A MOM'S EVERYDAY LIFE - THE PAGES OF OUR LIVES:

The story of Nick, our Elf...

2012-01-01T18:31:00.004-05:00

Back in the fall sometime, I don't remember exactly when, a friend mentioned this Elf thing. I didn't take too much notice to it...looked it up, thought it was cute but it just wasn't in our plans.

Until....

...we walked into Target one day and saw the endcap with the all of the Elves.
Our son asked what it was all about and so I told him what I knew and he thought it was a great idea...
and so we adopted our Elf on the Shelf.....

We read the book with our Elf and found out that he didn't have a name (or get his magic) until our child/family gave him his name......and our son thought the name, Nick, would be perfect.

What happened the next few weeks became a fun daily game of hide and seek with Nick...you see, the whole idea is that the Elves go back every night to the North Pole to report on their children directly to the big man, the head Elf himself, The Boss.....Santa Claus. They report on the good, the bad, even the ugly if necessary and hopefully there will be more good so that those children don't get coal instead of presents. When they come back - the little buggers hide - somewhere different most of the time, even though once in awhile they get to liking a certain spot. Some of them even get into Elf mischief and do things in homes...making messes being the big one...not all do, but there are some spirited ones that get into things.

There are a few rules that must be followed:
1) The biggest rule of them all - the kids cannot touch their Elf.
2) The Elf cannot talk to their child or children.

The kids are allowed to talk to their Elf, send messages to Santa, secrets, add things to their lists. They just aren't allowed to touch.
There was an adorable TV special and a video to buy and even a plush Elf for the kids to hold and love, but its the traveling Elf that is the most important. There was a Facebook page for posting pictures and for sharing the fun and my did those Elves get into mischief...flour fights, snow angels, teepee-ing trees and rooms, there were even reports of toilets being wrapped in christmas paper and ribbons (in one case - ALL of the toilets in the home) and in the case of that same home on Christmas morning, not only were all of the toilets wrapped up but ALL of the kids presents were taken from under the tree and hidden around the house!

Our Nick was not too naughty thankfully....and he left special presents for The Red Ranger on Christmas morning - an Elf ornament, polar bear christmas pj's bottoms and a grey pj top and black slippers for our son to remember him.

The other rule (which is bent quite a bit, including here) is that the Elves return with Santa on Christmas Eve. Our Nick has stayed with us past Christmas but tonight...
...on New Year's Day Night,
Nick,
will return to Santa and his family and friends.
Nick, has already informed me that he will return soon, our son's birthday is at the end of February, and then he will go back again...maybe to return again during the summer for the shore.....

We have really enjoyed having Nick in our home, we are going to miss looking for him each day. He's added to the magic of the season, kept it alive for another year (our son is 8), who knows how long he will be with us. As long as our son believes.....

Enjoy some of our pictures, I'll be adding a permanent page soon of Nick's days with us but for now...we just had to share the story of .......Nick, our Elf on the Shelf.......

...as we say goodbye....we'll miss you Nick!!

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Trying to get back on track since the rollercoaster slipped the tracks...

2011-12-31T17:05:00.000-05:00

I'm trying to clean up the blog and get back to posting after a hectic, trying couple of months.
I'm hoping that the new year will bring some peace, tranquilty, stability, sanity to us.

We hope that your Christmas and New Year's were wonderful and magical, we did manage to have quite a bit of fun finally! I've got the contests to work on and reviews as well...here's hoping 2012 is less hectic and less drama-filled!
I've added to the "Reading" page already and will get the other updates done this week.

Have a wonderful, wonderful 2012!!!

September Reviews, Giveaways and Discounts!!

2011-09-07T00:54:00.003-04:00

It looks like on top of homeschooling that I'll be very busy reviewing this month. Which is cool, because it means some pretty great give-aways and discounts from some places for all of you!
Most of them are related to education and will be featured on my "Homeschooling" tab, one (so far) will be featured here on this page.

So far, for September reviews we have:

MATHBLASTER ~ Currently going on and ending on September 17th, 2011 from the makers of JumpStart. Please check out my review and all the details for the free 3-month full membership to their website!

Upcoming reviews include;
* Vocabulary and Spelling City
* Click-n-kids (Click-n-Read, Click-n-Spell and Looney Tunes Phonics), this one will be a recurring monthly give-away!
* Weigl/AV2 Publishers
* My Memories Suite (for scrapbooking)

These websites will be offering give-aways, discounts and in some cases both things.
There maybe other websites, offerings coming this month as well...please check back for them as well as these upcoming reviews.
Most of these sites are websites we were already using or discovered at a recent education conference. I'm very happy to work with these companies on getting their products out to my homeschooling friends and to families and teachers as well.

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"Mommy, is there going to be a tsunami now?" ~ The East Coast Quake August 23, 2011

2011-08-24T13:22:00.007-04:00

My 8 year old son asks me "Mommy, is there going to be a tsunami now?" after an 5.8 (downgraded from the original estimate of 5.9) earthquake hits us on the East Coast of the USA.

This is not the first question I had in my mind, I'm thinking we don't get quakes in New Jersey, I'm still trying to figure out what just happened having never experienced one before. We have snowstorms, blizzards, heat waves, hurricanes (in fact Irene is on her way up the eastern seaboard right now), and tornadoes but not earthquakes. In my 46 years I've only experienced 2 little tremors around the 2-3 pointer range, strong enough to notice when I was a pre-teen back in the late 70's and another in what I think was the early 80's. An actual earthquake though, nope not here in New Jersey at least, we have terra firma, we may have almost everything else but the ground doesn't shake. Well, okay, yes it actually does...there are always little tremors, the earth adjusting itself but they aren't noticable without equipment with the exception of the two I mentioned above and more than likely a couple that I never noticed.
They are mostly little 1 pointers, nothing big.

We just don't know what an earthquake feels like on the east coast.....until yesterday (8/23/2011).

My husband and I looked up wondering what was going on now, who knew, I thought someone had hit the side of our building, a big truck was going by? Then the whole kitchen shook, I really thought our outside wall was about to come down. I backed away into the doorjam between the dining and living rooms....that's when I knew, I felt the earthquake transfer through the wall to me. I yelled for our son, The Red Ranger, and yelled to my husband get in the doorway. Besides the thought of, we are having an earthquake, the only other thought was to get us all into the doorway.
The Red Ranger asked right then what it was and I answered him saying its an earthquake, this is where we stay until its over.
I'm thinking...'an earthquake, really?'

Then it was over, I'm told it was only 30-45 seconds long...can I just say it felt longer!
I explained what just happened to our son and said we could feel a couple more trembles every now and then but it was okay. We still had power, we still had the TV and the internet but no house phone. We both reached for cell phones to call our family, it took a little bit to get through but we did.
A neighbor knocked on our door asking us, "what was that?"
All of this after stuff took less than the quake itself and in the midst of calling and checking on everyone comes the question.....

"Mommy, is there going to be a tsunami now?"

Of course it was his next question.

All he knows of an earthquake is what happened in Japan....of course, logically it was the next question in his mind. We had talked about Japan's earthquake and the tsunami that followed, we had talked about California, we had gone over what an earthquake was.......we just never prepared for one...because we don't get them here on the east coast of the USA.

That was when the lessons began....

Me: "I don't think so."
- I couldn't tell him no....if you had asked me if there was going to be an earthquake I would have said no. I couldn't tell him no because he knows how close we are to the ocean, we go there all the time.
- Me again: "It depends on where it was centered, let's find out".
By then the poor weather guy had turned into the earthquake guy on our local news.....I have to laugh at that one. We knew it was centered in Virginia....Virginia???

I could then answer his question......"No, it was on land not in the sea."

Then I showed him how an earthquake moved by moving my hand against his. Explained the difference of the earthquake we just had and the kind that normally hit California because by then the poor weather guy and said it was still strong 200 miles away in New Jersey because of bedrock.
I also went back over what to do and where to go if we felt another one, what to do if our building started to come down.
Later, when I looked up earthquake information to teach in our homeschool today I was quite proud of myself. My explanations were the same as were in the lessons that I was finding.

All in all, it wasn't that bad, scary yes, but not bad.
Certainly nothing like other places in the world have experienced. For us on the East Coast though its something we have never felt (the last one was over 114 years ago!), give us a blizzard and we can handle it, give us an earthquake though........I'm thankful we have that bedrock under us that spreads it out over long distances.

Our lessons sure will be different over the next few days.....
And our son......he went back to playing Nintendo DS.......:-)

His mother on the other hand explored the USGS website......

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No Ordinary Blog Hop

Reviewing the movie "Eat, Pray, Love"

2011-04-30T23:48:00.002-04:00

Tonight my husband and I didn't bother watching regular TV but instead opted for one of our queued movies on our Netflix account. We get Netflix through our Wii for $10 a month so we can stream lots of movies and tv shows directly to our television or any computer in the house, we also get DVD's mailed to us from our selected list. We're finding that we are enjoying this way of viewing much better than cable so we are beginning to downgrade our cable services through Comcast......which gives me quite a bit of joy!
It just seems to me that if I have over 300 channels I should be watching more than reruns of Charmed, Little House on the Prairie, The Waltons and NCIS.....seriously, most of the time that's what I'm watching, shouldn't I be getting more to watch for my (combined with phone and internet) $146 a month??

So, tonight we opted for the movie "Eat, Pray, Love" starring Julia Roberts. I have to give my husband lots of credit for sitting through it because I was getting quite bored with it and I had previously read the book. I didn't like the movie at all and it still leaves me with the same feelings that the book did when I read it with our reading group. The author was self-centered, spoiled, selfish, indulgent and really not that interesting, so was Julia Roberts in the movie....boring.....
Now, there were a few parts that did speak to me somewhat...the part where she says "I don't want life to be easy but just not so hard", that one I get and I understand having to find yourself and mediation....however, she really didn't suffer all that much which is shown in maybe the only really good part of the movie with another person trying to find his way. He suffered greatly and really did have to find himself, forgive himself and live again. The author Liz, pretty much woke up one day and decided she didn't want to be married anymore....yes, it does play out that simply...I didn't feel any emotions at all when she has her big moment and decides to leave her husband. Really could care less about her and her selfish ways.
After her big moment she flounders a bit and then decides that what she needs is to indulge herself to find herself by going to three different countries...Italy-India-Bali for a whole year and writing about it (the book) to pay her way through it all. I will say that the book offered a bit more depth to the story and Julia in the movie was just not that good. I would say its most likely the worst role she has ever done. I remember when we read the book it was okay and I kept the book instead of passing it on and I'm thinking that I might go back and reread it to see if I still have the same feelings about the whole story. My guess is I probably will still feel...well...angry about it now I think. This woman felt as if she had the worst life, that things were just awful and in reality, in my opinion, she didn't have it so bad. I went through far worse with my first marriage and divorce, my husband now certainly had it worse with his first marriage and divorce and my uncle right now is undergoing chemo and its been a bad road before that with his cancer. I know a few people that have lost family members, close friends - including us - I know one woman who lost her child and they all have gone through so much more than the author did before she checked out to find herself.

The reaction tonight with the movie was one of anger because I bought her book and she made money off of me for a not so interesting story. My feeling is she should have pulled up her bootstraps, buckled down and fought through things like the rest of us have to do all the time instead of running away for a year in four month installments of Italy for eating, India for meditating and Bali for.......well you know what....I'm not really sure of what Bali was supposed to be about right now.....that tells you how much I liked it if nothing else.

I really just don't care, I really wish now that I could get a refund on my book from her which is really very sad because I usually always get something from a book. Thankfully I didn't have to go to the movie theater and pay to see it because I really would have been miffed about it.

Sorry, for the venting...I just had to get this one off of my chest tonight.

My advice is to skip the movie all together...maybe read the book if you love reading. I would love to hear others feelings on the movie and book...maybe I'm all alone in my feelings. But, LOL...you know what...if the author can make money from her story/book than I think I can certainly write how I feel about it....sadly though....there will be no money in it for me......

So, I'll just pull up my own bootstraps and go to bed!
Tomorrow I'll share our 4H Nature Club experience with our friends.....you'll want to read it....really....

Receiving Blog Awards.....

2011-04-26T00:35:00.006-04:00

Its been my honor to receive some blog awards in the past couple of months.
I actually find it hard to believe that I've gotten awards but I'm very pleased that my ramblings are being read and hopefully helping or at the very least entertaining other bloggers!
A dear friend that I've known forever and trust completely gave me high praise, because he never says things lightly, saying that I was very good at writing my blog...that I had a knack for it. That sometimes blogs didn't make sense but mine did.
Wow......
Needless to say with that and the blogging awards I've received......I'm feeling pretty darn good......LOL.

Today I found out that I was picked with several other great blogs as "A Shining Blog".

My thanks go out to Lynda from My Heart's Desire for featuring this blog of mine...and she even made me my own blog button!!
So cool!!!

Here's my button:

I just love that pile of old books.....its so me......
My friend, Renee, was also featured...go check out her button on her blog...
My Parenting Adventures, Some Cooking Too

A while back Tracy from A Slice of Smith Life passed along three awards to my blog and 6 others. I have to actually sit down and write up my answers to questions and pass these awards on to 7 blogs that I enjoy. For now I wanted to acknowledge the awards and thank Tracy here.
Thank you Tracy!!

My first awards........so cool.................Thank you very much ladies. I'm very grateful.

Coupon Group and sending expired coupons over to the military

2011-04-12T16:22:00.010-04:00

I've had a busy couple of days.

I started a coupon swapping group online on Yahoo groups.

It all started because I had to start using coupons again because grocery prices are just too high and getting higher. I'm sick of it.....so I started clipping and actually using the coupons....scary I know.
Then I looked at all of the ones I don't use and the ones that have expired. I don't need baby coupons etc. but I know many do so why not share them. I started thinking of friends and homeschoolers nearby that we could just meet up every once in awhile and swap the coupons. Then I thought about those that could still use them all but (as a friend said) for the price of a stamp once in awhile. So I started the yahoo group and my friend also mentioned that the military overseas could still use expired coupons for up to 6 months after the expiration date.
I think that's the greatest thing and its so simple really.

So, here is some info for all of you.

The Yahoo group I started up: The_Coupon_Group - just let me know that you read about it here on the blog so that I accept you!
The two sites I found, check them both out as they have valuable information on them and it should be read first before just sending out coupons.

OCP - Overseas Coupon Project - Military Base Adoption Program - In operation for 17 years.

Grocery SavingTips Military Family Coupon Project

I feel better already clipping coupons knowing that if I don't use them others can until they expire and I can help our military and their families overseas even after they do. :-)

On another subject: Just when I fix three things on this page and get them working something else stops working......ugh...now my recent updates aren't updating....

Go check out what others are blogging about at

Grrrrrr......Welcome to the land of stress...

2011-04-09T17:43:00.004-04:00

Hello fellow bloggers,

Remember that less stress thing I was talking about...well...its not working, its not that I'm not doing my part but "stress" is overbearing, obnoxious, ill-mannered...I think you get the general idea. If nothing else that fact that I haven't posted in two months should give a much better idea. Although, I may not have posted on the blogs but our schoolwork got done.....just not anything else. SIGH -

So, here we go again......funny some tune just popped into my head and now naturally I can't get rid of it!
I can't even begin to write most of what has happened in the past couple of months but foremost is this economy we are in for sure. I've even had to seriously start using coupons again with the prices of groceries going to ridiculous levels. In 4 days awhile back prices jumped 30% and the following week they went up again! I was saying to my aunt while looking at the prices of milk and eggs that they (they being whomever is in charge) are forcing this (according to some articles) overweight, obese country of ours to lose weight by starving us! Using coupons made me think of all of the ones that I throw out because we just don't use the items or can't afford to get them anyway...LOL...
I checked with my local homeschooling group and it didn't seem anyone had started a coupon exchange and there was some interest in it so I started a yahoo group for it. There's only a couple of us but I did add some coupons that I have that have expiration dates soon and I'll be adding all of the ones that end in the month of April this weekend. Speaking to a dear friend of mine (she knows who she is...I hope...) about the coupon group she mentioned to me that the expired ones are even good for the military past the expiration dates in the PX's. What a great idea, we'll get that link up soon so that we can all send them off where they hopefully can be used. Meanwhile I'm hoping that the coupon exchange group works out, for local people we can just meet up and exchange them and for the cost of a stamp others can use what we don't.
I don't need diapers or baby items anymore but I'm sure there are plenty of people that do.

I got awards from another blogger and I haven't done anything about them, yet, but I'll be passing them along soon. The trouble will be choosing the blogs to give them too!
I'm also having tons of problems with the blog itself, all sorts of things on my page have disappeared even though the boxes are there. They just aren't showing up on the blog........no matter what I do. Sigh...again...

Here's hoping that the next couple of months are easier because I can't handle anymore stress and I'm so weary of being down all the time. Hope things are going well for everyone else!

Here's the link to the coupon group if you are interested just make sure you let me know that you follow my blog so that I accept you!
The Coupon Group

Go check out what others are blogging about at the.....

Earning Free stuff from MyPoints and SwagBucks...

2011-02-04T12:45:00.004-05:00

Join the Hop or just read!

Every time I get a new gift card from Mypoints or SwagBucks I think of how many just might not know how easy it is to get the gift cards. So today I'm sharing.
Consider this a Valentine from me to you!

MyPoints -

* Please email me for an invite to MyPoints * I'd love the referral!

I've been using MyPoints for well....over four years now at least. There are times I completely ignore it and know I shouldn't because the rewards far outweigh a few times of clicking links. I use it maybe on average 3-4 months of the year faithfully and that gives me enough to get two Gift Cards (usually Target or Kmart) to use toward Christmas or like this year we threw the $25 Kmart card in The Red Rangers stocking as a present. I'm also usually able to get another gift card in February for his birthday (although sadly not this year, I just didn't click enough). Now I probably do the minimum and still get these gift cards and by the way they have tons of stores/restaurants for you to choose from.
MyPoints first sends you emails, so choose an email account that you use on a regular basis and you don't mind getting extra emails.

This is what I do -
Emails - About once a week sometimes bi-weekly I go through my emails and click on the button at the bottom. That button usually gives you 5 points if you sign up for the offer it gives you more. I don't sign up for any of the offers usually but I collect my 5 points and delete that email immediately. You will also get surveys based on what you put in your profile which always have a shorter shelf life for getting the points which is why its a good idea to set once a week as your clicking time.
Toolbar Search Engine - You get points every month per searches in the tool bar, once you've downloaded it onto your browser (and you get extra points for downloading it the first time). I usually do the most searches which is 31 and get 75 points per month, there's a ladder system for searches=points.
Note: Something new they did before Christmas was to challenge you to beat your previous month's searches by giving you a lot of points. I think my first one for October was 120 points so always keep a look out in your emails for the challenges.
MyPoints homepage - On the MyPoints home page you'll find (usually on the right hand side down a bit) some survey/poll questions. Sometimes they are quick points, usually 5 just for answering the first couple of questions. If you choose to go on and give more information (personal) then you get lots of points. I don't do this because they always want phone numbers and I don't need them calling me.
Shopping online - This is one that I haven't done and have been kicking myself for not remembering. If you purchase online (Ebay maybe) you can earn points per $ spent on MyPoints if you go through their website first. I never remember to do that and now I'm realizing how many points I missed. Come to think of it I just got a book off of Ebay the other day! I totally forgot to do this!
I may have to put a post-it on the computer to remember this one......grrrrrrrrrrrrrr.......darn it......
Most of the time they are websites you are already ordering from so why not get some points for free gift cards later.
By doing the first three things on the list and mind you not on a regular basis I'm able to get that all important gift card ($20-25) for Target or Kmart before Christmas. I always turn in my points around October to get it in plenty of time.
By far you get the most points when you first sign up and you can always get referrals for someone signing up under you. That was a hint if you you didn't catch it.........:-)
Honestly though if I hadn't used it for so long and been able to get the gift cards on such a regular basis (and they came in handy a couple of years in a row when we really had nothing for Christmas) I wouldn't recommend it and tell you how it works easily for not putting much time into it.
If you are interested you can sign up under me, just email me the email address you would like to use with your name and I'll mail you an invite. They used to have a link for this but I sure can't find it now.

SwagBucks -
You can sign up under me using the SwagBucks Widget here on the blog or by using this referral link:
My personal referral link
http://www.swagbucks.com/refer/stargazerusa

I just started using this in November after signing up under a friend of mine. She kept telling me how quickly she was getting points so I gave it a try. Its very similar to MyPoints in some ways but it does have a couple of twists that are fun. Since I signed up in November I've earned $25 in Amazon.com gift cards which I've banked into my Amazon account to save up for an educational tool for The Red Ranger. Once I hit $40 I can order it for free and hopefully even Amazon's free shipping will still be good!
Again I probably do the least in getting points but here ya go.
SwagBucks Toolbar - Yes, I have both of these on my browser and switch back and forth between them.
SwagBucks randomly awards Bucks to you for searching (Friday's are usually the best days) and it if very random. The amount of bucks you earn also varies so its just like spinning the wheel. Again you get extra bucks for downloading the toolbar for the first time. You also have what is called TSG on the toolbar which gives hints and random swagbucks.
Daily on SwagBucks - Every day I do the easy Swagbucks on the homepage.
1) Turn on your computer and start surfing -
If you have downloaded the toolbar and stay signed in you automatically get 1 buck each day when you turn on your computer.
2) Daily polls -
You get 1 buck for answering the Daily Poll. Found on the righthand menu bar.
3) NOSO's -
Again 1 buck for just running through the maybe 6 or 7 offers. I never actually sign up for any of them.
New: Today (2/4/2011) they just started where you get 2 bucks after viewing the offers if you finish the puzzle or CAPTCHA. I haven't hit this yet so it might not be working just yet, they are just rolling it out today.
4) Trusted survey's -
You get 1 buck for just clicking on it and more if you qualify for the survey's. When you first sign up you get a lot of points quick after that well its touch and go.
5) Games -
If you play the games each day (Crusher is my fav!) you earn every few games 2 bucks until you reach a total of 10 bucks for the day. It seems like you get the 2 bucks every 2-3 games you play, I don't mind because its an easy 10 bucks.

Those are the easy bucks.....now for the ones you search for.
If you have Facebook be sure to link them together (which gives you extra points when you first do it), be sure to "like" the SwagBucks page as many times they run stuff on there for extra swagbucks. We've done a few treasure hunts for codes where you use the SwagBucks Blog, their Facebook page, your toolbar, twitter (which I don't have), the Widget (which I have here on my blog) and sometimes your SwagBucks email.
Make sure you never blurt out the answer to a code because you may be blocked by SwagBucks.
There's also another blog and she's on Facebook as well that puts out messages when there are new codes out. It comes in handy sometimes if you aren't actively checking things yourself.
Coupons and Freebies Mom -
Blog - http://www.couponsandfreebiesmom.com/
Facebook page - http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/CouponsAndFreebiesMom

There's always more to do on these things but this is what I do and I'm very happy with the free gift cards I've gotten. By the way, the Amazon.com gift cards at $5 each are the easiest and best reward on SwagBucks.
Enjoy, have fun!!
Also, a quick note.....I've been trying to "follow" other blogs in the hop but for some reason Google freezes up on me. It normally clears up in a day or two but I think I'm at 2 weeks now, maybe more. I'll keep trying though and hopefully I'll be able to officially "follow" you great bloggers!

Inside a bear den with Lily, Hope and the newborn cubs

2011-01-28T13:28:00.003-05:00

I wanted to give a quick post while I'm listening to the lovely motor hum of contented bear cubs in a winter den in Minnesota. In my last post I mentioned all the stuff we were doing and happened to mention how we are again using the live den cam with bears Lily & Hope in our studies this year.

Here's our story of watching bears in their den.
Last year this time we were told through other homeschoolers about this live webcam inside a bear's den in Minnesota. The bears name was Lily and she's part of a research study, which you can read about in much more detail on their website, Lily was going to give birth and it was a great educational opportunity to see what bear's did in the winter den while hibernating. In Lily's case she wasn't going to be getting a lot of sleep because she gave birth to one cub (later named Hope), our son got to see this very tiny (the size of a kitten) newborn cub and how Lily took care of her. My experience of watching Lily give birth was nerve-wracking to say the least but the end result was magical for both my son and myself and even Dad got in the mix once in awhile.

One of my all time favorite pictures of Lily and Hope last year after they left their den

So, we hibernated last winter with new mom Lily and Hope and this year Lily has just given birth to two more cubs and Hope is still there with her.
Our son was so excited yesterday when, while we were watching live, we got the chance (our live first one) to see the new cubs! Okay, mommy was too!

The researchers are learning so much and we are learning right along with them, you can't beat this kind of exposure to wild animals in their own habitat's without real interference from us. You can't beat seeing a mommy bear's love with her cubs and just how well she takes care of them in the freezing cold.
Once again this year we are studying bears in the wild while having a window open to a live camera and microphone into a bear's den, listening to newborn cubs nurse, scream and so on. Sometimes we have to turn the sound down or the neighbors might call the police....but we are loving it.
I love homeschooling! From New Jersey I can show our son the living wild world way out in Minnesota.
How cool is that?!

And.....you can too..........
Visit Lily, Hope and cubbies at: http://www.bear.org/livecams/lily-hope-cam.html and while you are there take a look at all the website has to offer at North American Bear Center . You will find plenty of information, correct information, on bears in general and even more for teaching about them.
The story is amazing, the research is unbelievable. I warn you now that it is addictive and exciting. And Lily & Hope will capture your heart......so will the two darling new cubs. Our son has named them Rocko and Bruce....with a possible Susie if one is a girl like we think. Not sure which of the boys names will be given up just yet.

Join the Blog Hop or just enjoy reading the blogs!

Okay...Life....Uncle already!

2011-01-23T11:37:00.007-05:00

Remember that stress free life I was going to have......

I'm still trying to find it...meanwhile those wrenches and other assorted tools keep getting thrown in our path....watch out! That was a hammer I'm sure of it! If I see a chainsaw I'm going back to bed....
The good thing about all of this is how I'm personally handling it (I think), I'm trying to not get as upset as I used to. I'm succeeding more times than not....that's a plus, right? I'm determined though, okay except for the chainsaw...I have my limits, so I keep plugging along. I'd scream sometimes but my voice still hasn't come back all the way from being sick, and just what the he-double hockey sticks WAS this bug we had anyway. The Red Ranger bounced back okay even though it really got to him too but my husband and I....Uncle, Uncle, UNCLE!

Let's see right now I'm working on finding the rest of the house after holidays and being sick for months. Even purchased more plastic drawers for the ever expanding homeschool piles. Bought clothes for The Red Ranger because he's 8 next month and 51" tall.....that's 4'3"....just one foot shorter than his mother here!! He is now out of the car seat! Where is this right in the world?! Where is my baby?! Do you realize I can't even reach back now and tickle knee-caps at traffic lights? Yet, another fun thing taken away from mom...jeez....what did I do, anyway? I'm trying to decide about a Thomas Jefferson Education for our son, so I'm reading up on it but I've sorta added some aspects already such as the reading of classics's. You can read more about that over on the Reading tab. Red Ranger went to Lowe's this Saturday and did another project which we then went over to his friend's house to play with, along with numerous other things. We loved spending the day at our friend's house, it was relaxing and enjoyable.
We have been watching Lily & Hope again this winter and there are (at last count last night) 2 more baby bear cubs in the den. Thankfully, sort of, I missed the birth's this time because last year when little Hope was born I was grunting and groaning for Lily, poor thing all alone in a dark, cold den having her baby all alone. The Red Ranger loves checking in on them and hearing the cubs, he's even started to name them (Bruce and Rocko) but I tried explaining that we don't know yet if the new cubs are boy's or girl's or one of each.
There has been so much going on that I can't even think of it all to post here.....it just boggles the mind.

I'm tired and weary and this Twister like path of destruction in front of me is getting a bit old BUT my attitude is better...that's half the battle right?!
So now off I go to organize homeschool stuff yet again, back to lesson's, take care of the hermit crabs, our cats inside and the poor feral ones outside, wait...was that a chainsaw going by? Is my bed calling me back?
Darn it.....nope guess not, back to my list....cleaning, dinner plans (what the devil am I making?), etc., etc., and so on....

Hope everyone has a lovely day!
We sure are going to try!!!

The Red Ranger with new duds and haircut...what's with the posing?

The Red Ranger and Kid Jedi


Over at Kid Jedi's house playing with the Lowe's project they made

Catch up, rest day - Updated

2011-01-03T17:29:00.004-05:00

Well, we are preparing for our back to school work tomorrow, trying to find the house again under everything and trying to get well. Right now I have practically no voice, I feel better, I just sound awful. It would be nice if the cough went away too.
I'm working on our calendar for the month, we have two Lowe's workshops this month and we begin the online Lego club, a birthday party (Yay, Kid Jedi!) and we are starting a family game night with another family this month where we get together once or twice a month, rotating homes each time to enjoy quality time with friends.
We also have tons of things under the tree yet to be opened, since we've been sick, things just for fun and some things (wisely chosen by Santa (wink)) for school.
Should be a fun start to the new year!

For Kimberly and everyone else wondering what I was talking about lol.....
The Online Lego Club - Is from CurrClick and free. Its held twice a month with both days being the same lesson in the month. January's dates are Jan. 12th and 24th at 1pm central US time. The theme for January is Happy New Year. You can sign up for it using this link at CurrClick - http://www.currclick.com/product_info.php?products_id=43644&it=1

Lowe's Workshop - Held at Lowe's in the USA, there are two for January at 10am and they last for an hour, 1/8 a Game Box and 1/22 a Ball Toss. When you go the first time your child gets a Lowe's apron and set of goggles, name tag and a badge after the project is finished. You can find out more and sign up at your local Lowe's here - http://www.lowesbuildandgrow.com/
And there is a waiver for you to print out and sign to handed in at the workshop. I believe the ages are 5-12 as well. This is a free project.
Here are a couple of our pictures from Nov/Dec Projects.....

Home Depot Kids Workshop - Ages 5-12 Held usually the first Saturday of the month. Times may vary with holidays but its usually held between 9am-12pm. February's project (2/5) is a heart shelf. They get a Home Depot apron and a pin.You don't have to sign up ahead of time, just show up at the local store holding it. Its also all free.
http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ContentView?pn=Kids_Workshops&langId=-1&storeId=10051

Join the Blog Hop!

It wasn't perfect......

2011-01-02T17:00:00.002-05:00

Well, it wasn't the perfect christmas...far from it in fact...but we got through it.......

All three of us were sick, we never finished decorating the tree, but it was here.

Never got the baking done, but I can do it when I'm better....which will be soon - I hope.

We never had christmas dinner, we just barely got through christmas. I don't even have all of the photos downloaded to the computer but I'll add a few of what I do have.

The Red Ranger got up at 7:30am christmas morning and couldn't finish unwrapping the last 8 or so gifts under the tree before he had to go back to bed. We didn't mind though because at 9am we all went back to bed for naps. Daddy then went and picked up the rest of The Red Ranger's presents at grandmom's and great aunt's and at 4pm he started unwrapping again, we had to cancel christmas dinner but as I said to my husband, we are together, there are presents under the tree and we will get better....eventually....I think.....course its Jan. 2nd and I have no voice but I'm feeling better each day!

No, it wasn't perfect but we were able to have it and be together........
Course it has made me rethink a few things, we do so much from October thru Dec. maybe I have to adjust our schedule. Mostly that has to do with homeschooling so that will be on the homeschooling tab, its just that after at least three years of everything falling apart in Oct/Nov perhaps I finally GOT the message......

We did do tons of stuff for the holidays before the holidays.
The Red Ranger got to see his friend, Santa, at pottery again this year and he got to try his hand at making wood projects at Lowe's with a friend, they hold free workshops for kids and he got to make a snowman, and a three car train set for christmas. It was all so cute!
The weekend before christmas all three of us saw the play Rudolph at our local theater that we love and then we went and got our tree, Saturday marked the last car of the train at Lowe's (the engine) and he got to play with his friend while I ran errands and on Sunday the three of us were on the Santa Express having a ball with Santa, Mrs. Claus, a pretty elf and the conductor who made a Polar Express ticket for The Red Ranger......
We wanted to make sure that we did the extra special stuff with Santa this year, The Red Ranger turns 8 in February....how much longer will Santa be involved we wonder. I have the books to explain it all to him but I so don't want it to happen.

This year I didn't stress at all, not after our homeschooling friend lost her son to in home accident. Nothing was that bad in our lives, we will get better.......I continue to pray and think of her and her family as the daily hurts for them occur. How do you go on when a child is missing in your daily life? I just can't imagine....my heart breaks for them all.
No stress for us this year, we counted our blessings instead.....
maybe it was perfect after all.......

Well...okay it won't let me upload ANY pictures right now but that's okay......this is a no stress zone......:-)
UPDATE:
After I wrote this and then updated my homeschool tab I checked and saw a comment. Lovely comment and very much appreciated. I've joined up with an everyday blog hop as you can see from the Blog ID at the top of the post now. Its just what we all need as the new year begins........

Goodbye Dear Mattias - Praying for the Hanley Family

2010-12-16T13:10:00.001-05:00

I sit here trying to write this while sobbing and having to stop every couple of minutes to wipe the tears from my eyes to continue.

I do not know how Dana has been able to write on her blog at all.
But my heart is telling me I must say something so I will.

In our homeschooling online community we inspire each other online without usually ever meeting each other. On bad days we search through other blogs to get us through those days and to get ideas, I had read Dana's blog enough to know the names of her children and so on.

Today, they are laying him to rest.

My heart is breaking for her and her family this week as news came to us that her son Mattias had died suddenly from what we now know was an accident in the home. As I write that last sentence my mind goes to the times that I caught my son, when he was little, using the drawers of his dresser as stairs to reach something on the top (the remote perhaps) because Mommy had told him "just a minute"....my heart sinks at the thought of what could have happened and did not to us...

Dana and family - I will never be able to say enough to help you, there is nothing that I can do personally to help to ease your pain.
All I can do is to sing the story of Mattias and pass it on so that others may know of him and that he touches their lives as well.

And so.....I attach the link for you to read on Dana's site, so that we can all pray for Dear little Mattias and for the whole family during this difficult time.......

Goodbye Dear Mattias......

Dana's Blog

Ideal No Calorie Sweetener - Review

2010-09-29T15:26:00.001-04:00

As some of you might know already my husband is diabetic so sugar is a problem. I tend to make a lot of homemade meals and desserts mostly using sugar substitutes. I was given a free sample box of a new substitute from Ideal - No Calorie Sweetener and the site Smile.ly in exchange for an honest review of the product.

My husband tried it first in his cup of tea and found that where he would normally use only two packs of another sugar substitute he had to add a third pack of Ideal for his tea to taste sweet enough. On the other hand while using it for homemade spaghetti sauce and baking I found it was teaspoon to teaspoon equal with sugar measurements as we tend to like our sauces and desserts a bit less sweet. Since I find it a lot easier to just cook once for us instead of making separate meals using sugar and a substitute this is a tasty alternative that's good for all of us to use without feeling like we are missing out on something, our 7 year old son hasn't even noticed a difference so I feel it will be healthier for him in the long run.
As I said earlier I was given a free sample box of Ideal - No Calorie Sweetener, with a $1 off coupon, in exchange for an honest review of the product. I was not compensated in any other way.
To sign up with Smiley and get your own free samples for review you can click below.

Smile.ly—Be Heard. Be Happy.

World Trade Center Beams - Dedication 9/13/2010

2010-09-14T12:45:00.002-04:00

Yesterday, September 13th 2010 we were privileged to see and touch two beams from the World Trade Center.

This dedication took place in the town I was born in Vineland, NJ, USA in the Southern part of New Jersey. It was a very simple, respectful ceremony. A live history lesson for our 7 year old son and as my husband put it yesterday a humbling experience. I am having a hard time finding the words to describe these moments, it was a small town event and it was an intimate experience being so close and having such a long time to touch and view these beams. We are just ordinary citizens, I'm a wife, stay at home mom, homeschoolers and we were touching these beams that held up the Twin Towers.
Humbling...yes.
Sobering...
Profound...
Pride...
Grateful...
Sad...

Those words come to mind now as I sit here writing this but its so very hard to put those words together in sentences right now. I'm still...stunned...yes, stunned...we were sitting there for the formal presentation and dedication, the beams were draped in black and then they were there in front of us.
Blackened, melted, twisted, bent, scorched pieces of steel that had held up the towers, the towers we saw collapse, the lives that were destroyed around them. You can see the immense heat that was inflicted upon these beams and there is a boot-print on one, forever sealed into the beam. I choose to think of it as the boot-print of a rescue worker because the other option is just to terrible to think of and still be able to touch it.

As you view and touch the beams you feel the enormous horror that must have been experienced, we all saw the horror but to touch the steel and have the smell of it on your hand is a sensory overload. Overwhelming sadness creeps up on you, then a sudden flash of anger (yes, it was there) and then a stillness that I'm still feeling today. I've looked at some of the pictures we took and had taken, we are actually smiling in some, something that surprised me. Why, are we smiling?
Then, I realized why...the same reason's I typed above, we are ordinary Americans being given the chance to touch, feel, see and experience part of our history. A horrible part, but one that must be remembered...

The people that died that day, so many of them were just like us...ordinary Americans, just going about their day. These beams not only stand for those that died in New York but also for the Pentagon and for those ordinary Americans that died in a field in Pennsylvania who took matters into their own hands and must have said to themselves, "no one else will die if we can help it".
They took back some of our strength as a nation that day by fighting back...God bless their souls.
The strength we saw crumbling on our televisions.
They continued what the rescue workers had started, those brave souls that rushed to and into the buildings.
I don't know where they found the strength, whether it comes from knowing that nothing else can be done. When perhaps you can only go through it instead of...just letting it happen.

I think we smiled because we are proud.
Proud of the country we live in that gives us the chance to see and touch these pieces.
I'm grateful that decisions were made that beams are going to select places around our country, because it shows who we are as a nation. We all experienced that horrible day and while its part of our national history, its also part of our personal history, whether we knew someone that died that day or someone that went to help afterwards. It isn't just for politicians or whomever...its for all of us.

If you ever get the chance to go to a town, city, place that has these beams. Go and see them, they are supposed to be available to all citizens, so go and touch them. Let us not ever forget those that perished because we do them a disservice when we do forget.

The last two pictures are very important to me. The man on the right carrying the beam back into City Hall is someone I grew up with, even though we are not related he is my little brother as is his older brother, George. We fought and loved as all siblings do, our moms were best friends while we were growing up.
His name is Michael Deem, he wrote the plaque above and was responsible for the submission for these beams for the City of Vineland. He is also an EMT that responded on 9/12/2001 to New York City as part of the rescue and recovery. I don't need to say anything more about that, I'm sure all of you have filled in the blanks....but I have tears in my eyes....I love you little bro....you deserved the biggest applause yesterday and you got it from the crowd.

Getting back into the swing of things.....hopefully!

2010-09-10T00:38:00.000-04:00

School is going well, more on that another day.
Tonight I posted a homemade diabetic bread recipe under the "Cooking" tab for anyone that might be interested.
Tomorrow I will post about where we are going on Monday. It has to do with my hometown, The Twin Towers, pride and remembrance.

Little one is sick but we had a homeschool triumph.....

2010-09-03T12:41:00.001-04:00

The Red Ranger is sick...:-(

Some nasty virus that has given him a fever and laryngitis so its going to be a rough couple of days.
However, we had two triumphs yesterday. One was while waiting to be seen in the clinic our son did some of his spelling words, I just think that's so cool! His brain really wasn't in to it but he did about three of them, me saying them and him writing them down.
Now comes mommy's triumph...a few weeks ago and I'll have to find the blog again to post the link, I read a blog about how we as homeschooling parents give our children the "shame" of being homeschooled. I can't tell you how many times I have hesitated, my husband has or The Red Ranger himself when asked about "what school do you go to?". We as parents know the stigma attached to it and our son, as all kids do, learn from our actions. So the poor Red Ranger would feel ashamed of saying "I'm homeschooled".
Well, no more.....this mommy yesterday when asked by a few fellow customers in Walgreen's proudly said "We homeschool so it really doesn't matter. As long as he's better on Tuesday when all the other kids go back to school and we go to Chuck E Cheese instead" when they commented on him being sick right before school started. (Is that cheers I hear?!)
My son took notice even in his weakened state and when he was directly asked about school 3 more times he lifted his head and said "I'm homeschooled". (I hear more cheers right?)

This was HUGE for us and it probably would be for so many homeschoolers out there.
We made the right decision for our son and for us...period.
We don't agree with the way the school system herds the kids, we don't agree with many of the value's that they are teaching. More and more each day, month and year now as we see other families deal with issues in schools. This was not our plan, homeschooling, but it is the way we do things now. Will it change, possibly. At first the thought of homeschooling was scary and still is at times, I'm much more confidant this year and I'm planning more than we did as we need more structure in our 2nd grade year. Our new systems are working well and have eliminated the constant "How much do we have to do?", "How much longer?", "Are we done yet?" questions that used to frustrate both of us. Will we continue past third or fourth grade? I really don't know. Once we started on this I figured I would do this for a year or two and then send him back to public school (basically when I think I won't be able to teach him any longer, my failing not his). I figured by then we would be in a house instead of an apartment, be in a better school district (mind you thought that the school district that we had problems with is supposed to be one of the best in the state and that the school he went to was the best). We'll take those questions as they come...for now we homeschool and are proud of it.....and that is as it should be.

Sharing Homeschooling tips and Hermit Crab update...

2010-09-01T15:32:00.001-04:00

I didn't really update the homeschool tab today, I really sort of made it useful, at least I hope so.
I added some book lists and some tips and supplies that I've come up with and more importantly tips from other homeschoolers that have become absolutes in our home. I don't believe I could survive teaching 2nd grade to our son without some of these timely solutions, I've had to adapt some of them, but I wouldn't want to be without them now. I am so grateful for some of the blogs that I have come across and used so much over the past year, some of my favorites are Confessions of a Homeschooler , Homeschool Creations , Heart of the Matter and Light, Liberty and Learning . My thanks goes out to these ladies for sharing with other homeschoolers, especially those of us starting out on this journey which can be very scary.

Not really anything else today other than the Hermit Crabs are all set up.....

LOL....honestly the hermit crabs do not have a computer keyboard in their tank, that's just a reflection.....really it is!

Hermit Crabs, Smile.ly - something new to try and trying to figure things out...

2010-08-31T17:21:00.000-04:00

Well, its been interesting again!
Remember that Hermit Crab I wrote about, the one Red Ranger picked up in Wildwood, NJ?
Guess what...hermit crab's take a lot more care than you are led to believe on the boardwalk, A LOT more care. I suppose that I should be ashamed at not knowing that they required more attention than I've (and probably you) have been led to believe, but I really, really didn't know.
First off, hermit crabs are NOT hermit's. Keeping only one is really cruel because they should be in at least pairs or more. Second, they do not do well in those little habitat cages, containers and whatnot. They need real aquariums with temperature and humidity controlled, they need fresh water and sea water (don't use table salt to make sea water, it will kill them), they need playtime with other hermit crabs and also with the caregivers (in this case The Red Ranger and me!), they need better food than just pellets (some fruits and veggies), and they must be kept clean, be allowed to burrow (so that stinking aquarium gravel is not good for them).
WHO KNEW???!!!
Not us that's for sure but now we do, thankfully I'm anal enough (shut-up DH of mine) (AND for that matter ANY of my close friends that wish to comment on that!) to have looked up their care as soon as we got home that night. Did you know they can live 30+ years?? Shocked...I sure was!
So, we are well on our way to a total commitment to two hermit crabs...Little Guy and Mister, so much for an easy pet!! LOL!!

I've also tried to make seeing recent posts on the various pages of this blog easier to find, well at least once you are here. On the top right you will not see "recent posts on our pages", this way if I don't happen to post to our "Everyday Life" but I do to our "Homeschooling" tab you can at least see it right away when you visit. You can of course still "follow" the pages individually as following one doesn't mean you will get the updates from the others. Sigh...and I thought blogging would be easy......
I've also added a "Reading" page and will at some point get that "Cooking" one going as well as adding my "Scrapbooking" to it. My poor scrapbook materials miss me so much, but once we started homeschooling scrapbooking got set aside.

Hopefully the following will at least be a fun diversion for me.

Smile.ly
Testing Products:
Today was the first day that I got an email for a test product from Smile.ly, you can click on the Smile.ly link here and join up yourself, I'm excited about giving this all a try. Basically its this Smile.ly members get inside and exclusive looks at new brands, new products, and new online content. They send you products and you write reviews of them and give feedback. My first one will be for Ideal® No Calorie Sweetener, I'll let you know how it is once I receive it.

Oh and I've posted today on both the new "Reading" tab and "Homeschooling" one.

Waning days of summer and homeschooling....

2010-08-28T12:59:00.000-04:00

The end of summer (officially for most) is almost here, we haven't done as much school work as I expected us too but we got some in (check the homeschooling tab for the posting) and we've enjoyed some time at the shore and The Red Ranger came home with a new pet......

This is Little Guy......oddly enough he will fit in perfectly with our ocean studies.
We enjoyed a party over a friend's house for Kung Zhu's (Zhu zhu pets for boys) and have an upcoming one with Nano Hexbugs, something which looks to fit in with homeschooling.
We are waiting for everyone else to go back to school, sorry, so that we can enjoy all those places that are just too packed during the summer. We'll make day trips down to the shore during the week and we have some museums to visit during the first couple of weeks of Sept. hopefully before most schools can set up field trips. Depending on DH's schedule and the weather, Sept. 7th, the day the kids go back to school we will play hooky.....yeah hooky....its not just for brick and mortar schools you know! We are either heading for Wildwood, NJ or Chuck E Cheese, we are also hoping to make our local Not Back To School picnic the first week of school as well, its being held at one of our favorite parks, Red Bank Battlefield in National Park, NJ. A place where we held lots of picnic's for the playgroup I ran and plenty of history lessons to be had there as well along with river studies and transportation/aviation studies as its right on the Delaware River and across from Philadelphia International Airport.....lots of boats and planes.
Hopefully the routine will start soon and I'll get to posting more during the weeks but for right now DH has Sunday, Monday and Thursday off this coming week so we will simply enjoy those days.
Hoping that my Usborne books start to take off soon. I held one mystery hostess online party in August but it didn't do as well as I expected. The one lady that wanted to order from me didn't, I ordered books for The Red Ranger's studies and I did get a surprise web order but not exactly what I was hoping for.

Hope you enjoy the end of summer and we'll see you next week!!

Posted on the homeschool page and Usborne Books....

2010-08-05T13:06:00.003-04:00

Just finished with a post on the homeschool page today about teaching time to The Red Ranger and how sometimes he ends up teaching me.....
I've also just finished the Mystery Hostess E-Show on my Usborne Books site.
Feel free to pass this along the party ends on August 17th.

Link for the Online Party: www.ubah.com/HOS177386
Link for Facebook Page: The Usborne Kid's Book Train

Whew.....

2010-08-02T16:08:00.000-04:00

I just got done posting my curriculum for The Red Ranger on the homeschooling page for a blog hop and I'm beat. That was a lot of work and last night I was up late putting our workbooks, curriculum into binders, BUT we are now organized!! I just have to finish putting up subject headers on our centers and to finish our revamped morning meeting boards and I think.....hmmmmm....we are good to go......or should I say HOPE we are good to go. Now that we have the file hanging pockets system worked out and our center's placed, just a few pictures for the centers to be done for the hanging folders and we are ready. So ready in fact that I think we'll start next week, 2nd grade that is, we haven't stopped working on our summer skills but I think we are ready now for the 2nd grade work to begin. Then we'll take a two week break when public schools go back and we'll enjoy places that are usually crowded, CEC/museums/zoos, with people. Of course we'll stop and enjoy some of those last summer days, if the weather is on our side, on daddy's day's off for the beach and so on. A missed day here and there isn't going to hurt and since we are starting a unit on continent's and ocean's of the world, including life in the seas's, it works with beach trips. Collecting shell's is always a lot of fun.

Following the pages of the blog...

2010-07-31T14:46:00.001-04:00

I'm sorry to say that I have surrendered and cheated on the blog pages. Just don't have the time to play with codes and such to get it all to work perfectly so I have a cool looking method with a couple of extra steps.
You can click the different subjects of my blog and read the posts but sadly each blog has a separate "follow" list, in other words you have to follow each one individually to get all the updated posts. Today, I posted on the homeschool page, okay I cheated too, that I found on another homeschooler's blog that I follow. So, if you are interested please take a look. The cooking, baking, recipe page should be started soon if you are interested in that, just need to get the school stuff organized first. And as you can see the daily (okay, weekly if things get busy) everyday life is right here.
Now, off to enjoy the day with my guys......have a great weekend!

Changing things around

2010-07-30T13:10:00.001-04:00

I seem to be having a difficult week and I'm severely challenged with anything associated with technology this week as well. Yesterday, I just turned off the computer......yes, yes I know it was drastic but this triangle of the computer, world wide web and life we're just not working well together.
So, we headed for the 'time-out' chair.
The three of us pouted, dragged our feet and one of us, not mentioning any names but it had 3 w's even stamped feet. One took a nap after it got unplugged and the other one pouted the rest of the day. We all thought today would be better but this here blog we have is giving the three of us problems today and we aren't happy about it! Our homeschooling page is a mess of different text's, there's bold type mixed in with regular and for some reason which escapes the three of us.....ALL capitals on one entire post!! We finally gave up on trying to fix that post so we apologize in advance for the shouting on the homeschooling page, its not you, its us.....sigh. Then we couldn't get the tab pages to work properly for posting in individual subjects or get the comments working on each subject tab......are you starting to get the picture? LOL!
The world wide web and I think we have resolved some of the issues but the computer has its doubts. You may see some strange things on the pages over the next couple of days while we do surgery on the components of the blog (I said blog, not you computer). It's (there you go Renee...lol) a work in progress.......but we will not give up or be beaten in the long run. I make no promises on the short term however.
What a week! Enjoy your weekend and be sure to check our homeschool page on Monday for our curriculum and the homeschool blog hop.

Update; So much and so little time...

2010-07-21T16:05:00.003-04:00

Hello again, remember me?

Bet you don't.
Let me do a fast update. Because there have been major events in our lives.

Homeschooling:

Right after my last post way back in Jan. of 2009 we took our son out of the public school system (kindergarten) and I began the treacherous ( I only say that because if you aren't planning on it, its a big adjustment) homeschooling life we now live. I never dreamed I would be homeschooling our son but circumstances led us to doing exactly that. One day I will post the reason's why and so on but all I can say now is that it has been one of the best decisions we have ever made...who knew??

Health:

While my son and I were getting used to the idea of homeschooling and our routines, my husband's health took a scary turn. In Nov. 09 I took him to the ER and was told he had one possibly two hours of life left. He had a DKA, a diabetic episode, he was in Intensive care isolation (which scared me even more) for a long time. He now gets three insulin shots per day and I've learned a lot about sugar and how to make sure is levels per day are regulated. Lots of home cooking and baking, more than ever actually, and I've learned how to make my own breads, pizza dough and so on.
Its been a long hard road financially, emotionally for all three of us but we are finally feeling like our heads are above the water instead of us struggling to breathe.

Life:

We are finally getting back on track or should I say a completely different path from where we were before. We still have some major things to fix but are on an upswing I believe (knock on wood!). Between the economy tanking in this country to our own emergencies during the same time period it was like getting hit from both sides with tidal waves, bit of overkill on the cosmic force scale but its not like I have control over the cosmos (if only?!).

So, please check out the other pages of my blog as I start them. There's a homeschooling one and a scrapbooking one (although the scrapbooking is way BEHIND the back seat anymore) and possibly a diabetes and/or cooking one to come.

Thanks for stopping by, do drop in again.......

New friends....

2009-01-13T22:40:00.000-05:00

My darling son is all excited and has been driving us crazy since we got him home from school today. He has a friend at school, "J" who is in 1st grade (The Red Ranger is in kindergarten), "J" has taken The Red Ranger under his wing, looks out for him and our son has been calling him 'his best buddy'!
They get along so well, I pick The Red Ranger up after school as does "J's" mom and I've met her a couple of times through school things we were both working. Today, my son asked "J" to come over sometime for a playdate and a sleep-over. Its the first friend from school he's even thought of asking. He wants to have "J" play on his team in football against Daddy and race cars on the playstation. "J's" mom and I were talking about going to McDonald's afterschool one day and then we'll have to have them over and "J's" mom said she would have us over as well.
I'm so glad to see him making a friend totally on his own and the friend adoring him as well. Its a whole new frontier for me, I've always known who he was playing with and everything about them from the playgroup, but now The Red Ranger is developing his own life outside of mommy's eye. Its exciting and weird at the same time.
My baby is growing up so fast......

Hello again...

2009-01-10T23:19:00.000-05:00

Sorry, I haven't been around.
I've been sick and concentrating on my Project 365 blog....trying very hard to remember to take my pictures and figure out how I'm going to scrapbook them.
So, if you don't see a post here, check out myProject 365 blog http://project365-dawn.blogspot.com/ as it will help me with my journaling when I go to do my pages.

I'm hoping that I will feel better going into the week as we even had to miss a party today because I just wasn't up to it. I'm also hoping to get back to blogging more often with our everyday stuff.
Take care for now and have a great weekend!

Horrible day for me, great day for the little guy

2009-01-07T21:48:00.000-05:00

Things do happen for a reason. Yesterday I cooked my heart out and today I felt miserable and stayed in bed most of the day. Thankfully, my DH has Wednesday's off and was able to look after our son for me.
On a bright note our son came home from school all excited because today was the first day that the kindergarten children got to actually check books out of the school library. He was just beaming, he chose "Clifford and the Big Storm" and he's just thrilled.
Little things do mean a lot.

In a cooking mood today....

2009-01-06T22:46:00.002-05:00

I have absolutely no idea why but I wanted to cook today. It could have been because it was cold, rainy and getting dark at 4pm or maybe it was just that I was staring at a package of ground turkey and had no idea what I was going to make.

So, what else do you do when you don't know what to make and its cold and dreary.

Simple, you make soup!

I started off making a vegetable beef (well turkey) soup, DH had asked for a really good soup just the other day and then realized as I was breaking up the ground turkey into the pot that there was just too much ground turkey for one meal. So, I made stroganoff as well. Two dinners completed, so NO cooking for me tomorrow other than mixing up rolls to have with our soup.

We had the stroganoff tonight because soup is always better the next day.
Here's tonight's dinner:

I had to improvise and DH loved it so much he said he would have paid for that meal. (grin) I actually let this ground turkey cook in the pot for the soup so I cooked the entire package in one pot. Used a frozen container of tomato juice from a can of plum tomatoes, left over from making my spaghetti sauce, melted it in the pot with chicken broth and added all my seasonings. Oncethe meat was cooked I took slightly more than half to make the stroganoff.

I then combined the cooked ground turkey in the skillet with a jar of beef gravy and then doctored it up with 1 packet of Newman's Own Ranch Dressing left over from my McD's salad and then sprinkled some grated parmesan and romano cheeses into the pan. Cooked up some rice instead of noodles and with a nice side garden salad with mixed veggies on top and your choice of dressing its a very filling meal.

Now, here's tomorrow's dinner.
Although DH sampled it tonight!

After I removed some of the ground turkey for the stroganoff, I added 1 package of frozen soup veggies (baby carrots, peas and sugar snaps), 1 can of creamed corn, 1 cup of rice and seasoned again to taste. Now, tomorrow all I have to do is mix up my package of Tastefully Simple Biscuits and dinner is DONE.

In this day and age of having to start making things stretch even further than before. I did really well, two dinners and even a couple of lunches from one package of ground turkey. Two really good hearty meals for cold weather.
Considering that I'm ahead maybe I'll bake something tomorrow. DH is off from work which means he will take The Red Ranger to the bus stop, I just have to get him ready for school and he will pick him up when school is done. So, maybe I'll bake.
And....can I just tell you how great this house smelled tonight!

Its back to school time!! Update on my Project 365...AND the economy!

2009-01-05T21:30:00.000-05:00

Thankfully today was the day my son went back to school after what seemed like a VERY LONG vacation. It was VERY quiet while he was in school......really, really quiet. Its kinda hard to get back into the routine.
All in all it was a good day, I've remembered to take all of my pictures each day since the 1st of January for Project 365 and I'm about to start the first Layout from the first 4 days. It actually is a bit hard each and everyday to think to take an everyday picture of your life, yesterday was easy, my son was blowing kisses at me through the car window and since I'm carrying my camera with me at all times for this project I snapped a fast picture. Today's picture was simply him lying on the couch with his sheet and pillow exhausted from going back to school.

I'm also keeping a little pocket size marble composition book to jot down my thoughts, notes about the moment the picture was taken. I can write notes for each day and then flip the book over and write on the back to get days 1-99 in one whole book, the first page being dedicated to ideas on the cover page and what I'm going to call, the title, to this whole endeavour. I can also write at the bottom of the page what my ideas are for the layouts each week. This way when its time to journal on the pages I'll know what was going on or what I want to say about each picture.
Other than that life if pretty quiet for a change, which we desperately need. I'm getting better but being sick over Christmas really took a lot out of me and it was a real shame that The Red Ranger wasn't feeling well on Christmas Eve. Poor little guy.

Now for a couple of things I read today online:

The state of the economy is just plain criminal.
And there is one person to blame for it all. The guy currently in the White House, the outgoing president!
Today I read that a company that holds three of the finest names in china history has filed for bankruptcy. The Irish company that has Wedgwood, Waterford Crystal and Royal Daulton China is in trouble. If anything could withstand this sort of thing I would have imagined they would be the ones to do it.
I also see that the news pieces are now FINALLY saying that we are in the worst recession since the Great Depression......good grief we knew that a year ago!! But in all that time they have hinted, hedged around it, played with wording...but never came out and said yep this is yet.....
until now!

So what is the legacy of the 2nd Bush to be president:
Not only has he ruined this country, he has managed to ruin the whole world.
Great work there....I guess he wanted to be remembered past his father....well he's done it.
He has actually gotten the whole world to the state of another Depression, not a recession, but a Depression. I hope he and all of his rich cronies that put him in office in the first place are very happy to ruin the entire infrastructure of the United States and make us even more vulnerable than we have been in decades. Then again....that was probably the whole idea in the first place.

Honestly, its sounding more and more like the show I've watched called Jericho each and every day. No wonder I loved the show, I'm watching it happen in real life.

Okay, sorry I vented. But someone has to be incensed about all of this.
And, believe me....I am!
I sure hope that our new president can get us out of this as soon as possible. Its going to be a hard thing to do and he's going to have to do it quickly because people are desperate. Crime is going up and its going to get worse.

I'm not going to hold my breath.....but I truly hope for the best.

A surprise package today....

2009-01-02T23:14:00.000-05:00

Well we got a big surprise today, presents from a very bad friend of mine in the Boston area.

Yes, I sure did say bad...because she really shouldn't have!!!!
The Red Ranger got the coolest set for him and Daddy to build......

He can't wait to put it together!

DH got a snuggly pair of slippers that massage his feet, perfect after being on his feet for so many hours. As for me.......she's so bad, she really is.........feeding one of my biggest obsessions....

My Boyz, a 2009 calendar and the two new singles and the concert video. Like I said SHE'S BAD!! Although The Red Ranger says she's good because she sent presents........hmmmmmm. So, the first picture with The Red Ranger sitting next to the presents will be for Project 365.

On another note I decided to take pictures tonight while making one of DH's favorite meals.

The sauce is homemade. I make a huge pot of meatballs and then use the rest of the sauce for my homemade pizza's and for making chicken parm. The rest gets frozen for future dinners. It ends up being very economical.

Project 365 - First Day Photo

2009-01-01T17:14:00.000-05:00

Here it is the first photo for Project 365.

It tackles two things on my resolution list at once:

Organization and Project 365..........

A couple of more cabinets to fill in the gaps when I can get them and it will be a very nice unit. Now I'm going to take it easy for the rest of the night, I might have overdone a wee bit because I'm not feeling great. Short post for today but I'm so glad I got this accomplished!

New Year's Eve.....

2008-12-31T20:12:00.000-05:00

At my age its just not what it used to be lol!
We have a 5 year old (almost 6) and we just aren't party animals. It's going to be a quiet evening watching a movie or something and just sharing a drink or two once the little guy is asleep.

So, I'll start with my New Year Resolutions, which I never do but I'm going to this year and tell you about the rest of today's stuff.

1. To work harder at my scrapbooking.
2. To have more "me" time for the things I like to do.
3. To complete the things I start AND finish them (in a more timely matter)!
4. To spend more times with friends....because its enjoyable and I like them!
5. To lose weight!!!
6. To continue to give our son memorable moments in his childhood.
7. To get more organized.
8. Start the 365 Project (scrapbook).

I'm starting the 365 day Project tomorrow by taking a picture and doing the same thing each and every day for the year. Then I'll scrap most of it on a weekly basis, except for holidays and so on.
Today I've actually managed to get 5 loads of laundry done, not bad for just getting out of the sick bed. I received my first paycheck in a long time so I had DH go out and buy me two of these cabinet organizers for my kitchen in my attempt to become more organized this year.
Nice feeling...earning and buying it on my own....its been a long while.

So, these are my projects for tomorrow. They aren't major furniture, but they are easy to put together with just a screwdriver, stackable, and easy to put just about anywhere. I already have two of the single cabinets and I've loved them. Now its time to start building a whole unit for my kitchen so that everything isn't all over my counters. Perhaps these will be the pictures for Day 1 of Project 365.....
Just for fun and to give you a laugh.

I've heard of Cat In The Hat but....................Cat In A Bag....................

AND....Cat In a Warm Basket of Clothes................

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL.......please stay safe and warm......

Finally feeling better!

2008-12-30T15:28:00.000-05:00

I'm finally starting to feel better, woke up today and I can certainly breathe better and the coughing isn't that horrible muscle-wrenching cough that I've had for days. I even feel like I slept well for the first time in a week. Now of course I have to make sure I don't do everything that I want to do and then end up overdueing (sp?) things to the point where I end up being worse.

Christmas went well considering the little guy and I were both sick, we simply concentrated on things for him and not everyone else. We ended up cancelling Christmas dinner, and I'm so glad I did, because I couldn't see knocking myself out and feeling worse and The Red Ranger not having a pleasant mom and dad to enjoy Christmas with. He has also pronounced this
"the best Christmas Ever" and still thinks that today, so we did something right.
The economy sure figured into our Christmas this year, we cancelled the trip to Disney World at the beginning of December because we didn't see how we could do both, Christmas and Disney. Simply put, there is no way that a 5 almost 6 year old child would ever understand that we went to Disney 'instead' of having a big Christmas. Also, the simple fact that he is totally 'into' the Christmas thing this year. Probably because of school and the other kids being so excited and he's just older now and he's really paying attention to all the details.

Money-wise, I would say that we spent about a quarter of what we did last year. We knocked out some of the adult family presents only having The Red Ranger give them presents he bought himself.
There were no big ticket items like last year's digital camera or Nintendo Ds's, I would have to say the most expensive item my husband and I exchanged was the $50 gift card for the pottery place I like to paint at and since he got it at auction I don't think he paid full value for it.
The gifts in fact were more thoughtful and more needed than just because we wanted them or liked them. I did get a used Zutter Bind-it-all off of Ebay, since it was the blue one I got it a lot cheaper around $25 just need to get the coils now and down the road the tool kit. Can't wait to use it.
I'm so terribly glad that we did all of the stuff leading up to Christmas because we got so sick during it. The Santa Pottery (where you paint pottery with Santa), Frosty the Snowman play, Riding the Santa Express train, even the movies to see Madgascar 2 all led up to a magical Christmas for The Red Ranger and will give him memories to last him for a long time.
And plenty of things for his mommy to scrap into her scrapbooks!

I'll blog and add pictures and details to all the Christmas activities soon but this is all I can manage right now. Right now I'm off to find the dining room table, which had been buried under wrapping stuff since Christmas and assorted toys, and to throw some meatballs and my sauce into the crockpot for dinner tonight. For now that's all I'm going to say I'm going to tackle so that I don't overdue things.
I'm also saying a prayer for baby Stellan who I read about on my friend's Renee's blog.
You can read more about Stellan and his family here. http://www.mycharmingkids.net/

I will say Merry Christmas.........

2008-12-29T01:59:00.000-05:00

Hi,
I orginally posted this on Dec. 12th on my Myspace page. But this page looked pretty sad and since I'm not sure what to write at the moment and since I've been sick and still am...all of the Christmas pictures are still in the camera this will have to do.......
I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and will also have a Very Safe New Year!

Friday, December 12, 2008

I will say Merry Christmas...I won’t be censored...this country was founded on certain issues!
Okay, this really gets to me!

Two things have come up in the past couple of days and they are bothering me and should bother others as well.

First, I was working at my son's school bazaar, the one where they shop for their parents without parents seeing what is being bought. The kids were so cute and the other moms and I were saying Merry Christmas to them after they were done.
Then one mom said "oops, I just said Merry Christmas instead of Happy Holidays".

Why one earth should we have to censor how we say Merry Christmas?
Isn't the very fact that the kids are shopping in the holiday store a given that its okay to say it? Why is it offensive to say what comes naturally in a happy way?
Why are we being made to feel bad or wrong for saying how we celebrate the holiday?

This country was built on the shoulders of people who fled countries that did not allow them to worship according to their practices, freedom of religion has always been a given. If I'm not sacrificing an animal or something while practicing my beliefs then why can't I say to others "MERRY CHRISTMAS"!! They can always say "i'm sorry, we don't celebrate christmas" or whatever but why do I have to censor myself, why do any of us have to?

Second, there's a mom somewhere in this country that doesn't agree with the children singing Rudolph the red nosed reindeer. Her child isn't christian so she feels that christianity is being shoved down her daughter's throat during school hours. I wouldn't say that Rudolph is the song to pick on first off. Its not "Silent Night" or "Come all Ye Faithful" for heaven's sake.....and yes I said heaven's sake! If her child doesn't celebrate christmas then pull her out of the rehearsals or whatever needs to be done so that our "religion" doesn't poison her or something.
Personally, I've always believed that understanding other religions was the best way of accepting others for who they are.
Sometimes though I'm more evolved than others so maybe I'm just too far ahead to understand this. I used to work for others in retail so that they could celebrate their holidays and they worked for me. It worked out great and there weren't any hard feelings. What happened to helping each other out? Understanding? Acceptance?

I think whoever invented the term 'politically correct' needs to be drawn and quartered. We had a much better understanding of each other before we began being careful of EVERYTHING we said and did! ENOUGH already!!

I will say MERRY CHRISTMAS!!
I don't think Rudolph is a 'religious' song!
Get a grip on things and explain to your child about what others believe in instead of bashing the school system and suing them, schools have it bad enough and you are making it even worse. Accept others and get along, just like we tell our kids!
Let others ENJOY "their holiday" instead of making them feel guilty about it!

SO MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!! MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!