Katie has worked long and hard to get this blog looking the way I want it to.  I really appreciate all her work, and I love the look.  However, homeschoolblogger.com has been VERY tedious to work with.  I have been too frustrated with it for too long, so I have moved my blog. 

Please come visit me at my new address:   http://walnutshademom.wordpress.com/


Thanks.

One of my challenges is to try to stay on top of all the paperwork-ish stuff in my life, and today it seems like I have an extra lot of it.

 

* Ministry newsletter is due to go out and Scott wants me to plan the layout.

* Ministry staff meeting tommorrow night and prep discussions we need to have prior.

* Family newsletter stuffed, but I found that I am almost out of stamps.  How did I ever let THAT happen?!?!

* Homeschool hours need to be recorded, back into February (sigh).

* Ministry thank yous need to be written.

* I need to figure out how to help Jessica study for her College Algebra CLEP.

* Bank deposit receipts need to be filed.

* New memory verse for boys must be chosen, printed, and entered in MemLok.

* Books the boys have read need to be collected and recorded.

 

I think I need one whole day ALONE at my desk, and then I will be able to make some progress on each of the above.  Anybody want to give me a day?  = )

 

In addition, I REALLY want to spend some more time re-sizing my photos and uploading them to Flickr.  However, I am keeping that as my reward.  I work for a while, and then I can recreate with Flickr. 

 

Now it's supper time (actually past supper time) and we will have Broccoli Soup which is in the crock-pot.  Scott is on the phone with ministry business, and as soon as he finishes that, I will collect the kids and we will eat.

 

One more question. . . could someone please invent a machine into which I can dump all our clean clothes and have them come out folded?  I'm thinking along the lines of those bank machines that you dump change into and out come rolls of each kind of coin.  No thought and only a few seconds of time required.  It would revolutionize home design!  Laundry rooms would be bigger and contain three pieces of equipment:  a washer, a dryer, and a folder. 

 

If you have any design ideas for such an item, please send them my way.  

Breaking news....  Katie was entered in an essay contest sponsored by our local electric cooperative.  The co-op covers a five-county area, and all the schools in those counties were invited to participate.  The seven best essays were invited to compete orally tonight at a banquet.  The three top scorers overall (essay, oral presentation, knowledge of rural electrical co-op trivia) would each win an all-expense paid trip to Washington DC in June.

 

Katie had been told she should have her essay memorized, although she could use note cards if needed.  She spent QUITE a bit of time in the past couple weeks memorizing her four-page essay; it was 10 minutes long.

 

Fifteen minutes before we left the house to go to the competition, Katie came into my office looking just a tiny bit flustered.  "Mom, I feel really dumb, but I just re-read the competition rules and found out that I only have three minutes to present my essay.  Could you help me figure out what to cut?"  Fun, fun, fun.

 

I advised her, and she began scratching off note cards.  While it was easy to take paragraphs out, it was hard to get the thing to "flow" with so many omiussions.  In the car, she practiced while Scott timed her.

 

Katie was the fifth of the seven to do her thing, and she really shone.  Even though I am her mom, I can honestly say that her delivery was much, much better than the other students'.  She only glanced down at her notes once.  She used emotion, had great eye contact, varied her intonation, spoke clearly, and was a delight to listen to.  Even though she stumbled briefly over a quite which she couldn't remember, she simply smiled, said apologetically, "Oh well, I forgot it," and kept right on going.  We were all SO proud of her!

 

After each presentation, the judges asked the student one question.  Katie's essay had to do with the discovery of penicillin, so the question she received from judge Stan Bess, VP of the Vacation Channel, was (more or less) "What do you think is the most important medical challenge facing humanity today?"  Katie thought a moment and said, "Medicine is not really my field of expertise; history is, but I would say finding a cure for cancer..."  People laughed and Mr. Bess commented on what a great job she had done.

 

I breathed a sigh of relief that she had not only gotten through it with so many last minute changes, but that she had done so well.  There was one really interesting thing.  Of the seven finalists, five attend public school and two are homeschooled.   Katie's essay dealt with penicillin, and Aaron's (the other homeschooler) was about Benedict Arnold.  ALL FIVE of the other essays dealt with blacks and women.  In fact, several of them said the same things in the same ways - even using the same wording.  It let me see what is being emphasized to public school students.

 

When the winners were anounced - in no particular order, which drove Scott nuts - Katie was one of the three!  She will be traveling to Washington, DC with some 80 other students from Missouri.  There will be a total of some 1300 students on this trip nationwide.  We are quite excited for her.  Thanks especially to all who prayed for her speech memorization.

I really like blogging, but I must confess that homeschoolblogger.com is a PAIN to use!  I hate that.  It's free, and I guess I get what I am paying for. 

In any case, when I looked at that Georgetown picture at 500 pixels wide, it just looked too "glittery" to me.  I decided I need to re-size them to 700 pixels wide for better resolution. 

Here's a picture of Josiah, demonstrating how to carry skis and poles.  Scott is walking toward him, and Andrew (red cap) has his skis on and is itching to hit the lift.  This was the first day of skiing at Loveland Basin.  Isn't the weather gorgeous?

 

I think this resolution is better, so I've made myself a note to stick with 700 pixels wide for Flickr.

I am trying to teach myself how to use Flickr to catalogue my photos.  Doing that requires resizing them and learning how to work with Flickr.  Then, getting them onto here, the world's SLOWEST-loading site, is another big step.  I am trying one today and hoping I can get a lot faster at this soon. 

This a picture of Georgetown, taken from Guanella Pass Road.  It's a quaint, historical town of about 1,608 residents, located in the mining district of Clear Creek County. South Clear Creek flows down out of the mountains and forms Georgetown Lake (seen in background). Our condo was near the lake. 

I can see that I re-sized this one too small.  Hmmm...  After 20 minutes of work, I think I will leave it alone and just make a note to re-size them larger in the future.

We got home Sunday night from a grand vacation in Colorado.  No time to post now, but I will make every attempt to note the high points in the next few days.  The long and short of it for me would be," I love mountains and I love snow.  The two together just can't be beat!"

Once again, since the snow passed us by this year, we are going to go look for it.  We will be skiing at Loveland and staying in Georgetown, which is supposedly only about 20 minutes from the slopes.  This means most of the family can be taken to the ski resort and, once they are all outfitted, gear is stowed, and plans are communicated, they can spend the day skiing to their hearts' content and I can do whatever I want to do - frequently alone.  Ahhhh.

Some day(s), Katie will probably not ski, but she and I are two of the few people who can be alone together for a couple hours, say not one word to each other, and be perfectly happy.

I am hoping to drive around a lot, walk around a lot, explore the Georgetown area, and take loads of pictures.  I have also heard that there is a narrow gauge train at Georgetown.  I don't know if the family will be available or if the budget will allow riding it, but I think that would be terrifically fun.

I'd rather look at snowy mountains than just about any other landscape, so I am really expecting this trip to be relaxing and refreshing.

One more trip to the post office, one more load of laundry, one more pick-up-and-clean-up of the house, and I still need to pack my backpack.  Other than that, I think I'm ready to hit the road.  Our goal is to actually depart before 5:00 AM.

We had an interesting time at the VFW meeting.  Actually, our family had never been to such a place, so it was a learning experience.  They served us a great fried chicken dinner (yum, yum) and then presented Katie with her award checks:  $175 from the local post for winning first place in the post, $175 from the district (made up of 18 posts) for winning first place in the district, and - are you ready? - $1250 from the state (made up of 18 districts) for winning second place in the state!!!  There were 4400 entries statewide.  Then Katie read her essay, and they all stood up and clapped loud and long.  Her essay was entitled "Freedom's Challenge," and it was, if I say so myself, excellent.

 

Pictures were taken, Jessica recorded it all on video, numerous folks congratulated her and us, and several vets told us their varied stories.  After hearing that Katie (Anna to them) was homeschooled, one gentleman told us that he thought homeschoolers were the very best kids.  He had seen a group of homeschoolers do a mime presentation  last year at the county seat's 4th of July celebration, and it moved him to tears; he said he doesn't cry.  He has been a veteran for 40 years, and he said he has NEVER seen a presentation that better honored vets.  Of course, we told him that Katie, Jessica, and Josiah were part of that very presentation! 

 

Overall, we were deeply honored, and we are all very proud of Katie's success.  To God be the glory!

Katie entered an essay contest through the local VFW chapter.  Her essay won first place in the district and went on to do well at state (can't remember if she won first or second there).  Tonight our whole family will attend the local VFW dinner where she will receive her awards from district and state.  I am pretty excited.  Now I just have to make sure that Andrew can say the Pledge of Allegiance and sing the National Anthem.

My suitcase is packed!  The train case is packed!  The "kitchen" is packed!  My books, magazines, knitting stuff, coloring book and colored pencils are packed!  I am feeling quite successful!

Now I must finish the sweeping - a bigger job since our vacuum cleaner died - do the boys' laundry and figure out how to get their clothes packed.  Then, I will sleep sweetly and long, because tomorrow is OFF DAY!!!

I am getting quite excited about keeping my blog up to date.  My only regret is that no one other than me is reading it.  I need some ideas of how to get people interested in coming to my blog.  Maybe I need to have more pictures.  Maybe I need to write about something different, or at least specific.  Hmmmm. . . Maybe I should decide who this blog is really for - me (as a supplement to my journal) or friends and family.  Good question, huh?

Andrew:  pretty slow on breakfast clean up due to other members being late to eat; cleaned stairs & hall, took out all trash; practice on multiplication facts (0, 1, 2, 5); other normal academics; playing at neighbor's house

Josiah:  late getting up due to too much READING after Boy Scout meeting last night; good attitude all morning (even when I lost my cool with the boys' messy rooms); worked well on all academics; swept porch and walk; filled med boxes; 40 minutes of Crusader on Jessica's computer; playing at neighbor's house

Jessica:  no math this week!!!!; did academics on her own; volunteered to do Katie's ironing; watched Left Behind while ironing; helped me find numerous lost items; vegging in room

Katie:  slept in (fighting cold/fever thing that we want her to kick without passing around); worked on academics (only she knows which ones)

Patty:  haircut; pharmacy; oversaw boys; made white chili; about to go make supper

Scott:  language lesson at 7:30 AM; breakfast; work (for pay!) at his desk

We are planning a ski trip to Colorado soon, and since I don't really consider cooking a vacation activity, I decided that we would make full use of the crockpot.  Hence, I am cooking ahead and freezing in ziplocs.  The plan is that at bedtime, we will pull out the next day's supper to thaw, put it in the crockpot before leaving in the morning, and have supper piping hot when we return.

So far, I have prepared chili (probably for use as chili cheese potatoes), broccoli soup, and white chili.  I also am taking a pot roast, so we should have meals for Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights.  Friday night - and Saturday night, if we are still there - we'll eat the leftovers.

I still have to figure out breakfasts, clothes, games, etc., etc., etc., but I think I'm making good progress.

Aren't these beautiful?  Andrew (now 7) grew them from seeds last summer.  They were planted in a window box that we set out on our front sidewalk.  I wish I could remember what they are called, because they are really nice and tall and would be perfect for my "red, white, and blue" flowerbed around the mailbox this year.

Today, Katie took her third CLEP test.  She had already taken Biology and College Algebra, but when she looked at the topics to be covered on the Chemistry test, she realized that she had only covered about 1/4 of them in her high school chemistry course.  After cramming like crazy (some 16 hours), she took the practice test and received a 40.

Not so bad as you might think.  The scores range from 20 to 80, with many schools offering credit for a score over 50.  Her principal, teacher, guidance counselor, and career adviser (all both of us) met with her last night to help her decide whether on not to take the actual test - scheduled in Springfield for 10:00 AM this morning.  She decided to go for it, and she scored a 51.  We think she made a good choice to proceed with the test. 

Now I need to schedule a time for her to take American History 1 and Jessica to take College Algebra, hopefully in conjunction with their next ortho appointments.

Scott (while digging in the freezer at bedtime, looking for something yummy to eat):  "Why do we have a phone in the freezer?"

I don't really know why.  It was actually Andrew's play cell phone.  One would not think that a child would tend to lose his phone in the freezer, but in our family, anything is possible.  Many things that are not possible also happen.

I saw this book title and immediately added it to my wish list.  It is supposed to be a funny book about how much we spend to create "homegrown" tomatoes.  Kind of like the fisherman who spends thousands of dollars on boat, license, tackle, bait, and so on - just to catch a fish.

Today we prepared two whiskey half barrels to receive tomato plants, as soon as our schedule allows.  The soil in our garden plot has developed some death-to-tomatoes fungus, and after several years of gardening next to the woods, I was tired of fighting the rabbits, deer, and armadillos.

Scott had the nifty idea to set the barrels on top of the two round green plastic covers for our graywater tank.  It required creative use of cinder blocks, lumber, and bricks, but we did it.  I also bought too much potting soil, but Scott forgave me.  I used some of the leftover dirt to upgrade the front flower beds and planted a wide variety of seeds in them.

I won't tell you how much all this has cost.  So far, it's still less than $64 million.

On Fridays, Katie and I often treat ourselves to a game of online Scrabble.  She always wins.  I am a good Scrabble player, but Katie usually wins by at least 100 points.

Recently, I have set a personal goal to lose by less than 100 points, and last week, after MONTHS of effort, I finally achieved that goal.

This week, I attempted to lose by less than 75 points, and the Research Consultant only beat me by 54 points.  She did have the Q, Z, and X, so I am choosing to rejoice.

I don't think we have every turned the air conditioning on this early.  It's March 22, was in the mid-80s most of the day today, and the house is so hot that we cannot sleep.  I guess I will have to face the fact that snow is not likely.

To Branson. . .

* Wal-Mart
* Staples
* Country Mart
* The bank
* Taneyhills Library
* Library thrift shop

Home for an hour and fifteen minutes, to unload the above, eat lunch, and change out the van seats

To Springfield. . .

* Aldi
* Goodwill thrift store
* Sam's Club
* Ski Shack
* The Library Center
* Wendy's
* Church

Home to unload the above, type this blog, and go to bed