why I cant seem to post...

Hmmm. let me ponder that questin for awhile?

I really do not know. I mean I am busy but I was busy before and still posted?

yMy mil really misses me posting and I dont her I think the real reason I am not posting as much is sadly enough because of my camera. I dont think most of my readers can understand the depths of my sadness at being with out a camera! My memories are pictures! It really makes me sad, everytime I post that I dont have a camera! But enough whining!

So what has happened since last I posted???

America has celebrated the day of Independance... it was spent with family and friends! We had a wonderful weekend, but boy were we tired when we got back home!

DH and I celebrated our 12th anniversary. Yes 12 years! In this day and age it is like equal to our 50th! I really wonder what the percentage of people our age actually last till their 12 anniversary! I am sure it is small.

My baby boy turned 9 years old. That surprises me even more than the anniversary! I still dont think I comprehend it very well. Yesterday he commenced to ask me all the things a boy gets to do when he turns 10- because well he's already turned 9 and his thoughts are all about the double digits! So he asked about four wheeling and he asked about his drivers liscense! akkkk

We had the "s*x" talk with Matt. That was enlighting! He had the weirdest questions: one of which was the question... about where can you have s*x! It was loads of fun I assure you!

We are planning next years AHG! Busy

I am planning next years BSCH... which btw the moms planning meeting went very, very well. People were very open to the website and changing things some! I am very excited about this coming year! I have plans!

I am working on next years school plans and feeling good becasue I feel like I have a plan and I have a way to be accountable! I need accountability!

I guess that's all for now..

Oh yesterday Emily got sand art sand all down her ear and we had to go to urgent care for them to irrigate the ear! The doctor and nurse said it was the weirdest foreign object they had retrieved from the ear becasue it wasnt simply beach sand but craft art sand! It was 45.00 extra from our budget plus dinner out but life is life! We will make up for it somewhere! We are trying to be so careful and doing a pretty darn good job of it! At one point I told Emily that this was her only foreign object withdrawel that we would pay for the next one was on her! She looked so solemn and serious that I couldnt help laughing! She was very brave until the doctor brought out a syringe of warm solution and she got kindof worried... she was so worried she couldnt even talk and little tears just ran down her face. It was very traumatic and I could hardly stand her being so worried and scared!


Anyway! There is our past couple of days! How has your life been!

Today...

Today was such a great day! We accomplished so much! We had a good day! I have a post that I havent posted yet titled frustration and aggravation... that was definitely not today! We didnt wake up early but we did get started with our day as soon as we got up. Matthew began his Bible reading this morning... I didnt even have to remind him! We accomplished our morning chores and out for a full day of errands! We went to the library, the dry cleaners, the bank, Staples, Half Price Books, the post office, to get a hair cut, the Apple store, Target, Payless and HEB for grocery shopping!


WHEWWW!!!!!!!!!!!! I was never more than like 15 miles from my house! YEAH!!!


I got my haircut and it feels so good! I needed it so very, very badly! I always say I wont let it go that long but I DO!

We bought Dave a phone case for his new IPhone which is coming on Friday! He is so excited! We bought the case kind of as a surprise but I actually ended up calling him because there were so many different kinds! So it was a surprise to him but he wont BE surprised!

We didnt get home from our errands until after 6:45 and then I cooked dinner! Yikes. I am exhausted!


I also bought my newest organizational tool at Target. This is sooo exciting for me. I love buying organizational tool. Just the mere act gives me confidence and makes me feel like I am taking such a big action! So it is just a binder..but it is a very special binder! I tried to find a picture but I cant sorry! It is a big beautiful red binder! It has a place for files, it has a notebook for taking notes and it has a calculator and zippered pouch! I LOVE IT.

I will have an area for Household, Bills, Homeschooling, AHG, BSCH.

I have spent an hour just putting it all together! Did I say I love it!

I need organizational tools. I thrive with organizational tools. The only problem is that after a while I forget to use them! LOL!

WEll while it lasts it will be good...

Shouldnt there be...

Shouldnt there be a time in our lives when we are NOT struggling with an important decsion? I mean we muster through one problem and work so hard to get it resolved or to decide our course of action and it is hard work! But it seems as soon as we are through with that and see the light of day, here comes another struggle! I want to just live for a while, I want to just do and just be! I am tired of struggling so much to make a decision! Especially when I probably know the right decision and the struggle is actually following through!

So Dave and I are working on a few of our conviction lately... some of which came about about after the imfamous Sethsa conference.

Some of those convictions are:

what activities the kids will be involved in

What area's do I need to be involved in

and What areas does the family as a whole need to be involved in.


Now these are really tough choices. for one thing they are fluid (that is not the best choice of words but what I mean is the circumstances change and therefore the answers to the question changes.)

What is right in one stage or season of our lives is different from other stages and seasons! So we try to figure our what each person needs and what we want for each person and plan accordingly. My problem is that I try way to hard to FIT all of us into one mold. For instance Kate is our artist, not really Matt and Emily... so Kate needs to be in an art class not Matt and Emily. So even though it is an activity that Kate should be involved with, it automatically involves the rest of us because of time and money commitments. I have to count the cost!

AHG as a program seems beneficial. I believe that the girls can learn a lot and I am using my skills as a leader and Matt is socializing. But given the ENORMOUS time involved and cost... is it right for our life right now? There are other problems with AHG but I dont feel like discussing them yet.

BSCH... this is a hard one. Before I have done this basically as a service and because I got what I needed out of it. Also there was the tiny issue of no one else stepping up! I dont mean to be selfish about it and I really did pray to meet others needs but it did not feel like a ministry, it felt more like a service. I am more at the point of it feeling like a ministry. Now of course I already talked about our Planning meeting and wondering what course people want to take for the new school year but for me at this point I am looking at it as a service situation--- but as a service TO others. Meaning want to serve them not just fill a particular need. I dont feel as though I made that point very clear but lets move on anyway!

Church... I had a long discussion the other day with someone about churches and why we are or are not currently going. This is a big, huge gray area for me! Number one I really want hubbie to take the lead and he isnt. He will follow my lead anywhere but I want him to take the lead on this topic. So we have tried a number of different churches and none have fit what we believe we need right now and we are still looking, but for instance we were supposed to visit a church on Sunday and hubbie just didnt do it. I do not want to take the kids by myself but I suppose it will come to that. Now dont get me wrong if I got up and had everyone dressed and ready he would get up and be dressed and ready but I do enough parenting...! (btw... Hubbie reads this and knows all this already) So the situation puts us in a situation where there is zero forward movement. Yes we are stagnant! So I guess we need to work on that or I will end up toting kids to church myself! Very frustrating.

Finances... we have come to terms with the bills for the house, meaning we are very capable of meeting and paying those bills. It took a while to make sure how all that would work but I feel confident right now that we can. My problem is not with bills it is with the misc fund! I just plain spend to much on other misc items. Mostly fast food or eating out! I make menu and shop and have food available I just dont seem to be home to cook it or for instance our air conditioning was our some of last week and it was TOO hot to cook here! Now this is a problem I can solve I just have to make that happen! I have to reign in the belt, I have to be more serious with my time and my schedule. I have to be a better planner! I know that I can, I have certainly done it in the past but I just have to jump back on the bandwagon! But all our activities and situations also wreak havoc on our finances. I need to make good decisions so that we have money for art, gymnastic, extra gas for getting to things, field trip, vacation, etc. See how it is all intertwined!

And there are of course many other activities that we have to decide if we will be involved it...

4H
Looking towards courting group
outside Bible study
classes during the school year
extra curricular church classes
sports
volunteer work
play dates


these are just a few examples. I am tired of just joining because. I want a reason, a plan! Not for every single minute or every single activity all the time! But a general route. We are getting to "x" and which of the activities will push us on our way and which ones are just complete detours. Are some of the detours worth it? How often do we change the route? Each persons Map looks a little different but I do not always plan our activities accordingly.

What do you do to decide about being involved in an activity???

Okay it is 5:14 in the morning

Now you might need to know why that would be the title of post, but I want to make it clear in my memory when I actually said this so that I can remind myself!

I do not think I am doing a great job raising my kids.

phrewww I said it! I know we all think it but do we say it! Do we talk about all the mistakes, all the mishaps along the way, about everything we did the wrong way or everytime we said the wrong thing! NO. We dont, why not? I mean shouldnt we LEARN from each other's mistakes? Shouldnt we try to not do whatever the other person did to mess it all up?

Truly though I dont think it would help all that much to hear everyone else's mistakes! Because we all make our own mistakes...

My current mistake is............ drumroll.



NOTHING NEW~ I JUST HAVE NOT APPARENTLY REALLY REALIZED THAT IT IS A MISTAKE SO I KEEP MAKING IT!



It is me. I am the mistake. I am too hard on them. I do not have enough grace and the times I have grace are probably the wrong times! (have you ever had that feeling?) I have a bad attitude- although the kids get in trouble for having a bad attitude and I can be downright mean.


Now I have the "in my defense" paragraph all planned out BUT I am not going to use it! I am going to delete that paragraph because I have no defense honestly! It is all my own fault and I HAVE TO CHANGE. My response to my kids behavior is my own choice. It is all up to me!

I dont want to be this way and I do catch myself doing it and sometimes I shift gears but other times I stand there with that angel on one shoulder whispering in my ear but the devil is apparently louder because even when I see myself acting that way I still dont stop! Seriously! This is ON ME! I have got to pull it together!

So I am working on how our day runs right now and we have started up quiet time again! We do it every now and then still but not every day and we NEED to do it every day! It is imperative in my opinion. We all need a quiet time each day! so that will be helpful. I have also (not very nicely) managed to let the kids know that I really, really, really do want to BE LEFT ALONE IN THE BATHROOM! I finally screamed it and now they are I am sure scared to come near the bathroom door, but I had had enough and let them have it. I did apologize and try to explain that I felt I had asked nicely A LOT of times and that I really, really did need them to just let me go pee pee by myself! So hopefully this will set it and will be one less daily (hourly) problem!

I am also of course trying to better and change myself. I know it wont be overnight but still I have to really work on it! Now dont think I havent worked on it before I have but I REALLY have to buckle down on myself! I want to be different and I want my kids to see a difference. The problem is that I could me nice mommy for weeks and then if I am mean mommy one time that is all they seem to remember! That is frustrating to me because I dont know if they know how hard it is to be nice sometimes! I mean when I am fighting them, you know the struggle for obedience- I just get worn down and I get irritated! Who doesnt? But not everyone is as mean as I am when they do! I am sure that some people are but not everyone and it doesnt matter what anyone else does anyway, I want to be different.

I want to be nice mommy- but more than that I want to be good example mommy! I want to be do what I do AND say Mommy! Right now I am not that person!


Anyway else feel that way????

Here are some scriptures that I am meditating on...

Proverbs 31:26-31 "She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue. She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: Many woman do noble things, but you surpass them all." Charm is deceptive , and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. Give her the reward she has earned, and let her works bring her praise at the city gate. *




Proverbs 14

“People with a hot temper do foolish things; wiser people remain calm.”


Proverbs 22
“Don’t make friends with people who have hot, violent tempers. You might learn their habits and not be able to change.” (24,25)


II Cor. 10:4-5 - "(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) (5) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exa!teth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;"


Pray. 15:1 - "A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger."

olive oil...

I know weird post title, but I got your attention didnt I~

I went to the SETHSA Home school conference this past Thursday and Friday. Conferences are a time for information OVERLOAD, they are a time for encouragement and sharpening and they are a time for buying lots of cool stuff! Well this year I got it all, I got information overload, I got encouragement and lots of sharpening and I didnt actually buy anything but I found lots of cool stuff to buy!

I heard speakers I had heard before... who I love and respect but I also had the chance to sit in on some new speakers. My favorite OR possibly lease favorite was David Hazell. He is the found of My Fathers World and has very successfully home schooled 6 children. I went to his workshop titled, What every Christian needs to teach their children in the 21st Century. I sat down in the chair, settled in for his talk and he began speaking... HE TOOK MY IDEOLOGY AND TORE IT TO SHREDS. I just sat there stunned. I didnt really understand what I was hearing for a while but he made some VERY valid points. Dont get me wrong, I didnt agree with him 100% but he made some really, really valid points! I bought the CD of the workshop because I felt like I needed to hear it again and I wanted Dave to hear it of course. I also went to another workshop he gave which was titled, Blending unit studies, classical education and Charlotte Mason all into one. Another very good workshop but still I felt raw when leaving!

So the other workshops I went to I heard a lot of the same line of reasoning- not because I think every workshop holder has the same idea but because God was trying to get a message to me! I really felt convicted and God brought that same line of reasoning to me again and again! It even happened twice when just talking to vendors out in the expo. So like I said at the end of the two days I felt raw, I felt slightly more defeated than when I got there but in a very different way! Does that make sense?

Okay onto the olive oil... yet there is a reason for the title! I also went to a workshop give by Hank Tate (a very important person in home schooling around these parts! He and his wife were instrumental in the beginning days of home schooling and they started Sethsa (South East TExas HOme Schooling Association). Anyway, the workshop was for support group leaders. Becky and I went hoping to gain some valuable information to take back to our support group. I learned a lot! I am feeling good but I am also feeling like we might not have a support group for long. ---Brenda or Jennifer I know you are reading this prior to hearing like the rest of the group, but understand I am blogging my personal thoughts :)
What I mean by that is I dont really know if the majority of our groups wants a support group... I think they just want a play group. I have wonderful, great and big ideas for a support group but I dont wanna run a play group. I dont want to take the time away from my family, home making, home schooling etc for a play group.
I want to HELP home schoolers. I want to support the moms, I want the moms to support each other. I want to actually be a support group- I just need to finish defining what I think that is and see if anyone in the group agrees! Or at least design the type of support group that most people agree on! So between now and June 29, which is when we have a moms planning meeting for the group I am hoping to really pray and get ready for the meeting. There has already been a lot of change in the group and I dont think people are ready for more change but as the group grows, we have to change and grow with it! It really cant be helped... so sorry back to the olive oil. Hank Tate said during one really trying time in his life with some groups he lead the Lord showed him about olive oil. Olive oil has medicinal properties, it is the best product, the best part of the olive! what do you have to do to GET olive oil. You have to press and squeeze it out of the olive. The olive is crushed in order to make the oil but the final product is pure and good! So we too are put through the crushing. Now I know Hank Tate didnt come up with this I know that the Bible talks about this concept but when Hank put it in the context of leading the support group, my eyes were opened! Just as God is pressing and squeezing me HE is doing the same thing to the support group! It was a very enlightening time for me!

So all in all the convention was good and good came from it. I am still mulling over some things I am being convicted about, I will get back to you later about them!

Hello all

So this week has been only slightly busy and not really fruitful so that is not really good! Technically I am not complaining because I got to chill out
quite a bit. We started out shopping for Kate's new swim suit on Monday. This is not an easy task... have any of you shopped for a modest suit lately??? On top of actaully wanting a modest suit was trying to find a suit that FIT. We wanted a nice fit, a young look but still modest and that equals hours of shopping and a head ache! But we found one and she loves it and feels good in it and Daddy approves (he approves all the girls clothing) so we are good. I didnt know we needed a new bathing suit in time to put it in our budget so it came out of misc. which was short this month for a variety of reasons SOOOOOOOOOO that equals being really short because a bathing suit that fits, is nice and is modest ISNT CHEAP! Okay onto other topics.

We had more disasters in math this week SO we are taking a break. I am going to let her play computer games and do some or our neuro work for a few weeks, in the mean time I will research and decide if I will go with Math U See or stick with what we have and just slow it down. I am stressing and she is definitely stressing so we are STOPPING. Just a little break! I was very discouraged and in talking it over with hubbie I kindof got over the disappointment and just felt better to have a new plan! So that is good.

Emily is balking at reading again...... I know how much she can adn cant do but every few weeks she "forgets" how to read... like the word it or at, or maybe she "forgets" what the letter e says. I KNOW she doesnt and she is just pushing my buttons so of course I get frustrated but the new plan is BRIBERY! We printed out the Chuck E cheese reward charts for reading so it is working for now, she actually brought me something to read today!

We finished a really good book on the Alamo- it was slightly told from both sides which I thought was neat. It was very graphic for a kids book but it really told the story.. for instance it will say something like - the smell of death lingered in the air as much as the smoke from still smodering fires, bodies lay in piles around the courtyard, etc. It was graphic but you felt like you were there in a good way. I know that sounds weird but it works for us. My kids do not really like gore by any means and the book WAS NOT full of gore but it was just graphic enough to truly get the picture. We also learned what happened later in the lives of the -people who survived the Alamo, Susanna Dickerson and her daughter Angelina in my opinion did not live very good lives when all was said and done, I wonder if they just never got over it? Also Enriquez Esparaz (sp) he seemed to live a normal life but he never had a conversation about it with a reporter until like he was 80 years old! We are going to work on a diaroma of the Alamo next week.

We read some more of Old Yeller- the kids really like it but I am DREADING when they find out what happend!!! They are SSSSSSSSSSSOOOOOOOOOOOOOO not going to be happy with me!

So here is a thought... I am all about rules. I will follow rules 99.9 % of the time, I read coupons, if a sign says do not bring food in ( I will not sneak it into my purse) you get the picture... I like to follow the rules. So my thought is how do you feel about double dipping- no not in cheese dip! Summer Reading Programs! Do you simultaneously work on each program reading different books or do you use the same books for each program? If the rules do not state to not use in connection with another reading program then you are not breaking rules but seriously isnt that just assumed? I am on the fence about this subject!

I am going to a home school convention tommorow. Usually I would have planne, replanned and replanned again all the seminars I would be listening to. I would have option a, b and c lined out and relined out! I would have maps to all locations and fire exits highlighted on my sheet!!! But I've got nothin! I mean I did go over some of the classes tonight but I have NO IDEA what I will actually be doing at 9:00 in the morning! That is totally UNLIKE me! I am BLAH! I think I really want to go and I am very, very sure that I will learn things and get encouraged by the speakers. Also there is just something special about being surrounded by like minded people ( of course it is just home schooling we are like minded about- and even in that we differ GREATLY) but still there is a comradarie!

I guess that's all folks, I must sleep so I can leave my house at 7:45 for the conference I have no plans for yet!

So todays lessons...

Lesson number 1- not sleeping does not equal waking up with a "good" attitude. I just did not sleep well last night and had trouble waking up this morning which of course doesnt start off the morning well! This being said we did not get school done before we had to leave at 10:30, but that's just OKAY!

Lesson 2- always get to Hickory Hollow at 11:00 right when they are opening so you are ASSURED a seat, without "sharing" the table with a friendly stranger... which the restaurant's many signs encourage. SO NOT ME!

Lesson 3- When your kids hear about the splash park that they were "supposed" to get to go to but didnt have a plan in mind to make it up to them! I thought well we cant drive an hour to the other side of Baytown, we wont make it in time and we will waste A LOT of gas! Gas = money right which we are short of! So I thought lets get our bathing suits on (the kids not ME) and go to the splash area at Hermann park. MISTAKE- there was no parking and just not a good situation. So we left and I drove aimlessly around trying desperately to think of something to appease my children who were bless their hearts being really, really good about it all! So we keep driving and finally end up back at home after almost an hour- you might think GAS but literally that was like 15 miles! I kept stopping to THINK of something. Anyway, we got home and I told the kids we could go swim at Maw Maws on Saturday and then ***light bulb*** moment. I let them play in the backyard with the hose. Now mind you, we dont have a "cool" sprinkler, this was JUST a hose. But they had a blast for almost an hour! So yeah ME.

Lesson 4- when you fail to plan, your plan fails... this would be in the area of meal planning! We are very tight this paycheck because of the camping trip, a car repair and various "stuff" so my grocery budget got cut down some. I didnt plan very well so we are scraping stuff together. You know those interesting meals! Which is fine and I dont mind doing, but I just wish I had planned better and I wouldnt be in this position. I have been meal planning since we moved in and have done great except for this two weeks literally! So I already have my meal plan for the next two weeks done when I grocery shop on Monday!

Lesson 5- when you plan to clean up the floor of the school room and end up moving the entire seating arrangement you have gone too far! I just meant to straighten up, but then I was like, I wonder how it would work better this way. I also want something to hold our books by where I sit and I dont want to buy anything, so I need enough room to accommodate the shelf I already have! But I think I like it better so far... we will see tomorrow when I do SCHOOL! Which is what I didnt ever get to today! We did however start Old Yeller though. The kids are really enjoying it so far- I will let you know how that goes when we are through with the book.

Lesson 6- Although reading some blogs today took some time ( I spent almost 45 minutes reading) it was worth it by how encouraged I was when I stopped! I really did feel better about some choices I have been making- I felt like they had been reinforced! I do enjoy it and I do profit from it, I just need to place a limit on it and stick to it! That is all about boundaries which I am WORKING on!

So what did you learn today?

Wow I havent posted in months and here I am twice in one day...

So earlier my post was whiny. Not tooooo whiny but just whiny enough. Do you know whiny is one of those words when said enough times doesnt sound like a real word? Well it feels the same way whenever you spell it that many times too!

I digress.

We left the house after lunch and headed to .... the library. One of our favorite places to be! This summer I plan to try lots of the libraries around me too! Maybe we will find one that we LOVE, LOVE, LOVE. I love our library for its closeness and old buildingness but it's kids section leaves MUCH to be desired and there is no where to sit and be cozy and their are always so many people on the internet that they filter over to the kids section of internet and that for many, MANY reasons makes me leery. So not that I will not continue to visit our library for just go get some books.. but I want to find a library that I LOVE.

I would also love to find a librarian who is actually nice. Do YOU know one of those? I really have not had the pleasure of meeting one! For instance today I had a large pile of books- like 25 hardback and I was holding them all since I hadnt brought the normal library suitcase I usually have. So I am in line holding them. I am not paying attention to what the ladies in line ahead of me are doing I am just holding my books and keeping track of three kids- who move quick and of course one eyeball is on the computer section AT ALL TIMES! So the lady in front of me leaves the line... I gladly move up and place my LARGE, HEAVY stack on the desk and proceed to sort them out- I dont know why I do that but I do. I am sorting and the librarian is oviously still typing stuff in. So I wait. The librarian has yet to say a word to me btw... so the original lady standing in line comes back and slightly huffily informs me that she wasnt finished. I am like "okay, so I push my stack of books to the side, pull the children back away from the counter to give the lady some room to "finish her transaction".


WHY DIDNT THE LIBRARIAN JUST TELL ME THE LADY WASNT DONT YET????


The librarian never said a single word to me. The whole time. I think I said something stupid like, are you getting ready for the summer crowds.... NOTHING! She is not mute or deaf.... I have heard her speak.


Why?


So anyway, this summer I vow to find the library I LOVE for special occasions!


e have signed up so far for

the Houston Public Library Reading program
Barnes and Noble Reading Program
Borders Reading Program

I plan to sign up for

HEB reading program

and any more I can find! I love reading programs! Well I say I love reading programs but what usually happens is I sign up for them and the kids read a TON of books and I never get any of the prizes- because I cannot stand the library in the summer and I just never go to the other places! So why sign up? I dont know it is just a thrill for me I guess! But this year I plan to participate and actually get all the prizes! Yeah! It is a GOAL. How about I have a prize for myself if I turn in all the kids reading programs papers? Yes! I will give myself $20.00 to spend at a bookstore! I love bookstores!


Make sure and ask me about the GOAL!

Oh MY Goodness...

I am coming to you live from a home schooling "session", can I call it a session? We are back here in the school room, Matt is copying his multiplication facts, Emily is working on addition and Kaitlin is KILLING me with math. I think I have literally blown some blood vessels. We have been in the school room for like 25 minutes, no longer actually! Time for lunch!


Emily did well on her reading of course this was after I made her sweep the kitchen and dining room after complaining about reading in the first place!

Matt looked at me after a few problems of subtraction with borrowing from the hundreds..." Mom how do you do subtraction?" I was like, "HUH?" What he had been doing was the math in his HEAD------ I am making him physically do the "math" on paper! So what he meant was how do you write all the borrowing stuff! He just does not get it on paper- he just does it in his head! While that sounds great in theory.. he still has to KNOW how to actually do the work for when the numbers are just TOOOO big to do in his head!

Kaitlin is working on fractions right now. AKKKKKKKKKKKKK. Dave has been enlisted to help on several occasions lately. Although he can explain the math.... he is not a teacher? Does that make sense? He doesnt really understand why we dont just GET what he "explains" the first time. I mean it makes sense to him! so I am at a loss! She is doing common denominators and I cant seem to convince her that you cant ummm make numbers up while you go? There is actual math involved... and the math is surrounded by the little things called RULES. Bothersome I know!


So anyway...we found this neat game online with fractions but I got so frustrated trying to help her get the answers - answers I am (YES... I am not ashamed to say) not really sure are the right answers! So we took a break... fortunately the next lesson in her book took a short hiatus from actual denominators and numerators and on to word problems...

HMMMM. So I wrote the 4 things you do to solve word problems on a paper and tacked it on the wall next to her...

1. What am I supposed to be finding out in this word problem?
2. Do I use addition, subtraction, multiplication or division to figure it out?
3. Set your problem.
4. Solve the problem and make sure it makes sense in regards to the story...


So I just checked her work and she did fine, but they were very easy and there was no trickery involved... You know when word problems twist and turn and you dont have any idea what they are really asking you to solve!

So it bugs me when the question is not answered properly...

Mother bought 8 bags of sugar for $1.76 a bag. What did Mother pay for the sugar?

Answer: 14.08 (((*******WRONG*****))))

the proper answer is $14.08 !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay I am done... all the children have ran away... far away! They get a break because I NEED A BREAK... why because I am having trouble breathing and there might be spots involved! Maybe we do need a summer break???

Um no way! We have to make up the 4 weeks we have missed in the last 3 months! So I trudge on... this afternoon is easy--- reading and making the 6 flags of Texas out of whatever the kids want to ....let the creativity flow!

March 27???????????????????????

March 27?

Where have I been????

I have been here just apparently VERY, VERY busy.

Now I am in no way saying that those of you who manage to blog everyday are NOT busy!

I dont know what is wrong with me! I just dont blog.

In fact I am only blogging tonight because I happened to read Brenda's blog, The Family Revised, and saw that she had linked to my sad, sad little blog!

So here I am... blogging.


I am laying in bed with hubbie and even he showed surprise at my blogging!

So what to say after such a long, long absence?

NO Brenda, I do not have a camera... after the whole losing the camera fiasco and finding the camera fiasco a few months ago you should be amazed to find out that I lost my camera again! Actually Matt did, but I am casting no blame! So I am camera less now! Dave vows I am banned from buying a new camera and I havent had the guts to even start saving up for one yet!

We were driving home from Becky's house (my friend who will not blog) and I said to Dave can you believe we have ONLY lived in the house for almost three months? I mean it hasnt even been three months! It feels like forever! Someone asked me the other day if we are all settled in and I was like kindof... I feel bad saying that we arent but to be truthful I dont think we are. I still havent "found" a place for everything!

This is my plan... I have been SOOOOOOOOOOO busy that I feel overwhelmed so I have decided to SLOW down! I am actually bowing out of a few activities that I have already signed up for. I do not like doing that but I am at my wits end! I want to work on the house, I want to home school my kids (yeah I mean actually do school with them--- what a novel concept!), I want to work on some things with the kids, I want to work on our budge!

Let me break down some of those things a little more for you!

Work on house-

I want to get things more scheduled, and organized. I went though MOST stuff as we moved but I am already ready for another purging. I also want to organize my kitchen, update my coupons and menus and get cooking! My MIL got me a bread maker for mothers day! Yeah, I made Sourdough bread today but I wanna do much more! I wanna cook everyday! I wanna cook from scratch! I wanna use whole foods!!!!

I need to make lots of lists of all the things I need to do around the house... I think it is going to be really long!


School kids-

I actually need to school them! We need to start our Bible again, start their new spelling programs, keep working on math but catch up some too! and I need to continue working on Texas history! I have so many crafts and we are going to make a diorama of a battle scene! I am hoping to hook Matt with that!

We also need to work on organization in school and some chore charts!


Budget-


Well now that I have a better handle on what our monthly expenses will be at the house its time to work on our budget some! I need to start being much, much more careful in my spending! I have to much MISC. spending! I need to account for all that misc. and really count the cost of each purchase. I want to save for some specific things and the only way that I can do that is by being really careful! I know that I can do it, I have certainly done it many times before!



So that was a long, involved post with lots of rambling and mix matched conversations! But that's okay, it was the first of many catch up posts!

What's been up lately...

All the things that I am passing by as I am endlessly running....

Sickness (first all of us)
then me for over two weeks
then my hubbie for over a week
then me again!
( of course with sickness comes medical bills!- Ours was over 300 in way less than two weeks! No fun right!)

We were moving- my husband and mom and dad actually saw the house and dh signed the lease without me actually seeing it--- read back a few months to my control issue post :) Hmmm. I really did very well to be honest!

We begin moving. If you have moved you know how that is!

We renovated the bathroom at the house literally over the weekend- from the flooring up literally! We had to move a 500 lb Clawfoot tub in order to change the flooring. Hubby had fun!

We are still moving in, boxes everywhere, now we have mattresses! Yeah!

So for fun my laptop is sitting on my newly installed mattress and we leave during a thunderstorm because the electricity went off and the back porch get broken into, they break my bedroom window and steal the laptop!

AKKKKKKK.. I wasnt so upset about the laptop persay I was upset becasue of all my stuff- PICTURES (with no backup... lesson learned! All my favorite blogs, all my favorites period, my files, all my downloads for home school, everything! It is very unsettling but it could have been simply a crashed harddrive that did the same thing so really LESSON LEARNED ON BACK UPS!

camera lost AGAIN. We are hoping it is actually in the house somewhere but I have not come across it!

All the little things that happen in general, just lifes little hiccups seem to have happened in the last few weeks.

But... good things have happened also. The best being how I have handled most of the hiccups! I really think that I saw the fruit of my labor.... I have been working so hard to change some things I truly feel like I am making a "little" bit of progress!

Hello out there.. can anybody hear me.

Okay, you know when things dont turn out how you want them too? Or things just arent going your way. Well I have had just a little bit of that going on lately! I have been very busy and blogging has just totally taken second place...actually less than second it has been like 6 or 7th place!

I feel like I am running a race but there is no finish line.

I need to see the finish line! I need to know that things will come to an end. I was just talking to a few friends today at our home school support group... we were talking about phases our kids go through and how nice it was that we KNEW it was just a phase and would last for so long than be over! That is so true....most things our kids do is a phase! Some phases I am SOOOOOOOO glad to get rid of, others I wish would stay a little longer!

but back to my race... I am running and running and running. The good part is that I dont feel out of breath or that I am struggling. Does that make sense. I dont see a light at the end of the tunnel but it doesnt feel scary or bad. I feel like I am just in a phase that will last however long it lasts.

I know I didnt move around the world or anything but there have still been some MAJOR adjustments! Really!

So I am running... but heck at least I am not standing still!

sorry, sorry, sorry!

Okay, laptop is out of the picture so I could not get on all week! I am at my limit!!!!

Okay winner of the give away is BRENDA at the Family Revised!!!!!


Yeah. Tracy will get hold of you Brenda and get you a catalog!


More LATER... I Promise!

Blog update put on hold cuz today is my babys bday!

Okay all you people out there who have gotten to the point in your life where you have had your last child...what did you DO when the last one turned 6!

I mean 5 is still a baby right! 5 is still little! But 6, that is a whole new world! I can hardly stand it! I have attempted for the past few days to get her to decide NOT to turn 6. I have bribed, cajoled, harassed and possibly provoked...


she finally told me, "MOM, God made me grow."

So I concede and she IS going to turn 6 today. She thinks she is 6 now, we will talk about labor and birth minute later on in life!

I however will remind all of you about the labor and birth minute for a while!

If any of you think Emily is difficult now~ Yes, I know you have ALL thought that before! Well she was literally BORN this way. I had so many problems with her pregnancy! Bed rest for weeks and weeks~ with two, basically toddlers! I had doctor appointments out the wazoo! Thanks MOM, AMY and whoever else EVER had to drive me to an appointment in GALVESTON!

Finally the finale of her pre birth was hospitalization! Fun times. They put me in the hospital on Jan. 22 for about a week, then let me go on home on complete bed rest but than on Feb 13 I was back in the hospital! I stayed there for a few days and than was moved to a domicile (no not from going nuts, that was a place people stayed who needed to be close to the hospital, with nursing care but not AT the hospital every day) Anyhoo, so I got to the domicile, this SMALL little room, with a small little bathroom and a TV. AND there I stayed, minus my MANY visits back and forth to the hospital labor and delivery room and doctors appointments, until March 12! Why did I get to leave my little cubby room on March 12, because Emily finally decided she had had enough of my tummy and was whooshed from my womb into the big wide world!

So two days later I got to go home for the first time in over a month! It was very exciting for me, I felt weird and strange! Other people (MY FAMILY!!!!) had kept Matt and Kate for so long and I had so little contact with them, I was depressed and it took me a really, really long time to get back to myself!

Is it bad that I now wish for those days at the domicile back???

No really. I love my kids, and I cannot BELIEVE that my youngest is turning 6! She is getting to big! No more baby hands. No more "whining" (hey I can dream cant I). Actually the whining has gotten much better...now it is the MOUTH. I have no idea where she gets it from... (wink, wink).

So here is my baby all grown up now!!!!

Yes, she got a grown up present...her very own Nintendo DS.

PS. Dont forget to comment to get an entry into my UPPERCASE LIVING Give Away~ Go here to find out more! Tell your friends!

Hey you guys...

I am back! In honor of my grand re opening of the blog, I am going to have a give away. I am going to give away a prize from UPPERCASE LIVING!!!

You will have have 50 dollars to spend! AND Uppercase living is having a special:

Purchase any Uppercase Living item from March 4 – April 6, and you’ll get ½ Off any additional item of equal or lesser value

Yeah! I have a consultant (Tracy Haack) who is going to send the winner a catalog and you can choose what you want and The Story Of My World is going to pay for it! So tell your friends...

Leave a comment and you get an entry.
Comment on it on your blog, link to me and tell me about it, you get another entry.

So bring on the comments!

Tommorow... I will have a blog update about where I have been the last few weeks and what the family has been up to all this time! I cant wait to read all your blogs again and get caught up on my favorite bloggers lives!

Today is the first day of the Give away. It will go through next Monday @ 11:59 p.m. So every comment you make between now and Monday night counts as an entry!

I will announce the winner on Tuesday morning!!!

Update on life in general...

Kaitlin is back. She is safe and home and had a great time!
I am so relieved. I feel as though I accomplished something although she actually went? Does that make sense? I dont know if would do it again any item soon...it was really, really hard.

I am impatiently patiently waiting for word on a house from our realtor. I will let you know when I hear!

I am at Amy's house, I got up at 5:30 so hubbie could drop us off here at 6:00 on his way to work. That is how bad I didnt want to drive. That is insane! I am keeping Kirsten and a friend of Amy's daughter. Amy is attending the area Republican party women thing....I like hearing about it but would rather keep the kids!

I am not doing the greatest on the budget this month, it was a little too tight. I also am having the "I wanna buys.." more! Not a good combo! I am also waiting to hear about the house which of course affects our budget amount. We have to have money down (it is only a rental) and we need to make a lot of purchases. At this particular house we will need a fridge and washer and dryer. A lot of houses have these included but a few dont, so we will have to get at least a fridge right away- I can wait longer on the washer and dryer. I also need a dining table and chairs. I know the style I want, but I might have to make do with a card board table for awhile! Which is okay with me... as long as I know which one I am getting I am okay with waiting. We are going to paint the girls bunkbed, but I cant decide what color! Matt we are just keeping his bed for now. We are hoping to get the kids both a set of new furniture...it is high on my list! There are of course a number of things that outrank kid furniture but it is on my list and I am going to start saving for it!

We have done almost no school work in over a week...we did math and we have kept up with our reading. The kids also had book club on Friday so that was something. So I have made our a list of MUST DO for school and plan to finish by Feb 28! We will have our medieval feast next week!

Our next unit is going to be ocean. I might actually use a curriculum but tailor it a little, it will still be a "unit" study. We will again do all school off this curriculum except for math and language. I am looking at Learning language Arts Through Literature and really liking what I see so far! We might start this for our language. I am going to make Ocean last through mid April and go on to Texas History from mid April -mid June. After that we will do a camping theme, which will tie into our support group camping trip! FUN!!!

In addition to buckling down on school I will of course be PACKING! Oh and hopefully MOVING! I am so excited! I went into the YMCA that will be in the area of our house, it is nice. Maybe I will actually USE it!

I am going to make a huge list of things I have to do and get to it.

I am also going to make a huge list of things I need to FIND in the area.
You know neighborhood dry cleaners, alteration shop, oil change place, nearest CVS and Walgreens, just all the basic needs! I know where the library is and a Dollar Tree!

I am also going to make a huge list of house needs and prioritize them with a number and make sure I buy things in order of need instead just getting stuff I see I need!

Okay enough of what I am going to do this week....

What do you have on your plate??

The Great Backyard Bird Count comes to an end...

Okay so participated this year and we saw ONE bird.

ONE BIRD!

Oh well, he was fed well!

Happy Valentines Day...late but still relevant

Okay, for this Valentines Day post Dave, my valentine, has agreed to be interviewed...



Carrie: Why do you love me?
Dave: Because you are you.



Carrie: When is our anniversary?
Dave: June 28


Carrie: What is "OUR" song?
Dave: Here and Now by Luther Vandross



Carrie: While dating what was my favorite thing to do with you?
Dave: (laughing) kiss me.



Carrie: What did I wear on our first date?
Dave: I do not know.



Carrie: What is the best gift you haven ever given me? (from your perspective)
Dave: your necklace (this was a necklace attached to a pig that said From your one and only...)


Carrie: If you could give me the perfect gift what would it be?
Dave: I would have to think about that...are you talking money, no object?
Carrie: Yes.
Dave: Still dont know.



Carrie: What is my favorite thing to do on a "date night"?
Dave: movies because we dont get to see them often but dinner too so we can sit and talk.







Carrie: If I could go buy one thing today, what would it be?
Dave: something you wouldnt normally buy? I mean not like a diet coke?
Carrie: Yes.
Dave: you would probably end up buying something for the kids.



Carrie: What is my favorite movie?
Dave: personally I would say it is a toss up between You've Got Mail and White Christmas but I am leaning towards White Christmas. Um what is your favorite movie?
Carrie: um that is hard, I like lots of different parts of movies. Is your favorite the one you will always watch if it is on or that you will specifically put it on!
Dave: so is your favorite movie TombRaider?
Carrie: um maybe yes... (dont judge me...lol)



Carrie: What do you love most about me?
Dave: I am not completely answering your question... one thing I am completely fascinated with are your eyes. physical attributes...
Carrie: whatever
Dave: I love how you try to learn about things people like and incorporate that into something you do for them or get them.

(He said a few other things which he said I couldnt share...)



Carrie: What do you think we will be doing on our 25th anniversary?
Dave: Well I guess we would probably have a party or go out to dinner.
Carrie: is that all you want to say Mr. Romantic?
Dave: um yeah.

She is packed. She is excited. She is finally going to bed. My husband is still not home and I feel ill.

Dont usually post like this but I just have to get it out.

I hate anxiety. I hate fear.

I know people are praying for her trip and for me specifically and you dont know how much those prayers mean to me.

I cant breath.

I try to get a deep breath and I just cant.

Job 4:8
I will lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, O LORD, make me
dwell in safety.

Acts 15:13
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in
him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Proverbs 18:10
"The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe."

Fitness Friday

Fitness Friday again...

Brenda at the Family Revised has given us a "Do what ya want" assignment. So I am just going to do a simple update. I will however be participating in her Time Capsule so go check out what she is doing!!!

I am doing a food journal this week in preparation for upcoming doctor appointments. I am getting a full blood workup when I go to the doctor. I also have all my "girly" stuff scheduled too.

It is amazing how much food I CAN eat. I am not dieting. I am just totally aware of what I am eating! I have not been as hungry lately which is weird because stress for me usually equals EATING. For instance, last night we were at a Valentine skating party and we ordered a pizza. I ate two pieces and two cookies! That's all. I would have normally eaten more pizza and the desserts would have been hard to pass up!

My goals are weird this week:

keep up with my food journal
track my body stuff (girly stuff) for doctor's visit
water
no eating after 9 oclock (I think this is where the stress eating is taking over!)
keep more fruits and veggies on hand



I found the YMCA near where we will be moving and it will most likely be about as close as the one is here! So I will transfer our membership and hopefully GO!!!!!


I have some news that I will share soon... No I am not pregnant!
It is in relation to my weight loss (no I am not getting lap band surgery-although I looked at my options.)

So that's all folks...

Carrie in Texas

On the inside...

On the outside there at times I know I seem fine. I may even feel fine in that moment but other times it is just to much, like a crushing tidal surge of emotions. This house hunting is really stressing me out- no the doing just the waiting and wondering and what if's! I could look at homes forever if I needed too as long as I knew I could get anyone of them I wanted...does that make sense? The not knowing is just getting to me...HENCE my control issues!

On top of this incredible stress, Kate is leaving tomorrow for her trip and I wake up to yet another plane crash. That makes three since Dec 10. I dont care that it was a commuter plane, I dont care that there were survivors on the two other crashes.... I just feel sick. very sick.

I know I havent been blogging, I am just doing the barest of things, only what I have to do. It will get better. I know it will. My hubbie has also been working a lot. That is really hard on me- sorry all you single moms! It is just overwhelming as a literal 24/7 mom to have the kids 24/7. I get to a point and I guess I begin to shut down- it usually takes me a lot longer to reach this point but with the house stress and the trip stress I have reached it a lot quicker!

later

My head is spinning...

Well by now you all know we are moving but the house hunt is slow going! We are renting and really would like a particular area and have bad credit and need at least 3 bedrooms SOOOOO that = pain in my patootie!

I am stressing out so not blogging much! I promise to do better.

Send up a prayer that I will not stress and that God will lead up to the "house" HE has for us.

HMMMMM...

Ernest Hemingway said once that to become a man you had to do three things...

Father a child
Fight a bull
Plant a tree


How utterly random could ya get? I mean those three things were how you became a man? Not being responsible for the child his whole life, not raising a herd of bulls for a living and not planting an orchard to sustain a life....

Do these three things strike you as odd? I mean I understand that Hemingway was a deeply disturbed young man. I know he had serious problems, but THIS is what he though made you into a man???

HMMMMMMMMMM...........................


Supposedly (meaning I am not a physician and did not actually research these facts) once you die your hair continues to grow for several months.

Is that weird? I mean why would it keep growing? Does it grow faster or slower than when you are alive? Do you still have body? Curls? Does it still get frizzy???


HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM............................



The sound of E.T. was made by someone squishing their hands in jelly.


Now I want to know WHY they choose that sound? How did they come across the sound? Did they have a bunch of bowls of jelly sitting around or did they "squish" it once and just record it? What kind of jelly?



HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM........................



Stressed is desserts spelled backwards.

No comments neccesary.


HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMm.................



Dentists have recommended that a toothbrush be kept at least 6 feet (2 m) away from a toilet to avoid airborne particles resulting from the flush.

Okay people get out the measuring tapes. I am pretty sure the large percentage of you people's sinks are NOT 6 feet from your toilet. So unless you have it covered or in a jar....YUCK, YUCK, YUCK.

What does that mean for toilet paper or the BOOKS you have on the back of your toilet seat that you read while you go potty...(dont judge me, lots of peeps read in the bathroom! lol)

HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM.........................

Okay I have given you enough to think about.

Kate and Matt's story...

The Princess, the Knight and the Squire

Once upon a time there lived a royal king and queen and a chivalrous knight who lived in a wondrous castle. The castle was up on a hill that over looked a meadow with farms and farmhouses. The kind and queen were getting worried for they were getting old and tired, and when the kind was about to give up the queen had twins, a prince and a princess. The Kingdom rejoiced. They sang and the castle workers cried for joy.
The day after the twins were born, a dragon came to the castle and said to the King and Queen, “ On the Princess’s 16th birthday I will come to get her and if she is not here, you, your son and daughter and your kingdom shall be destroyed.” The dragon blew a spark on a near by curtain and flew off. The workers hurried to put out the fire.
Fifteen years and 364 days later the King and Queen called upon their daughter and explained how the day after she was born, the dragon had come and what he had said. By the time they had finished telling her the story the Princess
(named Ladybird) was in tears and the Queen and King dismissed her. Princess Ladybird went up to her room and told the Prince (named Hawk– for his sharp eyes) the whole story.
On the day of the twins 16th birthday the Princess told the Prince to go to the old knight and ask for his help.

Later that day the dragon came, he looked bigger, stronger and fiercer than the last time they had seen him. The Princess gave Hawk a look that had hope, promise, respect and honor and then she bravely went up to the dragon and said, “I am ready.”
“Good,” said the dragon and gently put down a wing. “Now get on or else!”.
The Princess quickly got on the wing and the dragon swiftly flew away. The next day the Prince did what the Princess has asked him to do, he didn't even stay for breakfast because he went straight to the Old knights hut. The Prince knocked and a man in about his fifty’s answered, “Yes?”
“I am Prince Hawk, “ the Prince said, “my twin sister Princess Ladybird has been taken off by a dragon. She has asked for your help.”
“She has, has she?” said the Old Knight.
“Yes, so will you please help us?” said Prince Hawk.
“I will think about it,” replied the Old Knight. And one hour later the Old Knight came to the castle to talk to the King and Queen.
“Prince Hawk has asked me to help save Princess Ladybird, but I have no squire. Can the Prince be my squire?”
The King and Queen looked at each other doubtful, finally the King spoke up, “On one condition, he must come back safe from harm.”
“Done!” said the Old Knight. “May I go see him Your Highness?”
“Yes.”
The Old Knight bowed before the King and left for Prince Hawks bedroom. He arrived at the Prince Hawk’s bed chambers and the Old Knight asked the Prince to be his squire.
“Yes, “ said the Prince, trying to be calm. “Yes, I will.”
An hour later the Prince was putting on the armor for the knight. The Knight picked up his shield and sword.
“Ready?” he asked the Prince.
“Yes!” came the reply and they set out on their journey. They faced ogres, giants, wizards and witches. Finally in the deepest and darkest part of Wizards Forest they found the dragon.
The dragon woke and the Old Knight and his squire fought him for hours. Princess Ladybird watched in terror as they got scratched, wounded and burned. But the Old Knight and his squire fought on till the dragon was dead and Princess Ladybird was free.
So the three traveled back the way they had come and when they arrived at the castle it had almost been a year. The Old Knight was rewarded with gold, silver, gems and jewels for his bravery. The King, Queen, the Prince and Princess and all of the kingdom lived happily ever after.

The End

This story as was told by Matt and Kaitlin.

Are you okay?

Emily: I think I just cracked one of my bones.

Me: Wow, that sounds serious. Are you okay?

Emily: I didnt die.


Arent we glad she didnt die from her cracked bone!

Fitness Friday

Hey I am late on Fitness Friday... let's just pretend it is still Friday!




Okay last week Brenda told us to do something new! HMMMM.. Well we all know she meant with our fitness situation but I would have to be having a fitness situation to do something new with it! In keeping it real... I have NOT been doing the fitness thing! I have not been watching what I eat, or counting carbs or doing ANYTHING that resembles a diet!

SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO... here is something new I am going to do!

I am going to tell my loyal readers something about myself.......

I have totally chickened out a number of times but here it goes.

I weight 331 lbs.

Yes, Many of you dont believe it. That is okay, I know exactly how fat I am! lol!

But here is the thing. I dont want to be this fat anymore. I always say this and I ALWAYS mean it BUT the new twist is that I always says "oh it's not the number, it is how my clothes fit"

Now that is true to a certain point.

BUT NOT WHEN YOU WEIGH 331 lbs! IT IS ALL ABOUT THE NUMBER.

So I am on a diet. NOT a "lifestyle change", NOT a I want to eat "healthy" phase.

A DIET.

I am going to a doctor and get all the necessary blood work done and speak to the PROFESSIONALLY (imagine that!)... and I am going to get a grip on this situation! And it is really a situation in my case!

So there it is. In a nutshell.

I will let you know what the doctor says and I am just all about keeping it real right now! I need you ladies to really, really pray with me about this situation and I am going to need some serious help! It is going to be one of the hardest things I have ever done in my life! But I have to.

Too good for a Wordless Wednesday...

Okay, I am getting the picture that I need to explain the picture!

Here goes...

My brother used to work at Ashley Furniture and when the store opened they had this thing where "anything" could happen. Well one day they had a monkey at the store! It was so cute! It would drink out of a water bottle and it got into my purse and another lady's purse and would go through our stuff! It was hilarious! The monkey got gum and unwrapped it and started eating it!

Kate got to sit and hold the monkey for quite a while! It was a really, really neat experience for her!

Wordless Wednesday

Okay this is how I roll...

In lieu of a post of my mottled thoughts...I am going to link you to a few of my favorite bloggers and a few new reads!

Everybody wants the comments love! So peruse my blog roll and read my bloggy friends thoughts and comment!

Brenda @ The Family Revised
Jennifer @ Planted by Streams
Dawn at Picking up Pebbles
Kysha @ Love's School
Sonja @ Wonder Years
Jennifer @ The Coplings Hobbit Hole also check out her food blog and her school blog!
The Texan Mama @ Who Put Me in Charge of These People
Lisa @ verybusymomwith4
Dawn @ Because I said so
Debbie @ Finding Normal
Carrie @ Thoughts, Ponderings and Musings
Julie @ Living on Less

I will stop for now! In a few weeks I will link to some more! If you have a blog you love feel free to send me a link so I can check her out too! For Mr. Link and this particular post please put YOUR name but the link of your favorite blog, unless you write a post with the link in it! Got it?

Useful and Beautiful...

Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.“

- William Morris

Okay, so I am struggling...BIG SURPRISE. I was reading one of my favorite blogs The Keeper of the Home. I have mentioned it before...and she had this quote on her site along with a post about...stuff.

I have lots of stuff. But right now I am specifically going to focus on my school room. I have too much stuff. I am also NOT using the stuff. I have great intentions, but keeping it real I just dont use it. So we are, in the near future moving to a rent house. It will most likely be smaller than our current accommodations. This means I have to pare down!

I am sooooo not good at that! Now dont get me wrong. I will throw stuff away. I will throw perfectly good stuff away simply because I am in the ZONE and know it will never get to a recycle place, or thrift store! When I am in the ZONE, I dont want to bag stuff up and have it just sit in a corner waiting for the Salvation Army pick up day! I know that is BAD, but whatever it is what I do.

When I am in that place, I gotta get it out RIGHT THEN!

So back to my stuff... I have all this awesome home schooling stuff. I have neat curriculum, tons of books, hands on activities stuff, craft supplies! But I am not using it! Some of it I have had for years and still havent used. Some stuff I bought when I home schooled Sarah Jean and that was 10 years ago! I havent used it yet...but I cant bring myself to throw it away. I mean it is neat, it is educational and I have great intentions that I will USE it someday.

So the problem is letting go of things that are not useful or beautiful...

If I havent used it in 10 years and my kids are past the age I would have used it than I GET RID OF IT!!!

If I have plans for something "neat" than I need to put it in writing when I plan to use it, write a curriculum plan and put everything I need for it in a bag or folder!

If I have read a book that I didnt really like I DONT have to keep it. Even if it was a gift!

If I have changed my mind about a curriculum than I need to get rid of it! Bye Bye Horizons!!!

If I am NOT using it because my kids are simply not there yet, than I need to make sure that it is really a curriculum that fits into Dave and my plan for how we want to school. If it does not NO MATTER HOW AWESOME IT IS...I can throw it away.

If I have 5000 googly eyes... I can probably put a few hundred in a simple Ziploc back and GET RID of the rest! I don't have to keep every craft item I ever bought just because there were a few left of it!

If I have printed something out, but didnt use it I can throw it away... I can find it again on the world wide web if I need it!

If I have a paper that I really need to keep I can scan it into my computer and keep it on file! Wow using technology usefully!!! What a concept!

If it is not beautiful or useful...it's out of here!

For all you peeps who are freaking because I keep saying I will throw it away... I will put it all in a box or two and put it directly in my suburban. I will take it to our home school coop one time and on the way home dump the rest at a donation center! Feel better?

Maybe someone else will find it useful or think it beautiful!!!

Update, Accountability club, my envelope

Okay, so I have been a bad blogger lately, it must be in the air because a lot of my favorite reads have blogged just a little bit less lately! I have not been feeling well, we have been busy doing family stuff and I just having taken the time to blog!

Well a little update over the past few days. I was supposed to have my Accountability Club Mr. Linky up but I havent yet! My resolutions arent going great but they are at least going! I had my envelope post scheduled to come up on Jan 30 and it did before it was ready and I deleted it, but for any who got a peek...

I have lost a few pounds, I thought I would be embarrassed putting my weight on the blog but honestly everyone knows I am WAY over weight and no one believes I actually weigh that much anyway. Well I DO! But I really dont care about the number as much as how I "look", actually how my clothes fit! I am losing weight although very, very slowly! I see it as a glass half full though cuz at least I am not gaining weight right!

On my envelope....

I will tell you two other things that are in my envelope. One is my anxiety. I am such an anxious person, unless you too are an anxious person you dont understand! In fact many, many people in my life REALLY do not understand (shout out to my family!) I cannot help it. I can work on it. I can do my best, but I cant make the feeling of anxiety go away.

BUT... in December my sister asked me if my daughter could go with her out of state...like on an AIRPLANE. I said, "um no, I really dont think I can do that."

So I was literally typing a post a few days later and talking about working on my anxiety. I got up to call my sister and tell her that Kate could go. You cannnot fathom HOW HARD THIS WAS FOR ME. I got off the phone and cried.

I know she will be fine. I know she is with family. I know she will have a BLAST. I know this is an awesome opportunity.

DOESNT MAKE ME FEEL ANY BETTER.

But since we bought and paid for the air fare and I have told her about it... well let's say that I wont be making any appearances at the airport and I will be doing a LOT of praying!

Next in my envelope is our debt....

We made stupid mistakes. We are attempting to correct those steps by becoming debt free. We took Dave Ramseys class and while we do not follow the program entirely, our goal is to pay off our debt and live debt free. We DO NOT use any credit cards and have not for over four years. Anything bought is done with cash. Any vacation, any purchases, Christmas...etc. That is an awesome feeling!

But in addition to living credit card free, we want to be debt free! So that means paying off the old debt! Well this month we sent a money to pay 1/3 of a very large credit card! We have plans for Feb and March and that card will be DONE!

That is very exciting to us!

So there is my envelope post, accountability post, update of past few days post all wrapped up in one!

I will put mr. linky up in case you want to write an update post on your resolutions.

The Great Backyard Bird Count.....

Okay so next month is The Great Backyard Bird Count! We know it is coming every year but we always forget out about it! But not this year! WE are so particpating. We are buying 3 bird feeders this month and putting them out so birds will start coming here! WE are cleaning out our bird wash and getting it ready for the little birdies to bath! WE will be ready!

We are getting all our bird books out to help with identifying and we will chart all the birds that come!

The Wonder Years Blog is also going to particpate in the Great Backyard bird watch and has some great tips! Go check them out.

If you partcipte come back and link up on Feb 28 and let me know your total count! I will have a give away for the person who has the most birds!!!


So please little birdies... come on by!

Princess Day...

Well Matt was off with Mom having a special "day". Kate is going on a trip with Mom and Amy in February so mom is doing something with Matt and Emily this week and next. But today was Matt's day, he choose..Chuck E Cheese (just to play), Red Lobster for lunch and then strangely enough he choose to go over to Mimi's to spend private play time with his "cuz"! Actually for Matt it isnt a weird choice, I wasnt that surprised, but he could have picked just about anything!



Anyway, so Matt was away having fun and we decided to have an all day Princess Day. The girls and I read The Princess and the Kiss and we worked in the guide that goes along with the book. We worked on a scripture verse,

" I have loved you with an everlasting love." Jeremiah 31: 3b

We talked about preparing our hearts. How God hows his LOVE through providing for us and guiding us. We talked about God wanting GOOD for their lives even when you doubt what HE has for you. It was a wonderful time.

Later we read the Princess and the Pea did all kind of princess activities!!! Plus Kate wrote a short story and did MATH. Emily and I did a phonics lesson on blends and read a bit.

We had read the story of Hansel and Gretel last night so today we started the day by making a Gingerbread House! The girls had so much fun! They were busy for quite a while!

I also if you noticed by the girls PRINCESS pics that I finally got around to playing on PICNIK! Which I love and must absolutely pay the extra 24.95 for because I wanna change eye color!!! It is SOOO easy and awesome! I will be messing around more later when I have extra time!

Possibility vs. Reality

We all see possibilities in life...

Possibilities of a better relationship
Possibilities of a better financial situation
Possibilities of a new baby
Possibilities of a vacation, or new car

Than reality hits!

The possibility of a better relationship is stifled because one spouse is working on the relationship and one isnt (I dont mean you dear hubbie)
The possibility of a better financial situation is ruined because of a loss of income or a job change, higher insurance or doctor bills.
The possibility of a new baby is taken away for health reasons.
The possibility of a vacation or new car is put on hold for LIFE's bills.


This is the same for everyone... I mean it might seem like someone has it all, a better financial situation, a vacation to Disney and a new car, but their relationship is bad. Or someone might have a great relationship but not a baby. Or someone might buy a new car but than lose a good financial situation!

We ALL have trials! We all have reality to live with!

We are currently looking for a new house, well not new just different! We are wanting to rent and of course need "x" amount of square footage to fit our family of 5! We want to be in a certain area of town and have a particular budget. You know the drill. A nice house, that is big enough that you can afford!

Well in steps all of our possibilities!

A house that has square footage vs. location.
Or a house that has price vs. square footage.
Or a house that has a locations vs. price!

IT moves the rent house from possibility to reality. WE cant have it all. WE have to compromise. WE have to accept reality.

I want everyone to get what they need in life... I want people to live blessed lives and be joyful and at peace. But what is it that gives them joy and peace?

A house.
A relationship
A job.
A vacation.
A location.

No.

It is God.

As we drive around looking for our possibilities... we in reality want what God has for us, and that is what Dave and I are striving for. That is what we are praying for. Literally driving through neighborhoods praying that God will show us the house HE has for us!

What in your life is a possibility but what in reality does GOD want for you?


Carrie in Texas