It has been TOOOOOO long since I have been able to write. I feel kind of crazy from having talked to myself for so long.

Do you have those mini-conversations? The conversations that start while flipping laundry or vacuuming or even following kids throughout the yard?

Mine go something like this:

What a great winter day.

If it's going to be cold I wish it would snow.

What's the weather like on the mountain?
*checks the iTouch weather channel app*

Oh! We could ski on Thursday. The weather would be perfect.

No, Mike has a diaconate meeting on Thursday. What does Wednesday look like?

Hmm... piano lessons on Wednesday. Wonder if Sam would reschedule.

Well, with Scouts on Monday and basketball on Tuesday I really wouldn't have a lot of time to prep everything.

I need ot get that Lowes Foods To Go order placed.

Did Jessica say she needed anything?

*checks past emails*

Hmm... I'd prefer to place my order on Wednesday then we have more choices for the weekend...

But if we're skiing then I don't really need choices.

And so goes the continuous loop. Somehow in the whole mix of mini-convos I manage to get chores and lessons and special time all in the day, too. But I end the day with an incredible headache. Ouch!

I hope having my blog back will help alleviate the headaches!
And I have lots of great reviews to write, too! Among them are Heads Up Visual Aids. I love these! And better yet, they work...and there's a story behind this one worth reading, IMO.

And we just began an Apologia science book today. I've never seen Apologia though I have of course heard of it. I am very pleasantly surprised after our first day!

Additional reviews include a lovely Home School in the Woods, SpellQuizzer (which will get cranked up later this week), and MathMammoth which is a delight!

Please check back as I recommit to daily writings. And to see if my own little headache experiment works!

Patty

I met Andi Carter today. She is a twelve year old girl living at Circle C Ranch with her family in California. Thankfully because it is already 1880, Andi is not forced to dress only in dresses. At least not at the Circle C!

I've only been with Andi for twenty-eight pages. But I am just too excited about her to not share her with you NOW! Andi is the creation of Susan Marlow (suzyscribbles). I met Susan through a Blogger Classmates Homeschool Memoirs post a month or better ago. Since then we've correspnded and she helped my template A LOT! But before I had the opportunity to converse with Susan, I wanted to buy her books. From her website here I learned a little about Andi. I knew she was independent, respectful, and brave. I knew she would be a solid role-model for my daughters. AND she was from my favorite time period - the mid 1800s!

Andi is not Laura Ingalls. Yet she and Laura have a lot of common character traits. I believe these traits to be common to the time period. I want these traits for my daughters. How can I give Kelly Mae, Rebekah Anne, and Laura Lea these gifts? I can provide for them the basis for these virtues. I can provide for them examples of such girls like themselves.

In Andi's first debut, The Long Ride Home, she comes straight out of the chute without glamour and without perfection. She is tempted just like every little girl. And she is rowdy just like my little girls. And...she loves horses...just like my Kelly Mae. Andi has strong brothers and a kind and firm mother. Andi has Taffy. Taffy is Andi's very own palomino. With all the trust and love of a twelve year old, Andi adores Taffy.

Click over to the Circle C Ranch here and pick up a copy of Andrea Carter and the Long Ride Home and join me as I continue to learn more about Andi, Taffy, Justin, Diego, and Chad. Read along with me and then share the experience with your children. Sharing this incredible book (and those that follow) with my children will be a highlight of our early evenings by the fire as we move into shorter and colder days.  Check out Andi's blog here. Click here to read more about the author, Susan Marlow, on her blog. I believe you'll appreciate her charge: Wholesome books for kids.

Patty

I will be working on my template for the next several days. If you come by for a quick read and it looks funny please read on to see it's me!

It is my hope that I can gain just enough knowledge about the whole HTML thing that I can personalize my blog to really reflect me.

Any inspiration and/or knowledge is welcome! THANK YOU!

Patty

I want to share some pics and the stories that go with them but I am having a difficult time getting the pics to load... let's see if I can do it this time. Take three.

OK - take three did not take, either. The message says "You do not have enough space." I wonder if I can fix that. I think it is a setting in my new camera. I wonder if it is set at 7MB. Maybe. It will have to wait until Mike brings my camera back. He's using it for work. A video of processes or something.

In the meantime, Mike and his business partner on going to be on a local news channel tonight at 11p. I will add the link here when it is posted. It's a political discussion of personal property rights.

UPDATE  - here is the link. Mike is not mentioned and the video was butchered, but no less...here it is...

http://www.digtriad.com/news/top/article.aspx?storyid=112097&catid=14

And, just a note... It's National 4-H week! I will be blogging about this week SOON!

Blogging is already a wonderful outlet for me. I enjoy everything about it so far. I enjoy taking a few minutes to write about my life. I enjoy reading others' blogs. I enjoy keeping it positive.

There are a few things I need to learn, though. I need to learn this term - blogroll.

And I need to learn how to add all these codes. Those I understand, but not where to put them in the template.

I need to learn how to make beautiful backgrounds. I am convinced I can do this. I enjoy scrapbooking and I imagine it to be a digital version of that.

Where do I start? I google "how to create a blog" and there is only very basic info or info for an already-expert. But my quest will continue. I want this blog to reflect who I am. It should reflect my roles as Wife, Mother, Homemaker, Homeschooler, and most importantly, my role as Child of God.

If you can offer some advice as where to learn more - please feel free to comment. I love the library so when we visit this week, I'll be checking out some books on blogging. Any recommendations?

Patty