Some rambling observations

1) Don't drink and drive. Why are we as a society still fighting this battle? Haven't we learned from Don't Drink and Drive, MADD and all the gruesome and heart-wrenching drunk-driving portrayals that are par for the course in most high schools and colleges just how dangerous it is to drink and then get behind the wheel of a car? You are not better than everyone else, you have not been endowed with superpowers to get behind a wheel after drinking and make it home without incident. And for God's sake and everyone else's if you are a grown-assed adult please join AA or some other support group that will keep you from making this mistake again! STOP DRINKING AND DRIVING AND RUINING OTHER PEOPLE'S LIVES!

2) Don't be a dumb-bird. This poor bird put her nest in a very small and fragile tree...

Here is the tree and the nest:

3) If you do not have children, have not raised your own children or your child is 2 days old, stop handing out parenting advice. You have no idea what you are talking about and we are all rolling our eyes at you. All the reading articles, books, taking classes and here-say, etc. will never be the same as taking care of a child day in and day out.

4) If you love your husband, wife, companion or whatever you call that person that you are spending your life with, TELL THEM! This goes for anyone that you care deeply for--let them know what they mean to you. If your marriage is having a problem get in there and get it sorted out--don't let things build up--fight for your marriage! Now if you are dealing with Adultery, Addiction or Abuse--please seek help for those immediately!

5) Raising a teenager and toddler at the same time is challenging. Leave it to the experts out there lol

6) Stop worrying about everything ALL THE TIME. Some things are just out of your control and what will be, will be--deal with it and move on.

7) Read something everyday. Eat chocolate everyday. It will make the day more enjoyable!

8) If you want to lose weight put down the bag of chips and step away from the computer

9) If you are an elementary teacher yet you cannot teach basic skills to children, maybe you should think about a career change--you sure would have saved me a lot of heartache--I know you'll never see this but you know who you are.

10) If you are always surrounded by drama...it may be you that is the drama queen

11) Pray everyday for the stupid people--they need all the help they can get

12) One day grammar will be subjective

Not All Homeschoolers are Conservative Christians

and you know what that is ok! I'm a Christian and a former Conservative Christian(I guess you could say--I don't think I was ever wound as tight as some of the more vocal ccs are). And now to try and not offend Conservative Christians because I know that they do not all fit the stereotype of having to have things their way, being small-minded, and full of hate, etc., that is so often portrayed in the media and elsewhere. As a matter of fact, I have friends that are Conservative Christian and as far I know we are on friendly terms. Hopefully that doesn't change after today but if it does...well we were never friends anyway were we?

Seems that there has been another kerfuffle in the homeschooling community. This time Julie Bogart (author of Bravewriter homeschool materials) as well as other previous speakers were not invited back to Great Homeschool Conventions in Cincinnati. It is my understanding that until this year that GHC was created to serve the whole homeschool community even though the group was formed by Conservative Christians--sounds wonderful doesn't it? Extending an olive branch, loving our neighbors, all trying to do what we think is best for our children, etc. Well for whatever reason GHC issued a statement(paraphrased) that they will not be inviting speakers that do not share their specific core of beliefs. It's sad really, because now GHC has lost a group of homeschoolers that are both Christian and Non-Christian and at the same time tarnished how the world views Christians. Why do people not realize the harm they are doing when their words and actions show that they will only provide services to or gain the friendship of someone who shares the same set of beliefs? Just to add in here--One very well known speaker(Dr. Susan Wise Bauer) invited Julie Bogart to be a part of her booth at the convention. Bravo to SWB!

This problem is widespread in the homeschool community. It branches all the way from the little local homeschool co-ops and support groups all the way up to national levels. Even the group that I have belonged to for the last 4 years now has a marriage clause in it. Really? We are homeschooling our kids because we think that is what is best for them. Does our belief about marriage come into play when setting up a co-op class or a playdate? My answer is 'no'. And the reason my answer is 'no' is because I know the back story and there are no classes dealing with marriage in our little scenario. One person thought they were high and mighty and knew what was best for ALL members of the group. My guess is that she doesn't really know what is best for ALL members...and I'm left trying to decide is it worth the $10/year so son #1 can hang-out with the children of the 'I know better than you do' parents. Where do I draw my lines? Just because a parent can be mean doesn't necessarily mean their child will be...or what about 'the apple doesn't fall from the tree'? See I could go in circles all day long...

So here's what I have to say to the 'high and mighty' ones that think they know what is best for ALL:


And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’No other commandment is greater than these.” Mark 12:30-31


Parable of the Good Samaritan

Jesus replied with a story: “A Jewish man was traveling from Jerusalem down to Jericho, and he was attacked by bandits. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him up, and left him half dead beside the road.

“By chance a priest came along. But when he saw the man lying there, he crossed to the other side of the road and passed him by. A Temple assistant walked over and looked at him lying there, but he also passed by on the other side.

“Then a despised Samaritan came along, and when he saw the man, he felt compassion for him. Going over to him, the Samaritan soothed his wounds with olive oil and wine and bandaged them. Then he put the man on his own donkey and took him to an inn, where he took care of him. The next day he handed the innkeeper two silver coins, telling him, ‘Take care of this man. If his bill runs higher than this, I’ll pay you the next time I’m here.’

“Now which of these three would you say was a neighbor to the man who was attacked by bandits?” Jesus asked.

The man replied, “The one who showed him mercy.”

Then Jesus said, “Yes, now go and do the same.” Luke 10:30-37


Love is patient and kind. I Corinthians 13:4


Your kindness will reward you, but your cruelty will destroy you. Proverbs 11:17


But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things! Galatians 5:22-23

I think poem sums it up nicely and it has always been one of favorites

All I really need to know about how to live and what to do and how to be I learned in kindergarten.
Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate school mountain, but there in the sand pile at school.
These are the things I learned:
Share everything.
Play fair.
Don't hit people.
Put things back where you found them.
Clean up your own mess.
Don't take things that aren't yours.
Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody.
Wash your hands before you eat.
Flush.
Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
Live a balanced life - learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some.
Take a nap every afternoon.
When you go out in the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands and stick together.
Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the Styrofoam cup: the roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that.
Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the Styrofoam cup - they all die. So do we.
And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the first word you learned - the biggest word of all - LOOK. -Robert Fulghum

Definitely a Monday around my house today

Well it's been awhile since I've blogged but after this morning's events it seems like I should share some of the fun with the rest of the world. We are still homeschooling and I'll catch y'all up on that as we go along.

This morning I went to get the baby and found that he had stripped from the waist down! He was all smiley and so proud of himself. What I am still trying to figure out is how he slept all night. He had to take the diaper off pretty early in the night as it was almost completely dry! Geez, if I knew sleeping in a urine soaked bed was the key to getting to sleep all night I would have let him sleep naked a long time. Ok, I'm kidding! Can you imagine the mess that would have created and the money that I would have to spend on mattress replacements?? Thankfully, Rory was still home and I was able to hand off lord and master of the pee-pee to him. While Rory got pee-pee monster settled in the tub I stripped the bed and cleaned the carpet...

Next on the agenda was getting some breakfast. I decided that bacon and eggs would be a great Monday breakfast. All goes well with cooking breakfast...then I decide that it would be nice to go ahead and put something in the crock pot for dinner tonight. I remembered that there was this recipe that I found on Pinterest that I wanted to try. It sounded simple and I had all the ingredients: Chicken, cream cheese, corn, rotel and black beans. I got the chicken out of the freezer and started unwrapping it--it was wrapped in press and seal and then put in a freezer bag. Shouldn't be a problem, right? Well somehow one little bitty piece of plastic was stuck between 2 pieces of chicken. As hard as I tried I could not pull it out and running it under water did not help either. I was trying to avoid defrosting it in the microwave because that would mean one more dirty dish that I would have to look at. By this time the eggs were starting to get cold and the pee-pee monster was wanting more than the milk I gave him 15 minutes ago. So I washed my hands(because who wants to get salmonella at 8:30 in the morning??) and started feeding the pee-pee monster. Ding the microwave went off and I still could not get this blasted piece of plastic from between the chicken pieces! I was contemplating just cooking it that way and whoever found the plastic at dinner would win a prize! Finally after several minutes in the microwave and lots of hand washing in between(because I am still feeding pee-pee monster and trying to jerk this little piece of plastic out of the chicken every few minutes) the plastic is released and I do a happy happy joy dance and throw all the ingredients into the crock pot. I feel on top of the world because every few seconds I am mentally reminding myself to turn on the crock pot--and it works because I remembered to turn it on instead of leaving raw chicken and various ingredients in a cold pot all day long--don't laugh you've done it too!

The next thing I know shoes are being tossed at me by the pee-pee monster. He's also carrying around one of his tennis-shoes. This means, 'take me outside'. I put my shoes on and he brings me another pair of shoes and insists that I put them on, too. Finally after about 15 times of putting the shoes away and trying to explain to a toddler that you can only wear one pair of shoes, I think he gets it. Meanwhile, he is still walking around with only one of his shoes on...


It is a beautiful day today. The humidity is low and it's not even 70 degrees yet. I've taught pee-pee monster to run when I say, 'on your mark, get set, go!' He thinks it's hilarious and runs as fast as he can while trying not to stumble because he's giggling so hard! Then the dreaded neighbor dog shows up...I don't mind dogs, but this dog is the most annoying yappy little dog I have had the pleasure of knowing. Oh course pee-pee monster loves this dog and makes a beeline for the fence. Thankfully, today I was able to direct his attention elsewhere and we did not have to talk to the annoying, yappy dog. So, we started running again and we found this little butterfly. The picture is not all that great because I only had the camera on my phone. If I had gone inside to get the camera I would have never found the butterfly again.

I'm old and all that running around wears me out so I decided to sit on the step of the deck. Pee-pee monster joins me for a few minutes. He keeps talking to all the birds flying around and pointing at them-'boord, boord, boord' My mom told me that her hummingbirds were starting to make an appearance. I hadn't seen any of ours yet but they showed up today. So pee-pee monster and I went in the house and made up some hummingbird food. The bird circled around a few more times while we were outside but he still hasn't decided to eat yet.

After a few more times of 'on your mark, get set, go!' I decide it's time to come in because there are mounds of laundry to do today and son #1 will be getting up and we need to get the school day started. While I was gathering laundry, son #1 is in the garage getting a waffle out of the fridge in there(he doesn't eat eggs, but I did cook him some bacon)and the pee-pee monster somehow manages to close and lock the door out to the garage...I walk out to start laundry and son #1 is opening the garage door so he can walk around to get back in the house. Great! pee-pee monster knows how to work the locks on doors...

While son #1 wakes up and eats breakfast the pee-pee monster and I go to his room to play and read books. Son #1 loved books and we could read for hours. Pee-pee monster, well he is all about figuring things out and getting into all the trouble he can before he can be found out. I did manage to get a couple of books read to him today. One is a classic The Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson and the other is Yummy Yucky by one of my new favorite children's author Leslie Patricelli.


Laundry is going, floors have been vacuumed, pee-pee monster has had a nutritious lunch of ham sandwich, grapes and milk and for now he sleeps and we all relax a little bit...and the day is only half-over...Do I have any volunteers to clean the kitchen and bathrooms because I have my sights set on Algebra and The Three Musketeers with son #1 oh yeah and I've got to make that peach cobbler today!

Dinner Tonight
chicken breasts--they can be frozen just make sure all the plastic is removed!
1 pkg cream cheese
1/2 bag of frozen corn
1 can of rotel
1 can of black beans

Place chicken in bottom of crock pot and cover with other ingredients
Cook on low all day. I'm going to serve mine w/tortillas and rice

Peach Cobbler
Ingredients

8 fresh peaches - peeled, pitted and sliced into thin wedges
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons cornstarch

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small pieces
1/4 cup boiling water

MIX TOGETHER:
3 tablespoons white sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Directions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
In a large bowl, combine peaches, 1/4 cup white sugar, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon, nutmeg, lemon juice, and cornstarch. Toss to coat evenly, and pour into a 2 quart baking dish. Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine flour, 1/4 cup white sugar, 1/4 cup brown sugar, baking powder, and salt. Blend in butter with your fingertips, or a pastry blender, until mixture resembles coarse meal. Stir in water until just combined.
Remove peaches from oven, and drop spoonfuls of topping over them. Sprinkle entire cobbler with the sugar and cinnamon mixture. Bake until topping is golden, about 30 minutes.

Hummingbird Food

boiled water--enough to fill your container
1/4 c. sugar for each cup of water--make sure you use sugar and not a sugar substitute
few drops of red-food coloring