monopoly just the same.

When my DD saw this newer version with no paper money at Wally-world, she just had to buy it with her Christmas money. You see, she just hates counting out all that money. This way she can be the banker and not have to worry about all that nonsense! This version features a bank debit card system for up to six players. You each get your own card (different colors) and every time you receive money or owe money you have to insert the card into the correct slot in the bank machine (atm). This all tends to be a bit of a bother. I thought that passing out money, helping with rent, buying property, ..., ... was all a bother before. I see why in the rule book it says that you may want to appoint someone to just be a banker. (I'll note that in the future.) Side note: DD picked up the motions very easy! This game has international cities for properties instead of the normal. It would be a great idea for some unit studies...hmmm ideas a brewing. I don't care for the money totals on this game. Why do they have to change stuff around soooo much? Instead of getting $200 for passing go, now you get $2 million. I guess with the price of inflation and all..... You can also leave your money in the atm and restart the game at a later time. We currently have one waiting...the only problem, I forgot to mark down where the pieces went...LOL

My week in pics...

Thu, 9 Oct 2008 21:01:00 -0500

I'll start out by saying my week was full of candy corn...crafting that is. My kids wanted to do a whole lot more, but I had to put an end to all the madness.

Earrings made from REAL candy corn

Paper cone candy corn holder

Paper corn holder doubles as a party hat

This is her 'candy tote' for the festival this year.

Pizza is apparently the theme in October. I didn't know that until I bought this pack at Currclick. I was looking for some pizza themed activities, since my DS2 chose that for his birthday. I have to come up with a pizza cake. So far this week we have had pizza sandwiches (no picture because we were all starving).
Tonight we had pizza lasagna....

Note our three science projects that are currently underway...
1. Chicken in vinegar (since Tuesday the 7th)
2. Spider plant -regrowing roots
3. Eggplant just rotting on my counter...I assure you there is a good reason for that one. Just not sure what yet.

This is over at a friend's house for dinner last night. YEP, that's a squirrel on DS1's head!

100 Things About Little Ole Me

Thu, 9 Oct 2008 02:22:00 -0500

I've been wanting to do one of these for sometime....guess I was super bored tonight. Here it is...

1. I’ve been married for nine years.

2. We’ve been together for 13.

3. We went to school together, but never met there.

4. I have three kids…two boys and one girl.

5. I have two brothers…one younger and one older.

6. I graduated in 1993 from high school.

7. I had my first born at 17.

8. I’ve been planning on doing this list for some years now.

9. I’ve been busy…life happens.

10. I live in the boon docks.

11. …on a farm type place.

12. We have goats, chickens, ducks, fish (outside and in., birds, and a dog.

13. I’m not a ‘farm girl.’

14. I’d rather be sewing or reading a book.

15. I taught myself to sew, crochet, and just about everything else.

16. I learned to crochet from the internet.

17. I’m a firm believer that you can find out ANYTHING online.

18. I’m pretty much always bored (app since I’m doing this list…I am right now.

19. I home school my kids.

20. This is our third year…and I love it.

21. I drive a GMC Suburban…and my Grandma thinks it’s HUGE! Lol

22. I don’t like motorcycles…but we have some…ugh!

23. I hate my hubby’s cars…all straight shift and…too much work!

24. I didn’t get my driver’s license until I was 18.

25. My friend, Jackie, took me to get them. (She also watched my son..

26. She named her little girl after me…I fit the ‘J’ profile.

27. I hate air conditioners.

28. I don’t like ice in my drinks.

29. I’m not big on eating meat…I could go the rest of my life without it.

30. I LOVE salad…it’s like a dessert to me.

31. I’m big on vacations…I could use one right now.

32. I don’t ‘do’ Knoxville (TN.. (I won’t go there without the hubby to protect me..

33. I have a list of states that I will NEVER go to…CA, NY, NV….

34. I will NEVER fly on an airplane…I’m a big chicken.

35. I’ll die by a tree falling on my head …long story.

36. I hate trees for that reason.

37. I love trees for that same reason…strange, I know.

38. I love pictures of trees with NO leaves.

39. Halloween is my favorite holiday.

40. We don’t do trick-or-treating…anymore.

41. We don’t do television…anymore.

42. We don’t do anything…anymore….lol.

43. I no longer have a cell phone for people to call me at every waking moments notice.

44. I have SLOW dial-up…due to living in boon docks.

45. I have to fight my kids to get online for a few moments…that’s why I’m usually online around 3am.

46. I like OLD music…Patsy Cline, Conway Twitty, etc…

47. I like newer music also..just the strange stuff.

48. I hate the radio on in the car…UGH.

49. I pretty much only listen to music while I’m in the kitchen.

50. I’m in the kitchen a lot. *usually just standing there

51. I’m not a coffee drinker.

52. I like the taste of coffee candy or ice cream.

53. My little kids LOVE coffee. YUCK

54. I love hot chocolate.

55. I don’t drink alcohol.

56. I don’t smoke..anything.

57. I don’t take pills for anything.

58. If I have a REALLY bad headache, I’ll take an orange flavored Goody powder.

59. That’s very rare that I’ll even do that.

60. I’m not big on doctors or their ‘medicine’.

61. I love the VC Andrews books.

62. I have ALL the Harry Potter books in hardback and first edition.

63. I know I’m a dork.

64. I collect school books. (at least they get used.

65. I always wanted to be a teacher..now I get to play one on tv.

66. I love pizza.

67. I make pizza lasagna and pizza sandwiches.

68. Pizza Hut is like a steak house for me.

69. I hate to cook a big meal and then no one eat.

70. I throw away leftovers to the animals.

71. I don’t like to talk on the telephone.

72. I love to do paperwork.

73. I keep the books for the family business.

74. I make lists of the stuff we have at the house.

75. I do the above, because I buy multiple copies of the same thing.

76. I enjoy reading people’s blogs about their lives.

77. I collect free ebooks…you never know when you’ll need something.

78. I shop at Goodwill for books.

79. I LOVE books….you can never have too many..can you?

80. I often forget what I was just thinking about.

81. Yet, I remember random crap….constantly.

82. I always check my myspace for messages.

83. I’m addicted to checking my email.

84. I have to write down my passwords for everything…hope no one breaks in my house!

85. I have bookmarked all kinds of crafts in my "want to make" file…that will prob never get made.

86. I have about five bins of fabric ‘scraps’.

87. I need to teach my kids to sew to use up those scraps…I need new fabric.

88. I’ve never been to a JoAnn’s fabric store….WANT TO GO.

89. I did recently purchase something from there online…and I felt like a princess.

90. I can’t think of ten more things.

91. I love the sound of a fan running at night.

92. I sneeze EVERYTIME someone sprinkles pepper.

93. I feel like I’m supposed to be right here where I live….rich in history and family history.

94. I love LOCAL history.

95. I collect books on it…and paid way too much for them.

96. I could spend all day in the mountains looking at old houses.

97. I love any old house that is abandoned…beware.

98. I’m kinda nosey…and a people watcher.

99. I’m quiet at times and won’t shut up at others…depends on who I’m with.

100. I’m finally finished….now I can say I did one of these….whew