A Healthy Kind of Day

The girls have been sniffly and allergy-ful lately. They also got to bed really late last night because we had some people over for Bible study. Yes, I would normally excuse myself and put them to bed but they were playing with the daughter of one of the guests.

AND to top if off we have a busy weekend ahead of us. So, not wanting to run them into the ground and turn sniffles into all-out sickness, I have called a preventative health day. We probably will do some school, but not much. We will mostly rest and lay around.

Sweetheart is watching a DVD of the book of Luke. "Jesus" has freaky hair, but it's a pretty good movie. Little Bit is playing after having a 30 minute wardrobe dilemma. She doesn't like to wear pants anymore. They "don't feel good." She only wants to wear skirts or dresses. Since we are having fake fall today in the form of 40 degree temperatures this morning from a cold front, that's not very practical. I bought her some black leggings, but they look weird with all her dresses. We finally found an acceptable outfit.

I think some of this would work well, but Land's End is not as cheap as I'd like it to be. Mind you, it's not outrageous...but it adds up. Children's Place is not very practical this year. What is up with their fall line? Like my daughter is really going to run around playing in those. And the skirts I found at Old Navy were all approximately 4 inches long. (Although, I totally found a long denim skirt for Sweetheart in the store even though they are supposed to be online only! I was very excited. They are nice looking and will go with everything!) And more than half the dresses on Old Navy's website were NOT in our store. Hmph.

I think I will be assessing her hand-me-down shirt colors and sewing some skirts on our week off!

I have 3 rounds of company coming this weekend starting this afternoon, so it's time for me to shine the house up and get ready!

Have a good weekend everyone!

The Only Cold Thing Around Here...

...are my icy stares as I survey the thermometer outside.

It's in the 90s again today.

I am REALLY ready for fall. Even fake fall, like we have here in Texas. I long to wear a jacket, wrap up in a blanket and read to the girls, drink hot chocolate, and most of all...

...stop sweating. That's what I'm really looking forward to.

I hear a cold front is headed our way this weekend, which is what "fall" consists of here where I live. Just in time for the girls to wear long sleeves with their poodle skirts.

Which, by the way, are beautiful!! I still have to sew the poodles on and put some ribbon to tie them on the sides (foregoing zippers--this is just a costume). But I really and truly sewed skirts--with waistbands!! Wonders never cease.

That's it really. I just wanted to tell you:

1. I sewed.

2. I'm hot.

Come On In!

I have proof positive that my house used to pretty clean. I mean, our bedroom would get pretty neglected and piled up with laundry and never dusted....but the main part of the house, when Sweetheart was a baby, was just fine.

I know this because all the pictures of her when she is little? The background looks GOOOOOD. I KNOW I did not pick up before I snapped one of the thousands of pictures I have of her. Also, we lived next door to some close friends and we were in and out of each other's homes all the time. My house looked OK.

I really can't pinpoint when the demise began. I remember the summer I quit work and I had 4 year old Sweetheart and 6 month old Little Bit and 15-20 boxes from my classroom stacked all over the house. It looked pretty bad then.

I really don't have people stop by much anymore. We, and all our friends, are far past the stage when you all have one baby and can still get together on Friday nights and eat pizza and watch movies together while the babies fall asleep. We are far past the age when you can just run by some one's house. We are at baseball and soccer and karate and dance and school and birthday parties and ACK!!! Plus there are just too many of us now to get together much.

And, we are here ALL the time. I don't send my girls off to school and get busy straightening up the house while they are gone. Although I do daydream about that sometimes.

So I don't keep my house very picked up. I think I would do better if I KNEW people would be dropping in unannounced. But they don't. I have to get with it. Plus, and tell me if you agree with this, our home is older and it just takes more for it to look good. Our old house looked good even with no furniture in a room becuase it was just newer and nice. It's harder to keep an older home looking good.

In a few weeks we have Little Bit's birthday party. The week after that we are hosting the salad portion of a progressive dinner for church. On Thursdays now we have 2 ladies coming over for Bible study.

I have to get with it. I cannot spend all my time doing emergency cleaning.

I have a slight panic attack when I think about those big events and having lots of people over. There is so much that needs to be done. I KNOW hospitality does not mean having a perfect house, but it has to be better than this!

Are you company ready? Are you best friend ready? Do you panic when you have a big event? Tell me. I want to know if I'm normal. :)

And also, if you know how I can get back to how my house looked in 1999, I would really appreciate that.

Costume Day 2010

Oh I love our costume day. The first year, Sister and I made the girls Native American Indian costumes. We had so much fun!

Oh they were so little!

The next year was our American Girl Tea Party. It was awesome!!

However, the group pictures were not awesome.

 Last year we had a Pioneer Day. The girls LOVED it.

Pioneer school day in our living room.

Most of these ideas came from Sweetheart, who is very opinionated about what she wants to do for costume day. She already has next year planned! This year the idea was from the moms.

We are going back in time to the 50s! This is an era our girls do not know too much about. I think that's because A.) there is no American Girl from the fifties and B.) they didn't grow up watching Happy Days. I mean, come on, that's how YOU know so much about the fifties, right?

It's exciting watching them form a little schema about the fifties in their brain. We are making them poodle skirts which are ridiculously easy in theory. In reality, I used a pattern for the second time in my sewing career and my MOM WAS NOT EVEN HERE! I know. I am so proud. I have skirt pieces laying on the fireplace hearth. I suppose sewing is the next step.

I have until Saturday--no worries!

In school, I am looking through a bunch of books about the fifties with them. I was going to go all out and do a unit study and lap book and the whole smash but unfortunately, no one made me a free lap book and downloaded it for me to print.

So there went THAT idea.

We looked at a book on 50s fashion today. We will be studying toys that were created or popular in the 50s, food people ate, and all that fun stuff. Also, we have to cover some harder things like polio and atomic bomb drills and school integration. There is a lot to cover in 10 years of history! The idea is to let them know what life would be like for a little girl in the 50s.

This is the first year we have really had to study before hand. They had good ideas about the other days we have done. Really their only experience with the 50s is a diner we ate at on spring break a few years ago. I'm not even sure they remember it all that much.

After Saturday, I predict they will have all kinds of ideas about life in the 50s.

I'm predicting a headache for me and Sister.

You Should Go Read This

I found the best new blog ever!! You'll love it. Especially if you are interested in eating healthier, cooking, feeding your family, etc.

Go check it out!  (Really....this was my Monday surprise!)

Then come back here later to hear about our costume day this year.

Something Up My Sleeve

I can't wait for Monday because I have something new to share with you!

See you then!!!

The Revisions Are Plentiful

We used to eat out a lot. When I worked, it was just a whole lot easier to eat out than to cook at home AND have to clean up the mess afterward. We only had a few hours at home all together and we didn't want to spend them cooking and cleaning with our back to baby Sweetheart. Plus, I still had work to do in the evenings most of the time.

Then I quit and we became poor so we ate at home. IF we ate out because of poor planning, last minute schedule changes, or whatever...it was fast food. Because that was what we could afford. The groceries I bought? Whatever was cheapest.

Ug.

You really don't want to go down the road of researching food although I know many of you have done it. It just disturbs you and then you either have to sweep what you know under the rug or act on it. There is just SO much to change it's overwhelming. Plastic containers are the devil? Milk products are contaminated? Everything has hormones and antibiotics in it? What do I do now???? ACK!!!

At the same time I am still determined to simplify our home. To declutter. To get rid of STUFF that weighs us down. That's a big goal in itself.

At the same time I am concerned about my children's spiritual development AND their schooling. I feel the need to do more--to teach them more--to be more purposeful and less accidental about training them. I feel the weight of responsibility in that area. That's a big goal in itself.

At the same time I WANT to work on things that bless our family. Like quilts for the girls, and costumes for our costume day, and other sewing and crafts. I want our home to be warm and inviting and welcoming. That's a big goal in itself.

At the same time, my husband is a very busy man with 2 jobs and major responsibilities at church. I am his helper. That's a big job in itself.

Put it all together and you have me.

Me and my very busy brain.

And I'm Drinking Water While I Type

S and I stayed up until midnight last night watching Super Size Me on Hulu. I know we are about 7 years late to the party but I was just as grossed out as I had heard I would be about this film.

Of course, we kind of knew the premise of the documentary as well as some of the results since it came out so long ago. Still, it was unbelievable. In case you've been under a rock like me, the film maker ate nothing but McDonald's for 30 days. He gained 24 pounds and pretty well pickled his liver.

We don't eat McDonald's a lot, but that's not to say we never eat fast food. I've been wary of Mc Donald's for quite some time now although....at some point in my life I think I liked it. Once you see the pictures of Happy Meals that have sat untouched for years and HAVEN'T CHANGED AT ALL...you really can't enjoy eating there. WHAT is that bread made of that it won't mold? Ug.

The most interesting thing to me was how he sort of became addicted to it. He would be feeling all down and as soon as he started eating he would feel better. Hmm. It made me think of our recent diet changes with my husband's diabetes. Getting off sugar cold turkey is what S did. I don't know if I could have done it. I don't strictly follow his diet, although mine has improved greatly since he was diagnosed.

They showed how what used to be a normal sized drink (fast food joints used to have only one size of drink) is now the children's size. Everything has gone bigger from there. Some drinks they showed were roughly the size of a 2 liter--depending on how much ice you put in. I used to drink a Route 44 from Sonic all. the. time. I am so grossed out. Can you imagine the sugar in my body? Goodness sake.

It encouraged me to make even further changes to our diet. I'm not going to pull the girls off of all sweets in one sweep. They have already been reduced greatly and I don't think they ate as much as the "average" child in America to begin with. But whatever sweets they have will be homemade from scratch. I'm determined to make a lot more food from scratch.

I've gotta go refill my water now. I'm drinking it out of a McDonald's cup. Don't you just love irony?

**Note: If you haven't seen the movie, it's not for watching with your kids. There are a few cuss words--not excessive--and some talk about the filmmaker and his girlfriend's private life, ahem. I would recommend it for the facts it gives you and the encouragement! But it's not a family movie night option. Just wanted to let you know. You can watch it free on Hulu.**

Checking In

Hello my lovely readers! Don't you look nice today?

Hmm. Trying to compliment you guys. Doesn't sound very authentic when I can't see you. By the way, the comments on my last post made me think about complimenting people more (Megan's + Carrie's comment = this thought in my brain). I think especially we moms who don't go out and about 'mongst the work folks need to compliment each other.

"Look at you! You put your shirt on right side out today!"

Think that's a good start?

And then the other mom can respond with "TA DAH!" and throw her hands up in the air. What do you think?

We have to start somewhere.

On other notes:

There is sorted laundry in my bathroom floor. It is not carrying itself to the washer. Nor has the laundry fairy come for a visit. I think you have to have a baby to get that kind of help. At least that's the last time anyone helped me with my laundry.

There is a laundry basket of clothing to be given away in my living room floor. It is dangerously close to becoming permanent and us decorating it for Christmas. I suppose I should sort that out and get rid of it.

There are 5, 221 pieces of crap lying around here and there around the house. ON THIS COMPUTER DESK ALONE there is a library card, a pin cushion, a notebook, a red ribbon, a purple crayon, a digital camera, a tape measure, a ruler, a package of Goldfish crackers, a pencil, and a receipt.

It's like an I Spy book over here. Can you find the computer???

What I really need is a Mary Poppins clean-up, a magic wand, or a really strong wind. Any of those ought to help.

If anyone stops by today I think I'll just have to pull out the old "someone broke in and we are just now getting it cleaned up" excuse.

I'M KIDDING!

Going to finish educating my children now....

The Lack of Compliments

Yesterday I was out shopping with my older daughter, 11 year old Sweetheart. She cherishes some alone time and we were having a good time just going to pick up some new school books for her sister. Later that evening, we cooked supper together. We were a good team.

This morning I was smiling thinking of the time we spent together when I remembered a comment Sweetheart had made in the course of the afternoon.

"Mommy, I like it when your hair is just down. It looks cute."

Now you should know I nearly NEVER have my hair just down. I always have at least some of it in a clip or all of it in a french twist in a clip or all of it in a ponytail. It gets in the way. When she said it, I immediately took out my big clip and tossed my hair like on those shampoo commercials.

So this morning while I was brushing my hair I was trying to remember the last time the word "cute" had been used in description of me. I think it's safe to say it was many years ago. I used to get compliments all the time though. When you work outside the home, there is more opportunity for compliments.

Specifically when you have to be at work before 7:30 in the morning and you work with a bunch of women and they see you every day. People notice if you look better than average.

"That's a nice outfit you have on!"
"You look really skinny! Have you lost weight?"
"Don't you look nice today? What are you so dressed up for?"

Of course, there is always the unwanted comment. Like the time I tried a new eyeshadow and my neighbor teacher Mr. A said, "You look tired. Do you feel alright?"

My favorite was Mrs. L. Mrs. L was a riot and I have more stories to share about her later but one day another teacher told her that her face looked swollen. She quickly answered, "I think it must be my sinuses." Actually, she said, she guessed she had just gained weight as she felt just fine. At least before that comment she did.

After that, whenever we couldn't fit into our pants or what have you, we always said, "I couldn't even zip my pants this morning! It must be my sinuses!" Mrs. L got such a kick out of using that excuse.

The point is, when you stay home every day, there isn't as much opportunity for compliments. My girls see me first thing in the morning, mid-day, and just before bed. They are used to me. I wear pretty much the same stuff all the time. I am so unaware of how I look to others that I have caught myself gasping in horror as we are on our way somewhere and I look down at myself. But do I turn around and go home and change? No I do not. Maybe I need more compliments and I would raise the bar a bit?

That's why Connie's post I read this morning was PERFECT. I think I'll incorporate this into my daily routine. What do you think?

Some Tweaking Was Necessary

We've been in our new homeschool room now for a little over 2 months. There were a few things not working. That's really the only way to know---to get in there and live in it and use it.

My wondrous idea of the art table? Yeah. Not so much.

My idea was if the girls had a table to draw at outside of school hours, they would not use the homeschool table and junk it up so we had to clean it off every morning before we could work. They spend a great deal of time drawing.

But THEN...we put desks under their lofts. They needed chairs. So they took the ones from the art table.

That left the art table without chairs. And also without a use because they could use their desks. It sort of became the treadmill of the room, if you know what I mean. We stacked things on it.

Then, I ordered level 3 of All About Spelling for Sweetheart. I had been doing other things for spelling the first 6 or 8 weeks of school but now I was all ready to do level 1 with Little Bit as well. Turns out, teaching 2 levels of All About Spelling is a pain in the neck.

I LOVE All About Spelling, but setting up those letter tiles every day was for the birds. For one student...OK. NOT for two. Since our tiles had water/coke/tea spilled on them 2 or 3 times over the last few years, I bought a new set AND the magnets that come with them.

Excellent call. And SO thankful we had the money to do that.



Also had to buy a new magnetic board. I got the same kind I have on the wall from Target. This is going to be MUCH better.



A bit of rearranging: bye-bye art table, hello science corner, and hello spelling/reading area.





They'll have to sit on the floor for now.

Our science corner is, um, diverse. Planets from Astronomy, a plant poster from
 Botany, and birds and insects from Zoology 1.



MUCH better.

Homeschooling is nothing if not fluid. I promise. Come back in a month. It will be different.

Watch Out World!!!

I am up and dressed. I am wearing my athletic capri pants, a comfy shirt, and my tennis shoes.

I am armed with city garbage bags. We have the best ones anywhere because they are tall and stand up by themselves and are easy to drag from room to room filling up. We lived in another city for 7 years and I used to beg these bags off my parents because I NEED them to clean house with!

But today I'm not really cleaning. Today I am tossing.

I do better in small areas. I like to feel instant accomplishment. In the girls' bathroom there is a cabinet on the ceiling. Literally. Hang on...I'll go measure. OK--the handle to these cabinets is 7 1/2 feet off the floor.

Useless.

So I'm starting there. Whatever is in there is going.

I am armed and ready. The house doesn't stand a chance.

I've been inspired by a lot of places lately, but yesterday I read Sheila's series at To Love, Honor and Vacuum.

My Coffee Table This Morning

We can't handle horizontal surfaces.

Do you think it would be possible to design a house with no horizontal surfaces? Let's see, we could get a murphy bed.


(I really didn't know you could still buy these! From here.)

We could get a table like those in RVs where they fold up when not in use.

The kitchen cabinets pose a problem.

Hmph. I guess I'll just have to keep cleaning the surfaces off 14 times a day.

The Morning

Last year, or maybe the year before who can remember, I made door hangers for the girls' chores. They had a morning routine and a bedtime routine. I can't find a picture of ours anywhere, but I got the idea from here and they pretty much looked like that.

They were awesome. Little Bit's were pictorial and Sweetheart's was a list. They could carry them with them to the bathroom and back to their bedroom. But, they weren't working anymore.

• First of all, they had the routine down and didn't look at them anymore.
• Secondly, Sweetheart has added a few things to her morning routine (washing face, deodorant, etc.) and needed a new list as she couldn't remember to do everything every day.
• Thirdly, they need to NOT be in the same room at the same time. When they are both making their beds, it turns into playing really quickly.

So we ran around last week taking pictures of every single part of the girls' morning routine. I printed the pictures on cheap photo paper and cut them out. Then I glued them down a LONG strip of construction paper. They are hanging in the hall right outside their bedroom. You can't see them from the living room. I'm too lazy to take a picture and upload it, etc. but here are some of the shots:

I have Sweetheart starting in the bathroom and Little Bit beginning in the bedroom. It works well so far. I hope I'm teaching Sweetheart a logical order to things (you get dressed BEFORE you fix your hair) that she can continue to use in her life.

And no, I don't make Little Bit clean the whole room. She can read "the" but can't read "your" so that's why I worded it that way. She knows just to clean her stuff!

However, now that they are actually doing all the things they NEED to do in the mornings, it is taking longer. Oh well. It's important.

So there you go Carrie.

My next step, after they are well established on this new routine, will be to help Sweetheart think about how she could shorten her morning work by planning ahead the night before. (pick up room quickly before bed, have clothes picked out, etc.) She likes having time to play before school so maybe that will help.

In the Dark

It's been nearly a year since we got rid of our TV service. This weekend we went to "the trailer" (my parent's country home, if you are new here) and they have TV there. The main thing we watched, besides football and some cartoons, was Extreme Makeover Home Edition. I wanted to watch that because it was about a homeschool family from Texas. OH how I wanted to see the beautifully done, totally wonderful homeschool space they would create.

But they never mentioned it. They DID, however, make mention of the girls liking "fashion" about 8,000 times. If you were watching, there was an alphabet on display in the old home where I assume they did some of their homeschool work, however at the new house they never even showed a room that would have been for homeschooling.

They did build a runway in the upstairs hallway so there's always that.

At least I don't need to be jealous of the awesome homeschool room now.

Anyway, MY POINT is that I was a bit shocked by some of the commercials that were shown during EMHE.

Here's one example: (don't watch if your kiddos are hanging over your shoulder. I unchecked "show related videos" but it still was so I'm changing it to a link.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoRbDm644E8&feature=related


Um. Wow. That used to be p*rn.

Also there were ads for Desperate Housewives which were inappropriate. That hasn't changed in a year's time.

And then today I read this summary of the new fall season.

Maybe it's because we've been away, but I'm not used to having to change the channel during commercials. Do you watch this stuff in front of your kids? Even if you are watching an OK show like EMHE...the commercials alone are not acceptable to me.

So, you guys with TV service, do you just DVR everything? Wait until the kids have gone to bed? Only watch cartoons? What? How do you deal with all the blatant smut on TV today?

Is is just me? Am I in the dark or have things gotten pretty bad?

I Have Some Questions

I'm having some issues with Sweetheart (age 11) and I need some help. I'm going to give you a quick run-down and then let you fire some suggestions to me. What I need are large heading suggestions of things I can look into-not specific strategies really because believe me, I have tried just about everything I have up my largely trained educational sleeve.

She cannot follow directions. What I mean is, the great majority of the time, one thing that I told her to do gets done and nothing else. I'm not talking about of a list of 5 things to go do--sometimes I just say 2 things and she only gets one done.

Is this an auditory processing disorder? See what I mean about big headings? Where do I begin to research?

And yes, I've given pictorial prompts, written lists, organized her areas multiple times, etc.

She isn't hyperactive. It isn't ADHD. Could it be ADD? I don't know....I'm not sure I've ever seen an actual case of it. It's so over-diagnosed it's hard to tell.

She is quite flighty. She flits from one thing to the next when she does have several things to do she does them in a really unorganized and inefficient manner. I KNOW. She's my daughter. But I really think we have an issue here.

A friend of mine has a daughter Sweetheart's age who has a lot of trouble with reading. Her mom had her screened and it was determined that she has trouble with her vestibular system (that stems from balance issues in the brain) and it manifests itself in learning disabilities. Hmm. I had never heard of the vestibular system but the therapy involves a balance board, etc. Interesting. The comment that got me thinking was the screener said her daughter had "a disorganized brain."

Ha! I don't need any screening to tell me THAT about my Sweetheart! But the thing is, she's a good reader. Math does give issues....as it did for me. But really I wouldn't say she suffers from any learning disabilities (although there are some in our family).

But the friend said it made so much sense to her to re-train the brain instead of just teach coping strategies. This really got me thinking.

Maybe it's "just  her." She's very artistic. Is she doomed to being one of those types who walks around with a paintbrush unaware that it's dripping everywhere and her socks don't match? I don't mind that but it would be so much easier on her if she could complete directed tasks independently!

Maybe it's really something I could fix.

Where, oh friends, do I begin researching? I need help....

I'm In Two Places At Once!

I finally figured out how to do that! At least in the virtual world, anyway.

I have a re-post over at Mrs. Fuentes' homeschooling blog today. Did you know she had a homeschooling blog too? You've probably read my post, but if you are so inclined, go check out her other posts there.

I'll be back later today with more exciting drivel!!!

Some Drivel Needs Dishing

I have a Facebook account. It is filled with (mostly) real life friends and family and church members. Most of you know my blog is sort of a secret to those real life friends and family and church members. A few know. I like it that they don't know because I can talk a little more freely about things. Because of that, I don't advertise my blog on Facebook.

But.

I do get real life feedback from those friends and family and church members on my Facebook status lines. And they made me doubt myself like... really.

"Brenda, you must not do anything but clean the house." (Note: stop talking about what I'm cleaning on Facebook)

"You must have the cleanest house in the world!" (Note: REALLY stop talking about housework on Facebook)

***crickets chirping***

Realize I don't have anything else to say.

So WHAT is a girl to do??? Why, unload my drivel HERE on my blog!!! Where there is comment moderation!!!!

"Brenda, all you do is clean the house." DELETE!

"Brenda, who cares what you ate for lunch?" DELETE!

I'M KIDDING!!! (I don't moderate comments!) :)

So, in case you need to know:

*I had a salad for lunch.

And I am angry hungry now.

*I completely lost my patience with Sweetheart this morning. I feel really rotten about it but I had had it up to here (waving hand FAR above head). Yelling isn't productive. Must pray and think about a solution. And I have some questions for you all. Maybe tomorrow.

*We've pulled out the fall and winter clothes to take stock. They are everywhere and it isn't pretty.

*My dining room table is never clean. I paid bills on it Sunday. Or I'm sewing at it. Or someone is playing play dough on it. If it's clean and lovely, it means we aren't getting anything done.

*I have realized that people who always seem to have really clean, picked up houses don't really DO anything. No hobbies. No homeschooling. No sewing or crafts. That must be the secret of a clean house. Just watch TV and don't do anything. Hmm.

*Speaking of TV, I am really glad we don't have one. (TV service, I mean--we watch movies) I really am. I would have sworn on my grandmother's grave a few years ago that Sweetheart did not watch too much TV like OTHER children. But now that we don't have one, I realize just how much she did watch TV when she was younger and all I have to say is yikes.

I really hope that doesn't have anything to do with the patience problem I had this morning and the questions I need to ask you later. Because there is precious little I can do to correct her brain development in her preschool years.

*We took pictures of the girls doing their chores today for a new chore chart thing I'm doing and I'm in a few shots and all I have to say is I really wish I had Photoshop because I have NO ETHICAL DILEMMA with trimming mommy's waistline a bit and touching up that double chin.

*I peeled ONE potato last week and shoved the peel down the sink instead of throwing it away like S has told me to. I usually peel my potatoes into a Wal-Mart sack and toss 'em. But it was just one lousy potato so I gambled.

And I bet you've already guessed I lost.

S had to take the sink apart and get all the potato out and now it leaks and he has to rebuild the p trap. Who loves me?

See? Carbs really are bad.