Yes, It's Been a Long Time!

I could offer you an array excuses: I had a couple of days of sicknes, a couple of days of sporadic internet (where you just know if I spent any amount of time writing here, it would be lost to the world in mere seconds!), and many days of summer-running. Just like with everything else, the longer I put it off, the bigger the job seemed. So, let's just get this over with, shall we?

The girls finished up their swimming lessons this week. Compared to last year, when we were nervous as heck that they'd pass, this year was a breeze. Alana's teachers actually used her as a demonstrator, and both girls were probably the best in their classes. They both passed this level with flying colors. :) Of course, now this means that I'll have to make more of an effort to bring them to the pool in the afternoons.

Erin is still playing soccer once a week, and they both have T Ball twice a week.

Waaay back in May, at Lexi's graduation party, one of the kids found (and picked up) a bird egg found under a tree. Alana was aghast that someone would pick up an egg (doesn't everyone know not to do that?). But she was intent on saving the baby birdy. So, the egg was immediately placed in front of the electric heater in our basement, and she commenced building a nest in a cage for it for when it hatched.

This many weeks later, I finally had to order her to shut off the heater (as we had the A/C on) and take down the cage. But, we do still have the egg...she still has hope....

My hubby, unlike myself, reads only two things...fishing & hunting magazines and the weekend paper. On this particular Sunday afternoon, the paper contained a couple of articles of slight interest to Alana, too....

Otherwise, let's see...what's new? Well, two Sundays ago, at church softball, Martha, the pastor's wife from another church (where the girls participate in their Christmas musical...directed by Martha...and she also homeschools) invited me to a weekly Bible study/support group they have. As I knew 3 other women involved (from that church) it didn't seem so scary. And also, I had been praying to God a lot about this, as I had been feeling "spiritually lonely"...my mother being my only "go-to" on the subject. Apparently, God heard my need and put it into Martha's heart to think of me. Although a little out of my comfort zone, I sure as heck wasn't telling Him no! So, I went. The women were all gracious and kind. It was a good thing. :) I'll be going back.

Ummm...still no more work on the house. We still have the intent to sell (or try to) but apparently motivation has left the building. Ugh.

I've stayed busy reading (I highly recommend "Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World"), working on curriculum decisions for fall, and organizing the new curriculum for our Rotational Sunday School starting in September. Oh, and we are still homeschooling. The girls are thrilled (not) but it's the best way to keep things fresh in their minds, and keep from from getting too bored and fighting. Oh, and it allows us to only work half-days throughout the year! :)

We're still on the diet. I'm close to 20 lbs down. I feel fantastic! Of course, the cravings just never go away.... The girls are both doing great on it...whiney at times, but I probably would, too, if I didn't have to be the "strong mom".

When I get a free minute (and my creativity is still within reach) I still scrapbook and make cards. I'm currently in the throws of deciding whether to push a business selling my cards. Is this the right time? Will I have to sacrifice too much of mom/wife/teacher/homemaker time and energy? And bottomline...is this what God wants from me??? It's exhausting...really.

Looking forward to heading north to Mom & Dad's for the 4th (can you believe it's already here?!?!) Wow.

Have a good weekend!

I'm pleading for your attention!

You see, I couldn't sleep last nite. I tossed and turned, fighting an unwinnable war in my dreams. It's all Glenn Beck's fault. For those of you who don't know my friend, Glenn, you should. He's got a show on Fox News. Now I know all of you liberals and Democrats are rolling your eyes, preparing to skip right on through this babble of mine. But please listen. You see, Glenn is NOT a Republican. He's a Conservative, yes. But his anger and distrust is focused on the Republicans as well as Dem's...as it should be. Anyway, his show was really bad yesterday...and not much better today. I tend to believe that most people don't know what's going on in this country. Either they just ignore anything political because they don't want to be bothered/distressed by it, or they are too busy watching important things, like American Idol and 24. Or it could be that they trust the old standbyes, like NBC, ABC, CBS, MSNBC and CNN to report the truth.

If you just don't care....I beg you to try. Things that are happening will affect you. Soon. And not in a good way. And if you trust those other media outlets, DON'T! They are not telling you the truth!

For instance, do you know that when the gov took over Chrysler and sold it to Fiat, it blatently broke the law? Do you know that the secured lenders (the first people that should have been paid when Chrysler went bankrupt) were screwed? See, the govt gave the UAW (an unsecured party) the most, including ownership, while totally dissing the secured lenders. Well, you might be thinking, who cares about those rich, evil rich bankers! But those secured lenders included the state of Indiana pension fund...as in teachers. Those teachers, who all Dem's love, just got hosed on their retirement pensions. It's illegal. That's not what's supposed to happen in a bankruptcy. So, there's checks and balances, right? Wrong...the Supreme Court just today, refused to get involved.

And why would they with the heavy-handed mob-like techniques that Obama has been using. Like with the GM bankruptcy. Gretchen Carlson (an anchor on Fox News) is personally affected. Her parents own a GM dealership in northern MN...it's been in the family for 90 years. It was just terminated. You'd think they were a loser dealership, right? Nope. They met their objectives this year at 103%. They were given NO reason for their termination. Oh, and they need to sign a waiver, by Friday, or they lose all warrenties on the 10+ million in cars on their lot. (By the way, that's illegal, too). And this waiver includes a gag order. I wonder what the govt doesn't want us to know? Oh, and in the GM bankruptcy the same thing happened. The UAW got the lion's share, and ownership, while the secured lenders got ripped. Nice.

And have you noticed all of the czars that Obama is appointing? Yeah, so? Did you know that in our checks and balances system (remember, Executive, Legislative and Judicial)? Well, these czars report to Obama. That's it. Not us, the people who the govt is supposed to represent. And, by the way, if you remember anything about history, you'll remember that "czar" sorta has negative connotations...as in Mussolini, Hitler...you get the idea. Now we have a Pay Czar. Oh, good, now those rich, overpaid executives will know what it's like!!! But truly, this is killing capitalism, what has made our country great all these years.

I'm not pointing fingers. I'm confident that if you voted for Obama and all of these weak Democrat Congressmen, you really didn't think that his change would include killing capitalism and burning the Constitution. BURNING THE CONSTITUTION!!!!!! No, I'm not hysterical. This is really happening. I hope I'm wrong. I pray everyday that I'm wrong. I don't know why I even bother writing about this...I feel like no one listens. But I feel called to do what I can...and this is what I can. Please, please please pay attention! Check out Fox News. Check out Glenn Beck http://www.glennbeck.com/ Just educate yourself. This is important. This is our country, our freedom...our Constitution. Please.

Nature Study

I'm trying to adopt more of a Charlotte Mason style of teaching. Basically, in a nutshell, this involves shorter lessons, the reading of quality literature and living books instead of watered down textbooks and a focus on nature study. The girls each have a nature notebook to draw in, and we use field manuals and wildlife books to research the things we draw. Most importantly, they learn the habit of slowing down and really seeing, hearing and appreciating God's creation. I love these pictures I got of the girls.

In comparison, there were two boys "fishing" in the creek nearby. They were actually quite busy throwing things into the creek. Logs. Rocks. Branches. It wasn't done in a playful "skipping rocks" way, or experimental "watch it float!" way. They were hellbent on destruction. I thanked God then and there that I had children that appreciated His beautiful creation, instead of being ignorant and destructful.

Memorial Day Pics

Erin marched with the Girl Scouts in the Memorial Day parade a couple of weeks ago...and I'm finally getting the pictures uploaded. :) She had an OK time, but nothing thrilling...

Now while we waited for the parade to begin, we had a little fun, born out of frustration. To me, it's common sense, in a small town, to NOT park on the streets that make up a parade route...at least not within a half hour of the parade start time. Well, it seems that many, many people do not share my view of common sense. We parked on a side street, walked to the parade route and set up our chairs on the sidewalk. Car after car pulled in front of us and parked. Seriously? So, finally, Alana takes her chair and sits in the parking spot directly in front of us...essentially keeping all of the cars out. That's my girl!!! :)

It rained on my parade....

Well, not exactly my parade...just my thrift sale that I've been planning for a couple of months. It was cold, too. By the end, I was a popcicle in need of a nap and cup of tea. The good news was that it also rained on my just-planted garden...and we made over $350, which considering I had zero moms with little kids come, was pretty impressive. We're still debating whether to give it another shot this weekend before donating. As long as it's all set up.....

Sadly, on Friday we were in Burnsville MN to say goodbye to my Great Grandma Louise. Although I was not close to her, I loved her deeply due to the love my mother had for her. She was a wonderful woman....a virtuous woman. If you're at all familiar with Proverbs 31, that was my grandma. But I makes it much easier knowing that she went home to her Lord happily and very willingly...she's in a much, much better place. These are the most recent pictures I have of her, taken in Aug of 2007 and 2008...but they are not how I will remember her. I will remember her sparkling blue eyes...her soft, French-accented voice...and loving smile.

Today is a cloudy, cold and windy day...rain is coming, I'm sure. A perfect day for a Sabbath! We have our first church softball game tonite...hopefully it won't rain. I have school prep to do today, hopefully some scrapping or card-making, and definately some reading...I have 3 new, fresh-from-the library books just screaming for me to climb in bed and read! I have "Does This Clutter Make My Butt Look Fat?" by Peter Walsh (the genius on Clean Sweep), "Christian Unschooling", and "God's Master Plan for Your Life" by Gloria Copeland (I've never read her before...). So, I have plenty to keep me busy today. I should do laundry and housecleaning, too, but I just may gratefully receive the Lord's gift of a Sabbath rest today! :)

Our summer schedule starts tomorrow with tball practice for both girls. Next week swimming lessons and soccer for Erin begin. We'll still have school...I do school year-round...but I do try to make it lighter and more fun. It keeps them from forgetting half of what they've learned...and it keeps the "I'm boooooorrrreeedddd's" at bay! :)

Happy Sunday and God Bless!

We've been busy...

...and sick. Ummm, last Thursday Erin had her Girl Scouts "Court of Awards"...where all of the troops got on stage and the leaders talked about what the troops had done. Erin wasn't too thrilled, and possibly felt like I did, that it was a waste of time. :) I'm telling ya...when you have to skip the refreshments at the end of everything, it really takes away from the whole thing. :)

All last week I worked on the scrapbook and picture boards for my niece's graduation. I did finish on time, by the way. :) This is a layout I did for her...

The grad ceremony was LONG...and hot. It started a half hour late cuz one of the graduates thought it started at 8 (It was SUPPOSED to start at 7. Ugh.) But it was very nice...and I was so proud of Lexi. Here are some pics from the ceremony and party that was on Saturday.

And this is Erin at her "Court of Awards". I told you she wasn't too excited. :)

I started getting sick on Wednesday of last week...stress, tired, and too many germs floating around, I guess. But, mind over matter, I held off the worst of it til the grad party was done. I kid you not, I got home and almost instantly collapsed on my chair. I was so sick. It took me 3 full days to get back to normal. I was lucky that it was raining the entire time, so that I didn't feel like I HAD to walk the dog. :) I must say, though, that I made a quick recovery. Normally, I'd be in bed with bronchitis by now...or sick at least for a couple of weeks. It must be the "no sugar". Huh. Go figure.

That's going pretty well, I guess. I'm down to 1 cup of coffee in the morning (that's down from 4-5 cups of hydrogenated oil/sugar-filled expensive coffee per day that I had been drinking). I was down 9 pounds at the end of last week. We're still having issues with Erin's blood glucose numbers...they've been a little high because I've reduced her insulin. But both girls are doing well with the food (and lack of carbs and sugar). Much better than I anticipated. And they're trying new things. We're headed up to my mom & dad's tomorrow...and mom has got big plans for food! :) I'm just thankful I have her support...eating this way away from home can be difficult...having her help is a major load off my shoulders.

We finally got the garden tilled up today...still need to plant. And today we powerwashed the deck...we need to seal it tomorrow before we leave.

We're hoping to have our thrift sale next weekend. Hoping. I really don't mind doing it. I just hate setting it up. Ugh. I'm also starting to pick out curriculum for next year. That's always so stressful for me...too many options make for difficult decisions. You would NEVER believe how many choices are out there for homeschoolers. And then as a parent, you feel like your children's education hangs in the balance of what curriculum decisions I make. Fun.

Ok, enough babbling. Have a good weekend!

Well, I talked with nutritionist, Karen Hurd, on Saturday, and we now have Erin on the bean diet, too. I'm guessing her doctors wouldn't be happy...but the "diet" they've had her on has never made sense to me. We were actually feeding her MORE carbs post-diagnosis than we were before it. And as Karen said, that just makes her dependent on the insulin. If we cut her carbs, she'll need less. She talked of a specific 7 year old diabetic who is now completely off of insulin shots because of how she's eating. Erin was all for no shots...until she discovered she couldn't have fruit or her nightly ice cream! :) But it's getting easier every day. The girls still have fits and cry...but so do I. I think they understand that I'm doing it for their health...that's my job...my calling.

Other people, so far, seem to have the same kind of reaction as they do to my homeschooling..."that's great for you, but I'd never do it!" Some have had almost a negative reaction...but I got the same about homeschooling. I know with homeschooling, some feel "guilty" for not doing the same, and so they turn on homeschooling and those who do it. It may be the same with this. I don't know how long we'll make it on this program. But it takes on a whole new meaning when it's your kids' health at stake...not just a few pounds.

It's been a busy week...at least for us. Monday I went to the dentist, Tuesday we went bowling for Girl Scouts, yesterday Erin's friend, Claire, came over to play and then we went to choir, and today I got a much overdue perm. And, yes, I look like a poodle. And I stink, too. :)

We really have a lot of work to do around here. Our basement is still a disaster...piled with boxes of stuff we packed up, tons of clothes to thrift sale, and junk the kids didn't get rid of (yet) but don't want in their rooms. The family is Tony's new "home away from home" and since he's coming home Sunday, we gotta get busy! I was hoping to have the walls painted by then, but I don't see that happening. Barry still says we're going to list the house, so I still need to stay motivated.

Guess that's all for now. I should get busy, but there are too many books awaiting my attention. :)