Happy Thanksgiving
from all of us here
in the Sagerat Den!

Saying Amen: Blessing, and glory,
and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour,
and power, and might, be unto our God
for ever and ever. Amen.
Revelation 7:12

I thought this looked kind of fun and something exciting to share with you! I got this tag from Nancy, who got this tag from Marsha, who got this tag from. . .

1. He's sitting in front of the TV, what is on the screen?  This Old House, The New Yankee Workshop, The Woodwrights Shop, NASCAR.

2. You're out to eat; what kind of dressing does he get on his salad?  Ranch dressing. 

3. What's one food he doesn't like?  liver

4. What kind of drink does he order?  Pepsi

5. Where did he go to high school? Moanaloa High School, HI, Redmond High School, OR

6. What size shoe does he wear?  9 Wide

7. If he was to collect anything, what would it be?  Hot Wheels, car parts, hot rods, remote control airplanes.

8. What is his favorite type of sandwich? Grilled cheese. . .I think

9. What would he eat every day if he could?  Hot dogs, corn, lumpy mashed potatoes.

10. What is his favorite cereal? He doesn't like cereal.

11. What would he never wear?  A Speedo swim suit

12. What is his favorite sports team?  He doesn't like any sport that involves a ball. He likes NASCAR and Dale Earnhardt Jr. is his favorite competitor. 

13. Who did he vote for?  He doesn't discuss politics with strangers.

14. Who is his best friend? Wayne C. and Troy M.

15. What is something you do that he wishes you wouldn't do? Gasp when I'm scared. 

16. How many states has he lived in?  Four: Oregon, California, Hawaii, Washington

17. What is his heritage? German, French, Cherokee Indian 

18. You bake him a cake for his birthday; what would it be? Spice with cream cheese frosting. 

19. Did he play sports in high school? As car racing was not a sport offered in high school, he declined the opportunity to chase after a ball.

20. What could he spend hours doing? Working on his 1923 T-Bucket.

21. What's something cool about him? He works hard. He enjoys taking us geocaching, camping, hiking, and to car shows.

You can do this tag too! If you do, leave me a comment!

Okay, so that doesn't describe me entirely, but I thought it would make a really good blog title. I'm more of a, "Mama Thrown from the Train" kind of person. Not because someone would like to throw me from a train, I hope, but I'm just more of the sort that has already been thrown and in a state of suspended panic. (Before anyone tries to correct my movie titles, I do know how they are suppoed to be, I'm just playing with the words.)

Still, I can be cool. When my son asked me, "Where are we going?" I answered, "Dude. Just enjoy the ride."

I can be calm. I was once faced with a room full of panic stricken ice cream eaters at a Baskin Robbins. This big, ugly thing was flying all around and going beserk. I calmly reached out and caught a preying mantis and let it go outside. I was treated as a hero and given a free ice cream.

I can be collected. Just ask Dear Man. He'll tell you I collect all kinds of things from junk to trash. If you didn't want it, I probably have it. You'll have to wait, to ask him though, until I can find him. I probably put him somewhere safe.

A couple of years ago we thought it would be fun to have all homeschool blogger businesses in one spot to make it easier to find them for the holiday shopping season. It was such a big hit, it's been decided to do it again! If you listed your business in the previous Shop with the Bloggers promo, please note that you will need to do so again. We're starting with a clean slate. Also, if you have the Shop with the Bloggers button on your blog sidebar, please replace with the new button below as the source page is now here on HomeschoolBlogger.com.

Instead of fighting the crowds at the malls and shopping centers this year, wouldn't you rather support your fellow bloggers home businesses?  Many folks want to shop with home businesses rather than the big superstores, but sometimes it's just harder to find them. Never fear though, we decided to make a list of these businesses to make your online shopping easier.

If you have a business and would like to share it with the blogosphere, please do the following:

• Add the name of your business in the Mr. Linky box HERE.

• Link it to your business website. If that's your blog, GREAT!

• Leave a comment telling us about what you have to offer or any specials you might have.

• Copy the shopping button code below to add to your sidebar or website. Even if you don't have a business, you can use the button to support our bloggers with home businesses.

• ~Note, this is a family-friendly website. Any links deemed inappropriate will be deleted.~

Whether you are a shopper or home business owner, feel free to add our Shop with the Bloggers button to your sidebar to support our fellow bloggers!

It's that time of year again, elections! You didn't honestly think they were over did you? Did you think you could now move on with the season, forget your wretched ballots, and wait to do it all again in another four years? Wrong, wrong, wrong!

It's time for the Homeschool Blog Awards and you need to go vote! I will even shamelessly ask you to vote for the fantastic, informative, fun, and peaceful On the Company Porch blog in the Best Curriculum or Business Blog category! 

Don't you think that lovely apple graphic would look real nice on the Porch sidebar? Of course there are other categories to vote in and some of your favorite blogs are sure to be there. So go vote!

A big THANK YOU to those who nominated this blog for the Best Curriculum or Business Blog category. That was mighty sweet of you!

With a title like that you're probably expecting something a little more spiritual and uplifting from this post. You won't find it today, but it still fits with what I wanted to share with you.

When I was a girl I admired those that I thought were tough. I wanted to be cool, hard, mean, beguiling, and *ahem* shall we say, interesting enough to catch a man's eye. Make that both eyes.

My family watched Happy Days on T.V. (My all time favorite episode is when the Fonz pretended to be a nerd and had pet snails. Anyone remember what his name was?) Fonz also had a love interest that I thought was the epitome of cool, Pinky Tuscadero. I wanted to be just like her. Thankfully, my parents were too poor and sensible to allow me to run around in white leather. My dad did let me have a motorcycle.

When I think of what I wanted to be, to who I am now, I'm so glad Jesus set me free.

Never, in all my life, have I had such a hard time adjusting to a time change. Oh sure, as a child I would tell my mother it was too early to go to bed and have a hard time going to sleep, but I woke up well enough and got through the day in the usual manner.

This time around. . .I'm not doing so good. I wake up way too early, I keep looking at the clock and thinking that it's got to be time to eat, or go to bed, or do something. Nope, it's only all the in between times. That clock is just dragging along. You'd think by bedtime I'd be snoozing like an old dog in front of a fire. Uh-uh. I lay there wondering why on earth my body thinks it's time to get up and go. Totally off schedule. It's got to be like having jet lag.

I don't understand this whole time change bit anyway. Oh sure, I know the history behind it, but I don't see any reason to keep observing it. It's not a holiday or a memorial day of any kind. I definitely don't think it's saving any energy. It was nice to live for awhile in a state that had the good sense not to observe time changes.

I have an Aunt and Uncle that keep a clock they don't change the time on. My aunt said it was her way of protesting the time change. Of course, they live on a farm so they aren't exactly running their lives by the clock. Still, they have to always know what time they have to be at church and any other appointments they might have.

There's a clock you can buy that just tells you the day of the week. It's kind of a joke clock for those retired people who no longer have to punch a time card. I wonder how you set one of those things ahead or behind in order to keep it on the right day?

At any rate, my body had just better come to terms with it all. I'm going to be a mess if this keeps up. Breakfast at 4 a.m., lunch at 10: a.m., bedtime at 4 p.m. In a couple of time changes or so I should be right back on schedule.

Right now, as we speak, our desktop computer is undergoing some heinous form of torture as a man, er, boy all dressed in black is forcing it to tell all of its secrets. We had to turn the computer over to the Geek Gestapo when it started refusing to accept the intelligence we fed it. We won't stand for insubordination of lower electrical beings in this household!

What this has meant for two of our three children who share that computer is that they are suffering from separation anxiety. They loved the traiterous villian and have been pestering me and Dear Man all day for a chance to use OUR computers. Truth be told, I have a strong suspicion that it was one of them that caused a once trusted friend to turn on us. If only the monitor to that computer had a webcam, we could have caught it all on video. We were so blind and naive we didn't even think to bug the thing.

As we handed over our errant equipment to the boy manning the desk, I couldn't help but wonder how they pick people for these jobs. He looked to be all of 18 and like he should be at home helping his mother with the garbage. Instead, he's standing there telling me that his quick diagnostic found nothing wrong. Of course not. That's what evil agents do, they behave properly for others. I hope that boy knows what he's doing and can make it confess all its sins like a blubbering baby, because if the Geek Gestapo can't handle it then that means we're goint to have to call in an exorcist. It could get really ugly around here.

I received my copy of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine® Fall Issue yesterday from a friendly fellow in a Budget rent-a-truck. Apparently Fed-Ex has a shortage of vehicles. I haven't had a chance to read from cover to cover like I want, but I did take a moment to flip through and check a few things out. As always, I am IMPRESSED by the quality of this magazine!

This issue has several articles from homeschool dads that I found particularly interesting. It's not very often you get to read about homeschooling from their perspective!

Oh, and if you are a true TOS fan, then you'll notice someone very special to me in the back of the magazine. I have to say, it gave me a bit of a start to see her there, even though I had known she would be. I just forgot!  

So if you love TOS as much as I do, take a few minutes to write a review for the Choosy Homeschooler. While we love to hear and read your raving reviews, be honest! That's only fair to those who read the reviews and to us. We know we have a great magazine and it's because of your honesty. You have helped shape us into a magazine for homeschoolers everywhere.

P.S. Happy Blogiversary to me!

When I'm stressed, I don't sleep very well. I toss and turn, I keep checking the clock, and finally I'll just give up and get up. This being one of those mornings, I got to watch a beautiful sunrise, which was nice, but I think sleep is nicer.

My mom is an amazing sleeper. Nothing keeps her awake unless she is physically ill. She sleeps all night long and wakes up without an alarm clock. Granted nowadays she doesn't have to be up by a certain time. . .but even before, when she worked a day job and had children to take care of, she woke up to the ringing of some internal alarm clock, everyday, on time. My mom is always threatening that if she were Dictator this world would be a whole lot different. She'd make an excellent dictator because she wouldn't lose any sleep due to her conscience.

I seem to have inherited all of my mom's bad traits and none of her good. If I wake up before the alarm clock it's only because I kept watching the blasted thing all night. The only time I sleep well is if there is nothing to worry about. Even my dreams will haunt me if I'm worried or upset about something. Little sleep equals little patience during the day.

I don't know why I worry so. It's not like I can do much at that moment. I certainly can't do anything at 3:00 a.m. Some things I can't even fix at the opening of the business day. It's not anything I can fix or command to be fixed. I have to wait for others to do their part first. What I need to remember is to do my own part first as well. Prayer heals a multiple of things.

Have you seen the two new contests over on the HSB Company Porch? No? You don't want to miss out on either one of these! It's super easy to enter and the prizes are perfect for this time of year.

This is a prize that will keep on giving! Our latest E-Book has something for everyone all Fall and Winter long. To enter to win your own free copy of the TOS Homespun Holidays E-Book you need to go here.

If you know anything about, The Terrestria Chronicles, then you are going to really appreciate this contest! This book will be perfect as a gift for that child who loves to read medieval stories. To enter to win Ed Dunlop's latest book, The Quest for Thunder Mountain, you need to go here.

Thanks to Eric Novak's latest interview, I was introduced to Gianna Jessen. What an amazing testimony to Christ!  

Doing a little more research I came across BornAliveTruth.org. Now I'm not telling you who to vote for or even who to vote against. I am giving you a resource that offers information on the position of abortion for one of the candidates. I do agree with Born Alive's mission to save infants that have survived the actual abortion process.

How often do you run into old friends? I mean really old friends from ever so long ago, before DVD's, CD's, and blogging? When you do run into them are you happy to see them, are you a little bit wary, or do you jump into the middle of the clothes rack and hope they didn't see you?

I ran into an old friend the other day at the store. I've seen him a few times in the past year or so. He's still just as nice as he ever was, and I was happy to see him, but I was also a little hesitant. This guy knows things about me that would eliminate me as a presidential candidate. Of course, I know things about him as well but in order to tell them I would have to tell on myself.

My point being, that when I run into old friends I somehow remember them in a positive light, while at the same time remembering myself in a negative one. I wasn't nice, I wasn't good, and I wasn't the kind of girl your mother hoped you would make friends with. Still, I wasn't alone in my wild ways. My friends were just as bad as me.

When my friend walked away with his family one of them asked, "Who was that?" He told them, "A girl I went to school with." I hope that he remembered me in a positive light, just as I had remembered him, and that he only said good things about me. Hopefully he'll save the dirt for when I run for president.   

Over the years that I've been homeschooling, (this is my 14th year now) homeschooling has changed; not just as a popular alternative, but the families who are presented to us in ads, magazines, and blogs.

It used to be that the only families we would see were what has been termed as, "the perfect homeschoolers". Everyone is wearing a clean, modest, matching outfit, they all have a quiet countenance, in the background you see a clean and tidy house. There have been a lot of complaints about this "look". Many feel it is intimidating, it puts them off, it's not real.

The, "it's not real," take, applies to books as well. Louisa May Alcott wrote a wonderful story called, Jack and Jill, in which the main characters are sweet, kind, and innocent. My Dear Father-in-Law read the book and felt that it just wasn't real. He's right of course, it's not, but was that the author's intent? I don't think so. She may have been idealistic, but she was looking to instill something in her readers. You are not going to be challenged to be a better person by reading Judy Blume. Sure, she's real, a little too real, but (back when I read her books) they didn't encourage me in anyway. They just made me feel like I could keep right on being the same idiot me. Why not? Everyone else was an idiot too and we could all be happy idiots together.

I have a differnt outlook on the "perfect" homeschooler look. They encouraged me and proved to me that there was a totally different life to live. To me the daughters of some of those families are more beautiful than Angelina Jolie could ever dream of being.

Quite frankly, those families were very real to me, not the families who were in my daughter's preschool, or my neighbors. I looked up to those perfect homeschooling families as something to strive for in the same way I look up to Christ.  I'll never be there myself, but  that's the standard I'm striving for.

I also know that those families had put their best foot forward, they are real. Just because they don't tell you about the bad days doesn't mean they don't happen. I'm not looking to have all of my children dress in matching outfits, I can't even sew. I'm just striving for that family unity in Christ.

That unity is what I see in those perfect families, it's one reason why I homeschool because the perfect famililes that went before showed me life could be different then the families that public schools say is "normal". Normal means in good health. Bad attitudes from your teen is not "normal". That's sin and it's not healthy.

This doesn't mean that I don't think people can't be real like having dirty dishes in the sink or dirty laundry spilling all over the floor. To be honest, my house looks like that a lot. However, it doesn't encourage me. It doesn't make me feel better to know that you are like me. I don't understand why anyone would want to feel like that. I'm a sinner. No, I don't think that dirty laundry is a sin, I'm just saying, why should I feel better knowing you are caught in my same traps? Somehow, that's just wrong.

The answer here is showing the solution. Take a real family, a real situation, and show how to overcome the pitfalls. I want to see a family that has learned how to get past their laziness, selfishness, and rude behavior. I at least want to see someone trying to get past that. I don't want to see a family that is a reflection of me. What honor does that bring to Christ? How would that make anyone want to do better?

While I can understand how someone could be caught in the same traps as me, it doesn't make me feel better about myself. Many Bible devotions today are along the same vein. They want to encourage you by letting you know that Samson, David, and Rahab were all sinners, just like you and me, yet the Lord used them. Isn't it glorious? Well, what else does the Lord have to work with? The Bible lets us know that we are all sinners. That fact alone does not make me feel better. The Lord can certainly use pitiful me, but that doesn't mean He wants me to remain pitiful. What does make me feel better is Christ's example, His teaching and admonishments. I want to be like Him, not like David.

It's kind of strange to be in your own house, round the corner to the living room, and be struck with a flashback right between the eyes.

I recently purchased some curtains for the living room windows, a dark burgandy color. As I came around that corner mentioned above, I realized that I had seen curtains kind of like that before...in a movie theatre, years and years ago. Back when movie theatres had dark burgandy curtains over the screen. When the movie started to play it would first show up on the curtain and then, as the panels would be drawn to the sides, the film would display on the screen. Oh yeah, I'm old and I grew up in a small town.

Actually, my hometown didn't have a movie theatre until I was 12 or something like that. We had to go to the Big City, which was still fairly small town all things considered. My hometown did have a drive in movie, which is where I saw Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and many other movies.

The first time I had ever been to a really big movie theatre my cousin took me to see Saturday Night Fever. I don't remember much about that movie, which is probably a good thing, but during that part when John Travolta goes strutting down the street, my cousin whistled, really loud. It startled me. I had been brought up to sit quietly at the movies. You don't make noises and disturb other people. What could I expect though? My cousin used to be in the Navy. She'd seen the world and plenty of strutting sailors. I supposed she knew a good strut when she saw one and it couldn't go unappreciated.

My mom took my sister and I to the movies fairly often, at least that's how I remember it. Mom would tell us to get into the car and off we'd go to the Big City. My sister and I figured we were going shopping. Mom would take us to the theatre instead and we'd see something that my sister and I had no idea was even coming out. There wasn't all the media hype for movies like there is now. No kids meal toys, no trailers or previews. Just a commericial on T.V. and the posters in front of the theatre.

I loved going to the movies with Papafather, he bought us candy, popcorn, and sodas. With him we saw movies like Star Wars and Indian Jones. The last movie I saw with him was Stand By Me. I took him, because I knew he would love it. He did, and whenever I think of that movie I think of Papafather.

We only go to the movie theatres once in a blue moon now. We recently saw Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull. The movie before that was The Prince of Egypt. I much prefer to stay home and watch videos and DVDs. It's a whole lot cheaper and now I even have movie theatre curtains!

Become a TOS Affiliate and You Could Win an iPod Nano® Worth $199 !

TOS is giving away an 8 gb iPod Nano®, worth $199 to one lucky blogger who joins our affiliate program and blogs about it.

You can read all the details and enter the contest over on the HSB Company Porch!

Hurry! Contest ends at midnight EST on Friday Sept. 26th, 2008.

I love organization. I love how it looks, how it feels, and how it is so convenient. Sometimes it even smells nice. I like shopping for cubes and boxes to organize my stuff into. I like they way they stack and sit. It's all so tidy and beautiful.

Along with those cubes and boxes I like having a day timer/planner/datebook/brain. I like filling in the little boxes with information with a red pen. What I don't like is how quickly it becomes diorganized with little bits of paper and how I have to transfer the information year after year. I don't like that if I drop it, my brain is at the mercy of the wind, muddy feet, and sticky hands.

This past summer I was introduced to a PDA or two. I thought at first they were silly. A little more information about them filtered into my thick head and I went off in search of the nearest PDA dealer. I scrutinzed the PDA's in their shiny plastic packaging. I tapped, turned, and twiddled with them. I read the fine print. I asked the overgrown, hairy, young  salesman to give me more details. He regaled me with vast amounts of data I didn't fully comprehend. I walked away to ponder the PDA further.

After a couple of weeks of staring at them, Dear Man told me to just buy one. If I didn't like it, I could always take it back. So purchase in hand I began to acquaint myself with the finer points of pocket sized organization. By the time I got home I was enthralled! I could get rid of my day planner, all those pieces of paper, and I could snyc the whole thing to my computer and see everything there as well. It was glorious!

Two days later I took back the middle of the road PDA to upgrade to the super-de-duper, it does everything but wash the dishes in the sink, PDA. No longer did I have to decide if I needed to pack around my day planner, which more often then not I would leave behind because I was only running to the store, only to discover that I needed it after all. I didn't want to pack around a grown woman's diaper bag in order to keep it with me. My new PDA fits right into my small purse with ease. It weighs almost nothing.

Now along with all the organization, I also love books. Which I try to keep organized on the shelves. Whenever someone would talk to me about e-Books I couldn't figure out what the big deal was. Who wants to sit at their computer and read a book? That's not very cozy.

Now I get all of the above and I can read an e-Book or listen to an audio book while waiting in the Dr.'s office. No more packing along a book that I have to remember to pick up, or once again the need tote along a lunch bag on steroids to put the book in. I can read it in bed without having to keep the lights on, disturbing Dear Man. I can curl up and sit anywhere I want to.

I feel so free! So organized!