|
Hello All! :)
I haven't around much due to a computer crash. My hard drive decided to give it up. It died last week. Ugh! the horror of not having a 'puter! LOL Being that my entire school is online, it was a BIG problem. But, I was able to still do what I had to do, thanks to a borrowed computer from --gasp!--rent-a-center. Yes, I was not pleased with having to pay $$ for the use of a computer. However, when I went there, I learned that the first week was free. Thank God! As I was only needing the thing for a week. I was biding my time until my husband could get home to fix my poor little computer. He came home briefly Sunday morning and did his little magic trick of taking one hard drive out, putting another in, and whaalaa...I got a new computer. (I was SOO happy!)
So now that I installed every possible program that I THINK I had on the other one, I am back on and running! (You would be amazed at how dependent you are on some programs without even realizing it! Try to open an ebook without Adobe reader!) :-) Even though I lost a LOT of pictures and my school work, I have been able to re-create or find people with copies of my pictures. I knew I saved photos to that yahoo album's page for a reason! LOL I did, however, lose the pictures of our vacation that we had in June. We took alot of interstate pictures and odds and ends that most sane people wouldn't bother with. But who said we were sane?
I hope I'm done installing and downloading, at least for a while, as I think I spent most of the last two days watching the computer instead of USING the thing. BUT its okay and I am happy again! So if you missed me, now you know where I went. I've always been here, but not able to GET here. LOL
Enjoy your day! And don't underestimate the power of saving your things! (I now send everything to my email addresses!)
~~back to surfing the web~~ |
|
I can't believe how fast these courses are zooming by. As of Monday I will be considered a junior. Wow! It just blows my mind since I only started in January or Febuary. (Can't remember!) But sheesh, who knew? :)
These next classes are Humanities and Environmental Science. Oh boy! LOL So far, this science course gets to deal with...now sit down for this...evolution. Yes, you read right. Why would science even consider anything else? Yeah, I agree. So now my "challenge" is how to do my work without believing what I say. My first week deals with evolution and its effects on the planet. Ummm, I did not come from some cell that formed into a frog and then a monkey before turning human. ;)
I know, I know, its no big deal really. I just don't like to give answers that I know are what the teacher wants, but what I don't honestly believe to be true. You know what I mean? And I am not about to have some debate about it when all I want is to get through the next nine weeks. :-)
The Humanities class deals with religion. This gives me the opportunity to learn about another religion. I am debating between Seventh Day Adventist and the Mormons. I know little about the Mormons, but nothing about the Seventh Day Adventists. If anyone has any insights, be it personal or from someone they know, I am open to any help. :) Feel free to email me. Thanks!
I'm excited about starting these new classes. I'm kinda nervous as the science class has three or four power point presentations that are due throughout the course. But I'm sure it'll be fine once I do them. :-) |
|
We have had some of those moments that. as a parent of a teen, I just don't want to end. :)
Since my return to the work force, Sean has been attached to me constantly. Not a biggie, I expected that from the midget kid. What WAS surprising was now when we watch television or read together, Celia joins in....closely. She wants to sit next to me and do more things with me. I'm not quite sure how to take this. Is this a insecurity thing? Or is it what she says it is, which is that she likes to do things with me? Still, it makes me wonder. ~shrug~
Now our reading time looks like this: Sean on my lap, Matt on my left, and Celia on my right. All hanging on me in some form. All making me happy that we are together. Awww...I know. lol
|
|
Is it wrong to be happy that the public and private school age children are returning to the classroom this week? Is it wrong to think how empty the stores will be since parents won't be bringing thier wonderful children shopping with them because the kids will be in said classroom? Is it wrong to think how peaceful it will be to go to the park or the river because no children or teens will be lurking about out of boredom? Is it wrong to enjoy the silence of the library again? Is it wrong to think how blessed I am that my kids are homeschooled and not sitting in a classroom for 8 hours a day? Is it wrong to be thankful that my kids are not having to do about an hours worth of homework upon arriving at home after sitting in school for the before-mentioned 8 hours?
I was just wondering...
|
|
This past week was V.B.S.--that would be vacation Bible school for those who might not know. Matt was the only one of the kiddies to go. It only makes sense due to Cel being a highschooler--eek!--and Sean is too little to get anything out of it. But Matt had a blast. Or so he says. ;) |
|
I've been recently informed that I will be an aunt for the twelvth time. My husbands sister is having baby number four sometime in March. Or did she say February? ~shrug~ It'll be next year, regardless. :-)
When I told my husband this number, he asked "are you sure? That sounds like a lot of kids." LOL He is such a goof. I told him to smile and be happy that it is not us having the baby. He laughed and called me the goof for even thinking those words out loud. ha!
|
|
Ugh! I have spent the entire afternoon cleaning and rearranging their bedroom. I am so tired! But its done. Hurray! |
|
What possess a person to feel they have the right to interfere in another person's life? I mean, if Bob was not married to Sue, and Sue lived over a thousand miles away from Bob with her husband and children, why would Bob think he was allowed to butt in to her life? I ask this because my husbands uncle has launched an all out attach on my life. Well, our life. I'm the one who gets to deal with him as my wonderful husband is on the road. But don't worry, my husband got the entire conversations, word for word. And he finally called his uncle when he had a signal for more than five minutes. (His uncle is a talker!)
The conversations we've had over the past few days have left me realizing that God knows. I mean, He wrote in the Bible about not borrowing money from family. And He said that for a reason. Now we didn't borrow money from him, just bought some land from him. Wouldn't that count as it being ours to do with as we please? I thought so. But my husbands uncle has been calling and telling us in not so many nice words what we should be doing with the land. Reason is not in this mans vocabulary, let me tell ya.
Anyways, I am amazed at how people can view the world. Ok, this hasn't been a shocker, but the fact that a person can insist, and I do mean insist, that he has a right to know what is going on in a person's life while insisting he isn't being nosey. I don't get it. Did I miss the sign that welcomed me to insane city when I married my husband? LOL
Thanks for letting me speak my thoughts out loud...well, sorta! :-) |
|
Nine! :) I decorated the dining room with birthday balloons and a birthday banner. Not to mention the balloon theme tablecloth and window clings. Well, the clings were from Sean's 4th birthday, but no one seemed to mind. ;-) Matt thought it was a nice surprise when he went into the kitchen this morning.
We still did our lesson, but don't let him in on the secret. We did about 4 different light experiments and he LOVED it. If "it" has anything to do with science, he is there with both eyes, ears, and hands.
His cousins from Texas called and sang "Happy Birthday" to him. My brother called later on and played his singing birthday cake platter. (He's on the phone again asking twenty questions to the kid right now. LOL)
For dinner, Matt wanted chicken nuggets, freedom fries, and a glass of RC. He called it a big kids meal. I did not go to any fast food joint to pick up dinner; I went to my freezer instead. My father gave him both Spiderman movies, and I let him open the first one before we ate so we could eat picnic style in the living room. He was happy about it. Okay, all three kids were thrilled about the movie and dinner. Shannon called to sing the birthday song while we sang to him with his cake. (These are the times that makes Shannon really hate being on the road.)
Matt said he had a great birthday as he went to bed. All is well! |
|
So continue at your own risk. 8P
This is about my husband's sister. I love them all equally, yet they don't see it that way. Well, one doesn't. She insists that I have an attitude with her. We don't talk on the phone but have exchanged emails. My question is: how can an attitude show through an email? I don't do THIS when I type. I write the regualr way I type, inserting these annoying faces :) every now and then. As well as adding "LOL" when it deems to do so. If I had an attitude, I think I would know about it. Don't ya think? ~shrug~
I was talking to Karli this afternoon and she mentioned that Jen and her were talking about me yesterday. Not that I care about them talking about me. Jen went into this big thing about me giving her an attitude and not liking her. I don't have any bad feelings towards her. I know what she's like, that's all there is to it. But EVERYONE knows what she's like, so whatever. ~again with the shrug thing~ Anyways, I'm at a standstill. Should I call her and comfront her? I mean I have no ill feelings towards her. She is a Christian as well, but a new one and I'm trying to decide if I do talk to her, how blunt do I be? Would she get her tail feathers ruffled if I just came out and said "hey, I don't have any problems with you. Get over it" ? Okay, okay, I wouldn't say the last part. But that's part of how I feel right now. I don't want this to be some silent drama. I mean she got upset because I brought clothes to Jersey for her--knowing she would be there a few weeks after we left--instead of sending them to her house in Virginia. (I'm in Indian, mind ya. AND I happened to grab the clothes for her just like I grabbed stuff for my other siblings who were also in Jersey for a visit. My sister lives in Texas, but she flew out to Jersey and I handed her a bag for her kids. Anne didn't get offended by me no shipping them. She thought it was an inovative way to save shipping charges for a box.) Yeah, yeah, back to Jen. What am I going to do with her? Honestly, I wasn't thinking about shipping charges, I was thinking as I walked through the boys room, "oh, I can bring this to Mom's since Jen will be there in a week."
So I am putting this out in cyberspace now. What should I do? I want to call her, but how do I say it without sounding like I have an "attitude?" =)
Thanks! I feel much better now that I wrote this. |
|
Friday morning the kids and I had gone running around in the morning and just as we were going to head to Evansville, the weather band radio went off. There were sever storms passing through our area--what else is new, right? :-) Well, I decided it wasn't worth us dealing with just to go to Sam's. The kids were glad, the rains came within minutes of the alarm. lol
The lights did flicker one or two times, but that was all that happened. I went around lighting candles, just in case we DID lose power. I had also shut off any light that wasn't needed. Matt asked if we could turn off all the lights and leave just the candles burning. This "adventure" brought about a discussion of pioneer days, which led to a discussion of what they did before air conditioning <----that was rather funny to watch their reactions. ;-) After the discussions, we played card games for the remainder of the afternoon. We had a blast playing on the living room floor, even little Seany had fun playing by candlelight.
|
|
This past week we celebrated our fifteenth anniversary. Who would have thought, it? ha! I'm actually kidding. Our fifteenth anniversary was Thursday and my wonderful husband won't be home til a few more weekends. (I'll seriously be rejoicing when he gets a local driving job!) :-)
I spent the day at my good friends house, though. The kids and I had a great day. My husband, well, he wasn't too thrilled about not being home. ~shrug~ I can't be upset about him not being home since he had to choose between our anniversary and Matt's birthday. Okay, that was the original plan as of Friday. It changed during this weekend, which in a way I am not impressed with, but in the long run, it'll be for the best for the entire family. Which is what counts, right?
We were suppose to go to a wedding on Saturday the 29th, but he won't be home and I'm torn between going or staying home. I know a few of the ladies going so it wouldn't be as if I don't know anyone. But I have this "thing" about going to a wedding without my husband. Did it once, it wasn't fun. But these ladies are a LOT different from the relatives. So I will make a final decision tomorrow. I have to call the bride about him not going, but I had told her in the acceptance it was tentative, she knows he is on the road.
Back to Matt and his birthday...he was upset at first, but I explained the whole thing in such a way that he feels much better about it. Thank goodness! He was crying and all. It made me SO upset to see him cry. I gave him a BIG hug and kisses to calm him down. He had no choice but to laugh. Again, I was relieved to see him smile. (And yes, I informed my husband of the torture so he could suffer too! LOL) I told Matt we wouldn't be able to do our traditional birthday celebrating if he came home this weekend, being its the wedding for my friend. He understood.
Oh! One more thing...is it a bad sign if my engagement ring broke? ;-) It did break, but it's been around since my husband's grandfather gave it to his grandmother. And my mother-in-law informed me that the ring has been through alot and to do with it as we pleased. (Husband wants me to make it into a past, present, future ring thing. But I'll settle for a new band with a different setting.)
I meant to tell ya, my husband called me at 12:01 am and sang our wedding song. I thought it was sweet although I was tired! LOL I think I'll keep him! |
|
My husband came home at midnight last night only to leave this afternoon for a delivery. It's a good thing, though. He took Matt with him to the delivery--the kid was SOO excited! :) While they were gone, Celia, Sean and I had some fun. Not because the other one was gone, though. LOL Celia and Sean took out most of the boys Matchbox & Hotwheels cars and took over my living room floor. Celia made a HUGE roadway for Sean to follow. He was VERY excited. He plays follow the leader with cars--you know, move one car a few inches, stop, bring another car to the line--but as he was doing this, he was singing. I don't mean humming, which is what he usually does, but singing singing. He kept making Celia and I sing along with him, too. This was a bit challenging as it would take us a minute to understand what he was singing. LOL We had a blast and that's all that counts! :-)
The fun we have when we let the kids do their own thing! |
|
Last night, I was watching the Discovery Times channel--I didn't know I had the channel!
Last night they had a show on the Statue of Liberty. (For those who do not know me, I have been collecting Liberty items for a VERY long time, so this show was for me!) My kids asked if they could watch it. It was 9 p.m. and Sean was already sleeping in his bed, so I let them watch it with me. It was about the history of her and the reconstruction of her back in the 80's. (That was when I started collecting.) The kids were really into the program. They would ask me questions every now and then about the different people who were interviewed. I had made a scrapebook back in the 80's with articles from Reader's Digest, Poopular Science, and Popular Mechanics, plus any other articles that ran in the paper or other magazines. (Still have it, too!) My kids have glanced through it and read bits and pieces of it, so they knew some of her history. Plus growing up where there is a shelf dedicated to Statue of Liberty knick knacks, they had no choice BUT to know who she is and what she represents. LOL It was rather interesting. Good show!
The show AFTER that was about bunkers and fall out shelters. The kids wanted to watch so I let them. (Softy, I know!) They showed bunkers from all over the world. Saddam's (sp?), Tito's, Hitler's, Churchill's, and the one in the U.S. The narrarator/guide was very informative (he'd have to be!) as the cameras followed him inside them. They were prepared for anything! They talked about nuclear bombs and chemical warfare. This sparked a conversation with Matt as he is VERY into the military. He loves this country and wants to be in the military when he gets older. (The kid checks out tons of military books from teh library. Very rarely does he pick out a fictional book.)
It was a great learning experience for all of us. I think I will have to check their program guide more often. =)
|
|
My youngest woke me up this morning about 6 a.m. At first I thought he was wet, but then when I put on my glasses as he was walking in my room, I saw he was covered in blood. AHH! He had blood all over his face, hands, shirt, pants, and even his socks! The poor little guy was so upset about his Superman jammie shirt having blood on it that I don't think he realised just how much blood was on him. This was the first time for me to ever get dizzy and sick when seeing blood. I think it was partly because I jumped out of bed and partly because there was a ton of blood on such a tiny person. Oh! I forgot to tell ya, it was his nose. Both nostrils had been bleeding, but his mouth was full of blood as well, so at first I wasn't sure. It wasn't until I was able to get a good look at him that I saw it was coming from his nose. He was very good, though, he didn't freak once I jumped out of bed.
After I had to lay down on the floor for a few minutes, I put him on the couch to try to keep his nose from bleeding. He was shivering from the cold. Poor kid! I had the blanket folded four times over him. After about twenty minutes or so, he was ready to play with his cars while I was ready to sleep!
I'm so thankful he is fine again and doing well! I, however, am SO ready for bed! LOL |
|
I JUST received my grades for this past block of classes. All A's! Whoohoo! I am SOOOO thrilled. (Does it show?)
I was REALLY nervous about my final paper--it was 2,000+ words on global warming. I am not all that sure of myself when it comes to writing, which is why it IS a big deal that my instructor informed me that I was the ONLY one in the class to earn all possible points! ...jaw dropped...
I was on the phone with my husband when I checked my school email and read it. I think I hurt his ear with the sound that I made. LOL
Just had to share my good news! :-) |
|
We've always done our own unit studies, but since my youngest has developed a love for books that comes close to my own, I decided to try Five in a Row with him. I had heard of it a few years back, but my oldest had either already read the books or didn't care for them and my son wasn't interested in the books AT ALL. But now that I have a four year old kid in the house again, I thought "why not?"
Sean has enjoyed this past week. We read the Story of Ping and did various activities. On Monday we did a lesson on China and the Yangtse River. Sean colored a picture of China's flag. The older two joined us on the floor to make a house boat, trying to make the most of the small space. Tuesday, amidst our Independence Day celebrations, we talked about ducks and the kids made oragami ducks. (That would be the swan, but don't bend the neck, leave it flat.) Wednesday we talked about living on a house boat and some sacrifices families would have to make. Today, what DID we do? :-) We talked about discernment and consequences of our actions. We also talked about sequence of events pertaining to the story.
|
|
Well, my wonderfully stuborn four year old has almost become 100% potty trained! (I know you wanted to know!) I've been trying to get rid of the diapers for awhile now, much to no success. However, upon our journey around the country a few weeks back, it has come to my attention that he knows quite well what he needs to do.
Anyways, thanks for letting me rejoice! \o/ |
SOO, with that in mind, I decided this past weekend would be a good time to be more strict about this training busness. My hubby was home on Saturday, which helped in the encouragement department. I'm happy to say that it has been five days and he hasn't wet any undies today! (I'm SO thrilled!) Anyways, I had to share my joy about this step in our lives. I'm almost free of diapers! (Thank God!) I'm still a bit nervous about leaving the house, but I've been making him go before we leave the house, and so far, so good. |
My husband gave us a nice surprise and came home Friday on his way to a delivery, so it doesn't count against his regular "home time." :) He thought it would be nice to take the munchkins to go see Superman. It was pretty good. They did a good job at making him look like Christopher Reeves.
During a scene where Lex Luther and his minions are trying to beat up Superman, Sean started crying. He did NOT like the thought of Superman getting hurt. My husband was holding the little guy and trying to convince him that Superman would be okay. Sean did not want to listen! Eventually, Sean fell asleep on Shannon's lap. He woke up at the end of the movie to see that Superman was okay.
It was a nice little outing. Celia was "ehh" about going. She isn't into the superhero thing like the boys are. I asked the kids later if they recognized the actors that played Lois Lane and Richard from other movies. (No.) Lois Lane was played by the same actress that played the mother on SpyKids and the actor who played Richard was the same one that was Cyclopse from X-Men. This, of course, made Matt want to watch X-Men the second we got home. It didn't happen as it was late, but the first thing in the morning he tried again. The poor kid had to wait to Sunday afternoon. heehee!
We had a nice day and a half with Shannon before he had to leave at midnight Saturday. :) |
|
I was told recently that creativity and coloring do not belong in the homeschooling process. I'm paraphrasing, but the idea was still very clear. What gets me is this was another homeschooler. AND her oldest is 6 years old. Ummm, is there something wrong with this picture? How can you take these two elements out of the homeschooling realm? How can you take them out of the entire learning process, regardless of how or where kids go for their education? Call me silly, but my kids do alot of coloring to help them in their learning. Sean does it for his fine motor skills--he be a tiny boy of 4--and Matt and Celia use coloring, be it with pastels, chalk, paint, markers, colored pencils, or crayons, for their art technique as well as map skills and their notebooking. They all color/draw when we are listening to Mozart, Bach, or any number of other classical composers.
As for creativity, well, there's an over abundance here of that. I have yet had a day go by without some form of this showing its face. I thought this was definately part of the homeschooling picture. How can you learn and live without creativity? Even if you aren't an artist, you are still a creative person. Aren't we made in the image of God? Isn't God creative? Look around outside. Between the various kinds and colors of plant life and the numerous shapes/sizes/textures of animals, I'd say He is VERY imaginative. Shouldn't we be cultivating our children's imagination? Isn't imagination and creativity the same thing? Am I wrong in this thinking? By allowing my children to be creative in their thinking, we've gone on many rabbit trails. Fun, too! But I guess its all from your point of view.
Even my sister and her ultra strict schedules for her kids--which she needs for five kids from 14 yo to 9 months--always has time for creativity!
I'm sorry but this statement really bothers me. Can you tell? LOL
~getting off the soapbox now~ |
