Done!

This is Hannah's Africa project. She used a bowl covered in plastic wrap as a form and covered in fabric dipped in glue. When it drives she should have a basket. We'll see if it turns out.

It's 1:15 pm and the kids are schooled, the house is picked up, we've all had lunch and now everyone is playing computer games and I'm relaxing for a bit before I tutor at 1:30. Not bad. Why can't every day be this way? I'll tell you why. Because I am undisciplined! Working on that one. Since we got such an early start and I wasn't overwhelmed and grumpy I even worked with Grace on making pancakes. She's been begging to learn but I never feel up to teaching her in the morning. Pancakes for lunch worked out perfectly. I may let her do it everyday until she gets tired of it. We have lots of fun ideas for toppings since once this bottle of syrup is gone there will be no more for a while. Hannah also got her Africa project done. It was a basket made out of glue and fabric. Of course I took pictures. I had to use Ollie's little video camera to take pictures since one of my camera's got dropped in the lake and the other is acting up. So, the pics aren't great quality but you get the idea.

Here's the Plan

Okay, it's 6:45 am...I'm up and breakfast is in the crock pot so we are off to a good start.  I'm heading out back for a quiet time and then I'm going to get myself some breakfast and then get dressed.  By then it will probably be about 8.  I'm getting the kids' breakfast on the table, then waking them up, and I'm going to do our Bible time at the table.  Then everybody will do their morning stuff--get dressed, make bed, brush teeth, feed the bunnies, etc.  And, we can be in the FL room ready to start our academics by 9:30!  Can I do it?  Yes, I can!  I'll report back later.  

Full to Overflowing

That could describe many things but today it describes my brain.  I have way too much going on between my ears.  These are the things competing for space in my brain--let's go for bullets again--

• My health--more specifically, my diet.  I start the Maker's Diet on Friday.  It is a 40 day thing but I'm viewing it more like a 6 month to lifetime thing.  T'he first two weeks are pretty intense and then you add back a few things and then more things.  In the end, you are eating lots of fruits and vegetables, beans, meat, fish, and whole grains.  Not too hard but like I said, the first two weeks are intense.  I am also planning to start growing my own sprouts to supplement my diet, looking into where I can buy raw milk again, and trying to eat mostly grass fed beef and organic (?)chicken, and eliminating high fructose corn syrup from our house.  Anyway, I'm reading three different books on arthritis and healthy eating in general.  That's enough to make my head spin.
• School--it is always hard to get back into things after a week off.  We had a very late start today but still managed to finish what I wanted to do.  In order to fully finish Africa the way I want to this week I need to make an African meal, finish Hannah's lapbook, and have her do a pretty involved craft.  She will be making a basket out of glue and fabric scraps.  I tackled the owl craft that had been intimidating me today with Grace and Joe.  We also read books about koalas and tomorrow or Friday we wrap up our study of Night Creatures.  So, now I'm trying to decide what to do with them next.  I'm thinking we are going to do a study of invertebrates.  That means I need to get some time to go make copies as well as hit the library website and place lots of holds.  
• Mornings--I have got to revamp our mornings so that they are more peaceful and we can get an earlier start.  The only problem here is me.  I am very undisciplined and it's time to demand obedience from myself (heard that in church on Sunday and it has stuck with me).  I'm thinking that I need to stay far, far away from the computer in the mornings, get the kids up earlier,  and have breakfast earlier. That would help.  I try to start by 9 but even earlier would be better.
• And then there's the mile long "to do" list--I won't even go into that but trust me, it's long.

I'm thinking a nap is in order to just turn off all the noise for a little while.  Then a list and maybe a 28 hour day.

Let's chat

I've only got about 15 minutes before I have to leave again to go pick up Hannah and Joe from theatre and my body really wants to sleep so I'm trying to do something to keep myself awake.  Sounds like a good time for a random thoughts post.  And, to make it even more fun I'll use bullets.

• Speaking of bullets, I now know someone who has been shot.  By a BB gun that is.  One of the ladies at the park was shot in the arm by some 13 and 14 year old boys after a soccer game this weekend.  Unbelievable.  Why in the world did these boys think this was OK????
• I got three place settings of Fiestaware!!!  My sister gave me a pink set that she had and she and my mom gave me an early birthday present and gave me a yellow set and a green set.  I can't wait for dinner time!  I think I will have my dinner on a green plate tonight.
• I took the kids to Walgreen's today to buy a Lil'Kinz.  Grace recently got a Lil'Kinz for her birthday and Hannah and Joe were feeling terribly left out and had some money burning a hole in their pocket.  The pets were regularly priced at $6.99 but two of them had a big, yellow $3 sticker.  When the cashier went to ring them up the bar code wasn't working and I guess that's why they were marked $3.  Wouldn't it make more sense to mark them the same price as all the others?  We weren't complaining though.
• I'm excited about American Idol tonight.  I wonder what the theme is and what kind of person Adam will be tonight.  He seems to change his hair and clothes to match whatever the theme is.
• I'm eating a Tbsp. of honey and a 1/4 tsp. of cinnamon morning and night.  My dad had some info from the internet (so of course it is true) that this remedy is helpful for arthritis.  77 out of 200 arthritis patients found some relief using this remedy.  Will I?  Only time will tell.  
• Grace's finger is healing quite nicely.  Thanks for asking.

I'm off to pick up the kiddos!  Nice chatting with you.

Pictures, pictures, and more pictures

Here are lots of pictures from our trip to GA. The weather was perfect so the kids spent almost all their time outside. They had lots of cousin time! Above is Brayden, the youngest of the bunch. It was so fun seeing him and seeing how he had changed. He's at a really fun age.
Harrison (15), Samuel (6), and Joe hanging out in the hammock. I meant to get some time in the hammock myself but never did.

Here's Pop, the patriarch watching his grandkids.

Grammy cooking up some vittles for all these hungry people.

A trip to GA wouldn't be complete without a visit to the local Goodwill. Joe picked out this sport coat. He has worn it every day since he got it. Only problem? He thinks the long sleeve brown shirt he has on under it is the only thing that matches the sport coat. So, he's been wanting to wear the same shirt every day.

Cheryl (my sister), made the big birthday banner for Mamaw. Her rainbow 8 brought back memories. She and I colored all sorts of things in that exact rainbow way back in the day.

The men. The big guy is Reid, my sister's hubby.

Cheryl and the birthday girl.

This is Mandy and Brayden and my cousin's wife, Jill, and their baby, Collin. These little guys have a baby girl cousin due to arrive in the next couple of weeks.

Here is Grace with Cammie, one of her favorite dogs. Cammie got a work out playing fetch with Grace and Joe.

We spent most of Sunday afternoon in the backyard playing in the dirt. I made a trip to Publix for some frozen treats. Brayden loved his popsicle and Hannah's.

My parents and my brother both have boxers. I don't have a picture of my parent's boxer from this trip but this is my brother's boxer, Chopper.

These guys dug up worms out of the freshly tilled garden plot and made worm farms. We brought ours home, I'm not sure what GA worms are going to think of FL.

A Simple Woman's Daybook

A Simple Woman's Daybook for today...April 27, 2009
Outside my window...we're back in sunny Florida! It's a bright, sunny afternoon.
I am thinking...how happy I am to be home, that I'd really like a nap but if I take a nap I won't have time to straighten my hair and we're going to Orlando tonight to see a high school friend of Ollie's and I'd like to look my best...(if I'd get off the computer I think I'd have time to do both but I haven't been on the computer in days and finding it hard to resist reading everybody's blogs and updating my own)
I am thankful...for another safe trip down I-75, for a great weekend with family, for getting to worship with most of my mom's side of the family yesterday as we celebrated a baptism
From the kitchen...??? thankfully we are going out to dinner tonight so I don't even have to think about it.
From the learning rooms...I could just copy what I said last week because aside from Hannah doing her test we got no school done last week. So, this will be the week to wrap up Africa and Night Creatures.
I am creating...not a whole lot!
I am wearing...some new jean shorts from Goodwill and a blue t-shirt
I am reading...My Enemy's Cradle by Sara Hunt--excellent book set in Holland and Germany during WW2. I found out I that Sara Hunt is also Sara Pennypacker who wrote the "Clementine" books for kids. My kids have absolutely loved listening to those. I took a break from health food books for the weekend and it has been nice to read a good story. During my drive I listened to "Daddy's Little Girl" by Mary Higgins Clark and the first third of "Emma's Secret" by Barbara Taylor Bradford. The kids are listening to "Holes" by Louis Sachar in preparation to see the play next week.
I am hoping...to get a nap :0)
I am hearing...Grace and Joe playing Littlest Pet Shop. No fights yet!
Around the house...unpacking and some basic cleaning need to be done, my sunflowers are growing tall--I can't wait until they bloom.
One of my favorite things...a visit to GA
I am going...out to dinner tonight! This is a very rare occurrence around here and I have to say that I'm excited, we are going to Citywalk in Orlando.
A few plans for the rest of the week...hunker down and unpack and get back into the swing of school after a few irregular weeks. We actually have two or three normal weeks ahead of us before our next fun interruption--a visit from the Smith's!
A picture thought...
The Hannahs testing last week. They were troopers and did a great job!
If you want to participate in the daybook, see Peggy here.

Checking In

First of all, I'm feeling much better. Thank you for all the well wishes. Now, on to what I haven't been able to say on my blog--I'm in GA! Well, until tomorrow at least. The kids and I traveled here on Thursday and totally surprised my dad. He had no idea we were coming until we showed up on the doorstep. My grandmother is celebrating her 80th birthday today and we had a big party for her yesterday. We also surprised her too and since she is a blog reader I had to continue to keep my mouth shut until after the party. So, without being able to reveal what we were doing on top of being sick I've been out of the bloggy world for a few days. I also can't get to my pictures yet (actually just too lazy to put them on my dad's computer) so those will come later. We have had a great weekend despite how bad I felt for the first two days. We went to the Dekalb Farmer's Market on Friday. This place is practically indescribable but I will try. It's got tons of produce but way more than that. It has all sorts of ethnic food for amazingly low prices. I have a picture of all the stuff I bought and I paid so little for it all. I got tons of lentils, a gallon of coconut oil for $22 (I've seen a half gallon in the health food store for $30), flax seed, steel cut oats, spices, fruit, honey, and more. It also has tons of cheeses, meats, and fish. Every fish you could imagine. And they clean them for you right there if you want. We were in there for a good hour and a half. Yesterday we went to the birthday party and then to my sister's school (she's a drama teacher) for a play. It was a great play, we all enjoyed it. An old friend that I found on FB joined us for the play and then came over and we spent the rest of the night laughing our heads off just like we used to do. Today we went to a HUGE church to see one of my cousins get baptized. It was a great service, the message may be a blog post in the making but not today. We are spending the rest of the day around the house and resting up for our drive home tomorrow. It's been too short but I'm glad we could be here for a few special family events. It was well worth the drive up. I'll have lots of pictures to share and more to write later.

Sick

I'm sick. I have a stinkin' cold, the creepin' crud. I am not sure if I picked it up in the ER or whether Debi made me sick. :0) What I do know is that I haven't had a cold in about a year and a half and I forgot how yuck it makes you feel! I have been taking cold medicine which is something I never do but I need to not feel so bad right now (more on that tomorrow). Anyway, yesterday I took a half dose in the afternoon and a full dose at bedtime. I took a full dose today and I hate the way it's making me feel. I feel very loopy and big-headed. I don't think I'll be taking anymore cold medicine. I think I'm on the tail end of this anyway. Surprisingly enough I haven't been spending much time on the computer so I'm actually a little behind reading and commenting on blogs. Have a good weekend!

A Day at the Beach

We spent the day at the beach and pool with Julie and her parents and aunt (pronounced "ont") and uncle. It was a beautiful day, perfect weather and great company.

A Picture

It actually doesn't look too bad. The Dr. that performed the "surgery" said that he had a lot of experience with nails because he is also a podiatrist. He said he was really trying to salvage as much of her nail as possible. He did a good job of that! To answer a few questions from the comments--it was on her left hand so writing should not be a problem. She is in no pain at all (at least none that she's mentioned). We spent the day at the beach and tried to keep it covered but it certainly didn't slow her down at all.

Very Eventful Day

Well, I woke up this morning with a big ol' long list.  I had lots of great plans and I would be using every minute of the day to get it all done.  All went well until about 2 pm.  While at the park Grace was running and she's not sure how this happened but she ended up with a very large (maybe an inch or a little less) piece of wood (the word splinter just does not do it justice) embedded in the middle of her nail bed on one of her fingers (how's this for a run on sentence?).  She was amazingly calm, just sent a friend to the moms to get a band-aid.  She had already pulled a large piece of the wood out and didn't know there was more under her nail.  Once I saw it and said that we might need to go to the dr. then she got really freaked out.  Still no hysterics but her face went pale and she needed to lie down.  The moms who looked at it agreed that we needed to get it looked at.  So, we headed for a friend's house whose hubby is the first stop for lots of us moms before the ER.  He is a PA in the ER and is happy to give advice.  He told us to go to the ER.  So, I left the other two at her house and went to the ER.  Three hours later we were on our way home.  Grace was such a trooper.  She had x-rays, soaked her finger, had a big shot to numb it, and then the dr. took about a third of her fingernail off and dug out the wood.  It wasn't just one big splinter but lots of little pieces.  Neither one of us passed out but both of us thought about it.  So, needless to say none of my errands got done but that's okay.  There's always tomorrow night or next week.  I know this whole story is very poorly written but I'm multi-tasking by watching American Idol while I type this.  Lovin' the laptop!  

Since we're talking about AI...I really feel bad for poor Lil.  She hasn't had positive feedback from the judges for well over a month.  Every week they just tear her down.   And Kris Allen--just the opposite.  They absolutely love him and love everything he does.  We completely missed AI last week so it's fun to just kick back and relax after a stressful afternoon and watch my favorite show.  Hannah is making my heart sing because she is completely engrossed in a book and reading it at every commercial.  She can't decide if she likes the story or not but it's very exciting and "weird" and definitely one she can't put down.  It's called "Our Only May Amelia," and it's about a girl with about 6 brothers, a mean dad, a weird grandmother, one brother gets shanghaied, a pregnant mother.  This one is a Newberry Honor book that I picked out for her.  She has been reading a lot but mostly what I call "book candy."  Book candy is books that are really fun to read but teach you nothing nor challenge you.  More of a pop style book.  I recently told Hannah that I'm glad she's reading but she also needs to read some "book vegetables" and some "book fruit."  I love that she is getting a variety of books and finally learning to love reading.

Okay, this was all  over the place, just like my brain tonight...hope you could keep up!

Happiness Is...

All the laundry done! Until bedtime at least...or until Joe waits to long to go to the bathroom and wets his pants.

Plenty of tp!

And, I don't have a picture but most of dinner done and simmering on the stove. A huge pot of Yellow Lentils with Spinach. I'm hoping that I can get a couple of meals out of it. Tonight with fish, tomorrow night with Butter Chicken.

A Simple Woman's Daybook

A Simple Woman's Daybook for today...April 20, 2009

Outside my window...it's a little cloudy, I heard through the grapevine (aka Facebook) that we might be in for some rain today. I really hope so because then I won't have to water my sunflowers.
I am thinking...about all the little things I need to do right after this post--laundry, kitchen, put away 200 rolls of toilet paper from Costco, stuff that never got done yesterday.
I am thankful...for a relaxing, fun, and productive spring break with Ollie.
From the kitchen...I am going to make a yellow lentil dal tonight for dinner and fish to go with it and maybe some flatbread. Not sure about the rest of the week, I've not been very good at planning ahead lately.
From the learning rooms...it's an unusual week around here. We are kind of having our spring break this week (we did school during Ollie's last week). Hannah is doing CAT5 testing at home with another homeschool friend today and tomorrow. We are going to the beach on Wednesday and doing some other fun things on Thursday and Friday. I am hoping to get a little bit done though maybe in the evening. I really want to wrap up the study of Night Creatures with Grace and Joe. The books are due and we are almost done anyway. With Hannah I want to wrap up our study of Africa. I still haven't made African food but that will probably have to wait until next week. She has a lapbook she's been doing so I'd like to finish that. In reality, there's a good chance that none of this will get done and may have to be done next week. A girl can dream though right?
I am creating...healthy living for my family.
I am wearing...comfy jeans and a t-shirt (my favorite outfit!)
I am reading...believe it or not I am not reading any fiction books and haven't for over a week. I'm not letting myself start anything until I've read the book I have about teaching reading with children's books and the other Maker's Diet book. Makes for boring, but necessary reading. I am hoping to start a book set during WW2 later this week.
I am hoping...for rain today, for good health
I am hearing...nothing but my own typing and a few outside noises. It's quiet in here as the girls are working away on their test.
Around the house...we've done a lot of rearranging while Ollie was on break and now there is just some basic cleaning that needs to be done. I need to organize my junk shelf at the table in the living room. It's a big mess.
One of my favorite things...a clean house to start off the week
I am going...to the park, running errands, going to the beach, hither, thither, and yon
A few plans for the rest of the week...I think I already covered that.
A picture thought...

I love when I take the time to make a fruit tray like this to keep in the fridge. It encourages us all to eat more fruit as a snack.
If you want to participate in the Daybook, see Peggy here.

A Family Adventure

We started our little adventure by going to a hotel in a nearby town to see a friend's artwork that was on display. We all agreed that hers was the best! Then we got our bikes and headed on a bike ride. There is a really nice trail in this town but before going on the trail we first headed to a lake. It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed the pretty sights. There were a lot of birds and one alligator. In the picture below of Grace alone, look just above her elbow and you can see the gator. After we spent some time reading about the lake on the sign we were ready to continue on our bike ride. We had to go over some steps so Ollie was moving all the bikes over the up and then down the steps to a path right along the water. Hannah decided to mess with my bike and tipped it over and my camera (that was in my basket on the back) fell into the muckity muck and sunk. You could still see the strap of my camera bag and Ollie (bless his pea-picking heart) jumped down 6 feet or so into the muck and rescued it. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to have recovered from it's sinking into the muck. It will take a picture but it's not right and right now I can't get the shutter to close. We will work on it but looks like it's time for the back up camera that was acting up a while back but now seems to be working okay. I was not happy to say the very least. Hannah felt bad and after griping a bit I forgave her. We continued on with our bike ride and then headed home. We didn't make it to an Indian store. Let's just say there was a bit of miscommunication. I have a plan for where to get some of what we were looking for though. Here are some pictures from our day.

Kiwi again and a bunny pic

This is the last of the Kiwi pictures--Kiwi has gone home to her family. We miss her but hope to get to babysit again sometime.