Just Another Day In Paradise!

Okay, so today is Sunday, right? Well, normally we would be going to church today, right? Well, we did not do that. How do I say that I played hooky from church today? Is that sacrilegious? Undoubtedly God will forgive the fact that I skipped church today, and that I just wanted to stay home with my family. Call me selfish if you must, but I just needed that extra few hours of sleep today. I'm not sure why.

This past week was so busy, and I just haven't been able to catch up with my sleep deprived body. It's been chaotic, to say the least. Scott's been working most of the week without a break, and does so until Tuesday, which leaves me to handle the young ones on my own. This in itself is not bad, but can be crazy from time to time, when your 5 year old acts more like a 2 year old would, at times.

Have you ever forgotten that you had to be somewhere important, until about 5 minutes before you are supposed to be there? This happened to me last week. I was scheduled to give a food demonstration for our 4-H club and I somehow thought that 4-H was this week, and not last. I was totally not prepared. This particular night was the last night of our 12 week bible study we had been doing at church, so I was pretty much focused on that. I arrived at the bible study only to find out that we did in-fact have 4-H that night, and leaving my oldest child at bible study, I took off like a lightning bolt toward home, to pick up what supplies I needed, and then to the 4-H extension office to drop off some of the stuff, and to tell them that I would be back in 15 minutes, because I had to run to the store to pick up more ingredients. Crazy... let me tell you.

Then, last Sunday no one was able to pick up the teenagers from the church retreat they went to, so they asked me to do it. Fine, I said I would, since my child was part of the group. Said church retreat was 2 hours away, I had never been there, but was able to ride along on the way up, to see where I needed to go. Last Sunday it rained buckets. Said church retreat was down a long dirt road, which had literally turned to mud before my eyes. Thinking I was pretty smart, I pulled into a parking spot in the grass. This turned out to be a bad mistake. The ground was soft, and my tires sunk in "you guessed it, Mud..." It took 5 gracious and muddy men to push and pull my van out. I then rode home with 7 teenagers, who watched "Over The Hedge" on our portable DVD player all the way back home. It's the only DVD that was in the van. Go figure.

The next day, we were asked by some friends at church if Scott and I could witness their will for them, so we met them at the lawyers office, and did that. This got Scott and I to talking about writing a will for ourselves, and so we went back to our friend's office (who just happens to be a lawyer, himself) and started a worksheet of sorts, for our will. I don't believe that we got very far with the whole thing, because there just was so much to discuss and decide. We are still discussing and deciding. Our friends are currently on a cruise, hence the updated will that needed to be witnessed.

Then Tuesday, I almost forgot, Scott and I drove up to Bolingbrook, IL for the Simply Charlotte Mason Seminar. We stayed at the Sheratan there, and had a fabulous time. The hotel was great, our room was great, everything was great! We arrived in Bolingbrook, about 3 hours before the conference was scheduled to start, so I thought it might be nice to visit IKEA. Yes, I said IKEA!!! Oh my word, that is my favorite store. I have been wanting to go there for 2 years now, but didn't know that there even was one in Illinois. When booking the hotel on-line, I noticed that there was in fact an IKEA there. Every person I have ever talked to that has been to IKEA in the past, has recommended this store to me. It was so cool! I totally fell in love with the bright colors, the kid's department is fabulous, I just can't say enough. Well, if you know me, I had to buy something. I ended up buying the cutest red children's table to go with their little brown chairs my mom gave me. The table was $12.99 people. How could I pass that up? I then saw the brightest and cutest place settings for children. Not that my kids need more plates, cups, and silverware, but I could not pass up the bright happy colors. The $1.99 price tag for each set didn't hurt too much either. I mean what is cuter than eating lunch on an orange plate, with an orange bowl, and an orange cup, and orange silverware? I digress.

Oh yeah, the conference... I was so excited to meet Sonya Schaffer in person. Wow!!! That is like meeting a movie star for us Charlotte Mason homeschooling moms. In case you don't know, she is the author of many Charlotte Mason based homeschooling books, and heads up the website Simply Charlotte Mason.com. The conference was held at a church, with around 30 people in attendance. It was so good! I learned so much that night. Have I been practicing what I have learned? Well, it is a work in progress. The conference was titled: Laying Down The Rails, and Reaching Your Child's Heart. I will go into more detail on the conference on a later post, as I need to go cook supper. Super conference though. I would attend another one by her, in a heartbeat, and homeschoolers it cost $7. to attend, and Scott was free. How's that for a deal?

Oh and speaking of supper, we ate at this awesome Chinese restaurant there, near our hotel. I ordered the crispy walnut shrimp and scallops. Oh my, it was wonderful. So was the pina colada, I had, in a coconut cup of all things. The walnuts were sugar coated, and the shrimp and scallops were in some sort of a white sauce. When I got home, I looked up the recipe on the Internet. I found it! Yummo! Guess what we are having for dinner tonight? You guessed it! I told Matt that he had to try it. I just knew that he would love it! I have already sugar coated the walnuts, and the shrimp is thawed. We are not having scallops because they are too expensive, and not necessary. The shrimp was the best part anyway. Oh and tons of broccoli florets. The white sauce is actually made with evaporated skim milk. So it's non-fat. I will post the recipe soon, if it's as yummy as the restaurants.

Well, today has been a cleaning, computer, lazy type day. If you read the negative post about our dog, I posted yesterday, I deleted it. She takes off so many times when the door is left open. It's been frustrating hunting her down for the past week, and then she disappeared for 28 hours. I truly needed today to rest. God forgive me.

Before I go, I have to tattle on Thumbody, who mistook sunscreen for hand soap this afternoon, and squirted it all over himself, and the bathroom counter, while I was cleaning up the family room. It's just another day in paradise!

MORE PHOTOS FROM OUR FIELD TRIP TO THE CHILDREN'S MUSEUM

TRUTHSEEKER PAINTING BEAUTIFUL PICTURES ON THE HUGE GLASS WINDOW. THEY ACTUALLY GET TO SQUIGEE IT OFF WHEN THEY'RE DONE.

TRUTHSEEKER PLAYING A HUGE GAME OF CHESS. CHECK-MATE!!!

THUMBODY PLAYING TRUTHSEEKER IN A HUGE GAME OF CHESS.

AVANTI'S PIZZA ANYONE? IF YOU EVER GET TO BLOOMINGTON, IL ... YOU MUST TRY AVANTI'S PIZZA AND BREAD! YUMMO!!!

YOU DIDN'T THINK THAT WE JUST PLAYED ALL DAY, DID YOU? THUMBODY IS RACING A SKELETON ON THIS ELIPTICAL BIKE. I THINK THAT THE SKELETON WAS WINNING :)

HOMESCHOOL FIELD TRIP TO THE CHILDREN'S MUSEUM

Our little homeschool group that gets together every Friday, rain or shine.

Scott had off of work this particular day, so he came with us. He and Truthseeker are having fun at the computers.

Thumbody enjoyed making his own pizza. He loved playing in this area so much, that we ended up purchasing him the pizza on the right. It's a Melissa & Doug set, in case you are wondering. I just love Melissa & Doug toys. I guess that's why we own so many of them (grin).

Everyone had such a blast at the water table. What could be more fun than playing in water?

Of course, Thumbody couldn't leave with playing with the Lego table. This is by far his favorite past-time.

I will post more photos later of this fun field trip with the kids. Happy Easter!

Missing Teeth!

Last July, Truthseeker lost his first tooth, at age 6.

Okay, well this photo should be last, but oh well. This photo was taken a couple weeks ago, Truthseeker has finally lost 5 teeth, including his top two. Can you see the new teeth poking through? Age 7.

This picture was taken about a week before the one above it. Both top teeth are very loose. They both came out a day apart. I was glad to see them go. Every time he would talk, they would move and dangle. It was a pretty funny sight!

MORE PHOTOS FROM OUR FIELD TRIP

Truthseeker was facinated by the snake. What little boys isn't?

Climbing the tree fort at the nature center.

Dipping fingers into the sweetwater for a taste.

Playing and exploring by the creek.

The kids and I counted the rings on this tree stump to see how old the tree was. It's 120 years old.

Homeschool Field Trip to Sugar Grove Nature Center

Our little nature study group.

Learning all about maple sirup and tapping trees. Yes, we got to taste the sweet water.

Looking at, and feeling all the different nature objects on the touch and feel table.

The boys play a conservation game inside the nature center.

Thumbody and his friend Tom :)

TOP O' THE MORNIN' TO YA!

HAPPY ST. PATTY'S DAY!

So it's not morning any more, but my wishes come with great Irish joy and enthusiasm. I am told that our family heritage is Celtic, not Irish, but none-the-less we celebrate this holiday annually in our home.

The planning of the festivities began last night as I cut out gold coins to hide with little St. Patrick's Day stickers and tattoos taped to the back of each coin. Scott hid the coins around the house late last night, so the kids could hunt for them this morning. I also printed out the gold coin box so the kids could have something to put their gold coins in. This box was taped together by yours truly late last night, and a nifty pair of shamrock glasses were placed a-top each box waiting for their arrival to the table this morning. All these neat little St. Patrick's Day goodies were downloaded, for free, from this fabulous website linked below. They have neat things to download for every holiday of the year, and other old fashioned paper toys as well.

http://www.thetoymaker.com/TOYLISTNEWSLETTERS/1TMNews0309.html

So this morning the kids awoke before us. They were so excited that the leprechaun had come and left gold coins for them to find. This was the first activity of the day, even before breakfast was served.

What did we have for breakfast, you ask? Why the traditional Irish breakfast of Lucky Charms, of course.

After breakfast I put the corned beef, cabbage, and potatoes in the crock pot to cook all day, and then it was off to read the kids an Irish Tale of leprechaun trickery. We then played a few games of Irish memory cards also printed from the website above.

After the games had ended, I sent the kids outside to play in the backyard while I took a quick shower. Scott was home supervising the kids outside. After my shower, we got down to the business of our regular school day, with math, reading, history, etc...

At around noon Scott went and got his mom, brother, and uncle to come for our Irish feast. It should be done by 5 p.m. and then I will take them home. Scott had to work tonight, and had to leave by 1 p.m. It doesn't matter, he doesn't like corned beef and cabbage anyway.

Soon after his mom arrived, I put her to work making a chocolate cake for dessert tonight using my new stand mixer I got for our anniversary in February. I just love it!

For lunch we had a non-traditional Irish meal of ham and cheese sandwiches, avocado, chips, and a fresh fruit salad of green grapes, strawberries, and bananas.

We are now done with school for the day, I am relaxing at the computer, and finally getting to update my blog once again.

Wishing you a great St. Patrick's Day! By the way, the photo in my heading above is from last year's St. Patty's Day celebration 2008.

Artistic Talent- Dry Brushing Technique

The boys used a dry brushing technique on their nature study paintings this morning. I thought that they were so talented that I chose to frame their artwork and hang them on the walls in our home. What home doesn't need to be filled with great artwork?
Truthseeker's rendition of a Canada Goose, and a Crocus.

Skaterboy's is titled: Canada Goose in Flight. Thought you might like these.

God's path to righteousness

I mentioned to you in my last blog post that I was planning to reveal what I have learned thus far on my path to righteousness. This began last Summer, or probably way before that, but I didn't notice a change occurring until then. I guess I will start from there.

I guess this all came to a head during the Winter of 2008. I'm not sure whether it was January or February, but none-the-less it was Winter. I remember feeling like I was in a rut. A huge rut. Scott had been working at the same job for years, I was homeschooling the kids, I was burnt out from volunteering too much at church, and other organizations that I felt obligated to help with, and my house always seemed to be a mess. I was yelling at the kids, the kids were yelling at me, and Scott was yelling at everyone. We were miserable souls. I remember thinking on this cold and bleak afternoon, that nothing would ever change. We would remain this way forever. I remember calling up to God for help, but not even certain that He was listening. Life was the pits.

Spring forward into May 2008. Skaterboy was graduating 8th grade soon, and feeling obligated to have a celebration for him, because all his friends were celebrating, soon became a reality. I invited mostly friends and family to this event, not even considering adding the local homeschool group to attend. Before I knew it, I was hosting our local homeschool 8th grade graduation in our backyard. How this happened is beyond reason. All of a sudden I was ordering tasseled key chains with '07 printed on them, and printing out personalized diplomas for a number of families that wanted to attend. Little did I know that it was in God's plan for that party to take place at our home that sunny May afternoon.

One of the families who wanted to come to the graduation, I had never met before. They were newer to our community, and had a boy about Skaterboy's age who would be graduating 8th grade. When they got here, it was only the son and mom who came. They said that their daughter had been in the hospital for quite some time, and just so happened to be able to come home the day before the party, so the father was home with her. The mom had thought about not even coming to the party, but wanted to do it for her son.

Them being at the party at that time had no significance to me. I was happy they were here, and everyone seemed to have a great time. After the party, everyone left, and life went on as usual.

Little did I know that this family would become so near and dear to our hearts in the coming months. Soon after the party we began looking for a different church. The size of our church had grown considerably, and there were some problems that we began to see, that we just didn't feel comfortable with. We started trying different churches in town. Scott was not into this. He felt comfortable at our old church, and didn't feel a need to change. I was adamant that we must find a different church. After being disappointed with some of the local churches we visited, I digressed that we would never find a church family that we could feel a part of. I remember on one particular Sunday, after visiting a church we chose to check off our list, sat down at the computer and googled "churches in ..........., IL." Well there were a number of churches listed, some we had already tried, and very few websites. So I chose the first one with a website. I clicked on it, and up popped a photo of a nice church, the hours, and the pastor's name, etc... As I skimmed through the information, I recognized the pastor's last name being the same as the lady and son who attended our homeschool graduation a few weeks back. Under the pastor's name it said "family blog" , so of course I had to find out if it was them. Sure enough, it was them. I noticed on their family blog that the wife had written a book that was downloadable from their website. Of course I had to read that too. It took 12 hours to read, but I read it, on-line, without printing it out. It was very good. This confirmed my decision that this church must be next on our list.

So the following Sunday, we attended church there. It had a small congregation, just what we were looking for, and more teenagers, than I could have ever hoped for. There were potlucks scheduled, and a camping trip at a nearby campground. It seemed like we had found our family church, and everything finally felt like things were going right for once. I started reading Edith Schaeffer's book The Hidden Art of Homemaking,
http://cgi.ebay.com/Hidden-Art-of-Homemaking-by-Edith-Schaeffer-1985_W0QQitemZ190290257940QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUS_Nonfiction_Book?hash=item190290257940&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72%3A1205%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318%7C301%3A1%7C293%3A1%7C294%3A50

I had purchased it on ebay some time before, and it inspired me to basically clean up my act, and my house. Things were good.

Fast forward to late October 2008. Things were still going good, and our lady's group at church decided to start a new bible study by Beth Moore called Breaking Free. http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=beth+moore+-+breaking+free&tag=yahhyd-20&index=stripbooks&hvadid=42582012011&ref=pd_sl_4yp15vrmnt_b

Little did I know the impact that this bible study would have on my life. This was also in God's plan, but I didn't know it yet. As I daily went through this bible study course, I began to learn many things about my life, and how my sins, generation sins, and other people's sins, have effected my life. The best part was that at the end of this bible study I could be free. Free from the bondage that had kept me prisoner for years. It was true freedom I felt, and nothing could disrupt that, or so I thought. I felt closer to God than I had felt in a very long time, and I was actually enjoying my bible reading every day, and planned to continue my reading as time went by.

Well, as most people know, Satan hates when we are no longer in bondage, and he whammed us harder than we had ever been hit before. I am talking smacked, pummeled, beat-up, spit us out, and continued to do it over and over again. I thought that it would never end. But we remained steadfast. Shaky, but steadfast.

In November alone, our washer broke, our dryer died, our van broke down, our microwave died,
our computer had to be taken in a number of times, as did Matt's laptop. We were running on empty. It was downright ridiculous all the things that were breaking down, but I remained steadfast. Shaky, but steadfast. Then WHAM....the biggest one hit!!! Scott called one cold and snowing morning in mid December, and said that the company he had worked for for 10 years was closing down in 3 weeks. Okay... I have to admit that I panicked. I got off the phone and just cried. I felt defeated. I was angry. Why had God allowed Satan to do this to us, after I had worked so hard to be faithful to him. Then immediately I felt ashamed and completely unworthy of any grace that He gave me, because I was so undeserving. I was completely numb. Then God himself gave me a peace that I cannot comprehend, that this was all in His plan, and things would be alright. I did some figuring on paper, and felt secure that things would be alright. Surely Scott would find a job soon, and we could live on unemployment for at least 6 months, and our tax return, if we needed to.

It was great having him home at Christmas. The kids enjoyed every bit of it, as did I. It was a wonderful Christmas, although we were more careful than most years not to over do it. Little did I know that this would probably one of the few Christmases for years, that he would have off work to be with us.

The day after Christmas, I started to feel sick. My stomach hurt unbearably. I could hardly eat anything. I was miserable. I remembered that I was supposed to have an upper endoscopy back in July, but dismissed the appointment, because of other things that came up, and I felt well. So Scott ended up taking me into the ER. Long story short, I was very worried that I had esophageal cancer. Don't ask me why, because you know the answer. I got on the web, and did some symptom searching, and found some blogs. Oh, you don't want to know the rest. All I can say is, bad idea. So I was so worked up, when they scheduled the endoscopy, sure that my life was entirely over, and even to the point of wondering where my kids would go, it was bad... real bad.

Anyway, I had my endoscopy in late January, and everything turned out fine. Better than fine. The Barret's esophagus that I had had for 7 years prior, was gone, completely gone. Praise God!!!
Being that it was January, and January is the most depressing month of the year, I began to despair about Scott's job. He had been applying at places, but no one was hiring. I was starting to worry a lot, and stress a lot about the situation. I was trying not to, for Scott's sake, but unfortunately that was easier said than done. It seemed hopeless, and the future seemed pretty bleak. Luckily, our bills were still getting paid on-time, because we had gotten our tax return back, and Scott was getting unemployment. This made things easier to digest, but an uncertain future feels..... well, unsettling.

Then, about a month ago, a man from our "tiny" church asked Scott if he was interested in security work. Scott told him that he had worked security for many years, but it didn't pay well. The man asked what companies Scott had worked security for, and Scott told him. The man told him that his company bought out the last firm that Scott had worked for. He then asked how much Scott needed to make. Scott told him, and the guy started laughing, saying that since 911 they were paying security officers much higher, little did we know how much higher. The man told Scott if he was interested that he should go into his office the next day, and fill out an application. When Scott got there the next day, he was all ready for him with a few client interviews. One was at a low income apartment complex in a larger city near here, that seemed kind of unsafe to me, and the other was at the hospital. He interviewed for both, and praise God, he got the job at the hospital. The Lt. at the hospital that hired him, was very impressed with Scott's record, and background, and best of all, Scott loves his job. He loves it!
He will have to work many weekends and holidays, but I'm okay with that. He is much happier than I have ever seen him in quite a few years.

For Valentine's Day (our wedding anniversary) we watched Fireproof at our church with a group of other couples. What a wonderful movie. It has totally inspired me to give our marriage more attention than I have been giving it. It's so hard sometimes when you have kids; because you sometimes forget that you have another life with another person. At least I had forgotten.
So, now I am working on that, and other things too.

In closing, I want to ask you a question. Do you see a profound path here, in the story I have just told you above? I do. I see a clear path, a road in which God is leading me and my family on. I don't know where this path will go, but I do know that it's headed for an eternal place where we can finally find peace and happiness once and for all. It's the only place that we can see God, and know what righteousness really means.

Simple Women's Daybook -- February 22, 2009

Monday, February 22
Simple Women's Day book -- February 22, 2009

FOR TODAY . . .

Outside my window. . . Sunny and cold. No snow/frost on the van.

I am thinking. . . That life is finally getting back to "normal" again.

I am thankful for. . . Scott has a new job!!! Can I hear an A-MEN! It just goes to prove the old adage that it's not what you know, but who you know that matters most in some cases. I will give you the short version of how this all came about.

Our church consists of about 50 regular members (including children). It's a very small, yet spirit filled congregation. We love our church. I have said this time and time again. It's a perfect fit for us. Anyway, after Scott's company closed in December, our whole congregation was praying for Scott and new employment.

In late December one of congregation members came up to Scott and offered him a job with his security firm, but Scott wasn't so sure he wanted to take it. Scott worked security for quite a few years after being in the Marines, and we both knew that it didn't pay very good. That is why Scott left his security job in the first place. The last time he worked security was back in 1997.
He loved the work, but we couldn't support a family on what they were paying him. It was all in God's plan though.

All through January and part of February, Scott continued to look for work. The economy is so bad, that most places are on hiring freezes right now, or they simply are not hiring. Now I'm sure he could have been hired in a restaurant or something, but he wanted to make at least what he was making when he left Babcock, and more than what he was getting on unemployment.

So anyway, after church one afternoon a few weeks back, Scott was talking to Rob (the security manager for this particular security firm) and Scott commented that he couldn't afford to go back to security work. Rob said, how much do you need to make? Scott told him, and Rob started laughing, saying that after 911 security firms are no longer paying their workers poorly. That he would be paid a considerable amount higher than what he was making before. Scott also found out that Rob's firm has bought out the last security firm that Scott had worked for in 1997, and that Scott's file was still in their office. Rob told Scott to come into the office the very next day, and would get him some client interviews. He interviewed at Memorial Hospital last week, and was hired the very next day. He will be working 4/ 12 hours shifts a week. He will be among 2 other hospital security guards, that are in charge of hospital security, monitoring the morgue, and checking people in and out of the morgue for autopsies. Helping with the Helli-pad, and other duties. It's such a great job, and Memorial Hospital is a great place to work, from what we hear. We have a friend who is the Director of the Radiology Dept. at the hospital, so Scott already knows someone who works there. I am really excited for him and for what this means for our family. Praise God!!! It has totally been a test of faith and trust for me. I will post about this journey I have been on, in a few days.

From the schoolroom. . . . Skaterboy: History: The study of Molly Pitcher; True facts about the Declaration of Independence. Geography: Revolutionary War Route; Spelling: Review for Spelling test tomorrow; Math: Continuing on with Algebraic equations and percentages; English: continuing on with the current chapter; Reading, Kidnapped by RLS. Science: Review for chapter test tomorrow. Free reading: a few books he picked up at the library last week.

Truthseeker: Reading: A Beka's Tiptoes (almost done with that one); Phonics: K-12 and A Beka lessons 40- 48 this week. Math: still working on Adding and Subtraction; Social Studies: Unit 6, Around the world, finish lesson by Friday. Spelling test tomorrow. God's World Science: Still studying our Magnet Unit.

Last Friday, I paid Skaterboy's annual tuition and testing fees for the upcoming 2009-2010 school year at Midwest Christian Academy. He will still be homeschooled next year, however this accredited school, will provide the curriculum, books, guidance counseling, and testing. Since Thumbody will be starting Pre-K next year, I feel that I need to turn HS over to someone else. I will still be his teacher, but I won't have to do any of the planning. It is very cut and dry. I may add some additional material (books) as I feel necessary. The Charlotte Mason philosophy that is instilled inside of me to the very core of my being, knows that "living" books are the key to "real" learning. We will be using "Higher Up and Further In's curriculum for Truthseeker and Thumbody next year. Thumbody will be year 0, and Truthseeker will be year 2. We will use other things as well. Probably a lot of A Beka, K-12, and Rod and Staff. Those seem to be my favorites, and work well with my children.


From the kitchen... Breakfast: Berry and banana smoothies with flax, banana nut muffins; Lunch: Ham and cheese sandwiches, crackers, and mandarin oranges; Supper: Chicken Caccatori with broccoli, and stuffed baked potatoes.

I am wearing. . . PJ's again. Does anyone else ever homeschool in pj's?

I am creating. . . I have a lot of catching up to do in this department. I am currently stitching a tapestry for our bedroom wall. Tropical scene by the sea, with a sailboat. Very tranquil. I am using colors to match our PB duvet cover.


On the home front.... Still haven't finished hanging the new bedroom door yet, but at least we know what to do now. We had to ask someone who does construction work at church, if we could saw a small portion of the door off at the bottom, and sand it, so it won't scrape the carpet. He said that we could.


I am going. . . No where today. What a blessing! We've been running around all weekend!


I am hearing. . .Nothing, this kind of scares me...

A few plans for the rest of the week. . . Nothing really, until Friday. We have our nature study group meeting at Cindy's on Friday at 10 a.m.; Saturday, Kaysha and I are attending a Charlotte Mason Homeschool Seminar in Bloomington, all day; Scott and the kids are going with the 4-H group to Sugar Grove Nature Center for their annual Maple Sirup Experience. I need to make sure I send the camera with Scott that day.

A photo I feel like sharing.... Our 3 Point Basketball Star!!! Skaterboy actually made a 3 pointer at the homeschool basketball game against the Home School Black Knights this past Saturday. I think Skaterboy was as shocked as the rest of the team. He ended up scoring 5 points for the team during the game. The Lincoln Home Educators team beat the Black Knights 59-27. They lost the first game. Our girls team was beaten both games, but the 2nd game they fought hard, and the ending score was very close.

One thing we found interesting, and somewhat strange, was that the other team seemed to be tripping our team members. It happened a good number of times. A few of their team members seemed to have poor attitudes during the final game, and there was some ball whipping out of anger shown. It surprised us that a homeschool team could show such poor spirit. This we feel was their downfall during the second game. There were quite a few personal fouls given for poor sportsmanship. We were very proud of our boys and girls and the good sportsmanship they portrayed, whether they won or lost.

Simple Women's Daybook -- February 19, 2009

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Simple Woman's Day book - Thurs., Feb. 19

Simple Woman’s Day book ~

FOR TODAY . . .

Outside my window. . . Bright and sunny. No snow. Looks very much like Spring is right around the corner.

I am thinking. . . The path that God is leading us on. It seems to be following a consistent path of spiritual growth and learning to trust in Him. I will elaborate more on this, as I find out more myself.

I am thankful for. . . My test results from the endoscopy I had about a month ago. They called yesterday to confirm that there was no sign of anything other than acid reflux disease. Even my Beret's esophagus has gone away, which was a huge surprise to me since I didn't know that it could go away. As you can imagine, I was very excited to hear this.

From the schoolroom. . . . Skaterboy has been working diligently on his Early American History. He has recently done studies on The Boston Massacre, Paul Revere (the true story, not just the poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow) , Dr. Church, Benjamin Franklin, and the signing of the Declaration of Independence. In math he is currently working on algebraic equations involving percentages; In science he has been studying global warming, and the ozone. He is currently reading Kidnapped by Robert L. Stevenson, and in English he is just about to start a new chapter.

Truthseeker is toward the end of his "Tiptoes" (A Beka) reading book. He is currently working on adding and subtracting in math. In science he is currently studying magnets (God's World -- A Beka), in history and geography, he is just beginning a chapter on "Our Country and Beyond". He is doing well in spelling, and is quite the little artist in his nature study notebook.

Both kids are learning Latin.


From the kitchen... Breakfast: French toast; Lunch: PB&J's, carrot sticks, and Cheese-It crackers; Supper: Marinated sirloin steak in the crock pot with roasted root vegetables (sweet potato and carrots).

I am wearing. . . Dare I say that I am still in my pj's?

I am creating. . . Costumes for Saturday. A couple of homeschool friends are throwing a birthday party and we all have to dress up as our favorite classical storybook character. Can you guess who mine is? If you answered, Josephine March with a big patch on her booty, you are correct. Skaterboy hasn't decided on who he wants to be yet, Truthseeker chose Huckleberry Finn, Thumbody is going as Sherlock Holmes, and Scott is undecided, at this moment as well. I'm sure we will come up with something for everyone.


On the home front....Mostly home remodeling projects. Yesterday we began what we thought would be an easy job of installing a new bedroom door. We purchased a prehung one, so we thought how hard could that be? Well needless to say, we are still trying to get the darn door to sit right. Our house is not level, making the job more difficult than we first imagined it would be. If you have any ideas, please feel free to comment.

I am going. . . Skaterboy has basketball practice at noon; 4-H at 6:30; a trip to the grocery store, and to the library.


I am hearing. . .The spin cycle on the washing machine, the kids "getting along" in the living room. Wait... what did I say?

One of my favorite things. . . Some time to myself... Ahhh, the joy of it!


A few plans for the rest of the week. . . Field trip to the children's museum in Bloomington tomorrow morning with our nature study group, then onto Midwest Christian Academy to register Skaterboy for next year, and pay the annual tuition; Midnight madness crop at Cindy's house tomorrow night; Skaterboy's basketball game in Decatur on Saturday morning, then back home and off to a birthday party for 2 homeschool friends.


A photo I feel like sharing.... Don't you wish it were Summer? I have been longing for Summer lately.




Truthseeker in our backyard pool, 2008.

Monday, February 2, 2009

Simple Woman's Daybook - Mon., Feb. 2, 2009
Simple Woman’s Day book ~

FOR TODAY . . .

Outside my window. . . Happy Ground hog's Day! The weather has been nice today. Sunny and quite warm. Most of the snow that has accumulated over the past week, is melting.

I am thinking. . . About all the lost jobs here recently. The neighbor across the street was talking with Scott this morning, and told him that after 35 years of service to his company, they laid him off last week. We have another friend whose husband is working for Caterpillar, and wondering if after 20 years of service, he will be laid off soon. There simply are no jobs available right now anywhere it seems. Scott has been looking everywhere for work, but most places have a freeze on hiring right now. It doesn't look good. I am optimistic that we will survive, however. At least I am still working doing respite care in my home. So some additional income is coming in, and I just got a raise. Praise God!

I am thankful for. . . The peace that passes all understanding.

From the schoolroom. . . . Truthseeker learned all about groundhogs today, and put together a lap book about them. He predicted that the groundhog would see his shadow today, by reasoning that he could see his shadow, so therefore, the groundhog must be able to see his as well. I thought he was pretty smart to be able to reason that at 7. He was thrilled when he found out that he was correct in his prediction. Reading, math, and science, also planned for him. Social studies test tomorrow. For Skaterboy, History and geography research papers, algebra, science and English tests tomorrow.

From the kitchen... Breakfast: Cereal and toast for the kids; toast and mashed avocado for me. Lunch: Cheese pizza. Supper: Chicken salad wraps with left-over baked chicken from last night, coleslaw, roasted fries and fresh vegetables in olive oil, salt and pepper.


I am wearing. . . Black jeans, burgundy turtleneck, navy blue hoodie. I am barefoot.

I am creating. . . Last week was a nightmare, as far as my creativity was concerned. Not getting much in this area done lately. I am still hopeful, however. Still planning on sewing these for Samuel's birthday which was a few days ago. http://family-centered.com/needleworks/soft-baby-shoes/

I am going. . . Need to go grocery shopping. Mainly need to pick up some gummy candy for our big "gummy" basket the kids are creating for our 4-H auction and spaghetti dinner next Sunday afternoon. Meeting is tonight at 6:30 p.m. I have my respite care child until 6 p.m. tonight.

I am hoping. . . That it is in God's plan that Scott gets a great job soon. If not, we are prepared, as we are saving most of our tax refund, to live on this coming year, if and when his unemployment ends. We are living day to day. Hopeful that the president will come up with something new to help those unemployed.

I am hearing. . . The dryer, Scott putting things away in the kitchen, and Zach.


Around the house. . . Still trying to finish up our bedroom; the family room is in desperate need of rearranging; the kid's room need cleaning.
What I have done this past week: Gave a huge bag of baby things away to freecycle. org; dusted every nook and cranny in our living room; vacuumed every nook and cranny in our living room and hallway. Yes, down on hands and knees. I threw away a ton of old magazines that I was holding onto for no goof reason; did quite a few loads of laundry. Oh, and I've lost 10 lbs. probably due to stress and not eating last week, don't want to gain those back. I have a goal, but I'm not going to tell you about that yet.

One of my favorite things. . . Making lists, and actually checking things off.


A few plans for the rest of the week. . . Depositing checks; paying bills; planning for the rest of the week (menu, school, activities); Catching up on chores that need completing. Maybe some time to scrapbook and sew.

A photo I feel like sharing.... Some sewing projects I finished for Christmas this past year. Stitched felt ornaments for all. Truthseeker and Thumbody's ornaments were snowmen; Skaterboy's was a cup of hot cocoa. The last photo is of pj bottoms I created out of old fleece baby blankets we had in a storage box. I am a big fan of recycling, and I wondered why I hadn't thought of sewing these sooner. The notion hit me, and I took off with it. There was enough material left over for many pairs of hats and mittens, as well, plus 2 other pairs of pj bottoms.