Penguin
Posted on January 20, 2007
Obviously homeschooled siblings.
*Please right-click to save and upload to your own photo-sharing account.
1 comments | permalink
I Am SUCH a Sheep!
Posted on October 12, 2006
I just saw this on another blog and knew I had to try it. When I liked the answers, then I had to post them, ha. In no way do I think I resemble Kate Beckinsale, but I would really, really like to believe I do in some small way. What is EVEN more amazing to me is the Kim Cattrall thing. In high school, my dearest boy friend said, "There's this movie... Mannequin. You look like her." Now I was raised pretty doggone strict Nazarene and had never even seen a movie. I didn't know what he was saying. But anyway... there she appeared when I was using this photo of me from 2001. Interesting. These are some of my favorite ladies -- Sela Ward and Rene Russo.
This is really fun. Why? I don't know why!
We are silly today!
And for my husband, I was sorry to say that I don't know WHO this celeb is, but I thought it a pretty good match for this photo. The photo of my hubby isn't one of the truest I've seen, if you know what I mean. Sometimes you look at a photo and think "I look like THAT?" Well, his isn't that way, but it's still a little different from how I see the man every day.
This is really fun. Why? I don't know why!
We are silly today!
To My Blog Buddies
Posted on October 11, 2006
To my dear commenters, thank you for stopping by!! I'm sorry I am such a stick-in-the-mud right now. I have been very busy with life-changing events. :)
We DO have our furniture, since Sept. 26, but let me ask you HOW in the world can a 3300+ square foot home NOT have enough storage? :-) I am having to pack things back up since my kitchen is noticeably absent great cabinets. We have a lot more SPACE but less closet space. So while we have an awesome office and library, it's not the kind of place you can "store" stuff, you know? That would make it messy. And our coat closet? What a joke! We've obviously got too many people with too many coats!
And yes! Those empire waist things are not slimming when you're sporting the 3mo. maternity look. Ha. However, since being introduced to TravelSmith by a friend, I am living in my black empire-waisted dress. TOO comfy. Perfect for church with heels. Perfect for Fred Myers with sandals.
It really is faster here in America, but I think it's due to the vast choices AND opportunities. And I think we don't want to be without them, but when you have them it's harder to say NO. Why? Because they are genuinely good things, like etiquette classes, or skate parties with the homeschool group, or the needed Driver's Ed. I cannot put my finger on it exactly, but Life Is Simpler (and therefore, in some ways, more enjoyable) in Misawa Japan Than It Is Here. :-) You hear that Misawa friends? Enjoy. It's like when you go without sugar for months and THEN have an apple -- you appreciate it. That's what living in Misawa cultivates.
The good things in America? Great roads. Driving is not an adventure here, for which I am eternally grateful and my husband is sad. He misses trying to get down the 1/2 way road to our favorite restaurant.
If you want it, you don't have to go far to find it. Today we needed, of all things, a slip. A normal, under-your-dress slip. I had to drive 10 miles to get one! I was SO irate. Ha, have I forgotten that Misawa did not have slips either and we waited ten DAYS to get one shipped?
Interstates with all the exits marked in ENGLISH. Cue the Hallelujah chorus, this is one we really take for granted. ;)
Huge houses. When I wake up and realize I can take 2 large-sized steps from my bed to my wall and more on the other side, I am delirious. In Misawa, oh my. We had room for one, just ONE mind you, not one for each of us, bedside table beside our bed. Tiny.
Costco. I cannot emphasize this enough. Do you KNOW their return policy? Wow. I live here now. Great food, great prices, my word, I'm a Costco Momma.
It's about time to get back to more serious subjects around here. But we are almost settled -- although you wouldn't know it if you looked in my front window -- and plan to take this next weekend to REALLY put away all the boxes. Uh-huh.
We are blessed!
We DO have our furniture, since Sept. 26, but let me ask you HOW in the world can a 3300+ square foot home NOT have enough storage? :-) I am having to pack things back up since my kitchen is noticeably absent great cabinets. We have a lot more SPACE but less closet space. So while we have an awesome office and library, it's not the kind of place you can "store" stuff, you know? That would make it messy. And our coat closet? What a joke! We've obviously got too many people with too many coats!
And yes! Those empire waist things are not slimming when you're sporting the 3mo. maternity look. Ha. However, since being introduced to TravelSmith by a friend, I am living in my black empire-waisted dress. TOO comfy. Perfect for church with heels. Perfect for Fred Myers with sandals.
It really is faster here in America, but I think it's due to the vast choices AND opportunities. And I think we don't want to be without them, but when you have them it's harder to say NO. Why? Because they are genuinely good things, like etiquette classes, or skate parties with the homeschool group, or the needed Driver's Ed. I cannot put my finger on it exactly, but Life Is Simpler (and therefore, in some ways, more enjoyable) in Misawa Japan Than It Is Here. :-) You hear that Misawa friends? Enjoy. It's like when you go without sugar for months and THEN have an apple -- you appreciate it. That's what living in Misawa cultivates.
The good things in America? Great roads. Driving is not an adventure here, for which I am eternally grateful and my husband is sad. He misses trying to get down the 1/2 way road to our favorite restaurant.
If you want it, you don't have to go far to find it. Today we needed, of all things, a slip. A normal, under-your-dress slip. I had to drive 10 miles to get one! I was SO irate. Ha, have I forgotten that Misawa did not have slips either and we waited ten DAYS to get one shipped?
Interstates with all the exits marked in ENGLISH. Cue the Hallelujah chorus, this is one we really take for granted. ;)
Huge houses. When I wake up and realize I can take 2 large-sized steps from my bed to my wall and more on the other side, I am delirious. In Misawa, oh my. We had room for one, just ONE mind you, not one for each of us, bedside table beside our bed. Tiny.
Costco. I cannot emphasize this enough. Do you KNOW their return policy? Wow. I live here now. Great food, great prices, my word, I'm a Costco Momma.
It's about time to get back to more serious subjects around here. But we are almost settled -- although you wouldn't know it if you looked in my front window -- and plan to take this next weekend to REALLY put away all the boxes. Uh-huh.
We are blessed!
Once a month blogging
Posted on September 22, 2006
Collected random thoughts...
We are getting adjusted to a new town, trying to start school (two weeks in, wahoo), wishing I had furniture, being so angry at the USAF I could spit, trying not to speak and share my "that's so cute" accent, ... you know...normal things. :)
I find myself never overjoyed to be in America. I miss Japan. I like it here. But I am not overjoyed. It is loud. It is busy. It is FULL of people. There are too many choices. I can't just buy a mop. I have to examine different textiles in mops, different handles, lengths, blah blah. Do you know how HARD it is to buy a mop in America?!? :) Gimme Japan with its ONE mop.
I'm on overkill with satellite TV. I never watch it. I just pay for it. Yesterday I sat down to laminate my paperbacks for school (yes, I do that sort of OCD thing) and found myself watching... what? Latest talk show, HGTV, LOST, a show everyone knows something about but me? No. I watch 90's TV: Home Improvement. :) Comfort TV. Call me Overwhelmed but appreciative that I can pay for 160 channels and watch a show that is in syndication on one of the local free channels. ;)
Kevin has been plugging away at work, being well received by patients, but it is *effort* to insinuate yourself into an already established practice. Every day is a bit easier.
Our furniture should arrive, surprise surprise, the exact date it was *predicted* in Misawa, Sept. 26th. If you read heavy, dripping sarcasm in here, you're not alone. I have had nothing but negative experiences with Fairchild AFB and you could not pay me right now to say anything nice. Well, according to how I *feel* toward Fairchild, that IS nice. But it will be wonderful to have couches, bookshelves, warm jackets and closed toe shoes for fall, etc. It will be phenomenal to have our king-sized bed back and be able to sleep in the master bedroom instead of on a queen sized bed in youngest blonde daughter's bedroom.
I'm wishing I had learned the lesson God was trying to teach me about eating too much and drinking Dr. Pepper because we have an event at the country club tomorrow night and I had to order a dress that for all the world looks maternity. I thought a nice empire waist would be more slimming...well, it is a little larger than I need and I swear to you I look pregnant.
Join us next time as we explore happy thoughts in America.... ha.
We are getting adjusted to a new town, trying to start school (two weeks in, wahoo), wishing I had furniture, being so angry at the USAF I could spit, trying not to speak and share my "that's so cute" accent, ... you know...normal things. :)
I find myself never overjoyed to be in America. I miss Japan. I like it here. But I am not overjoyed. It is loud. It is busy. It is FULL of people. There are too many choices. I can't just buy a mop. I have to examine different textiles in mops, different handles, lengths, blah blah. Do you know how HARD it is to buy a mop in America?!? :) Gimme Japan with its ONE mop.
I'm on overkill with satellite TV. I never watch it. I just pay for it. Yesterday I sat down to laminate my paperbacks for school (yes, I do that sort of OCD thing) and found myself watching... what? Latest talk show, HGTV, LOST, a show everyone knows something about but me? No. I watch 90's TV: Home Improvement. :) Comfort TV. Call me Overwhelmed but appreciative that I can pay for 160 channels and watch a show that is in syndication on one of the local free channels. ;)
Kevin has been plugging away at work, being well received by patients, but it is *effort* to insinuate yourself into an already established practice. Every day is a bit easier.
Our furniture should arrive, surprise surprise, the exact date it was *predicted* in Misawa, Sept. 26th. If you read heavy, dripping sarcasm in here, you're not alone. I have had nothing but negative experiences with Fairchild AFB and you could not pay me right now to say anything nice. Well, according to how I *feel* toward Fairchild, that IS nice. But it will be wonderful to have couches, bookshelves, warm jackets and closed toe shoes for fall, etc. It will be phenomenal to have our king-sized bed back and be able to sleep in the master bedroom instead of on a queen sized bed in youngest blonde daughter's bedroom.
I'm wishing I had learned the lesson God was trying to teach me about eating too much and drinking Dr. Pepper because we have an event at the country club tomorrow night and I had to order a dress that for all the world looks maternity. I thought a nice empire waist would be more slimming...well, it is a little larger than I need and I swear to you I look pregnant.
Join us next time as we explore happy thoughts in America.... ha.
RSS/E-mail Subscriptions
Posted on June 16, 2006
Even though I have been highly inactive lately, PinayMom brought to my attention that I haven't had an RSS or e-mail subscription option available. So a quick visit to the HomeschoolBlogger.com Forums, and violá!, I discovered Feedburner.com. We'll see how this collaboration works out.
I haven't used a newsreader for RSS in quite some time, but when I do, I use Newsgator. You get a free account, and then you find a blog you want to keep up with. On the blog you can either click their
icon and subscribe or login to your reader and manually add in the blog's RSS feed address. Mine is: http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/rss.php?u=shellie
Even though the name of my blog is "Grass Stains." I didn't think about that when signing up for my user ID.
The benefit of subscribing and using a newsreader is that you go to one place to read your many blogs. I visit Vox Day's blog, PC World's, etc.
So far, best of all, everything I've mentioned here is free. I encourage you to keep up with technology, get a free Homeschoolblogger.com blog, and type away.
Best Hair
Posted on March 30, 2006
Time for a glib entry...how do you like my hair?
I've got this photo montage up on the Sonlight boards requesting votes for best hair for me. Anybody here want to help?
I'm going to the States soon and plan to get a "real" haircut with some highlights. (maybe. I hope.) To make up my mind, I've put together photos of myself from the last 11 years. I'm only going to list those getting votes at Sonlight now:
I am leaning toward Sept. 2004 growing out to this professional shot:
I've got this photo montage up on the Sonlight boards requesting votes for best hair for me. Anybody here want to help?
I'm going to the States soon and plan to get a "real" haircut with some highlights. (maybe. I hope.) To make up my mind, I've put together photos of myself from the last 11 years. I'm only going to list those getting votes at Sonlight now:
I am leaning toward Sept. 2004 growing out to this professional shot:
Lessons from my Mama-san
Posted on March 26, 2006
Today, my Mama-san walked in on us.* Whoa. Just 15 minutes earlier I had
decided to get out of my glasses, robe, and fuzzy slippers. Seriously.
I'm in the bathroom upstairs when I hear "Is your pretty mama here?"
MAMA-SAN?!?
She was returning a pie plate. She was totally unexpected. I felt like she
must be looking at us like Mr. Incredible:
History: For five glorious weeks, I had a Mama-san. She did everything. My
friend was in America on vacation, so I inherited her Mama-san. Lovely. She was
such a dear, we fell in love with her.
Today was the first Monday we did not have Mama-san. We were not expecting
her to come visit us, but there she was, as I came out of the bathroom -- fully
clothed and hair brushed, hallelujah -- talking to the little one.
We visited a sec, she came downstairs, showed me the apples she brought us
and then proceeded to take out my kitchen trash, replace the bag, and pick up
some crackers the kids had spilled. Then I convinced her to stop and get back to
my neighbor's!
Do you realize that this is how the coming of the Son of God will be?
Flash. Fuzzy slippers. Bed unmade. Teeth unbrushed and all our priorities
revealed. Today I had even postponed my time in the Word. I see now what the
Lord means when He says "Be ready."
*She does that if the door is unlocked.