Tulips in the sunlight

Just read already!

2011-11-21T21:51:00.002-05:00

This is going to sound like I'm bragging, but you will see in a minute that I am actually not really necessarily bragging. Maybe. Perhaps.

My son is an off-the-charts reader. I always knew he had an aptitude for it. Reading was always very easy for him to pick up. He never had any trouble with it and spelling also comes very naturally to him.

When he was tested for reading ability and comprehension at school, he scored the highest possible score. That didn't surprise me. Like I said he's always had a natural bent towards reading, grammar, etc.

Funny thing is, he doesn't like to read. Seriously.

We have always read books together. I read to him from the beginning, even when I was pregnant with him. I have tons of books that we have read over the years and favorites that we kept coming back to again and again. Goodnight Moon. Guess How Much I Love You. It's Not Easy Being a Bunny. Brown Bear, Brown Bear. Honey Bunny Funnybunny. Many of the Berenstain Bears books. Winnie the Pooh. Tons more, but you get the picture.

As he grew older, I continued to read books with him, but he also read alone. The Henry Huggins books by Beverly Clearly. The Boxcar Children. The Hardy Boys. Junie B. Jones out the wazoo. It was so much fun to introduce him to books I loved as a child such as the Fudge series by Judy Blume. The wonderful Ms. Blume actually just sent me a copy of Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing autographed to me and my son after I wrote her an email telling her how much her books have meant to me over the years. I love her.

Anyway, we've read a lot. I always made him read A LOT. I chose his books to make sure he was getting some quality material, but I also let him choose things that were literature-lite, but enjoyable (Diary of a Wimpy Kid, for instance.). His "school" books met certain standards, but for his pleasure reading nothing was off limits.

I thought I was doing everything right to turn him into a lifelong reader, but I have had my doubts.

It's always a chore to get him to read. He rarely just picks up a book without my suggesting he do so. Maybe that's a lot to expect from boys. I don't know. I just remember that I always had a book in my hand or on my bedside table. I was constantly reading and still am an avid reader. Of course, I grew up in a time when there was only one TV in the house and in the evenings it played my father's favorite shows exclusively.

I limit TV time. I limit video game time. I limit computer time. I sometimes make him read when he comes home from school, but, frankly, I don't enjoy doing it. I want reading to be something he wants to do. He knows how to read. That battle is over. He reads quite a bit during his school day, so it's not as if I think he's going to forget how. I just long for the times when some book calls to him and entices him to open its pages for long stretches of time.

Tonight something happened to give me hope. He has read the author Suzanne Collins before. She has this series about Gregor the Overlander that my son likes. She's also the author of the much talked about Hunger Games series. A movie based on the books is coming out in March. I've already told my son he will not see the movie until he reads the books. That's a tactic I successfully used with Harry Potter.

Last week I planned to buy The Hunger Games. Our only bookstore at the mall in Beckley closed, so I was going to order them from Amazon. My son had me check the library. I had checked it the week before and the books were out, but this time the books were available and we went to get them that same night. I have been reading The Hunger Games during the day and my son has been reading in the evening. I'm a little ahead of him in the book, so after he watched a show with his dad tonight he came upstairs and said he was going to read. YES!!!

There are 3 books in the series and I fully expect his enthusiasm for reading to wane a bit once he finishes them. I'll keep on the lookout, though, for the next great series of books for him to read. He has told me he enjoys reading series of books, so that is what I will try to find for him.

It's a worthy battle, I think. Seeing him with his nose in a book does my heart good. I don't think it's doing him any harm either.

Life changes

2011-10-26T10:42:00.005-04:00

Circumstances have changed for us since the last time I posted on this blog two years ago. We moved back home to West Virginia, after 16 years of living in Georgia. You can read more about that on my WV Expat blog, if you want.

I've written so much about homeschooling on this blog. It has been a passion of mine for years. I'm a little lost this year, because my son decided to go back to public school. He decided to go back with our blessing, so it's not as if I wasn't on board. Still it has been a change. He is in 8th grade in our local middle school. So far, he really enjoys it. He likes changing classes, hanging out with kids, and the different types of classes he's taking. We moved in the middle of his 6th grade year, and 7th grade was not a lot of fun for him. We never did quite join in with other homeschoolers here in our new state. It seemed like it was so much easier for us to get involved in the homeschool community when we lived in Georgia. It's nice to see him enjoying school -- even if it's public school!

I've noticed quite a few differences with homeschooling in West Virginia. Georgia homeschooling laws were a bit easier. In Georgia, we had to do standardized testing or present a portfolio once every three years. In West Virginia, we have to do that every year. Georgia laws required us to submit an intent to homeschool form, and once a month send in attendance sheets that showed how many days of that month met the criteria for a "school day". We have to file an intent to homeschool form in West Virginia, too, but we also have to outline our plan of study for the year. I did a plan of study for my son's 7th grade year, but changed some curriculum choices after I had already sent the plan in. That made me nervous, wondering if someone was going to check up on me. They didn't, but could have, I suppose.

Something else I've noticed is the different attitudes towards homeschoolers here in WV. Georgia homeschooling was a bit more readily accepted, maybe that was because so many other people homeschooled their children. I know there are homeschoolers in West Virginia, but they are not as vocal. It feels like more of a hidden society. Maybe it's just the area I am living in, but it's disappointing that people don't feel free to discuss it.

I don't think homeschoolers in West Virginia are respected as people who want something different for their children. Comments I have heard about homeschooling include homeschooling just being an easy way out for parents who don't want to deal with the school system or the structure of the system. Anyone who has every homeschooled (and homeschooled successfully) can tell you we have to deal with the school system in a much more intrusive way. And structure? Yeah, there are unschoolers, but even they have a type of structure to their study. I was never an unschooler. I really was more of a "school at home" type, with my child's needs placed in the forefront. We used structured curriculum, but we could do it our own way and focus on my son's interests when it suited us.

We had always kept an open mind about our son returning to public school. From conversations we had over the years, I figured it was something he would end up doing one day. Returning to public school in Georgia was going to be easy from what I was told by county officials. They told me that I would just have to let them know what grade my son was in and they would place him in that grade for a trial period and see if any adjustments needed to be made. I didn't know anything about how the return to public school in West Virginia would go. The unknown made my spring and summer of this year a little stressful.

In April of this year, I called the middle school and asked to speak to the counselor. I told her my son was going to be in 8th grade the following school year and that he wanted to return to public school. She had us come by for a tour of the school. The school is 13 years old, but really I thought it was much newer. She talked about the classes, the schedule, and mentioned that we would have to have a meeting with the principal before we could register our son. We were told to contact them in early August.

That was a long few months, but finally August came. I called the counselor on a Thursday, we set up the meeting for the following Monday, and I asked her what information I needed to bring. She told me to bring whatever portfolios I had of his work. Most homeschoolers will understand that those words sent me into a panic. I have never used a portfolio for my son. He has always done the standardized testing option. I explained that to her and she told me to just bring what I had.

Bring what I had? I have been homeschooling for 5 years! I have boxes and boxes of work that my son has done. I thanked her and hung up the phone, but inside I was screaming. Finally I got my head together a bit and decided to just fill a manila folder for each year I taught him at home with samples of his work in every subject. I knew they would want to see that he could write legibly. I knew they would want to see he could construct a sentence, a paragraph, a paper, etc. I knew they would want to see proof that the child could do some math. Keeping those ideas in mind, I set to work. I, of course, chose the best selections, but also put in some things with red checks on them to show them that I did grade his work. I put together some grades for him that I had kept from grades 5, 6, and 7. I also got all of his standardized test scores in order.

It took me a couple of days, but I got it all together and that Monday we had the meeting. Our meeting included the counselor, the principal, and the athletic director, because my son wanted to play football. We walked into the office, with my husband carrying this big box and I was nervous. High pitched, fast talking nervous. They were very nice.

My husband started pulling everything out of the box and the first thing the principal said was. "This is very organized." I thought that was odd, but was encouraged by it. We sat there while they looked over things and I talked about the work he had done. They saw his test scores and the principal said she thought he would be okay to go in 8th grade. I can't describe the relief I felt. It was my son's work that I was showing, but I felt like I had passed a test. I had, in a way, I guess. We talked about the types of classes he would be taking and they let me choose some of the electives for him. It was such a positive feeling. I was happy with the whole experience.

The principal said I had done a good job (my inner school girl was so thrilled to hear that!) and then she said that most homeschooled students who return to their school are put back a grade. I am so glad I didn't know that before I went into that meeting! She mentioned that parents come in with a couple of pieces of paper and everything is disorganized and they have no way of knowing what type of work they have done at home.

We left the meeting and I was so happy that I had put real effort into getting ready for the meeting. I was happy also that I'd had the foresight years ago to keep on top of my son's school work, keeping up with his papers and all the testing and state requirements. In five years of homeschooling in 2 different states, I have never had any school official ask me to produce any type of paperwork, so I figure it would be easy to fly under the radar and not follow the requirements. That would be to our children's detriment, however. Most homeschoolers I know would never put their homeschooling in jeopardy like that.

I left the meeting feeling good, but I asked my mom (who has worked in the public school system in WV for 30 years) if it was true that most homeschooled students get put back a year when returning to public school. She confirmed that it was. From what the principal said, I assume it's just because the parents weren't able to prove that work was done at home. Maybe that is why people have such a bad opinion about homeschooling here. Doesn't look good for us homeschoolers --- or former homeschoolers.

So, yes. I am a former homeschooler. My son is enjoying public school. He made "A" honor roll his first 6 weeks. He likes all of his teachers and he's making new friends. The details of his education are out of my hands, but I am still here for him when he needs me. I still make him read and do homework! He's happy with it and I'm happy that he is happy. It is his school experience, after all. I've already had mine.

There are issues with public school that do not thrill me, but I think he is in a good school. I'll keep on top of his schooling, just as I did when he was home. I hope he continues to like it.

What he definitely doesn't like are the early mornings. His first class is at 7:22 a.m. YAWN! He is anxiously awaiting his first snow day. And so am I!

He has already told me how he wants to spend it --- playing board games. That's something we did quite a bit during our homeschool days. I'm happy to know he misses it as much as I do.

I tried a new recipe!

2009-09-03T13:45:00.002-04:00

When it comes to sweets, my husband prefers cake over just about anything. He likes cookies too, but something about a homemade cake makes him very happy.

I've started following this blog that gives tons of fantastic recipes. Last night while dinner (BBQ chicken and baked potatoes) was in the oven, I decided to throw a cake together.

I had printed out the recipe for Maple Fudge Sour Cream Cake a couple of weeks back. The only thing in the recipe that I don't always have in the house is sour cream. I had bought it during the last store trip, though, because I knew I wanted to make the cake at some point.

I love recipes that call for items that normal people who love to cook or bake would already have in their kitchen. That's one of the reasons I love this website so much. There are plenty of recipes I've found that I plan to try out in the next few months.

It took just a few minutes to put the cake together. The recipe states it should be baked in a 9x9 in. pan, but all I had was an 8x8 in. pan and it worked out just fine. The icing gave me a bit of trouble. I had to add a little bit more milk after the butter, milk, and brown sugar was boiled together and had cooled down. Adding that milk right after I put in the icing sugar made the icing just the right consistency, though.

This cake has a great taste. My husband liked that the cake part wasn't incredibly sweet. That's how he prefers his cake. The icing was sweet and had a great flavor. I liked that it made a small cake. Sometimes when I bake a cake in my regular cake pan (9x12) it's too much cake for our small family. This cake was perfect after our dinner with a cold glass of milk.

Check out the website for some great recipes. Those Mennonite girls can cook!

September

2009-09-01T16:59:00.002-04:00

I'm borrowing --- okay, stealing! --- Amy's idea for a post. She wrote about what she's looking forward to this month.

September marks the beginning of my favorite time of year. Fall is my favorite season and there is lots to look forward to!

Here's what I'm looking forward to this September:

1. Gary's day off on Monday (Labor Day).

2. Gary's birthday on the 17th.

3. Our wedding anniversary on the the 25th ( 17 years and still in love :))

4. Trips to the lake during the week when everyone else is at school/work! Evan and I get our lake back to ourselves!

5. A new baseball season. First game a week from today. Love to watch Evan play baseball.

6. Settling in to our school routine, so everything becomes a little less harried.

7. Hoping for a short getaway to Blue Ridge, GA with hubby and son --- even if it's just for a day!

I know most people prefer spring, but I think this time of year is so renewing! It's the beginning of great things to come!

Memories and connections

2009-08-26T18:33:00.003-04:00

While I was in West Virginia visiting my family, my dad had me go through books that belonged to my Aunt Fran. She was quite a reader and left hundreds of books behind when she died. She had probably given away even more, supplying friends at work and probably some family members with reading material for countless years.

It was the same when I was growing up. I don't know how it started, but she must have noticed I liked to read. From then on, whenever I was at her house, she would give me dozens of books. Often she would just let me go through them and take what I liked.

It's funny how I had forgotten some of that.

Fran and I hadn't been close for a long time. It makes me sad to admit it. Gary and I moved to Georgia in 1993. I wasn't always around for family get togethers. She was a busy career woman. I was busy being a wife and working and then being a mom. We lost touch.

I heard about her life the same way she heard about mine --- through other family members. My grandma would tell me about her. My parents would let me know what was going on with her. Once in a while she'd answer the phone when I was calling my grandma. We'd catch up for a few minutes. A couple of times I sent her an email. That was really the extent of our adult relationship.

The distance --- both physical and emotional --- over the years made it easy for me to forget how very much alike we were. I usually heard from someone in my family when I went back home that I was "just like Fran." It bugged me. Fran was tough, sarcastic, sometimes hard to get along with. I wanted to be the saintly sort of wife and mother that everyone speaks about in angelic tones.

But Fran had a more complex personality than I gave her credit for. She wasn't just tough. She was also very kind. She wasn't just sarcastic. She was incredibly funny. She wasn't always hard to get along with. In fact, many, many people at her funeral talked about what a great friend she was. Loyal. Trustworthy. Giving.

Just a couple of weeks before she died, I was in her room. She was in a lot of pain, so I would try to distract her by talking. Sometimes I would just sit in the room with her. I said something to her about myself, something I never really talked about with other people and she said she was exactly the same way.

She died on January 3rd of this year and I have thought about that moment for months. It was a quick moment of connection, but it left me with a strong sense of family with regards to my aunt. I recognized something in her that was also a part of me and it made me know that we were, in many ways, cut from the same cloth.

In the past six months, I've often wished I could have known her more. I've wished I could go back in time and fight harder to have a friendship with her. I've wished I would have made more of an effort and I've wished she would have too.

I lost my grandma just a few weeks after my aunt died and I knew losing my grandma would be hard. Walking into my grandmother's house (where Fran also lived and where we went to go through Fran's books) and my grandma not being there just felt completely wrong. Looking at my grandma's things made me sad. I miss my grandma. I miss that relationship that I know will never be replaced or recovered.

Mourning Fran has been a different experience. I have so much regret associated with her passing. It feels like part of me that should have grown didn't grow. I feel like I missed out on knowing someone. Even though she had always been part of my life, I feel like I missed out on getting to truly know her. And I missed out on getting to know someone with whom I had so much in common.

Going through Fran's books was harder than I thought it would be. I kept many more than I intended to. Some, like her recipe books, I just had to take. I may never open them again, but I couldn't leave them behind. She had such a love and passion for cooking. I knew she held them in high regard.

One book I didn't hesitate to take was a copy of Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell. I have always loved the movie, even years before I moved to Georgia. In fact, I wrote a paper in college about Scarlett O'Hara! As soon as I saw the hardbound copy of the book tucked away in some of my aunt's things, I knew I was going to take it home.

I got it out tonight. It is the first time I've opened the huge tote of books in the 2 weeks I've been home from my trip to West Virginia. I turned to the first page and started reading.

I was surprised by the memory that came to me. This book used to be in my aunt's living room when she lived at Maxwell Hill, years before she moved in with my grandma. I had completely forgotten that. I remembered being at her house, sitting in her living room that she had decorated so nicely. She had worked hard for that home of her own and she was so very proud of it.

The book was on the coffee table. I had walked into the living room during a family get together at my aunt's. I was the only person in there. Everyone else was scattered throughout the house --- some in the dining room, some in the kitchen, others in the TV room. I clearly remember picking up the book, opening to the first chapter and starting to read it. I sat there for quite some time before one of my younger cousins distracted me. I remember putting the book down where my aunt kept it and going off to play.

I don't know why I had forgotten that, but it feels so great to remember it! Maybe the reason I love the movie is because of that early experience reading the book. Maybe my aunt loved the movie too. Maybe that's just another way that we are so alike.

It's true that I'll never get to know her the way I should have when she was living, but I'm so thankful for the moments of connection I can still have that make me realize we were family and much more similar than I could have imagined!

Back to normal

2009-08-24T13:19:00.002-04:00

We're done with vacations, back to baseball, and have started school.

Summer may still be around on the calendar, but the summer attitude has left the building.

And that's kind of okay with me.

My sister blessed me with lots of homeschool materials from BJU and so far it's been going pretty well. I miss Abeka, just because I was so used to it, but my son wants to segue into the online classes at BJU in the next year or so. We need to get used to how they do things.

Things on my plate right now:

1) Getting back on my diet/exercise plan, which I have blown off for the past month. I had 3 visits to King Tut's Drive In during my 2 weeks in WV. A personal best (or worst!). And that wasn't the only bad food I ate! And, even though we were busy the whole time I was there, I didn't exercise as much as I had planned to.

2) Making sure we stay on track with school. We are most successful with homeschooling when we have structure and order. I crave chaos, ergo complications arise. I am determined to stay on top of it this year.

3) Husband is head coaching Evan's baseball team. I am the Team Mom. Lots of extras to do that I have never been responsible for before. It's fun. I've always liked being involved with baseball, but it's just a different avenue. I'm liking it so far.

4) Fighting with our water heater. Such is life. We always have some little aggravation to contend with. Dealing with a leak in the water heater right now. Hoping to get it replaced in the next 2 weeks.

5) I'm playing with the idea of going back to school to get my Masters of Arts in Teaching. I am both excited and terrified of the idea. Found a school nearby that offers it. It's 2 evenings a week. It's something I'm thinking about for next fall. There are tons of opportunities to teach in homeschool-y ways around here. Groups (not co-ops) that offer actual credit for homeschoolers in certain subjects. Plus I am surrounded by private Christian schools that need teachers. I love the idea for the future, so am considering it. It would take me 2 years to get the degree. Again, excited and terrified, so I'm not sure where I'll go with this.

That's it for the time being. I hope to be more prolific with this blog this fall!

The best laid plans . . .

2009-07-23T10:45:00.002-04:00

Last Friday I had planned to take on the task of organizing our upcoming school year, but that didn't happen.

Instead I ended up going to the World Series in Jefferson, GA with my son and husband. They left Thursday morning, but I went Saturday afternoon. I'm so glad I did!

We all had a great time. The kids played hard. They didn't win, but they won some games and had fun. My son met kids from Florida, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, and other parts of Georgia who all love playing baseball too. They traded pins, they participated in Opening Day ceremonies, they ate bad-for-you concession stand food, they swam in the hotel pool, and ran around the halls in the hotel more than they should have been allowed to. They asked the lady at the hotel desk to make chocolate chip cookies for them and she obliged every single night!

It must have been as close to paradise as you can get for an 11 year old boy!

It was kind of great for my husband and me too to see our son so happy and having so much fun. I'm glad I got the opportunity to go.

We got home Monday evening and the race is on to get everything in order to be ready for our trip to WV next Thursday.

But first --- I'm going to work on those school plans TODAY!

At least that's the plan for now. . .

My Friday plans

2009-07-16T12:08:00.003-04:00

My husband and son just left about an hour ago to go to the Dizzy Dean World Series with my son's 11 year old All Star team. I'm not sure how long they'll be gone -- it'll depend on how many games the team wins -- but they'll be away at least 3 nights.

What on earth am I going to do with myself?

Cleaning is always an option. The house is in much better shape since we've had a break from baseball last weekend, but I could always find something to do like deep cleaning, decluttering, etc. So I plan to do a couple of little projects involving cleaning and decluttering.

Another thing I really need to do is work on our upcoming school year. I've been thinking about this a lot, so I was very excited to run across this post from Kris about having a Mom's Retreat.

Kris uses the time to get away from the house and make plans for her family's upcoming school year. I think this is a great idea, but I'm planning on doing this at home tomorrow. Because I'm a total geek, I'm really excited about it!

I don't always take enough time to plan ahead, think about where we want to go with our schooling for the year, or think through the things that are working well or not working at all. I need this time to focus and make some choices about curriculum for the upcoming year.

I can really see the benefit of getting away from the house to do this, but since my house is empty (except for me and our little pug, Smokey) I think sticking around here to plan out the details will work too.

I'll let you know how my Friday "at home" Retreat goes. I'm hoping to get some issues resolved for the upcoming school year so we can start off right.

I'm also checking out this post on planning tips by Kris. I'm getting some great inspiration from her blog!

Music at the Lake

2009-07-15T15:44:00.002-04:00

My son and I went to Lake Allatoona this afternoon to soak up some sun. Wednesday is "free day" at the lake. You can park without paying the $5 parking fee. (By the way the fee used to be $3. They just raised it 2 months ago!)

It was a very busy day at the lake. People cooking out, playing at the beach, riding their jet skis, driving their boats. After we had been there about an hour a couple of guys pulled up, unpacked their car, started cooking out, and playing their stereo in their car for all around them to hear.

They actually weren't "blasting" their stereo. We could only hear it so clearly because they were just a couple of picnic tables away from us. Still it annoyed me. I never like to hear loud music being played. My husband even gets annoyed with me because I don't like it being played too loudly in the house, but people playing music outside really IRKS me and I'm not completely sure why.

I remember years ago being at Cranberry Glades with college friends and a college professor and his wife, with whom we were also friends. We did some walking and cooked out. One of the guys suggested pulling out his "boom box" and the professor said "I've never understood why people have to go out in nature and listen to music." So the boom box stayed in the car and I remember thinking I had found a kindred spirit in that loud music hating professor.

Our afternoon wasn't ruined because of the two guys playing music from their car, but it would have been a lot more peaceful if they had just brought their iPods!

Homeschoolers, you should fear me

2009-07-14T13:05:00.003-04:00

I got a response from the email I sent to my state senator about a possible bill allowing homeschoolers to participate in public school sports. He was very receptive and said he and some other colleagues were drafting legislation in support of equal access and in support of homeschooling in general.

Very nice to know.

What's not nice to know is that, apparently, in my quest to help my son fulfill his goals, I will personally bring down homeschooling.

I apologize, in advance, for the disruption.

What bothers me about that article in Home Education Magazine is it's like that dude behind the curtain in the Wizard of Oz.

"Pay no attention to the myriad of homeschooling laws your state has. Forget about the fact that your tax dollars support public education. Try not to remember that your child is subject to standardized testing. Forget all of that and believe it is the homeschooler whose child wants to play sports in public school that will put the final nail in the coffin."

I'm up to here with it. (I'm holding my hand way above my head -- fyi.)

I choose to face reality in this situation. The fact is we have a limited right to homeschool --- we don't have complete homeschooling freedom. We live in a country where the majority of children attend public school, therefore they have the most access to certain undeniable educational advantages. That's a hard truth, but it's still true.

I am willing to make sacrifices to homeschool. And, make no mistake about it, there are sacrifices involved. We spend money that public schoolers don't have to spend in order to educate our son. Plus we pay for other kids to be educated through tax dollars. I wanted to do a science unit study that involved a microscope, but couldn't because the microscope I wanted was so expensive, so we put it off for a while. My son wants to take a homeschool enrichment class in the fall and I'm not sure we're going to be able to afford it.

There are sacrifices.

There are also undeniable advantages to homeschooling. My son can pursue his interests. He loves to learn about World War II. We study a lot about it. He is good at math and I know he doesn't need to go over for the fourth time in a week how to cast out 9s, so we skip that. We are planning a Civil War study in the fall and we'll go to every Civil War cemetery, museum, and battlefield in our area (there are plenty in Georgia) to make that part of history come alive for him in a way it wouldn't if he spent the time just reading about it in a classroom.

Not to mention there is no doubt I have his best interests at heart. I can guarantee he will get what he needs, because I'm willing to fight for it.

So, I get it. I'm on board. I love homeschooling. I'm proud to talk about the great things about homeschooling, but I'm honest enough to admit some things bug me about homeschooling.

Why can't I be sad that my sports loving son won't have access to a competitive sports program if things are not changed? Why can't it bother me that he can only receive the Hope scholarship retroactively if he maintains a good grade in his first year of college? Why can't I worry just a bit about the cost of his college education when he doesn't have access to all of the scholarships that are available to public schoolers?

I belong to two local homeschooling message boards and haven't mentioned my email to my state senator on either of them. Want to know why? I would be blasted for doing it. "We are fine homeschooling and we don't want our freedom taken away because your child wants to play sports."

Fine.

Just stay behind your curtain. I'll stand there with you.

"Don't think about the four homeschooling families I personally know whose kids now go to public school just so they can have access to the sports programs."

It's hot behind this curtain. I don't think I can stay here much longer.

I immediately regretted hitting the send button

2009-07-09T16:03:00.002-04:00

I found out a week or so ago that my homeschooled son is not allowed to participate in sports through his local school district. He loves sports. We've always paid for sports programs for him, but some things we can't provide. Like access to a huge baseball, basketball, or football program.

I have mixed feelings about this issue. The thoughts that fly through my head while thinking about this include:

1. We have the right to homeschool.
2. We incur extra expenses to homeschool because we buy our own materials.
3. We still have to pay taxes to our local school district. We don't have the choice to stop that.
4. My son is heading into the sixth grade. The baseball program he is in will only last a few more years.
5. My son loves sports and playing on a team.
6. The homeschool options for teams are not convenient for us.
7. My son has said multiple times that he wants to keep homeschooling through high school (We've told him if he decides he wants to do something besides homeschooling, we are willing to consider it.).
8. It bugs me that we don't even have the option of considering school sports. How can they make us pay for something we don't use then not allow us to use the portion we choose to use?

It makes my head spin.

I read that 24 states allow homeschoolers equal access and that Alabama and Louisiana are considering measures to allow homeschoolers access to public school sports. Armed with that information, I chose to email my state senator to see if any legislation like that is being talked about in Georgia.

So, I sent the email and immediately wished I hadn't sent it because I can only anticipate two responses:

1. "Thanks for your email, but we are not currently considering any legislation regarding this issue."

2. "Thanks for your email, but if you want your son to participate in public school sports, you should enroll your son in public school."

That's it. Those are the only two things I can imagine hearing back from my state senator.

Of course, 24 other states have successfully passed laws regarding this issue, so I'm not sure why I feel so negative about it. Maybe something good will happen.

I'll keep you posted.

Congratulations Warriors!

2009-07-08T14:39:00.002-04:00

Our Warriors took second place in the 11 year old State B Georgia Dizzy Dean tournament! The boys really did an excellent job!

The last 4 days we have been driving to and from Ringgold, getting home after midnight, and eating yucky fast food. It felt strange to get home last night at around 9:30 p.m., knowing we would not be heading back to Ringgold today. I made tacos and they tasted so great! I forgot how great home cooked meals taste!

The team has practice tomorrow night and then the weekend off. It is our first weekend home since the weekend before Memorial Day. It will be a welcome break.

Next up is the World Series in Jackson County, GA starting on July 16th!

But first a much needed breather! And a whole lot of housework!

Go WARRIORS!

2009-07-07T13:32:00.002-04:00

Tonight our Acworth Warriors play in the championship game of the Georgia Dizzy Dean 11 year old State B Tournament!

If you happen to be in Ringgold, come by and cheer us on!

Summer

2009-07-03T17:36:00.002-04:00

We are in the midst of our summer baseball blitz with my son playing 11 year old All Stars for our baseball association. Actually, I guess we're at the end of it. We have our state tournament this weekend, the next weekend off, and the world series the following weekend, then it's over.

The boys have played tournaments every weekend since Memorial Day, so our summer has gone by in a haze of travel, ballgames, and practices. We are looking forward to finishing up, taking a trip up to WV for much needed extended family time, and then getting back to life as normal.

Life as normal includes school and I have been going over so many things I absolutely want to include for Evan's sixth grade year. Wouldn't it be nice if we could actually get it all in? It hasn't happened yet, but one year it may!

I really love the summer with the hot weather, the unpredictable schedule, the novelty of every day, but by August I will be craving the familiar. I'll be ready for the days of schoolwork, the structure, and the predictability of life.

Sorry to be so out of touch with the blog lately. I'm anxious to write about some things when life (and my brain) settle down!

Until then, have a Happy Fourth of July weekend! We will be spending our holiday weekend on the ballfield in north Georgia rooting for our Warriors!

Father's Day

2009-06-19T11:28:00.002-04:00

Every June it comes around -- another opportunity to tell the man who raised you thanks for doing such a great job.

It seems like kind of a set up, really. Of course, I am never going to tell him he did a bad job. If he'd done such a bad job, how come I turned out so great?

Here's a few thanks I'm sending out to my dad. It's not everything I could thank him for, but that list would take a very long time!

1. Thank you for working hard and sacrificing so much for a bunch of kids you claimed weren't really yours. Family joke. It's funny. Trust me.

2. Thanks for having such a great sense of humor.

3. Thanks for making me go to church. I didn't appreciate it back then, but I'm thankful for it now.

4. Thanks for being dependable. I know without a doubt that I can call you in a crisis.

5. Thanks for teaching me about our family's history.

6. Thanks for the long drives just looking around. I enjoy those drives now with my son too. One day he'll appreciate it.

7. Thanks for helping me with flat tires, empty gas tanks, and money for college.

8. Thanks for keeping such a tight reign on me when I was growing up. Believe it or not, I could have gotten into a lot more trouble than I did!

9. Thanks for spending time with my son and sharing your interests with him.

10. Thanks for staying happily married to my mother for 45 years! P.S. Happy Anniversary!

And Happy Father's Day! Now go take a nap. You deserve it!

A hiatus from my hiatus

2009-05-13T14:37:00.003-04:00

Quick post because I have some extra time and wanted to share a video!

I'm a Lost fan! I love that show! Tonight is the season finale! Arghh!!! What will I do? How will I cope?

Anyway, here is the sinister Ben (Michael Emerson) on Jimmy Fallon. Funny, funny, funny!

Hiatus

2009-04-28T13:14:00.001-04:00

Life is getting kind of hectic with the school year finishing up, recreation baseball ending, and All Star baseball starting. I'm going to take a break for a while from blogging. I'll continue to check on blogs I enjoy reading.

I plan to be back when time is once again on my side.

Enjoy your life!

More dieting blah, blah, blah

2009-04-24T21:12:00.002-04:00

What is so difficult about dieting/exercising is you have to continue to make the same good choices day after day.

Boy, would I just like a break from it all! Of course, having a break from it all (a long break) is what got me to this point to begin with.

Arghhh!!!!

This afternoon we drove up to the lake and my son spent some time fishing. My husband met us there and on the way home I decided to pick up dinner. My husband had a big lunch, so he planned on eating a bowl of cereal at home. Perfect time for my son and I to eat somewhere my husband normally doesn't like.

Bojangles.

I pulled into the drive thru and took some time to look over the menu. Now if I had planned this out, I would have been better off. My Weight Watchers Dining Out book shows the points for food at Bojangles and I hadn't eaten much today. But it was a spur of the moment decision to go to Bojangles and the menu board in front of me seemed loaded with land mines.

I got fried chicken for my son and headed to McDonald's for a salad. I have had the salad many times and knew exactly how many points I would be consuming.

So I never run out of opportunities to make a better choice, nor do I run out of ways to really take a wrong turn in diet world.

What I love about Weight Watchers is that I can have what I want. I just have to make allowances for it. It is the only program I have ever been on that has made me understand the concept of portion control.

I seem to be really motivated right now with the diet and exercise thing. I just have to stick with it and keep making those good decisions.

And every day is another day of facing those choices.

I think I'm going to have to join Weight Watchers officially and start going to the meetings. Having the accountability of the weigh in would be very helpful and a weekly reminder that the choice of whether or not to be successful is really up to me.

Chick -fil-A

2009-04-20T13:20:00.005-04:00

When you are dieting, Chick-fil-A is one of the best fast food places to visit. Sure, these days every fast food restaurant has some type of "healthy" option, but Chick-fil-A's healthier versions taste like there was some actual thought put into them.

The problem is Chick-fil-A is pricey! My son and I stopped by for lunch today and it was over $13! He got the number one meal (Chick-fil-A sandwich with waffle fries and a drink). I got a spicy chicken Cool Wrap and small carrot raisin salad and a medium drink. Spending $13 for two people to eat lunch is crazy!

But it's a treat out. We don't do it every day or even every week, so it's okay. Still I'm always a little surprised when I hear the total.

Here's a little video for all of us who have a fondness for Chick-fil-A!

Yep, I'm old

2009-04-17T16:07:00.002-04:00

I have a niece and nephew who are both attending my old alma mater, Concord College, except now it's called Concord University.

That's not why I think I'm old, though.

I was talking to my niece, Sam, who lives on campus. I asked her what my old stomping grounds were like now. I asked if they still showed movies once a month at the Student Union.

That was a big deal back in my Concord Days. It was always a recent movie and people would pile into chairs and couches to catch the movie. How great was that? Watching a good movie you didn't have to drive several miles for (or in my case catch a ride with someone who had a car!). Plus you didn't have to pay to see it!

Sam told me they didn't show movies like that anymore, but they do have an XBox and a Playstation in that area now.

What a shame, I was thinking when she told me that. Those poor kids don't get to experience the thrill of gathering together to see a movie!

Then I remembered it's 2009 and every college student has a laptop they can use to play DVDs. And I'm sure most of the kids have DVD players in their rooms.

The cable television at Concord --- which used to have about 13 channels when my husband and I were living there --- has also greatly improved. They have tons of channels now! Those spoiled kids get everything!

They don't have to wait once a month to see a movie. They don't have to become friends with the only person on their floor that has a VCR so they can rent a movie to watch. They don't have to run from class to their room to make a phone call, because they're all walking around with CELL PHONES!

By the way, Sam and Chris, I didn't have a car on campus. Is the Deli Mart still there? That's where I used to WALK to get some chips and pop to keep in my room as I watched ABC's movie of the week.

Hope you guys are having a great semester!

Here's a little music from back in the day, specifically for my hubby! Hey, honey! You're old too, but it's Friday, so smile!

Should I have tipped her?

2009-04-15T17:55:00.003-04:00

We use a mobile groomer for our little pug, Smokey. She does a good job with the dog and she's been coming to our house about every few months or so for the last couple of years.

The price is pretty good. She charges $45 for each visit. She bathes him, brushes out all the "underfur", trims his fur if it needs it, clips his nails, and cleans out his ears. She does everything in her van and I love the convenience of it.

I've thought about cutting out this expense, because we end up bathing him at home too. But cutting his nails is a pain and the bath I give him is nothing like the one she gives him. I figure I'm actually paying about $15 a month for her service, sometimes maybe a little more and that seems like a good deal to me.

I've been a bit of a neglectful dog owner lately. We got the dog groomed in late December and I think I have given him a bath once since then! Smokey was a mess! And I told her that. I felt bad that the job she normally does for us was going to be a little bit harder than normal.

Here's the question: Should I have tipped her?

I thought about it, but ended up just writing the check for the usual amount. I remember reading in some article long ago that you shouldn't tip the business owner. Also, I thought, why tip her for bathing my dog, which is what I'm PAYING her to do? And, oh yeah, I'm kind of cheap.

Sure, he was a little messier than he normally is. Maybe a little smellier. But he's an indoor dog. It's not like he's out digging in the dirt or swimming in a pond.

So, I decided no tip, but was that the right thing to do?

I can't face the book

2009-04-13T15:18:00.002-04:00

A girl (okay, now a woman!) I went to church/school with years ago looked me up the old fashioned way recently. She called my parents and got my phone number.

She called a couple of weeks ago and we caught up on the last 10 years or so. It's been that long since we have spoken! I hate to think I am old enough to go without talking to someone for 10 years!

Anyway, she asked if I was on Facebook. I told her no and she told me I should join up.

Should I really?

I know several bloggers I read are on Facebook. I am mildly interested, but here are the reasons I have not joined Facebook:

1. I already spend too much time on the computer.

2. I don't like the fact that I have to give my last name. I'm paranoid like that.

3. I already have two blogs that I ignore. I don't need something else screaming for my attention.

4. I'm afraid it might just be a gateway to something worse --- like Twitter. (My apologies to those who currently Twitter.)

So, those are my thoughts. I'm saying no to Facebook, but I would be interested to hear from Facebook users. What's so great about it?

A lovely week off!

2009-04-06T14:32:00.002-04:00

We're spring breaking this week and it's starting in a less than stellar way.

Our fuse is out on our dryer, so I'm taking a couple of loads to the laundry mat to dry this afternoon. We lived the first 5 years of our marriage without a washer/dryer (including the first 5 months of my son's life!). I do not enjoy laundry mats. I've looked for the joy there and it does not exist!

Hopefully, the part for the dryer will be here tomorrow and my lovely dryer will be fixed tomorrow night!

Also, the weather is crazy! It's only supposed to be in the 40s today and tomorrow and we have a slight chance of snow flurries overnight, with freezing temps. I'm sure it won't accumulate, but even these cold temps with a chance of snow this time of year for us is very unusual!

It's going to be a hot cocoa night for sure! We're going to make the most of it! Temps should be back in the 60s by Wednesday!

Maybe these late cold temperatures will lessen the mosquito population this summer!

Gotta look on the bright side!

Diet lessons

2009-03-27T14:12:00.002-04:00

I've been on this diet/workout thing for several weeks now. It's the longest I've stuck to something designed to make me healthy for a long time.

Gone are the days where I would just shove snacks into my mouth without thinking. I don't just stop at McDonald's randomly anymore while I am out. I don't consider eating a box of Whitman's Sampler a "snack" anymore!

Well, we'll see how I do with the Easter candy.

Anyway, here are some things that have been interesting to me as I have been on this diet:

1) I feel better after I exercise. I get kind of a rush that lasts the whole day. When I skip exercising, I actually miss it. I just want to do something more than ride my recumbent bike now. We've had 4 days of rain, but once it clears (should be outta here by Sunday), I'm going to start walking in my neighborhood.

2) I get cranky when I don't eat. I haven't experienced that much before because seems like I was always eating (which is the reason I need to diet!). My husband has always said he can tell when his blood sugar drops when he's skipped a meal or is late eating a meal. I've never experienced that until lately.

Example of my crankiness: Yesterday I had cereal and a snack bag of chips. I didn't eat more than that because I wanted to go out to eat last night after my son's baseball practice (an indoor practice, because of the rain). We were at that facility for about 2 1/2 hours. So, by 8:30 p.m. I was beyond cranky. I was really cranky! We ended up going out to eat and I was okay, but it's funny how much skipping a meal can affect your mood.

I have to work on not skipping meals. It really just sabotages me in the end. As is evidenced by the pizza and fries I had last night for dinner. I also had a salad, but the food choices were not good!

3) I'm an emotional eater. Because I have not been eating through my emotions as much lately, I cry more now than I have in years! I also seem to have more bad dreams. That may be because a lot of stressful things have been happening lately, but it might also be because my way of coping with stress (eating) is not available to me. I think the exercise helps the stress, though.

4) Things aren't as much as an aggravation to me lately. I'm more willing to try different things. I'm not as annoyed by a day filled with lots of things to do. I think my overall attitude is more positive.

So that's that. I just have to keep going. I have a long way to go. I have a lot of weight I want to take off. I just have to go forward and not backward.

I'm considering joining Weight Watchers. I've been following the plan at home, but I think the support of the meetings, the accountability of the weigh ins, and the ability to track my progress could all really help me in the journey.

New recipe to try this week that is related to health: Tammy's Strawberry Green Smoothie. I'm going to make them this afternoon, which is a hard time for me to stay away from snacking!

Morning Routine

2009-03-23T12:47:00.002-04:00

I'm following Tammy's lead and listing 5 things I plan to do every morning! I love making lists!

My Morning Routine:

1) Exercise on my recumbent bike
2) Breakfast
3) Bible devotions with my son
4) School
5) Mid-morning walk (weather permitting) while my son rides his bike

Of course, schoolwork will continue after the walk!

Visit Tammy for more routines!

Reflections of a 38 year old

2009-03-20T09:45:00.002-04:00

Yesterday was my birthday.

I never used to think about my birthdays much, until I turned 35. I remember being kind of melancholy on my 30th birthday, but it quickly passed. For some reason, though, 35 hit me hard. Every year since then, the hits keep coming.

It's not really about my age. I don't regret getting older. I don't mourn my youth. I just see time passing by more quickly every year and it's hard to get my breath. I wish I could just slow things down. I wish I could just see it all more clearly.

I love being on the ball field. I think being on the ball field, watching my son play ball is the way I would like to live my life.

I'm so focused when we're there. I'm not thinking about what I have to do next. I'm not planning tomorrow. I'm not trying to multitask. I am just there watching the pitches, watching the hits. Nothing is going on except the ball game.

I want to live more like that, because my day to day life is streaking by me. At breakfast, I'm thinking about the day of school work ahead. As we do school work, I am thinking about housework that I need to do. When I'm doing housework, I think about bills I need to pay. When I'm paying bills, I'm thinking about dinner and my husband getting home.

Even as I write this post, I am thinking about what I need to do next.

And I never really appreciate the moment that I am experiencing.

Except nights like last night, when I sat at the ball field on my 38th birthday and thought to myself I am just happy to be here, enjoying this time, this moment.

Maybe all these thoughts are just a part of getting older and hopefully wiser. What I really think it's about, though, is seeing the time slip away and realizing I have fewer moments left than I had yesterday.

I'm determined to change things. I'm determined to live in the present. Thoughts of the future or the next task will always be there, of course, but I want to value what I'm going through as I am living it.

So my new philosophy is "I'm going to live life like I'm on the ball field and take it one pitch at a time."

How to have a happy Monday morning

2009-03-16T12:59:00.003-04:00

Take two biscuits from last night's dinner:

Split them open:

Add butter:

Take the Chocolate Gravy you made:

Pour it onto the yummy, steaming, buttered biscuits:

Enjoy!

For my mom and sisters (who may be checking in on my blog): I only had one bite!!!!

And I feel deprived and lousy.

But my son is smiling!

Things that are none of my business

2009-03-13T16:25:00.002-04:00

My son has friends in the neighborhood. A couple live on the next street over. A couple more live on the other side of our street.

They all love to get together and play. Since the weather has been warmer that involves getting out in our yard and running around like maniacs. They are playing some type of elaborate hide and seek game. I try not to get involved with the details. I just listen to the running and screaming.

I truly love when he has friends over. I love to hear them playing. It doesn't even bother me when they drink up all my bottled water. :)

What does bother me is the little boy across the street who is my son's age (11, in 5th grade) is CONSTANTLY on "restriction." They don't say he's grounded. They say he's on restriction. It really makes me feel bad today because all the kids are out playing and he's in the house on restriction.

This boy has been to our house countless times and he's spent the night before. He's always so polite, so nice. Sometimes he says the word c-r-a-p too often, but that's better than the alternative, I suppose.

I just wonder why he's on restriction so much. His mom told my son today that he's on restriction because he had some bad papers in school. Is it always because of bad papers, I wonder.

As my title suggests, I know it's none of my business. And I certainly don't have all the answers when it comes to effective discipline. Truly, I don't. Not even close. I just hear the kids playing outside and knows he hears it too and it makes me sad.

Of course, maybe it will make him do better with his work, who knows? One thing I do know is I would have a hard time keeping my son from playing with his friends.

I'm a sucker that way.

Beautiful day!

2009-03-10T17:28:00.005-04:00

The current temperature is 79 degrees!

I love it!

We spent a couple of hours this afternoon at Lake Allatoona, which is about a 15 minute drive from us. While I was there, I thought about my poor husband slaving away at work to make it possible for me to stay home and enjoy days like today with my son!

I called him to share the experience, but it wasn't the same.

The day was warm and sunny, with a slight breeze. There were several boats on the lake. A few people were fishing. My son went wading in the water. His feet smelled like fish, so I made him shower when we got home.

Here's a question: Why do I seem to forget how to exist in the warm weather during the gloom of winter?

My son's first baseball game was Saturday. We knew it was going to be in the 70s. His game was at 1 p.m. We all ended up with sunburns because I forgot the sunscreen!

How many times have I lathered us all with sunscreen before a ball game? Still, I forgot the sunscreen!

We took lunch to the lake today and, again, I knew the weather would be good. I remembered the sunscreen, but I forgot to have my son take some shoes he could wear in the water, a towel, shorts or swim trunks, and a change of clothes. AND we forgot his fishing pole!

I seem to have some sort of warm weather memory problem. It's funny that I rarely forget things like jackets or umbrellas, but I do forget how to behave in sunny, glorious weather!

Regardless of my faulty memory, we had a perfect afternoon!

Tomorrow's high is supposed to be 71, so we might go back. We have cooler temperatures and some rain coming this weekend, so we might as well enjoy it while we can!

Taming the Beast within

2009-03-04T14:31:00.004-05:00

I'm on a diet.

No, I am not calling it a life change. No, I am not saying it's my new eating plan.

I'm hungry. I feel deprived. I'm mad at everyone who can eat.

It's a diet.

GRRRRRR!!!!!!

My Sugar Monster is rearing it's ugly head and it wants access to something yummy!

I've been searching for alternatives to the bad stuff, things that will give me actual nutrition, but also make me feel like I am having a treat.

Hello, Beautiful! Where have you been all my life?

I've never been one for desserty yogurts. I've always stuck to the fruit ones. I love peach, blueberry, cherry, pineapple. The Pina Colada flavor is about as wild as I have gotten.

But the Sugar Monster put me in search of other alternatives and I came across the Pineapple Upside-Down Cake Yogurt from Yoplait. It's 110 fat-free calories of delicious.

And it's helping me get through another day of my new lifestyle, eating plan, nutrition and energy focused DIET!

Next time I'm going to try some of the chocolate ones and see if I can get this monster off my back!

Here's what's taking up a lot of my time today!

2009-03-04T12:31:00.002-05:00

I mentioned before that I love sites that have free resources for homeschoolers/teachers. A lady from a local mailing list I belong to pointed out a website created by Cindy Downes, an Oklahoma homeschooler, with ideas for recession-proof homeschooling!

I've been looking through all the different links this morning. It's a lot to take in, but I've come across several things that will work for us in the upcoming weeks as we plow through to the end of the school year.

Ms. Downes offers a good list of composition project ideas. I'm trying to find ways to make writing more interesting for my son. I let him have his own blog to try to encourage him to write, but I want to encourage more paper and pen writing too. The list is a great step in that direction, with ideas like creating a travel guide focusing on a country being studied and writing a Consumer Guide about a product that might have been available during a time period being studied. I would have never thought of fun things like that!

Ms. Downes also points out other websites that have good ideas. My son just this morning started working on his Amazing Animal Alphabet book. From the name of this project, you might assume it's a bit "babyish" for a 5th grader, but it actually reinforces several skills.

My son is using the dictionary to look up animals that start with the letter A. He's also looking for adjectives, action verbs, and adverbs that start with A. Next he's using some of those words to come up with a silly sentence such as "An angry alligator ate Allen." Then he will draw an illustration for the sentence and use colored pencils and markers to complete the drawing. Really, you can make this as simple or complicated as you want to fit varying age levels.

There are plenty of other good things on the site, so be sure to check it out. Even if you aren't a homeschooler, you can find some cool projects to do with your child.

Grocery savings

2009-03-02T21:57:00.002-05:00

Friday night's trip to Wal-mart made me realize what I had long expected.

Wal-mart is not saving us a dime.

The milk is more expensive than the milk at Kroger. Most of the other stuff is either the same or just a few cents less than regular price somewhere else. Plus if another place is having a good sale on something, it's cheaper to buy it there than to always expect Wal-mart to have the lowest price.

What a bummer!

For the last few weeks, I have been keeping up with the receipts from the shopping trips, just so I could compare. I have also been looking at sales ads like they contain the winning numbers for the upcoming lottery.

It takes some time, but it's starting to pay off.

I love to shop at Publix. I love everything about that store. The produce is the best, the meat is the freshest, and I just like it. Publix has Buy one, get one free offers every week. And those BOGOs are for good stuff that we use around here like cereal, bread, pasta, pasta sauce. It's not just buy one useless thing, get another.

Armed with coupons from the paper, I've started taking advantage of those BOGOs, more than I ever did before. I've also started finding out what's on sale BEFORE I plan a menu for the week. How elementary is that? Still, it's not how I did things before. I always just decided what we were going to eat and then shopped for what we needed. That's no way to take advantage of sales!

Last week, Publix had pork chops on sale. We had pork chops. This week they have ground beef on sale. We're having various recipes starring ground beef. They also have a good sale on canned chicken. I'm getting that for chicken salad. I usually buy Nature's Own whole wheat bread, but the honey wheat is on sale this week, so we're getting honey wheat.

Here's something I would never have thought about buying at the regular grocery store: HAIR COLOR! Boy, my gray is getting the best of me and I have a coupon for $3 off the brand I am partial to. Guess what? This month Publix has that brand on sale for $6.99, so I am going to get my hair color for just $3.99! I'm gonna wash that gray right out of my hair! Publix has a good sale on toilet paper, which beats the price I pay at Wal-mart. Plus, I have a coupon! Toilet paper is something else I thought I could never buy anywhere but Wal-mart.

Kroger has some good deals, but our Kroger is not the greatest as far as quality goes. Still Publix can't beat Kroger's price for a gallon of milk (Publix is the same as our Walmart -- $2.99, Kroger's milk is $2.59!), so we'll be getting the milk from Kroger. My husband passes right by Kroger every night, so picking up that milk is not a big deal for him.

While I am partial to Publix, I'm going to keep an eye on Kroger and might plan to pick up some other things there at some point. They do have the extra money off gas when you buy $100 worth of groceries at the store. That might make spending at least $100 there a month worth it.

CVS has a good deal this week. Buy $20 of products off the first page of their circular and get a free 6 pack of Charmin Big rolls. The products on the front page that I will be buying include Tide (their price beats the price I just paid at Wal-mart), Cascade, and Bounty Basic paper towels. I have coupons for all of those items as well.

Frugal Coupon Mom was on Dr. Phil today, talking about how she saves money. I checked out her website and I have a lot to learn. Still I'm doing better than I was! And in the next few weeks I hope to be doing even better still!

Spring is on the way

2009-02-25T22:53:00.003-05:00

My son had a practice baseball game Monday night. When we got to the field at 5:15 p.m., the temperature was around 45 degrees. The game started around 6 and by 7 it was 41 degrees and windy. I gave up trying to cheer and went to wait in the warm van. By the time the game was over it was 37 degrees and my son and my husband (who helps coach the team) were frozen!

But signs of spring are all around me.

My daffodils are blooming. My son brought one in to me this morning. Very sweet!

We treated ourselves to lunch out this afternoon at Wendy's. We drove to the state park that is about 10 minutes from our house and ate there. On the way I noticed some of the trees have buds on them. It was still a little chilly, so we ate in the car, but got out afterwards. I sat at the concrete picnic table and watched my son skip rocks in the lake.

The high today was around 57. Tomorrow it is supposed to be around 64 and on Thursday 67! We are expecting some rain, but it'll be nice just to have some warmer temps!

I'll try to forget that Saturday overnight is going to be back in the 20s, with a high on Sunday of 46. I'll just take the warm days when I can get them!

Gee, I should blog more often

2009-02-18T18:36:00.002-05:00

I'm pretty good about reading blogs, but not so great about writing.

Some of the things that have been eating up my time lately include:

1. Keeping up with housework better. After coming back from WV, I was a little down and my little bout of depression certainly did not help my work get done. I'm doing better about it this week.

2. My husband bought me red roses for Valentine' Day! I was shocked because money is tight, but the $15 bouquet he got from Wal-mart was beautiful!

3. For another Valentine's present, my husband and son cleaned my living room (decluttering, dusting, vacuuming), hubby cleaned the toilets, and swept and mopped my kitchen! Their hard work has really encouraged me to try to get over my blues. This week has been drastically more upbeat.

4. Cooking, cooking, and more cooking! Gosh! I didn't realize how much we ate out until we cut back on it. Last night while the guys were gone to baseball practice I made Old Fashioned Apple Cake. It was really good. It calls for 2 cups of sugar and I think next time I'm going to try to cut down to 1 1/2 cups. It was super sweet. I used Gala apples. Maybe that has something to do with it.

I also rewarded my guys for all their cleaning by making what is now our absolute favorite way to have chicken: Amish Style Oven Fried Chicken. This chicken is consistently good. I've been using a whole chicken cut up for the recipe. Next time I think I'm going to just get legs and thighs for a change. Those are the pieces we seem to like the best.

5. Homeschooling! We are hoping to finish up by the 3rd week in May and things have been going good with meeting that goal. My son is doing great!

Okay. There's a post! I feel better now!

A meme for me

2009-02-10T23:00:00.003-05:00

I grabbed this from Angela because, like her, I wanted to post something, but am not feeling very inspired!

1. Make a list of things you can see without getting up: My entire living room because I am on my husband's laptop on the love seat.

2. Favorite football team: pro - Atlanta Falcons (I really don't watch professional football, but that's who my hubby roots for!); college - West Virginia University!!!

3. What are you wearing now? Black knit pants, short sleeved blue shirt with my favorite yellow sweatshirt over it.

4. What color is your bedroom? Just painted yellow last fall! It's cheerful!

5. What’s the last thing you read/are currently reading? Just finished reading The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom, am getting ready to start Alice's Tulips by Sandra Dallas. I've read both books before. I need to get to the library.

6. Do you nap a lot? No.

7. Who was the last person you hugged? Evan.

8. What’s your current obsession/addiction? I'm really motivated with cross-stitching lately.

9. What was the last thing you said aloud? "That's cool!" in response to my son.

10. What web sites do you always visit when you go online? The blogs I keep up with.

11. What was the last thing you bought? Bottled water, chips, and chocolate milk on the ride back from WV from a convenience store while hubby was walking the dog.

12. What are you listening to right now? My son playing MLB on his Playstation. He just beat me a few minutes ago and is playing solo before time to take his shower.

13. What is something you wish you could do more? Visit family in WV.

14. If you could have any super power, what would it be? The power to teleport.

15. What is your favorite weather, and why? I like sunny days with just a hint of chill in the air. I love being outside on days like this when it's not too hot, but it's not cold.

16. What time do you usually get up? I try to be up by 7:30 a.m.

17. What is your most challenging goal right now? Exercising and eating right.

18. Say something to the person who tagged you: Nobody tagged me, but, Angela, thanks for the idea!

19. If you could have a house–totally paid for, fully furnished–anywhere in the world, where would you want it to be? I know it would be a farm somewhere in West Virginia or in northern GA.

20. Favorite vacation spot? West Virginia to visit family. I also like stopping in Tennessee --- the Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg area.

21. What is your favorite children’s book? The Little House series, even though I never read it when I was a child. I only read it a few years ago. My favorite little, little kid's book is Goodnight Moon. I read that to my son every night for YEARS! Even though I have packed up a lot of his little kid books, that one is still on his bookshelf.

22. Name one thing you just can’t resist no matter how bad it is for you: Fast food. Sometimes it's just so convenient, it's hard not to fall into that trap.

23. If you could meet anyone famous - dead or alive - who would it be? Corrie ten Boom and her entire family.

24. Have you ever met anyone famous? If so who? I can't remember meeting anyone famous. Guess I would remember it, if I had.

25. If you could have any job in the world , what would it be? I'm already doing what I want to do --- stay at home, homeschooling mama.

I am incredibly unmotivated

2009-02-09T18:18:00.002-05:00

We got back from WV last night. It was a fast trip. We left early Thursday morning. Quick trips like that EXHAUST me.

Maybe that's why today has been so hard.

I exercised. For the first time in about 2 months. That's progress.

I homeschooled my son. We actually got more done with that than I had planned. He has a Language Arts test tomorrow that I still have to type up. Rats!

I unpacked our bags. Everything went into the hampers, so I have washed 2 loads of clothes and will wash another load or two before bed.

I cooked brunch for my son and I. Bacon and eggs. We ate late this morning, because I got caught up in unpacking. I also made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch. What a gourmet I am!

I balanced our checkbook, made a menu, and wrote out a store list. We are really low on groceries.

I thought about going grocery shopping. I put off grocery shopping until tomorrow.

Sadly, that is the extent of things I have done.

I have things from my grandma's house that I have to unpack, but I don't feel like doing that today.

I have to help my son study for his Language Arts test on modifiers.

Mostly right now I just feel like going to bed.

Ever have one of those days?

Yummy Strawberry Cake

2009-02-02T21:45:00.004-05:00

I saw on Stephanie's blog that she hosts a First on the Firsts encouraging people to share something they've made from scratch for the first time. I've been trying to add some new recipes to my table lately, so I thought joining in with Stephanie's venture would be a good encouragement! Here's my first entry!

Okay, it was supposed to be Blueberry Cake, but my husband doesn't like blueberries, so I changed it. Instead of 1 1/2 cups of blueberries, I used 1 1/2 cups of strawberries.

I happened to get the most scrumptious fresh strawberries ever! They smelled fabulous, they looked fabulous. Hey, isn't it winter? Right. That must be why they were so expensive.

When I saw the cake on Randi's website, I knew I'd have to give it a try. I enjoy baking cakes, but have only used fruit in cobblers. My husband's not a big fan of cobblers. This cake seemed like a good choice.

I had to look at the recipe a couple of times to be sure I wasn't forgetting anything. Still I managed to overlook the part that said to mix the sugar and cinnamon together before sprinkling it on the cake. I sprinkled them on separately and I didn't do a great job at the sprinkling, but the cake still tasted wonderful!

So, this cake was a first for me, but it definitely won't be the last time I make it!

Check out Stephanie's blog to share your Firsts on the First!

Except next month I'll try to get the date right!

Going on

2009-02-01T12:28:00.003-05:00

This weekend has gone on even though thoughts of my grandma are always there. We've had some errands to run, getting ready for our trip up to WV on Wednesday to go to my grandma's wake and funeral. My son started baseball practice last night. I sent my husband and son to Walmart today and I'm here cleaning up the kitchen and getting ready to cook lunch.

It's all so incredibly normal and I feel a little guilty about it.

I feel guilty because she's gone and my life is going on. I know that sounds crazy. She was 89 and even though we didn't think she'd go so soon, it wasn't as if we didn't know it would happen in the near future.

My life will, of course, go on (Lord willing.). I have things to take care of like a home and family. My husband and son will still do the weekly stickball this afternoon. We'll watch the Super Bowl tonight. Well, they will and I'll sit there and cross-stitch and pretend to be interested.

Tomorrow morning my husband will go to work. I'll school my son and probably be aggravated that I have to pick up 20 pairs of socks off the floor. I'll do laundry. I'll cook meals and wash dishes. Life will proceed as normal.

But in the back of my mind all week, I'll remember that she's not there anymore. She's not in that house in Beckley going about her day. I'll think about the fact that there's no one to call anymore and check on at that phone number. No reason for me to send cards that read "To my Grandmother" to her address. No reason to remind myself to pick up the phone on December 3rd every year to wish her a happy birthday.

I'll never hear her say my name again. Never get another card from her. I'll never again be able to ask her what it was like to be a wife and mom back then. I'll never hear her talk about her life or try to convince her to pull out those pictures so I can see her and my grandfather at the beginning of their life together. I'll never hear her use those unique expressions she has that no one else ever says.

And those special moments when I realize that this woman and I who share a middle name also share other traits won't happen anymore. I won't be able to discover anything else new about her.

It's difficult, but I draw some comfort from the fact that she lived these moments too. She was a wife and mom who lost family members and had to go on. She was a caretaker who had to make the best of things.

Even when the worst things were happening to her, like losing her daughter just a few weeks ago, and dealing with the uncertainty of her own health, she'd say "But you have to go on, Tina, because what else can you do?"

She's right. What else can you do? You go on, praying to ease the pain that losing her has caused. You pray for your family who are dealing with all the details. You thank God that she lived to the age of 89 and thank Him that He let you keep your grandma for so long.

You prepare for the little rituals, the customs of saying goodbye to her. A wake, a funeral, a graveside service. The meal at the church she was a member of for so long aftewards with family.

You tell stories, you spend time with family. You cry, you laugh, you cry some more.

Then you come home. You cook meals, do laundry, school your son, pick up socks.

You go on, remembering her, because what else can you do?

I heart cross-stitching

2009-01-29T16:29:00.005-05:00

A year or so ago they opened a store near my parents' house called The Amish Barn. I visit that store as often as I can and I always find something to buy.

You don't see a lot of Amish-y stuff in Georgia, but Amish stuff is BIG in West Virginia. My sister lives in Greenbrier County and near her is a store owned by a Mennonite family. They sell meat, cheese, and assorted other groceries. They have a separate building that houses their bakery. Yep, that's right. A bakery. I love going to that bakery!

The Amish Barn is not owned by Amish people (of course!), but they sell items made by the Amish. They have some really nice furniture. I have plans to buy some furniture from them one day. They also have food stuff. My son likes a particular type of seedless black raspberry jam and they carry it. I can't remember the particular brand. I just know it when I see it.

They also sell pictures, frames, candles, and some primitive-type things. Last year I started buying these cute little cross-stitch projects from them. They are from the Gentle People Collection from Douglas Designs out of Arkansas. The designs all feature "plain" people doing "plain" things. I bought one that is a lady picking apples from an apple tree. Another is called "Corn Man" featuring a man in a corn field.

Here's one that is finished showing a mother with a mixing bowl and a little boy in front of her with flowers behind his back. It's called "Surprise!". I framed it just to see how it would look, but this is not the frame it will stay in.
After I get this set of 3 finished, I plan to put them in simple wood frames and hang them in my kitchen. I've been cross-stitching since I was in my early teens and these designs are basic, but finishing them just makes me very happy!

I really love to cross-stitch!

There's a website address on the designs I bought from the Amish Barn, but it doesn't work. I did find Jeanette Douglas Designs, but haven't been able to find the Gentle People Collection from her site. Maybe it's not the same place.

I'm hoping to cross-stitch all my female relatives something this year! I gotta get busy!

Oh, my heavens!

2009-01-29T14:47:00.005-05:00

Last night I made Amish Style Oven Fried Chicken that I got from Farmhouse Blessings. It was delicious.

You know what? Delicious just doesn't do it justice. It was the BEST chicken I have ever made and I've made lots of chicken. My husband (who can be a little picky) could not stop raving about it. And my son begged me to make it again this week.

And it wasn't just delicious. It was pretty. Pretty chicken? Yes, pretty chicken. I should have gotten a picture, but after we started eating we couldn't put the chicken down long enough to pick up the camera. The chicken quickly disappeared.

That chicken is going in my permanent recipe box.

I had mashed potatoes and biscuits along with the chicken. I should have made a vegetable, but I was late getting dinner on the table and I was a little flustered. By the time the biscuits were done, we just wanted to eat.

Actually, everything I have made this week has gone over big.

I made Potato So up on Monday, another recipe from Lea at Farmhouse Blessings.

I'll make an embarrassing confession here. I have NEVER made potato soup. My husband and I will be celebrating our 17th anniversary in September and I am just a few years shy of 40 and I have NEVER made potato soup.

I know it's silly, but I was a little intimidated by making this soup. I thought for sure I was going to mess it up. Actually, I did forget the butter, but the soup was still very good. I think I went a little overboard with the pepper, still it didn't make it bad. The soup was just peppery.

I didn't get biscuits made to go with the soup like I had planned. Next time I think I'm going to make Amish White Bread to go with the soup. I made this bread from Tammy's Recipes on Sunday and it was fantastic. I've used Tammy's recipe for Homemade Wheat Bread before and it always comes out great, but I have never made homemade white bread.The Amish White Bread was simple to make and had a great texture and flavor. The next time I try it I might turn it into rolls rather than a loaf of bread. I think that can easily be done after letting the bread rise the first time by placing three small balls of dough together in a greased muffin cup. After giving it some more time to rise, it should bake into a nice dinner roll. I'll be testing it out the weekend.

I've made chocolate chip muffins twice this week, once on Saturday and again on Tuesday. My son is a big fan of the store bought chocolate chip muffins. You know the overpriced ones that come from the bakery? Well, the recipe I got from Born Blonde was perfect. I thought the batter needed more liquid, but decided to trust her judgment (since she has, you know, actually made the muffins before!). She was right. The batter was perfect. The muffins were delectable!

It's a nice breakfast for my husband and son. I like that my husband can just grab them and go. (He prefers to eat in the car. It makes his 2 hour commute just a bit more tolerable.) I also like that I can fix them the day before and let my son eat them for breakfast. I'm not always in the mood to cook first thing in the morning. This is a good alternative for my son who has never liked breakfasts that are convenient for me. He won't eat cold cereal. Breakfast bars are not his thing. Poptarts are something he can take or leave. Chocolate Chip Muffins? Those are a winner.

I'm going to try these muffins later this week with strawberries instead of the chocolate chips. I think they'll be really good that way too.

So, it's Thursday and it's been one week since my family has eaten dinner out. That's a record, people! I'm still having trouble with lunch ideas for my husband. Here's the scoop. Maybe you can help!

He's not crazy about sandwiches. He'll eat them once in a while, but sandwiches for lunch every day is not something he enjoys. He doesn't have a microwave. Any suggestions? Maybe a thermos that will keep soup or something warm. I've even thought about buying a small microwave and having him take it to work. The cost versus eating out would make the investment worth it, I think.

I'm going to do some more research about it. Leave suggestions, if you have any!

Menu Plan Monday -- No Eating Out!

2009-01-25T18:15:00.006-05:00

I spent some time last week working on our taxes. What a thrill! I also took the opportunity to add up how much was spent last year on eating out. The total was embarrassing! Therefore, I have determined to make it through an entire week without eating out. I'm ashamed to admit that would be quite an achievement for our family.

I looked over several blogs for some inspiration and came up with a menu with a little help from bloggy friends! I plan on taking some pictures this week of the things I'm cooking. I'm kind of excited about it!

Monday

B - Oatmeal or cereal, toast
L - Egg salad sandwiches, soup
D - Potato Soup, biscuits

Tuesday

B - Chocolate Chip Muffins
L - Leftover soup from Monday dinner or leftover egg salad sandwiches
D - Pinto beans, fried potatoes, biscuits

Wednesday

B - Oatmeal, toast
L - Sandwiches, soup
D - Amish Style Oven Fried Chicken, mashed potatoes, corn, salad

Thursday

B - Oatmeal or cereal
L - Sandwiches, soup, or leftovers from dinner on Thursday
D - Sausage Potato Casserole, fruit

Friday

B - Oatmeal or cereal, fruit
L - Leftovers from dinner on Thursday
D - Sweet and Tangy Sloppy Joes, fries

Saturday

B - Sausage biscuits
L - Roast Sticky Chicken, roasted potatoes, corn on the cob, rolls
D - Leftovers

Sunday

B - Leftover sausage biscuits
L - Roxann's Mexican Enchiladas, salad
D -Leftovers from lunch, Strawberry Cake (Randi used blueberries, but I'm using strawberries)

Looks pretty good, doesn't it? And I'll have some pictures this week to prove it! So stay tuned!

Go check out some other great menus!

Why I can't get rid of my cable company

2009-01-22T14:13:00.004-05:00

I'm annoyed with my cable company (Comcast, if you are interested in knowing which one). They charge ridiculous prices to loyal customers, while giving their new customers the best rates. Also, their customer service is non-existant. I have never run into so many people that work for a company and couldn't care less about customer service. After trying to resolve some issues last week, I was flabbergasted by the lack of quality customer care.

So, I'm on the lookout for a different company. Come to find out, my particular little area of metro Atlanta doesn't offer a lot of choice when it comes to cable television. We've heard bad things about DirectTV, so haven't been interested in going that route. Not yet, anyway.

The aggravation of it all makes me want to just get it all disconnected and become one of those unplugged families. Sometimes it seems like it wouldn't be that great of a loss. I've watched a lot of garbage on TV.

For instance, I used to watch Oprah and Dr. Phil all the time. Every weekday. Had to watch it. I stopped that a few years back. I decided that's just a waste of a couple of good hours. So, while for years I thought I couldn't live without it, those shows have been very easy to give up.

I haven't watched soaps since I was in high school (Santa Barbara used to be my fave -- anybody remember that one?). And those judges shows that dominate daytime TV? Yuck. One of the many good things about homeschooling is it makes you keep the TV off during the day. I don't think I'm missing anything. I might turn it on once in a while to look at the news, but 99 percent of the time, my TV is not on during the day.

I have had to weed out my TV viewing over the past couple of years anyway. Maybe getting it all turned off wouldn't be that big of a deal.

Some of the shows that have fallen by the wayside or are on the chopping block include:

1. Without A Trace -- good show, but not good enough to make the cut.
2. Supernanny -- after a while, I just wanted to smack the parents and take the kids and raise them myself.
3. Wife Swap -- was interesting the first season in a "social-experiment" sort of way, now it's the same thing, different families every week. It was super easy to give this show up.
4. Samantha Who? -- I thought this was kind of a cute show, but I don't have time for cute. It got cut after half a season.
5. Grey's Anatomy -- I tried to hop on this bandwagon, but I didn't get past the third episode of the first season.
6. ER -- I know. I'm horrible. How could I let this show go? I watched ER for YEARS, but every season it stole a bit of my soul. After Dr. Carter left, I had to go too. I've tried to watch this last season, awaiting Dr. Carter's promised return, but I have the last 2 episodes waiting on my TiVo and haven't attempted to watch yet.
7. The Office -- This show has some amazingly hilarious moments, but I'm getting tired of it. With regret, I might have to give it the old heave ho.
8. The Biggest Loser -- Can't handle another season. Yes, I am trying to lose weight, but it's not motivating to me in the least. I wish all the people on there the best, but 2 hour shows every week? Too much. Gotta go.
9. Lipstick Jungle -- Who needs soap operas during the day when they have one on Friday night at 9 p.m.? I have watched 2 seasons of this show and I still don't know why. If it is renewed, I will not be watching it again.

It would be easy to say goodbye to stuff like that, but giving up cable TV would also mean giving up these shows that I really feel like I couldn't live without. Okay, I could live without them, but I would always miss them.

1. Life -- I love Damian Lewis. I love this show. I hope, hope, hope NBC keeps it on for a while. I have fears that it won't make it next season, but I will stick with it until it gets the ax.
2. Lost -- How can this show get better and better? It does. It really does. People, if you don't watch this show, give it a chance. Rent the first season DVDs and you will not be disappointed. Believe the hype.
3. Eli Stone -- I'm holding on to this show, hoping it will get better. The first season was AMAZING and I am not just saying that because I heart George Michael and watching him takes me back to my Wham! days. The first season was really good. The second season (sans George Michael) is not as great. I still hope ABC gives it a chance to make it.
4. Monk -- Evan and I watch this show together. It is consistently good.

I also love catching old episodes of Andy Griffith. I would really miss TVLand. Hallmark shows some good movies sometimes. I would miss the heartwarming stories.

And living without Turner Classic Movies? I don't think so. I think it is the best contribution Ted Turner has made to society (and that includes his billion dollar contribution to the UN). I love old movies and have watched some terrific stuff I would have never known about without TCM.

I am positive my husband wouldn't approve of me giving cable the boot. First of all he could not make it through college football season without it. Then there's basketball, NASCAR, baseball season --- even I would have trouble giving up watching the Braves.

My husband and son watch Heroes and love it. They also watch Smallville. Hubby also likes Battlestar Galactica, Fringe, any sci-fi stuff really. And he just recently started loving House. I don't get that show, but he likes it. Reruns of it constantly clog up my Now Playing section on TiVo. My TiVo.

And that's another reason giving up cable would be hard. How could I say goodbye to TiVo? It has never done anything to harm me. Only making my life easier and making me less of a slave to the schedules set up by heartless TV executives. I couldn't say bye to TiVo. It unconditionally loves me.

So, there's the rub. I want to punish Comcast by taking my business elsewhere, but it seems I am hooked. I'm still gonna look around more, but right now I'm sticking with them.

Feel free to tell me all about your "must-sees" on TV!

Things making my head spin

2009-01-15T16:43:00.002-05:00

1. I keep thinking it's January 5th because we went out of town for an extra week and I can't catch up with the calendar.

2. I'm up to here with adverbs, but they're still talking about them in my son's language arts book, so I gotta go with the flow.

3. Because of headspin #1, I am behind in my goals for the New Year.

4. I can't make myself care about my goals for the New Year (which mainly focus on organization and --- big surprise --- losing weight).

5. It's only January 15th and I'm ready for spring.

6. I still have a pumpkin on my front porch. A pumpkin. From Halloween. I didn't even realize it until I pulled into the driveway this afternoon.

7. Last day for Spring Baseball sign up for my son is Saturday. As in Jan. 17th.

8. That means baseball practice starts in 2 weeks and life becomes a little more complicated.

9. I'm craving a sandwich with fresh garden tomatoes and mayonnaise on white bread.

10. The farmer's market in Acworth does not open until June.

Tact

2009-01-13T13:34:00.002-05:00

Sometimes I wish I had little cards that I could carry around with the definition of the word tact on them. Some people just don't know what it means and I think they could benefit from the knowledge.

**It's kind of funny that I am writing this because I can be the queen of foot in mouth disease, but I have never made the following faux pas**

This has happened to me twice, which is why it bugs me twice as much. The first time a great uncle said it to me at some family get-together. This second time it happened at my aunt's funeral. The offender was someone with whom my family went to church.

Me: It's good to see you. Thanks for coming.

Offender: How are you? Where are you living now?

Me: Acworth, GA. It's near Atlanta.

Offender: Oh. I was in Atlanta once. {Here's where I start to cringe, cause I can really tell what's coming} I was there at a conference.

Me: What kind of conference? {Trying to head off the inevitable, knowing this guy has zero tact}

Offender: Just blah, blah, blah...{Can't remember what he said. I wasn't listening. Here comes the why you gotta tick me off? part} Atlanta's not my cup of tea.

This is what I don't understand. Why would you tell someone who chooses to live in a certain area that you don't like the area in which they have chosen to live? I have the same problem with people who tell me what I order at a restaurant is disgusting. I'm not going to offer you some of my food and I'm not inviting you to visit me, so I don't need to know your opinion about every single detail of my life.

I wanted to say that to him, but it was definitely not the time or place. I just wish he would have realized that.

It'll probably be another 15 years or so before I see the guy again. I will have my comeback ready by then!

I've been away

2009-01-12T17:29:00.003-05:00

My family might have been a bit weird, but my dad, his two sisters, and all their related kin got together at my grandma's every single Christmas as I was growing up. We spent Christmas Eves together and got together on Christmas Day. We spent Thanksgivings together and a lot of other holidays.

We were a close bunch.

It never exactly changed. To this day Christmas Eve finds us at my grandma's house eating and opening a few gifts. Christmas Days have changed. As the kids have gotten married, we tend to go to the in-laws for Christmas Day. But Christmas Eve remains remarkably the same.

This Christmas we had planned to stay home in Georgia. Last Christmas my father-in-law passed away on Dec. 27th. It was a hard Christmas last year, so we wanted to spend a quiet Christmas at home. But plans change. My aunt was diagnosed with cancer in early December and my dad told me it might be her last Christmas. I knew we had to make the trip back home.

We spent a week at Christmas in WV with family. I spent most of my time staying with my grandma (who is 89 and also in ill health) while other family members traveled back and forth to Charlottesville, VA to be with my aunt. She was in the hospital for a few days before traveling back home and dying in hospice care on Jan. 3rd. Her funeral was last Tuesday and my son and I spent last week with family while we all said our goodbyes to my aunt.

She was an amazing woman. She was the Deputy Commissioner of the West Virginia Division of Labor at the time of her death. She was always very work oriented, being promoted to a leadership position at every job she ever had in a short period of time. She was focused and committed. She was a hard worker and many people will remember her as someone who didn't suffer fools gladly.

But she was something else too. Underneath the fire, she was very caring. She would give anything to help a family member or friend. She was too generous for her own good and never really understood how much she was loved.

On a cold, rainy day last Tuesday in Beckley, WV, around 200 people gathered to bid my aunt farewell. Many of those mourners made the trek to the little cemetary in Sophia to say goodbye as she was buried. Family, friends, and co-workers all shared some time to talk about what a great person my aunt was.

Her death was unexpected. We thought something could be done to buy her more time. I think she deserved a better ending, but, as Christians, we leave all of that in the hands of our Lord. I know she's in a happier, pain-free place. That knowledge makes her death easier to take, but in no way makes it easy.

Bye, Fran. I love you.

Husband meme

2008-12-19T12:58:00.003-05:00

I don't often do memes, but this one I got from Julie really intrigued me! I love to talk about my hubby!

HUSBAND MEME

1. He’s sitting in front of the TV: what is on the screen? Sports or sci-fi stuff.

2. You’re out to eat. What kind of dressing does he get on his salad? Ranch

3. What is one food he doesn’t like? Any and all seafood. Seriously. I've gotten him to go to Red Lobster once in 16 years! He will never go again.

4. You go out to the bar. What does he order? We haven't been in a bar for about 17 years, but he would order Sweet tea or Coke anywhere we go.

5. Where did he go to high school? Richwood High School, Richwood, WV

6. What size shoe does he wear? 11

7. If he was to collect anything, what would it be? Electronic stuff and tools (that's seriously my answer too, Julie!)

8. What is his favorite type of sandwich? Ham and cheese with Miracle Whip! Sadly, we are a divided househould. I like mayonnaise. Sometimes, it's tough. :)

9. What would the Husband eat every day if he could? Anything that I cook homemade. He's the son of a farmer's wife and is used to meat and potatoes. Homemade biscuits too.

10. What is his favorite cereal? Honeynut Cheerios

11. What would he never wear? denim shorts

12. What is his favorite sports team? GO WVU!

13. Who is his best friend? Me!

14. What is something you do that he wishes you wouldn’t do? Hmmm. I don't know. Like Mary Poppins, I am practically perfect in every way! :)

15. How many states has he lived in? 2 -- WV and GA

16. What is his heritage? German, I think. Webster County, WV for sure. :)

17. You bake him a cake for his birthday; what kind? Yellow cake with chocolate icing. His favorite.

18. Did he play sports in high school? No, but he wishes he had. He played intramurals in college.

19. What could he spend hours doing? Watching TV. It's my hard working man's down time.

If anyone else joins in, let me know! Thanks, Julie, for the fun little meme!

Simplified laundry -- Works for Me Wednesday!

2008-12-17T13:44:00.003-05:00

I have a small family (just my husband, me, and our son), but laundry still piles up around here like 20 people live in this house. And when my son plays baseball in the spring and fall --- well, laundry seems to take over.

Or it used to until I began a very simplified version of laundry duty.

I purchased three hampers. One for the bathroom we all use, one for mine and my husband's bedroom, and one for my son's room. These are just plastic hampers from Walmart that were maybe $8 each. I also have two laundry baskets.

My family is super casual. We're homeschoolers and my husband's office is casual, so we don't purchase many clothes that aren't just normal wash and wear. My husband has suits. I have certain things or dress pants that I don't want put in the washer, but 98% of our clothing is easily sorted into 2 categories. Everybody in my house knows my system and everyone (including my 11 year old son) knows how to use the washer and dryer. Well, my husband pretends not to know, but he really does know. ;)

Here's my simplified laundry division:

1) Towels, socks, underthings: These items are washed on hot and color bleach is always added to this load, along with detergent and softener.

2) Clothes: I don't sort by color. All of our clothes are washed on cold with detergent and softener and sometimes I add color bleach.

There is another couple of smaller categories. All my son's baseball stuff is washed together. I usually spray the stains with stain remover. It's all washed on cold, with detergent only. No softener in this load.

My dishtowels are washed separately in hot water with bleach. I am usually the one to wash this load.

When I have hampers overflowing, my son brings them all downstairs and I sort. I put all the towels, etc. in one hamper and all the clothes in another. We have a small basket that is the perfect size for what fits in my washer. So I can just fill that basket with whatever load I am washing and it's the perfect amount of items. I use that small basket for my son's benefit. I can tell him to wash a load of clothes or towels and he can fill that small basket up with the items and know that's just the right amount to put in the washer. He knows what temperature to use, how much detergent, softener, or bleach. Everything is washed on a normal setting. My towels, etc., are dried on regular setting. My clothes are dried on medium.

So 98% of my laundry is done in this way. It has made laundry so much easier and I have never had any trouble with the way laundry turns out. Just this past weekend, I was going to bed a bit early because I was tired. My son and husband were staying up to watch a movie and I remembered we had no clean towels for the next day. I was able to just ask my son to wash some towels and he took care of it. No problem.

One thing, though. I think it's a small thing. No one in the family likes to fold clothes except for me. Seriously, folding clothes is kind of therapeutic to me, so I fold everything. My son and husband put it all away. I don't like putting things away, so it works out great.

Simplified laundry -- it works for me!

Quick cupcakes

2008-12-10T15:57:00.003-05:00

My son had a friend over to play last Friday and it turned into a sleepover. I didn't have any snacky fun stuff for my son and his friend to eat, so I quickly made up a batch of cupcakes using this yellow cake recipe from Allrecipes.com. I used a store brought chocolate frosting that I had in my cabinet.

I've used the recipe for yellow cake several times. It is really delicious. The orange juice gives it a great flavor. There is a lot of sugar in the recipe, but, if you're eating cupcakes, you're not really counting calories, right? I've thought about cutting back on some sugar or using a sugar/Splenda combo, but I never have. My husband and son wouldn't like it too much if I changed the recipe because they love the taste of the cupcakes.

Besides the taste, what I love about the recipe is how quick and easy it is. I rarely buy store bought cake mixes, but I always have all-purpose flour, baking powder, and all the other ingredients for this cake in my cupboards. Grabbing the ingredients and mixing them up takes a matter of five minutes or so.

I was kind of lucky to have store bought frosting in the cabinet. I bought it to frost some vanilla cookies for Christmas that I hadn't made yet. I used to just make up a chocolate frosting with cocoa powder, but the taste was never quite right. The store bought frosting really tastes good on the cupcakes and makes the work that much easier. I've resolved to stock up on chocolate frosting from the store, because it's not that expensive and just makes the process faster.

This cake recipe is easy and simple and the flavor beats out any store-bought cake mix. With this recipe, I made 12 cupcakes and a 9 inch square cake. I made it on Friday and by Sunday night it was all gone!

Baked goods are not safe in this house!

A friendly letter to my Senator

2008-12-05T14:14:00.002-05:00

Dear Saxby Chambliss,

Now that the election is FINALLY over and now that you have FINALLY been re-elected after the Dec. 2nd run-off election, I feel like I can tell you some things.

#1 - All the phone calls that I have been getting for the past four weeks from you, the Republican Party, and other Republican muckety mucks have been really annoying. Most have been recordings, but some have been real live people. I felt bad about hanging up on them. Truthfully, I just stopped answering the phone whenever my caller ID read VA or DC or GOP. I'm sorry about that, but I had to take a stand against it. We've been averaging a couple of calls a day from you guys. Of course, that strategy came back to bite me on Tuesday (the day of the run-off election) when I got a call from Sarah Palin. I didn't answer the call because I looked at the caller ID. So I missed her call. I did keep her message though. I just like to listen to it sometimes.

#2 - My mailbox has been over-run with tons of mailings from you too. I'm glad it's over now. Please don't even send me a Christmas card this year. We need some distance for a while.

#3 - I voted for you four years ago and I *would* have voted for you this past Tuesday, but I didn't vote. Now, don't get upset. It wasn't a passive-aggressive thing because of the phone calls and mailings. We had a stomach bug going around our house. Frankly, I didn't think it was a good idea to risk a trip in the car to my polling place. I'm sorry about that. But you had a decided victory, so let's just move on.

#4 - Okay. Don't get upset, but your last TV commercial with your family before the campaign was a little unsettling. Your lovely wife, Julianne, was with you. I love her name, by the way. If I had a little girl, I would definitely consider naming her Julianne. It's maybe the most beautiful name I have ever heard. But, I digress. Your ad with your cute little grandchildren...why do they call you Big Daddy? Is it a Southern thing? If so, that's fine and all, but sometimes I still hear their angelic voices saying "Vote for our Big Daddy." That's just creepy. Can they call you Grandpa or something in the next ad? Is that okay?

I'm glad I've gotten all this off my chest. It makes me feel better. I'm glad you won the election. I'm sorry I wasn't there for you. I know you'll do your best for our country. Tell your wife I love her name. Tell your grandkids they are precious. (I called my grandpa "Pop" and my other grandpa "Pepaw". I'm just saying.)

Oh, and could you ask Sarah Palin to call me again? Have her call from an Alaska number, so I know it's her, and I will answer the phone. I think she and I could be friends. I would love to visit Alaska. I could babysit her kids. I've never eaten moose before.

Okay. Bye.

I over-turkeyed

2008-11-29T21:14:00.002-05:00

Our Thanksgiving involved only my small family of three. Still I cooked like 20 people were coming to my house. And I definitely made too much turkey.

My husband did the Thanksgiving shopping and I told him to get a relatively small turkey (under 10 pounds), since it would only be the three of us this year. I knew we'd end up with leftovers, but wanted the leftovers to be manageable.

Then we got low priced turkey fever.

My husband called from the store and said the turkeys were on sale for $.49 a pound! Wow! Then he said we could get an 18 pound turkey for just around $8! I said get it because more is always better! Right?

Wrong. I have had turkey for lunch and dinner for three days now. And I still have a lot of bird left. I'll be spending a lot of time on All Recipes looking for turkey recipes. And maybe I'll freeze some too.

Not such a bad problem to have, really.

I'm thankful for big ol' turkeys.

My new favorite song

2008-11-29T20:47:00.002-05:00

I have S.O.D. No, it doesn't have anything to do with lawn care. It's Song Obsessive Disorder. It rears its ugly head whenever I hear a song that just completely speaks to me. I can't stop listening to that song and I annoy my family by playing it over and over and over and over.

Well, I guess I kinda made the point, huh?

One of my previous bouts of S.O.D. involved Let Go by Frou Frou. I love that song and the singer (Imogen Heap). If you watch the YouTube video I linked to for that song, ignore the video and just listen to the song. It's one of those DIY videos from somebody with scenes from a movie and I'm not a fan of whatever movie that is. The song, however, is great.

My S.O.D. relapse is thanks to some girl I've never even heard of before, but, man, can she sing! I heard snips of Like a Star by Corinne Bailey Rae on a movie and looked it up and quickly found it on YouTube. What a beautiful song!

If you come by my house, that's what you'll hear me listening to. Actually you won't hear it because my family's sick of it and I have to wear headphones.

S.O.D. is a lonely disease.

The Simple Woman's Daybook -- Nov. 24th

2008-11-24T17:40:00.006-05:00

This is my first time participating in The Simple Woman's Daybook!

For Today . . .

Outside my window . . . it is bleary and gray. Rain and cold.

I am thinking . . . that I can't wait until Thursday, with my husband home all day and a turkey in the oven and all the fixin's cooking.

From the learning rooms . . . no school this week, so I am trying to regroup on a couple of subjects I have let slide.

I am thankful for . . . the beginning of another holiday season that focuses on family and home.

From the kitchen . . . some dishes are awaiting me from lunch. I'm not cooking tonight, but I have plans for the rest of the week and Thursday --- Turkey Day!

I am wearing . . . my cozy yellow sweatshirt to keep the chill of this gray day at bay.

I am creating . . . some new lesson plans for the rest of the school year.

I am going . . . absolutely nowhere tonight.

I am reading . . . re-reading the Mitford series of books. For some reason they just put me in the holiday mood.

I am hoping . . . that husband comes home soon.

I am hearing . . . my son and his friend talking in the living room.

Around the house . . . we have one Christmas decoration up and the house is tidy so we can decorate more this weekend!

One of my favorite things . . . is a blazing fire and I'm hoping we get some firewood soon.

A few plans for the rest of the week . . . finalize shopping and preparations for Thanksgiving dinner. Work on some plans for next week's school work while we have a break this week.

Here is a picture thought I am sharing . . .

My son practicing guitar. He is getting better and better every day and I'm so proud of his determination to learn.

Menu Plan Monday -- Thanksgiving

2008-11-24T13:08:00.002-05:00

Monday -- turkey burgers, veggies

Tuesday -- egg and sausage quiche

Wednesday -- turkey chili and cornbread

Thursday -- Thanksgiving Dinner {turkey, stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, deviled eggs, rolls, green beans, corn, cranberry sauce, apple pie, pecan pie, pumpkin pie}

Friday -- I'm assuming I'll have some leftovers for the rest of the weekend, but I might make turkey pot pie (with biscuits on top) to break the monotony.

Here are other great ideas for meals this week!

More on Aldi's shopping

2008-11-17T17:41:00.003-05:00

You might have read about Shannon's experience with Aldi's. I've also been spending some time reading up on the Aldi Queen and her seasonal planning menus! Wow! Well, on Friday I went back to Aldi's to go grocery shopping. It was a different Aldi's store that I had never been to. The one we have gotten stuff from before is the one that is on my husband's way to/from work.

I was armed with a list, but since I wasn't sure what it would be like, it was mostly a list of meal ideas I had for the week and ingredients I needed. I normally do my grocery shopping at Publix. When I shop at Publix, I make a menu, then make my shopping list with the store layout in mind.

I made sure to have a box in my car and also took some plastic Publix bags and a quarter for the shopping cart.

My son thought having to "pay" for the cart was neat. I understand the idea that it keeps them from having to pay someone to gather carts, but I thought it was annoying.

First impressions: The store was small and looked like a warehouse. There was no ambience to speak of. It was very bright. There were not many people there. There were probably less than 15 cars in the parking lot. I was surprised because it was about 4:40 p.m. on a Friday. I never shop at that time at Publix because the place is packed.

Even though, there were not a lot of people shopping, it was a little crowded in the aisles. I guess it's because the store is small, so it just feels more crowded.

Maybe this is where I should tell you, I didn't like shopping at Aldi's. When I go to my Publix store, I know where everything is. There's a nice smell (especially around the holidays!). People are friendly (Aldi's employees were not friendly, not even to say hi or thanks when you check out). At Publix you feel like exploring the aisles, finding new products, trying new things. At Aldi's I was just trying to get ingredients I needed. There is no selection at all.

Would it be harsh to say it felt like I was shopping in Communist Russia?

Okay, I've never shopped in Communist Russia, but when there is only one type of canned pinto beans, it's a little shocking to me.

I've lived a pampered life.

Here's the thing, though. I spent $85.44 and I got a lot of food. I bought 4 pounds of ground beef, two pounds of frozen ground turkey, one pound of sausage. I got 2 lbs. of thin spaghetti, two jars of spaghetti sauce for $.99 a jar, and 4 cans of condensed tomato soup for $.49 a can. I bought 2 gallons of milk for under $5 and a box of frozen waffles for $1.15.

I got other things too. Cheap bread and hamburger buns, eggs for $1.19 a dozen. I got icing for vanilla cookies I will be making this week. Baking cocoa, chocolate chips, vegetable oil, all-purpose flour, brown sugar, and a five pound bag of white sugar. The flour was $1.79. The sugar was $1.89. I haven't paid prices like that for a very long time.

I picked up 9 various canned goods, pickles, ketchup, garlic powder, parmesan cheese, orange juice, hash browns, sweet peppers, bottled water, oats, tortilla chips, shredded cheddar cheese, tissues, disposable containers, and a fresh pineapple. My son has wanted a whole pineapple for a long time and I never bought one because of the price. The pineapple was $1.49. I got a 12 pack of chicken flavored Ramen noodles (my son likes it) and a box of instant mashed potatoes.

I think that's everything.

I was amazed at how little I spent and how far it will go.

So to sum it all up. I did not like shopping at Aldi's. I felt like I was shopping at a warehouse. The store had no personality. I missed my Publix!

But I can't believe what I spent, or rather what I saved. There was no fear of wasting money on frivilous items, because there are no frivilous items to buy.

What I am hoping to do (perhaps after Thanksgiving) is go back to Publix, with my receipt from this Aldi's trip, and buy the same stuff. I'll buy Publix brands where I can (the Publix brands are always as good as the national brands) and I'll use what coupons I can too. Then I'll see if I'm actually saving money.

Another thing to keep in mind is that Aldi's is farther away. Publix is just a few miles away, but Aldi's is about four miles farther than that. Of course, my husband drives past Aldi's every day, so it's convenient for him.

If the shopping experiment works in Aldi's favor, maybe I can just give him a list once a week and have him do the grocery shopping.

Then I won't have to go into that store again!

Somehow I don't think that will happen, but a girl's gotta dream!

Menu Plan Monday!

2008-11-17T17:22:00.003-05:00

This week I am cooking double portions of two meals, so we can have leftovers two nights this week. I have a lot to do around the house and don't want to cook every evening or be tempted to eat out!

Monday: Chicken noodles (I know it looks like I make this a lot, but the last couple of times I've planned it, I made something else. We actually haven't had it for almost three weeks!)

Tuesday: Burger beans (We called these calico beans when I was growing up. The recipe calls it Slow Cooker casserole or Sweet Chili.)

Wednesday: Leftovers

Thursday: Spaghetti/garlic bread

Friday: Leftovers

Saturday: Sloppy Joes (We love these sloppy joes! I have made these about every week for the last 3 weeks! Easy, fast, and cheap!)

Sunday: Turkey meatloaf/mashed potatoes/veggies (I haven't decided on a recipe for Turkey meatloaf yet!)

Lunches will be leftovers. Breakfasts will be oatmeal, cereal, frozen waffles, or eggs)

Take a look at what everybody else is cooking this week!

Political talk, again

2008-11-14T13:53:00.005-05:00

If you haven't read the article in the Wall Street Journal, please take some time to read it. It's titled The Treatment of Bush Has Been a Disgrace and I'm so glad somebody has had the guts to say that in print.

I really get annoyed when I hear people badmouthing George W. Bush. And, I'm sorry if you happen to be a liberal (although I can't imagine a liberal reading my blog), but liberals seem to be so two-faced about this issue.

Case in point: I have an acquaintance who said about George W. Bush after the 2004 election, "Well, he's not my president." Oh, really? Can you imagine what that same person would do if I said those words about Barack Obama?

I did not vote for Barack Obama. I thought about it. I wasn't always excited about the Republican choice. I might have thought about it more if someone besides Obama got the nomination, but I would have ended up voting Republican anyway.

That's just how I roll.

However, now that Barack Obama is going to be my president, I am going to support him. I am going to remember he is the president of my country and give him a chance. Am I going to agree with every decision he makes? Definitely not. But I didn't agree with every decision Bush made and I voted for him twice.

For the past 4 years, I have gotten so sick of the bashing Bush has taken from people who I wouldn't trust to mail a letter for me. I know liberals get sick of hearing us Republicans complaining about the liberal media. You have to be blind if you think it doesn't exist, however. I can't wait to see how comedians handle Obama in office. I wonder if they will take the potshots at him that they took at Bush.

Bush hasn't been right about everything, but guess what? No president has. He has been vilified in the press. He has been compared to Adolf Hitler! Adolf Hitler! Americans have seriously compared George W. Bush to Adolf Hitler! How insane is that?

I was disappointed in John McCain because he didn't stand up for George Bush more during the campaign. I didn't expect him to have Bush front and center at the Republican Convention, but I would have liked to see him talk more about the positive things Bush has done, instead of trying to act like every good thing that has happened in the past 8 years or so has been a result of his own efforts.

I wasn't surprised, but I was also disappointed in Obama's shots at Bush. Now that Obama is in the hotseat, we'll see how he likes it. Not that he'll get the same treatment from the press that Bush has got, but he will be held more accountable than he was during the election. Won't he? Hmmm.

The thing about the Bush bashing is it's a result of what the American citizens are doing. If Bush had higher ratings, both of those guys would have been quick to ride his coattails. That's what I hate about politics. It's disingenuous. And self-serving.

We as voting citizens don't have to join the ranks of unsavory politics. I hope Republicans can mind our manners while Obama is in the White House and maybe the next time a Republican president is elected the Democrats can apply what they have learned from us.

Why am I so cheap?

2008-11-13T20:59:00.003-05:00

The truth is, I'm not cheap about most things. However, if there is a way to get around spending some cash on something, I'll do it.

For example, I buy A Beka materials used. But, you can't buy the consumable stuff like workbooks or tests used. So I buy the workbooks new from A Beka's website. I buy the test answer keys used, if I can find them. This year I had no luck with that, so I bought the math tests and test answer key new too. Truthfully, I could just buy the tests for math and work the problems myself to grade them, but that would take a long time, so I bought both new.

Language Arts is kind of different. I bought the answer key, but decided to save the extra $8 or so by just planning to type out all the tests myself. Now, I'm a fast typist, but it takes a good 20 minutes or so to type those tests up.

When it takes me longer to type the test than it takes my son to take the test. Well . . . something's just not right about that.

As I was typing Evan's exam today, I decided next year I will spring for the $8. Hey, even if it's $10, I'm gonna spend it.

Oh, man! I just looked at the website and the test book is $4.75!

That just makes me sad. What was I thinking?

I wonder if Santa will bring it to me for Christmas. :)

Free Resources for Homeschooling

2008-11-10T16:15:00.003-05:00

I belong to a local Christian homeschoolers Yahoo group and today there was a link to a post about free homeschooling resources on the internet.

I've seen some of these sites before, but some are completely new to me. I've blogged before about some of the sites I regularly use in homeschooling. This is a great addition to the resources I currently have! What a great list!

In the comments of Kendra's post, someone mentions LibriVox too. I haven't used anything off that site yet, but am planning to use it in the next couple of weeks. I want Evan and I to read The Swiss Family Robinson and think that listening to it while we follow along in the book will be fun!

Menu Plan Monday!

2008-11-09T22:18:00.002-05:00

This week we actually got some groceries from Aldi's. We had been there before to get milk. A gallon of 2% milk is $2.34 and we usually spend a dollar more than that at Publix.

We decided to get a few other things at Aldi's besides milk. Along with 2 gallons of milk (the guys drink A LOT of milk!), we got 2 lbs. of ground beef, 2 lbs. of ground turkey, 2 lbs. of boneless skinless chicken, 2 loaves of bread, 1 pack of hamburger buns, a bag of sweet onions, and a 16 oz. package of shredded mild cheddar cheese. All of that was just over $36, which I thought was a pretty good deal.

Everything we bought was $1 to $2 cheaper than we would have paid at Publix. I especially was surprised with the hamburger buns. I got some Sara Lee hamburger buns from Publix a couple of weeks ago for $2.99. The Aldi hamburger buns were $.85!

So this week I am going to try to make it all week long without any grocery shopping. I tried it before and didn't make it. We'll see how I do this week.

Monday: Sweet and Tangy Sloppy Joes; vegetables

Tuesday: Chicken noodles; vegetables

Wednesday: Evan's baseball party at Beef O'Brady's

Thursday: Chicken fajitas

Friday: Leftovers or grilled cheese and soup

For breakfasts, we have oatmeal, cold cereal, and eggs to choose from. For lunches, we'll have sandwiches, soup, and leftovers.

I've stocked up on lots of items from sales over the past few weeks. I bought tons of frozen vegetables a couple of weeks ago when Publix was having a sale on them. I had an extra package of noodles for the chicken noodles from the last time I made them. When I went grocery shopping at Publix about two weeks ago, I got whole wheat tortillas, so I have those for the chicken fajitas. Still, I will be very impressed if I can make it all week on those few groceries I bought from Aldi's. Especially because I've already made 2 meals with the ground beef. About a month ago Publix had a buy one, get one free sale on Hamburger Helper. I had about six boxes in my cabinet!

Even with the stocked up pantry, my spending for this week of groceries is drastically less than what I've paid in the past. It's not unusual for me to spend $120 or more on a week's worth of groceries. In the past, I've never really paid attention to sale items and I never stuck to a menu. I would have some vague idea of what I was going to fix, but let my impulses guide me when I got to the store. I think this week will seriously change the way I shop for food. I will probably spend more than $36 on food every week, but I'm going to try to stay under the $120 mark, now that I know it can be done.

For more great menu ideas, check out what everyone else is cooking!

Taking it easy

2008-11-08T13:22:00.002-05:00

This weekend was to be drastically different. We had invited one of Evan's friends over to spend the night. We planned on picking him up, going out for lunch, and coming back home for a night of play and fun.

On Tuesday evening I started feeling sick. I would have thought it was the election results, but it was a sore throat and general tiredness. The general tiredness could be attributed to national politics, but the sore throat could not.

Wednesday, I felt worse. Thursday, worse than that. Thursday evening, the inevitable happened. My cold moved down into my chest, causing the wracking cough that seriously drains me.

I've always had what I considered a "weak" chest. I was hospitalized twice when I was kid with the croup. About 9 years ago, I had a two month bout with the worst bronchitis I'd ever had. That cough seemed to last the entire winter. Since then, every time I get a cold, it slowly makes its way into my chest and I have to deal with many days of the cough.

Today I am spending most of the day in bed, reading, watching TV, surfing the Internet. The sleepover is cancelled. My son is disappointed, but handling it.

Hopefully, tomorrow I will be more energized. I may have no other choice. My husband woke up this morning with a sore throat.

So much for our fun weekend!

On days like today, I really wish I lived near my mommy.

Thank you, Early Voters!

2008-11-04T19:26:00.002-05:00

For the last week, I have driven past early voting sites and have seen the lines snaking around the buildings. I have watched people park their cars in overcrowded lots and walk great distances to stand in line. The eager voters patiently waited in line sometimes for a few hours to get their vote in early. I have looked at those lines. I have wanted to go ahead and vote, but I didn't.

This morning I didn't vote because I spent some time taking care of things around the house. This afternoon, instead of voting, I took my son and a friend roller skating. So at 5:30 when my husband got home, I still hadn't voted. We drove to our polling place together, expecting to stand in line for a while.

No line. No parking problems. We sailed in, cast our ballots, and sailed back out again. The whole process took about 10 minutes.

So, thanks to all of you Georgians who voted early! Your sacrifice is greatly appreciated!

In 2012, I promise to vote early and take one for the team.

At least I promise to think about it.

Church

2008-11-02T19:52:00.003-05:00

We've had a fantastic weekend. Trick or treating on Friday. My husband took our son and a friend all around the "spooky" neighborhood. My son was a vampire and he was so excited about it because it was the first time he had ever been something "scary."

Saturday we all slept in and later in the afternoon went to the roller skating rink. My son is having a birthday party (belated because of baseball schedule) at the skating rink in a couple of weeks and he wants to spend some time brushing up on his technique, so he can spend more time skating and less time on his bottom during his party. The skating rink also offers laser tag, so it will be a lot of fun.

With all the excitement of the weekend, I guess I was just on a positive high and I got us all out of bed this morning to go to church.

And now I'm kind of wishing I hadn't.

You wouldn't think going to church would be an unusual activity in a Christian's life, but it is out of the ordinary for us. We have shied away from "church life" for about a year now because of our experience at our previous church.

Lest you think that we are church hoppers, let me say that our previous church was the ONLY church we have ever attended as a family. My son was baptized there, as was my husband. If you had asked me when we started if I thought we'd end up leaving that church I would have said a big no. Several incidents and a few years later and it became more than apparent that it was not the church for us.

Our decision to leave was not taken well by the leaders of the church and they let us know in no uncertain terms that they did not agree with our decision. We have been basically shunned by our church family since then (except for 2 families we still talk to). My son lost his best friend. It was a bad experience and one that we do not want to repeat.

So, going back into a church situation is not very enticing to us. I'm trying to go into it with a different attitude, but it's really hard to leave the bitterness behind. Really hard.

We've visited some churches and that is a rough experience. Everyone is nice. People are welcoming, but you see that they want to hear your "story." They want to figure you out. They want to know what your deal is.

I don't want to tell them my deal. Right now I just want a place to worship and, frankly, sometimes I just want a place to go, so I can feel like I've worshipped and my corporate worship duty is done for the week. Believe me, I know I gotta work on my attitude about it.

Today we went back to a church we have visited a few times. It's non-denominational, which is appealing to us. It's relatively small. That's cool too. They have at least one other homeschooling family and I personally know 2 women there. One is Evan's former preschool teacher (and she's a homeschooling mom) another is a very nice lady I used to work with several years ago when I was a preschool teacher. I really like her too.

The problem is we've been burned. I don't want to get burned again. I'm seriously having to pray about opening myself up to people again. I don't feel ready, but I also feel like I can't put it off any longer.

So all these thoughts are racing through my head as we are at the church --- and I know that's a no win situation for any church member trying to "welcome" us. My husband, whose parents are/were believers, but were not churchgoers, is especially wary of the whole church situation these days. After service is over, some men start moving tables in from a fall festival they had yesterday and we are kind of stuck in the vestibule area and unable to run for the door. My son is off running around with a boy he always pals around with when we visit that church. All of this leaves my husband and I kind of like sitting ducks and people start to circle.

I'm not trying to be funny. That's really what it felt like.

One of the elders (this church doesn't have a full-time pastor, they have 4 elders) comes over and asks where we live, are we just visiting, are we looking for a home church. He's trying to coax our story out of us.

I tell him we are looking for a home church and as soon as the words are out of my mouth I try to wish them back in. Big surprise. It doesn't work.

Well, I know this guy is in a no win situation because of my wariness, but the next words out of his mouth really annoy me. I guess they've been getting some guests in. People are probably flocking to church because of the economic crisis/presidential elections, etc. But once he realized we were obviously "searching" for something he sarcastically says "Well, church does have all the answers."

Here's the reasons this bothers me:

People do come to church looking for answers. Is that a bad thing? I don't think I said anything to him before this about being a believer. What if I hadn't been a believer? This sarcastic comment would have really set me to thinking maybe there are no answers.

Churches are supposed to be a light to people, right? Why would a church leader be annoyed that people are trying to find the one light that might be shining through the darkness?

Another reason it bothers me is because I am a believer. I'm learning (and I admit this wasn't always the case) that church isn't the answer. It is a help, it does offer encouragement, but it is definitely not the answer.

I wasn't rude in my response to him. Gold star moment for me. I did point to the Bibles my husband was holding and say something about how we have the answers already.

My husband and I talked this evening about all of this. We are going to make this church our church home. We're not joining the church, but it will be the one we attend on a regular basis.

We are tired of looking for a church. We are tired of the hunt. We just want a place to go, that might help us in our growth. And, as much as I try to deny it, I do need the fellowship of Christian moms. I just do.

If this had been our only experience at that church, I wouldn't go back. But we've been before and there are more positives than negatives. One thing my old church experience definitely taught me is that you really can't put your faith in people. They're all human and they WILL let you down. I let people down too.

But I'm going to just put my faith in God on this one. He knows my heart about this and He has been unfailingly generous and patient with me. I am going to have to pray about opening myself up to people there. That's going to be hard.

So. I guess we found a church.

Yippee.

Pardon the sarcasm. I learned it today at church.

It came today!

2008-10-27T14:22:00.002-04:00

The Story of the World: Volume I came in the mail today! We dumped all of our other school activities to engross ourselves in this book!

We already love it. Evan and I have never delved into ancient history before, so we're already enthralled. The last time I read about this time period was when I took my history classes in college.

I am kind of wishing I had bought the activity book to go with it. I was so sure I could come up with some ideas on my own, but now I'm wavering. I might check out Ebay to see if I can find it cheaper.

This book is going to make history our favorite subject this year!

Menu Plan Monday (Birthday Week!)

2008-10-27T14:01:00.002-04:00

My son's birthday is tomorrow. He asked his dad to bake his cake this year (what's up with that?). My husband has made this Southwest Georgia Pound Cake several times and Evan really likes it, so that's what he's chosen for his birthday cake. To make up for it and to remind my son that I am the best cook in the house, I have offered to give him a week's worth of his favorite dinners.

This is really no big sacrifice, because he's not a picky eater and his favorite dinners are our favorites too. I am trying to make it seem like a big sacrifice on my part, however. Hee hee.

Here is our meal plan for Birthday Week:

Monday

Steak sandwiches --- recipe from The Pioneer Woman, except I only salt and pepper the steak. I don't add the sauces. It's become my son's hands down favorite meal.

Tuesday

Barbecued meatballs, mashed potatoes, corn, salad --- my down to earth mother-in-law's meatball recipe.

Wednesday

Meatloaf, veggies, fried potatoes

Thursday

Hamburgers, veggies

Friday

Leftovers --- there will be many to choose from and by Friday I will be all cooked out!

My son is quite the carnivore. He does like chicken, but he's mostly a red meat kind of guy --- just like the husband.

Check out what everybody else is cooking this week!

Delicious

2008-10-22T21:48:00.002-04:00

I made Sweet and Tangy Sloppy Joes last night for dinner. It is the best sloppy joe recipe I have ever used and it was my first time making sloppy joes with ground turkey.

I got nothing but raves from this dinner, which totally made my night. Sad, but true!

Thanks, Chocolate Fingerprints! Keep up the good work!

Internet homeschooling helps

2008-10-22T20:47:00.004-04:00

I'm going to be honest here. My local library stinks. I know it's not for lack of trying, but I really think it could be better. What are they doing with all my tax money? Using it for our public safety? Well, I guess that is more important.

But trying to homeschool without a good library is difficult. I have to search out books that I want several weeks in advance of when I need them. I have to check to see if that book is in our library system somewhere and then ask the librarians at my little, dinky library to request it from them, so that we can use it, thankyouverymuch.

Well, that's a lot of complaining, but truthfully the Internet makes all that searching easier. What did homeschoolers ever do without the internet?

I'm going to share a few ways in which my friendly little Internet connection has been a big ol' help.

I use ABeka for Language Arts. I bought the student's workbook new, but I bought the teacher's workbook (with the answers!) and the lesson plan book used at a local homeschool store.

This week my son was learning about pronouns in the subjective and objective case. I had the teacher's information right in front of me, but it didn't explain the cases very well. I could tell my son wasn't getting it and I was at a loss, so I turned to my good friend, the Internet.

I have several sites I pull from in times of trouble, but the Scott Foresman Reading site is my hands down favorite for Language Arts. I just clicked on the fifth grade material and found what I needed and printed out the magic pages. The next day, Evan and I went over the material and the light bulb went off! I was so impressed! With Evan and with Foresman!

I love ABeka and have used it in some form for every homeschool year. For some reason, though, this particular lesson wasn't cutting it. It was nice to have something else to turn to for reinforcements.

Typing (or keyboarding) is something that I try to focus on. I think handwriting is very important and focus on it too, but, let's face it, kids are going to use computers more and more. I love the BBC Schools Dance Mat Typing. Evan practices with it frequently. My goal is to have him do that at least once a week. Sometimes we meet that goal, sometimes we don't. Regardless of our dedication, it is a very helpful learning tool.

The BBC Schools site has some neat stuff too. I've pulled things from history off this site. Last year we learned about children in England during World War II. Evan loves reading and learning about World War II. That was a lot of fun for him.

We started school in early August, so we were learning about the Olympics (and watching the Summer Olympics!). I used that to talk about Ancient Greece and let Evan explore information about Olympia, and other Grecian places. He enjoyed exploring these areas of the BBC schools site.

This year I plan to do a unit study on Ben Franklin using this site. A couple of years ago, we learned a little about him and read some of his Poor Richard's Almanack online. This year I'd like to go a bit further, hopefully using the almanack to talk about journalism, writing newspaper reports, etc. It's a subject near and dear to my heart because my degree is in journalism and I wrote for a few publications pre-baby. I thought it would be fun for Evan too, with him possibly making up his own little newspaper as a project.

All of that is still in the works, but today I purchased Story of the World, Volume 1 by Susan Wise Bauer to help us with history. I didn't purchase any type of history curriculum at the beginning of the school year, because we kind of prefer to go our own way with all of that. It's possibly Evan's favorite subject. I'm very excited about this purchase. I didn't purchase the activity book. I'm hoping I can come up with some things on my own. We've never tackled ancient history (with the exception of the Olympics study), so this will all be new to us! So even using the Internet for online shopping is a lot of fun!

Book Adventure is a website we just started using this year. When Evan was in public school one of the things I disliked greatly was the Accelerated Reading program. I actually believed it turned Evan off reading for a while. For those not familiar with AR, children are required to earn a certain amount of points by reading books and then testing on those books. Evan's class was told they could be held back in second grade if they didn't reach their goal, which was a lie.

It's funny to me, because I disliked AR so much, that I really have enjoyed the Book Adventure website. We haven't done anything with the prizes they have available on the site, and I don't think we will, but Evan really enjoys the little quizzes they have for the books he has read. I like using the booklists to get ideas for books for him to read. Then I have to scour my library system's website to find them!

Another thing I love about the Internet is the access to classic radio shows. We have Sirius radio in our van and often listen to the Radio Classics channel. When we're home I often play something from this list. We love Fibber McGee and Molly and really enjoy listening to the old programs. There are plenty of other shows to choose from. We've listened to lots of them together and haven't found a clunker in the bunch. Fibber and Molly is my personal favorite, though! Dad and Evan like that show, but also love The Lone Ranger. There are other free OTR sites, but this is the one I visit most often.

The internet gives us access that really helps our homeschool. I could list a ton of other sites that I have used in the past or have bookmarked to use in the future. The ones I've talked about are the ones I have been using most this year.

What I'd love to have is a good website for science ideas. I have several science textbooks, but I need some hands on science activities. I've looked at a few places, but nothing has really stood out. Anyone have some ideas?

Chicken and noodles

2008-10-14T16:08:00.002-04:00

Tammy asked about my recipe for chicken and noodles. I'm so thrilled someone actually wants to know! Bless your heart, Tammy!

It's such a simple recipe, but it really is delicious. My husband grew up eating these and used to make them. I just started making them, but my last pot was superbly delicious.

It's my mother-in-law's invention. She is notorious for never having a recipe. She's also the queen of simple, but absolutely delicious food. As a farmer's wife with 7 children, she has tons of cooking experience.

Here are the ingredients:

chicken
No Yolks Egg noodles
chicken broth
butter
salt
pepper
onion, optional

I like to use breast meat on the bone. I salt and pepper the chicken and cook it in my crockpot and after it's all tender and wonderful, I shred it, making sure to get it nice and bone free! I keep about two cups of chicken stock to cook my noodles in.

I cook the noodles with the chicken stock, some water, and usually one can of chicken broth. I can't be specific about the amounts, but remember you won't be draining the noodles. We don't like the chicken and noodles real soupy. It's best if you have enough liquid remaining to keep them moist, but not soupy.

If you want to add some chopped onion, you can add it as you are boiling the noodles. I forgot to add it last time and it came out just fine.

After the noodles are cooked, I add the chicken and put butter in and stir it around, so it gets all melted and lovely. You could skip the butter too. You could, but I can't. I think there would be a mutiny on my hands. I add 3/4 of a stick of butter. When my husband fixes it, he puts in the whole stick.

Then I salt and pepper to taste. It always tastes better the second day. And since I have a small family of three, we always have leftovers for at least one more meal.

Embarrassingly simple, but it really is fantastic!

Menu Plan (is it already) Monday!?!

2008-10-13T12:25:00.003-04:00

The weekend is over and I feel so unprepared! Emotionally, anyway.

My cupboards, however, are full!

Lots of simple meals this week because I did absolutely no housework this weekend and I have a lot of catch up to do. Plus the usual baseball games/practices, guitar lesson, schoolwork, interacting with family...

Monday

Hot dogs with homemade chili
chips

Tuesday

Leftovers

Wednesday

Chicken and noodles (made it last week and it was requested again --- so soon!)

Thursday

Leftover chicken and noodles (it makes a HUGE pot!)

Friday

Hamburger Helper something
roasted veggies

Simple and easy!

Christians and politics

2008-10-12T07:18:00.002-04:00

I always forget how ugly election years can get. Now I remember why every four years I get a really bad headache.

I have a friend who hasn't spoken to me about politics for years, because she knows I voted for George Bush in the last election. When he got re-elected she told me she didn't know how she was going to make it for the next four years.

I remember thinking how strange it was that a woman with a husband and three kids would look at the next four years as some kind of trial she has to endure because of who was in control of the White House.

Then another election year comes and it looks like "my candidate" seriously might lose and for a few weeks I have thought the same thoughts. How am I going to handle having Barack Obama as president for four --- or possibly more --- years?

This post is my attempt to slap some sense into myself.

You can really drive yourself crazy listening to all this political talk. I would classify myself as a Republican and, like a good little Republican, I get the majority of my national news from Fox News. But I also like to see what others are saying. (Yeah, yeah, I know Fox is "fair and balanced" but who are we kidding?) I'll watch some news from CNN and have even watched Bill Maher. I guess it's really Bill Maher that triggered many of the ideas that will come out in this post.

Boy, he seriously doesn't like Christians. I think it was on his show that I first heard someone say (and I'm sorry I can't be more specific about the source) that Jesus was a community organizer, in reference I'm sure to Obama's service as a community organizer.

I was offended about it for a few minutes and then it made me sad. Anyone who knows the Bible knows that Jesus was not a community organizer, as I understand the meaning of the phrase. His sole purpose was to glorify God and He had no interest in politics. Remember that the disciples were disappointed because they expected the Messiah to restore the Jews to power on earth. They didn't understand His purpose.

With all of this election craziness, I wonder if some of us Christians are kind of missing the point too.

Listening to Bill Maher was kind of an education to me. I think it's good to hear someone say horrible things about your beliefs because it can really help you think more clearly and act more purposefully in your beliefs.

As I said before, after hearing Bill Maher rail against Christians, I was more sad than angry because I saw the big picture, which is Bill Maher doesn't know Christ. I think that's what we forget sometimes. These people, who we only see as political opponents, are lost in the worst possible sense of the word. And what are we doing to bring them the message of the Gospel by waving our Bibles at them like maniacs and shoving Sarah Palin down their throats?

**I know it sounds like I'm saying only non-Christians would vote for Obama. I don't believe that. My friend, who I talked about at the beginning of the post, is both a Christian and a Democrat. The phrase "these people" is specifically referring to people who don't like Christians and see conservative Christians as controlling the Republican party. If I was less clumsy as a writer, I could word that better.**

A couple of years ago, the leaders of the church we used to go to urged us to boycott Wal-mart. It was a pretty extensive campaign. I remember getting the email from the Christian political action group. I thought it was strange and I honestly couldn't figure out the reasoning behind it, no matter how many times I read the email.

My husband and I participated in it for a while, but we had two dogs and a cat at the time and, frankly, pet food and cat litter is so much cheaper at Wal-mart. So, we went back to Wal-mart and I think most Christians followed shortly after. I don't think the "boycott" had an effect at all on the low price super giant.

I wonder what effect it had on homosexuals. I wonder if they think that Christians hate them so much they don't want them to have access to low prices. And I wonder if, as Christians, that is the kind of message we want going out to people who don't know Christ.

(I'm also reminded of a youth minister I spoke to once about a Christian bookstore I like to go to. He told me that newly opened bookstore wouldn't stay in business long because they were open on Sundays and Christians wouldn't shop at a Christian book store that was open on Sundays. This gave me pause because we had this conversation in a crowded restaurant after Sunday morning service.)

Frankly, I'm afraid that a lot of this stuff makes us look stupid. It also makes us look like we don't read the Bible. Either way our witness to unbelievers is shot.

Bill Maher said another thing that I can't stop thinking about. He mentioned that you can't get elected as president in this country without claiming to be a Christian.

I don't want my president to fake salvation, because salvation is something that non-Christians need. If they believe that fake Christianity can win them my vote, they might believe that faking it can also get them to heaven.

Honestly, I don't know exactly where I am going with this post. I am thankful that I can vote in the election, and I'll use the vote as best I can. I don't, however, think that Christ was real concerned about personal liberties. When you read about Paul, and all the other persecuted Christians in the New Testament, you never hear him talk to anybody about his right to speak publicly about Christ. Please, correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't remember him saying "You can't lock me up! I have a right to speak my beliefs!" He took those opportunities to speak about Christ, not to rail for his personal freedom.

So ends my ramblings on an early Sunday morning.

Menu Plan Monday Week #2

2008-10-06T16:07:00.002-04:00

Okay. Last week did not work out that great, because we didn't stick to the menu every night. We did eat most of our meals at home, however, which was kind of the point.

This week I'm only planning dinner and breakfast/lunch will be whatever is in the house. That works, right?

Monday

Eating out

Tuesday

Chicken and noodles

Wednesday

Chicken fajitas

Thursday

Leftovers

Friday

chicken and pasta

There was a really good sale on chicken this week. Can you tell?

Menu Plan Monday

2008-09-28T16:42:00.006-04:00

I'm participating in Menu Plan Monday for the first time this week!

While going over the family budget this weekend, I was faced with the proof that my family eats out way too much! I won't say how much we spent on eating out just in the past month, but it is an embarrassing amount. So I'm trying to change that by being better about planning meals and shopping more frugally.

Here is my first attempt at a weekly meal plan:

Monday

Breakfast - cereal or oatmeal, toast, and fruit
Lunch - sandwiches, soup, and veggies with dip
Dinner - Chili casserole, veggies

Tuesday

Breakfast - Biscuits, oatmeal or cereal, and fruit
Lunch - sandwiches, soup, and veggies with dip
Dinner - Leftover chili casserole (ballgame night, so leftovers will be easiest)

Wednesday

Breakfast - Pancakes and fruit or leftover biscuits
Lunch - sandwiches, soup, and veggies with dip (I'm sensing a theme here)
Dinner - Homemade cheese pizza

Thursday
Breakfast - eggs and leftover biscuits or pancakes
Lunch - Leftover pizza (Husband will eat out)
Dinner - Pasta bake, veggies, and garlic bread

Friday

Breakfast - Whatever is left in the house
Lunch - Whatever we can forage to eat
Dinner - bean burritos

Okay, I'm only doing a five day menu, because this is my first shot at this and because I have some things I need to use up before they go bad. I'm not planning on shopping this week. I'll see how it goes. My cabinets are stocked full of pasta and pasta sauce, dried beans, canned goods, instant oatmeal, tuna, plenty of canned soup, ingredients to make homemade tomato soup, really just a lot of stuff that I need to use up before I go shopping again. I also have a lot of frozen veggies in the freezer and some frozen fish filets. My husband will not eat fish, but my son and I eat it sometimes for lunch. I also have plenty of flour and yeast, so if I run out of bread I can make some instead of buying it at the store. I'm going to see how far what I already have will take us this week.

The only thing I can really see needing at the store this week is milk. My husband and son are both big milk drinkers and they won't be happy if we run out. My husband drives by Aldi on his way to/from work, so I'll probably have him drop by to get the milk that is $2.59 a gallon.

Not shopping this week will really help our budget. Gas prices are back up again because of the hurricane (was it Ike?). Anyway we had no weather complications, but there has been a bit of a gas shortage in the Atlanta area since the hurricane. On the way to the ball field, for instance, I drive by roughly six gas stations. For the past two weeks most of those stations have been out of gas and when they do get gas, the lines to buy are stretched out into the road and they run out of gas very quickly. My husband had to fill up and found a station with gas earlier this week, but had to wait in line over 20 minutes to get gas!

Well, excuse that tangent, but what I was trying to say is the price of gas is up again and the price of food is still up and seems to be getting higher. My recent shopping trip last Thursday was $81.20. Here's what I got, in case you are interested:

1/4 lb. Provolone cheese $1.97
1/2 lb. roast beef 5.50
1/2 lb. tavern ham 4.54
2 pkgs. of Eat Smart fresh broccoli and carrots 5.00
wheat bread 2.87 (for one loaf of bread! can you believe it?)
1/2 lb. fresh green beans .82
4 pk. cottage cheese 2.99
ketchup 2.79
2% milk 3.59
chili beans .89
chili beans .89
bananas 1.32
kidney beans .89
kidney beans .89
pure vanilla extract 8.49 (gulp!)
chocolate syrup 1.99
4 pk. tomato soup 3.00
Simply Orange orange juice 3.79 (that's expensive!)
French's mustard 1.59
baked beans 1.39
baked beans 1.39
American sliced cheese 4.99
bag of red delicious apples 3.99
ranch dressing 3.63
ground chuck 2.44
ground chuck 2.84
strawberry milk (single serving for me!) 1.67
chocolate milk (single serving for E!) 1.67
Krispy Kreme donut holes cup (for E, no really!) 1.79

I made a huge pot of chili on Friday. I figured up the cost of the huge pot of chili was $10.34. It's a very simple chili, not spicy at all because my guys do not like spicy foods. That chili has been used for 2 dinners so far and I will use the rest to make chili casserole Monday night. I'm just going to put the chili in a casserole dish and mix up some cornbread and add cheddar cheese to it, spread that mixture on top of the chili and bake it until the cornbread is done. I'm making up the recipe, but I'm sure it will taste good.

I think one of my money waster problems is that I am very brand loyal. That's going to be hard for me to give up. Take the pure vanilla extract, for example. I buy McCormick's. The store brand was about a dollar cheaper, but I still bought McCormick's. I thought about buying the store brand. I have actually bought the store brand before and it was fine, but still I bought McCormick's. That's a problem, I think.

Also, I ALWAYS shop at Publix. I could probably get better prices somewhere else. I think I might have heard of a low price superstore called Wal-mart. Yeah, it rings a bell. Still, I shop almost exclusively at Publix.

There are ways to justify shopping at Publix. While I am brand loyal, there are some Publix brand items I have become loyal to. That's cheaper. Plus Walmart is not always on my way, but I pass Publix three times on week on my way to/from the ballfield. Saving gas, right?

I do buy things like dog food, laundry detergent, toilet paper, paper towels and cleaning stuff from Walmart. I guess I could do the food thing there too. I don't think I could buy fresh fruit, fresh vegetables, or fresh meat from Walmart, though. The fruit and veggies at my Walmart never look very appealing and I got some tough hamburger from there once and have never forgotten the experience.

I'll work on it.

So, there's my plan for the week. I'll report back about how it all goes.

HT: Blooming Where We're Planted

Thank God for fall!

2008-09-22T17:52:00.000-04:00

Fall is my favorite time of year! I am so glad it's here again!

We've had a busy few weeks with school work and baseball. Plus E is still taking guitar lessons, which keeps him busy with practice about 45 minutes every day.

Math really has me scratching my head lately. That's kind of bad, I know, when 5th grade math is throwing you for a loop, but we're learning something my husband and I were never taught. Casting out 9's to check arithmetic, multiplication, and division.

I looked at this method and studied it in the curriculum and had my husband look it over and explain it to me. Ha ha. Both my husband and I were a little perplexed by the whole thing. We had never heard of this method and were struggling with the reasoning behind it and the usefulness of it. My husband (Mr. Cool, Calm, and Collected) said to just teach the method to my son and get on with life. We could do as much or as little of it as I was wanted.

Wouldn't you know that I introduced the concept to E and he LOVES using casting out 9's as a way to check his work?!? It is easier than doing the work again or (in the case of division) multiplying the divisor and quotient to come up with the dividend. And, after some research, it does seem to be a pretty popular method. Who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks? Did I just call myself an old dog?

Anyway, we conquered that challenge. Today we did some extensive study about fall and the seasons in general. I got some help with that from EnchantedLearning.com. I have been a member of that site before, but let my subscription run out. You don't have to have a subscription to the site, but paying the fee does gain you access to items you can't use without the membership. I might have to budget in an extra $20 to join again.

I'm doing much better with lesson plans this year. Although I use ABeka curriculum for Math, Language Arts, Spelling, and Penmanship, when dealing with Social Studies and Science, we tend to go with our interests or seasonal studies. The lesson planning has really helped keep me on track so far this year. It takes some extra prep work on my part, but I use some time on Sunday evenings to plan out two weeks at a time.

I also keep a few sheets stapled to the inside of my lesson plan folder with ideas for things I want to do in the future. For instance, in late October I plan to spend some time discussing the upcoming presidential election. We are also going to do a unit study on Ben Franklin (my son's research paper might also focus on Mr. Franklin). I have been looking up websites for research and books that are available at our library. My son has been watching Liberty's Kids, so we're looking forward to delving into more about that time period and Ben Franklin, specifically.

I'm also hoping to read A Christmas Carol this year. We watch many renditions of that movie every year at Christmas and I would really like to read it as a family for once. We'll see how that goes for my husband and son, who are more visually inclined!

So the beginning of another fall! I'm looking forward to all the good things coming up!

We've already ditched school!

2008-08-28T19:00:00.000-04:00

I homeschool my 10 year old son. Our county started school on Aug. 4th. I know. I know. Too early!

Well, I normally don't start our school that early, but last year was a rough year for us. My father-in-law was ill for several months and passed away in December. The travel really threw us off schedule and, honestly, the last thing you care about when that happens is getting all your school days in.

We did get them in, but it was throwing more stress on an already stressful time. So, this year we started our lessons on Aug. 4, much earlier than I originally planned. The idea being it would give us more opportunities to miss school if we needed to.

Today we needed to ditch school. We've had many dreary days of rain (thanks to remnants of Tropical Storm Fay) and today it was only partly cloudy with a mere 10 percent chance of rain. Reason to celebrate!

We dumped the books and headed for a state park that is very close to us and I spent some time this afternoon watching my son swim in the lake. It was really what we needed and a good start for Labor Day weekend. We'll do school tomorrow and take Monday off too!

Then we'll put our noses to the grindstone again, I promise.

School has been going remarkably well this year. Granted it has only just begun, but we've had some very productive days. E's guitar lessons have been going really well too. His guitar teacher says he is doing great! And I've gotten no arguments about practice! Fantastic!

Fall baseball season has started (the practices anyway, games start next weekend). E's team looks really good and I hope they have a great season. I'm ready to cheer them on!

We're approaching my favorite time of year --- fall! I'm so excited about the wonderful things ahead for us!

And I see a few more days of ditching school in our future. :)

My dream came true

2008-07-26T19:13:00.000-04:00

My son was two years old when he first expressed an interest in the guitar. He also expressed an interest in using the cat's litter box as his own personal toilet, but I overlooked that desire and focused on the guitar.

I think most parents have some unrealized childhood dream that we all torture our children with. I've made no secret with my son about the fact that I am a piano lesson dropout. I took lessons for maybe a month when I was probably 12 or so and gave it up. It was interfering with --- well, absolutely nothing in my life, but I gave it up anyway.

Years later when I was 17, I tried the piano again. I think I lasted through 3 lessons before giving it up. I have no idea why I was so quick to give up playing a musical instrument. Maybe the fact that we didn't have a piano at home was a hurdle, but I probably could have somehow worked through it. No matter, I gave it up and still regret it. Yes. Still.

So my two-year-old Baby Boy latched onto a toy guitar and I saw it as a sign of his future Slash-ness. I wasn't just pulling it out of my hat, people. My brother is a guitar legend and my dad plays the guitar also. So, I have some experience in the arena. I could see something there. Some gift, some calling, some slight interest masked as a lump of coal that I could drag out and polish into a pretty, shiny diamond.

I put it off as long as I could, but when Baby Boy was 7 I signed him up to take guitar lessons. I bought a used junior acoustic guitar from my sister for $50. My nephew --- who is 6 years older than my son --- had quickly lost interest in his guitar lessons. I took no heed of my sister's hard earned life lesson, however, and instead paid Long Haired Guitar Guy $17.50 a week for 30 minutes of his expertise so my son could someday make his musical dream come true.

Two lessons in Long Haired Guitar Guy told me Baby Boy was having some trouble with the acoustic guitar and the electric would probably help him get the hang of it. So $125 later (give or take) and with a new electric guitar, guitar case, and amplifier, I felt like we were really on our way.

So began what I like to call the "Great Guitar Debacle" of early 2005. Baby Boy took lessons every week (give or take a missed lesson for various reasons) from January until July. Here is a sample of my life back then:

Me: Have you practiced guitar?
Him: No.
Me: You need to practice guitar.
Him: Can I do it later?
Me: You have to practice an hour every day.
Him: An hour's a really long time.
Me: Don't you want to learn to play guitar?
Him: Yes.
Me: Then you need to practice.
Him: Can I do it later?

I won't bore you with the rest. It usually involved sentences about money, commitment, money, stick-to-it-tive-ness, money. You get the picture.

In July of that year we said goodbye to Long Haired Guitar Guy. Frankly, it was a relief. No more badgering my 7 year old to practice his guitar. No more frustration that no guitar progress was being made. No more pouring my money into a guy's pocket so he can live out his rock star fantasy by holding out and not getting a real job. We were done. I mourned the loss and went on with my life. Mostly.

Days turned to weeks, weeks turned to months, months turned to years, as they tend to do. The electric guitar was brought out now and then. Some interest was shown in it for an hour or so and, I admit it, my heart would start to soar and my hope would start to build. Then baseball season would start, or other passions would take over (horse riding lessons, Xbox) and the electric guitar would be placed in the back of the closet once again. An outcast, out of favor, out of luck. The acoustic had really lost favor and --- in a fit of hopelessness --- I sold it at a yard sale last fall for $15. That was a low point.

Who would have thought that hope would return in the most unlikely form? Believe it or not Xbox actually contributed a positive to family life.

Baby Boy got his Xbox for Christmas last year. Around February, he dipped into his savings and bought Rock Band. The whole family has really loved playing that game. We even have our own band with me on guitar, my son on drums, and my husband contributing his unique vocal stylings. My son enjoys the Rock Band drums, but he mostly likes playing guitar.

Well, the video game guitar rekindled his interest in playing the guitar for real. He started trying to teach himself how to play the guitar, picking it up now and then. I waited a couple of months, not willing to be dragged through the ups and downs of the music world again. Finally, though, this week we met Long Haired Guitar Guy #2 and Baby Boy had his first lesson.

It went really well. We both like the second version of LHGG and Baby Boy seems very willing to practice, without my constant nagging.

For example, after his guitar lesson, my son came home, tuned his guitar, and promptly went to work on learning a song LHGG #2 had given him. It's a song from The White Stripes. I have never been a fan, but with every passing hour their sound is growing on me. Click this to listen to what my week has sounded like.

So, my son has been playing the guitar a lot. Going over his scales, practicing the songs, it's been totally different than our last experience with the guitar. I even said some words I never thought I would utter when I told him, "Okay, you need to take a break from the guitar for a few hours." Am I never satisfied? ;)

I've told him how proud I am that he is willing to work so hard for something he wants. I made sure he is the one wanting it this time around. He says he does.

But he knows how much I want him to succeed at this. He knows I think this knowledge will add something positive to his life and he knows that I'm happy he's taking it back up again. So when he was putting his guitar away a couple of days ago, he told me "I'm glad your dream finally came true." Meaning my dream for him to want to learn to play the guitar.

I have to admit it's pretty awesome and in ways I do feel like my dream has come true. I might even try my hand at the piano again.

Or maybe I'll just learn to play the drums on Rock Band.

Tulips in the sunlight

2008-07-25T16:51:00.000-04:00

The picture at the top of my blog was taken by my son in March of this year. I think it's pretty impressive for a 10 year old. I love the way the sun comes in through the living room curtains and makes them look like wisps of lace. I love the way the tulips look, just beginning to open, with the best of their glory yet to be seen.

That little pot of tulips was a simple gift from my husband and son for my 37th birthday this year. Simple, small, and given with so much love to me from the men who make my life so very wonderful.

I'm a simple girl (and I firmly believe even 37 year old women can call themselves girls, if they feel like it). I don't have incredibly expensive tastes. I don't enjoy doing things like going on luxurious trips or having my husband buy me expensive jewelry. I have a simple life. I am a mom, a wife, and a homeschooler. My simple days are busy with housework, schoolwork (during the school year), and taking care of the needs of my family.

Sometimes my life can get buried deep into piles of laundry. My days can be overcome by dirty dishes overflowing in the sink. Sometimes I can't see anything past the dirt of the infamous Georgia clay that makes up our yard and our local ball field. Sometimes I can turn my life into a drudgery. Most people can, if they stop and think about it a certain way.

But all I have to do is look past the laundry and think about the activities that dirtied those clothes. Swimming and fishing in the river. My son playing outside with friends. Getting caught in the rain while walking the dog.

The piled up dirty dishes remind me of long breakfasts on weekend mornings of pancakes and bacon, with lots of laughter and anticipated plans for the day. Chocolate chip cookies cooling on racks and then piled high on plates with cold glasses of milk as a surprise for my husband and son.

Red dirt is annoying piled up in my carpet, but it's inevitable after a hard day of baseball practice or a game played in the evening and ending in the shouts of victory by a dugout full of sweaty 10 year old boys who fought hard and won.

And just like the tulips in the sunlight my life hasn't completely opened yet. I still have wonderful things to look forward to, future glories yet to see.

So my blog is simply about my life. It's nothing amazing or incredible, but sometimes it really is. Sometimes they're just flowers in a pot, but sometimes they're tulips in the sunlight.