gratitude

today i'm grateful for...

1. friends willing to scour closets so i can finish a commission.

2. friends willing to brainstorm solutions (and be a part of them) with me.

3. discovering the trigger to my migraines (aspartame).

clogged

dinner tonight is potato cheese soup. i put the potato peels slowly down the disposal.
then the sink stopped draining.....

running the disposal again didn't work.
i couldn't reach far enough into the pipe to find the clog.
we don't have any draino.

so, i filled the sink with hot water, and got the plunger.
in the process of plunging the sink, i got a nasty shower. dirty water + plunger residue.

i need "another" shower so i can feel clean!

gratitude

today i'm grateful for...

1. a smelly flatulent cat. because i can smell it, i know that i'm alive.

2. cooler weather. it means i can start baking again.

3. sadness and loss. by recognizing them, i know i've also had joy.

silly kitty

last night, shaun and i watched the cat chase her tail on the stairs, and proceed to roll down them at the same time.
it was nearly as funny as watching my mothers dog, tiny, roll around the floor while biting her tail.

bones

michael, age 3," mom, i need a new diaper. i had to poop."

mom, "ok, go get one."

michael, "i can't. i have bones."

mom, "...everyone has bones, buddy."

michael, "really?!"
feeling my foot, "yeah! you do have bones!"

attitude of gratitude

i'm on a mission to find the positive in my life, and to help others see the lighter side of things. as such, i'm going to start posting things that i'm grateful for.

today, i'm grateful for:
1. funny kids.
2. a hard working husband.
3. the ability to cook.

a little quotspiration

http://thecaregiverspace.org/blog/2013/11/01/little-steps-to-gratitude-while-caregiving/#_jrXO69

gratitude

i'm on a mission to start being more grateful. i want to focus more on the positive and less on the negative.
so here goes...

1. i'm grateful for nice heavy blankets on a cool night.

2. i'm grateful for a supportive husband who's willing to fight my battles for me.

3. i'm grateful for supportive friends.

trolls

beware, you may not like what this post says. i don't care. it's not for you.

i homeschool. it was a decision that took years to come to, and was decided upon with my entire family executive council. 

there was no one reason that was the sole influence or deciding factor. they all had equal weight. i know what they are/were and that's all that matters. 

yesterday i posted an image on my facebook wall that explained ONE reason why i homeschool. and oh my word, out came the trolls! (and they were family members)

"what about socialization?"

"you're saying that anyone not homeschooled doesn't have that ability?"

"they need to learn to deal with people they can't stand."

are you aware that over 75% of public schooling is about socialization? what does that say about what our society thinks is important? and how is throwing 30 kids the same age together mimicking real life socialization? my peers are not made up of only people my own age, are yours? if i were to get a job, my manager would not be my age, nor would the rest of my coworkers. if you can't learn these skills in the home, where you are loved unconditionally, then were can you learn them?

are you telling me that by attending my church and their activities, and joining other groups won't give my kids the same kind of socialization? we don't sit at home all day every day and twiddle our thumbs. we have activities and field trips, and play dates we attend on a regular basis.

no, i'm not saying that everyone public schooled lacks that specific ability. i was merely stating that this was ONE of my goals in homeschooling my kids. there is a whole grab bag of goals and reasons. on any given day, i can give you a different one. but i don't have to justify myself to you. and i won't.

you may not like the decisions i make about raising MY children. that's fine. they're not yours. every decision i make is done so for my families good. 

you don't have to like the decisions i've made or will make. that's fine. you don't have to agree with them either. if you want to continue to be in my life, don't tell me they are wrong. don't tell me what i should be doing instead. support me. tell me that you don't agree but that you understand that i have to do what i think is right for my kids and my family, and you will support me in that.

stop trying to steal the wind from my sails. i'm good enough at that on my own.

school

even though michael is only preschool age, i'm having him and ashley do the same things. ashley's are just more in depth.

we are doing an alphabet interactive notebook. i'm having such a blast with them, and the kids love them too!
page 1 has a large letter and a picture that matches the letter (a/apple).
page 2 has a poem. michael looks for the letter he can find in it. ashley just has the poem.
page 3 (only ashley) has another poem where she finds the letter.
page 4 (only ashley) has magazine letters and pictures.
(i'm also writing down what the images are so they can associate them.)

...uh, what?

i'm astounded that some of my posts are getting close to, or over 100 views. i wasn't aware that i had that many people following me. on the other hand, it's kind of cool that people like those posts so much!

updates

school is moving along. some days are good, and some not so good.
as an example, today we started at 12:30 and were still doing reading and writing at 2:30, and taylor took until 3 to finish.

one thing i'm struggling with is they seem to be each others distractions. i can't just school 1 at a time, so i'm not sure how to fix this...

we have a friend (ok, a few of them actually), that has been been helping shaun figure out a studio design. last week, he found a bunch of pallets, and purchased them for us (shaun was NOT happy). now they are off getting the rest of the supplies to put it together. i just hope they remember to get screws. otherwise, it'll be a short build day.

my sister is coming to visit next week. she wanted to go camping in yellowstone for a few days. i'm not sure the weather will allow it. our nights have started freezing. it's that time of year where you almost need a coat in the morning, but shorts by noon.
she also had assignments for the older two. taylor is supposed to learn about geysers, and elizabeth about old faithful. the library had NO resources about either. so we are trying online.

my laundry is done. my house is semi-clean, and i have plans for about a dozen things.
wonder how many i am actually going to get done....

new (to us) table

a few months ago, we found a table at the DI. it was a little darker in color that i wanted, and the top needed to be refinished, BUT, it was larger than the one we had.

without the leaf, the old table is a circle. without the leaves (plural), the new table is an oval.

the old table should only fit 6 chairs (we have 7 people). the new table, with 1 leaf, fits 8 chairs. with both leaves will fit 10-12.

the old table is a darker oak. the new table, after being refinished is a beautiful light oak.

i can't wait to use the new table! (we just got it back tonight.)

now to sell the old table...if shaun will let me.

school begins!

the kids have been begging to start school for weeks. i haven't had things ready...or so i thought.

the other day, while stressing over how much school planning i still had left to do, the amount of house work that i needed to either do myself or guide children to do, and the fact that there's only one of me, and i just can't do it all, i realized something...
i don't have to have everything ready all at the same time for school. as long as i have the current day's stuff prepared, we'll be alright. *that realization took a HUGE load off my shoulders.

to be honest, i was mostly ready, just couldn't (and still can't) get my computer to print very well. it will print, but it's awfully slow (considering that the computer is around 4 years old, it's not all that surprising. extremely frustrating though.).

phone woes

i'm not sure if it's a phone issue or a computer issue, but i can no longer download my pictures off of my iphone.
it's frustrating, cause that's the only camera i use right now.

so, when i can figure out what's wrong and get it fixed, i will have pictures to upload.

on of these days...

variation

we absolutely LOVE these cookies. and i thought it might be fun to mix it up a little bit, so i used a different flavor pudding. cheesecake, to be exact.

it's not a flavor i will use in this recipe again. i don't like them. taylor says it tastes like i forgot to put the sugar in them.

chaos

we have devolved into chaos for a bit.
i hate it.

yesterday was the first day of our co-op, but here's how things started.

wednesday, i used up all the ink in the printer, and was still trying to get things printed so we could start school. a friend offered to let me use her printer, and then her's stopped working. apparently, i wasn't supposed to start school this week.
thursday, we spent all day running errands. as i'd run out of ink, not even printing from the computer was an option. so, we ran to IF to get some.
shaun had lost an art book, and his pencil box. it's hard to teach a drawing class if you, the teacher, don't have any supplies, so we gathered him some new ones...
we had been invited to a friend's house for dinner, and didn't make it home until 8:30p. while we were there, though, i did something to my neck, and within an hour had a full blown, vertigo causing migraine. instead of getting more work done, i went to bed. every time i turned over in bed, the migraine came back, and i felt like throwing up.
friday was our mom school. i got up early so i could finish preparations, and we made it on time. but i was running from 7 in the morning, until 7 at night.
i had class rosters i needed to print off before we could leave. i needed to make sure i had something for my kids to eat...ok, that one didn't happen. we needed to have swimming clothes for our pe elective. while we were there, i had a class to teach, and kids to convince to go to their classes. shaun had a class to teach. i needed to try and track people down to make sure we had their paperwork.
michael and ashley had swimming at 11:50, BEFORE their classes were over. then i had to run shannon and elizabeth to their swimming at 12:30, get taylor some lunch, and take care of a friends baby too... then i discovered that i'd told someone some incorrect information, and needed to make that right.
at 2, taylor had tae-kwando, and i had to run and get him there.
i'd had shaun make appointments for the chiropractor for us after 3, when we would all be home... then we ended up being late anyways.
then, i ran taylor and elizabeth to a friends house for a play-date. took the little kids for ice cream cause they were upset they couldn't stay and play.
i spent the rest of the day trying to finish up co-op stuff, remember everything that needed to be done, and getting things taken care of. i'm still struggling to remember everything that needs to be done.

please tell me it will eventually slow down and i'll be able to get on top of things...? right?

school

school plans are in full swing, and i am nearly ready to get started.

i've been struggling with math. in looking for ways to teach it, i found these, and through various sources was able to purchase them all! it was a miracle! and in one hour, i was able to get 18 lessons planned. they all still need a few things, but for the most part, they are done. i'm still waiting on the rest of the books, but it's a start, and that's what i need. still trying to figure out taylor.....

our first science unit is the solar system. for this one i utilized the library for the teaching materials, and education.com for the worksheets. i keep tons of materials on teacherspayteachers.com, but am unable to purchase them at the moment.

i've even found a few other resources that are going to be immensely useful!

i can't wait to get started! even though i still have a bunch of work to do, the basics are just about done!

relaxing

last night, i was extremely frustrated. i was thinking of everything that needed to be done, and what i wasn't able to do. so, instead of doing anything, i printed off a coloring page, and colored. for hours.

it was super fun and nice.