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

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!!!

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

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.....

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

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

 
 

It wasn't perfect......

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........

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

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.....

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.

Changing things around

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...

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.......