Stunt Fabric

This is what I did today. I finally got around to making this thing that I talked about a few days ago.



Aren't they cute? Okay, I know, but they're supposed to be. I used this fabric, that I refer to as the Stunt Fabric. This is not the Actual Fabric that I want to make these out of, this is just some scrap material I have left over. It is standing in for the Actual Fabric so I can figure out what the heck I am doing. The Stunt Fabric is used to sad, uneven, and dare I say downright messy seams.



But I think I got a little better the next time. I think by the time I get to the Actual Fabric, I might be able to sew a straight line.




I will be needing a few white elephant gifts this holiday season, so I think I'll use these. They'll be the Stunt Gifts.

Woops!

Sorry, I accidentally hit publish before I was done. If you read me through a feed, you might want to go ahead and pop over here to read the last post in it's entirety. Otherwise it might not make a whole lot of sense.

It all looks so much better.

So you'll notice the blog's gone winter. I have to say that I wasted no time in taking the fall theme off. I am not a big fan of orange. Yet it was on my blog for weeks. Next fall, I need to remember to avoid the orange. *shudder*

Here are a few random shots of our day yesterday.



The best way to transport the ham.





Not sure how we're all gonna fit...



...but it sure is beautiful. I think Martha was here.



Even the kids table was amazing. But this my friends, is what it's all about.










Family.

Black Friday can be a black day indeed!

This is my first WFMW Post, because I rarely have anything useful to add, and yet I blog daily...hummm.

Anyway.

Last year on Black Friday, I did not go shopping. It is my goal really every Black Friday, to not go shopping. I hate shopping on a good day, and Black Friday is like a bad shopping day on crack. No thank you.

However, I am a sucker for a good deal. So last year, I got up early, (8am!!! Whoo Hoo for me!) grabbed a cup of the good coffee and…got back in my bed, in my pj’s, with my laptop and did me some online bargain shopping.

Here’s the trick; many stores have in store pick up. So I got many, many good bargains, and just have them hold them at the store. That way I can pick them up at my leisure sometime after the crazy-shoppers have gone back to work. Also, no shipping! Of course, I take advantage of free shipping whenever I can, but many shops require you to spend a certain amount before they’ll give you free shipping and if you overspend just to get the free shipping, well, not much of a deal anymore is it?

So there you have it.

PJ’s, the good coffee, my laptop, amazing Internet deals, free shipping, and in store pick up; that my friends is how to spend Black Friday!

You can go read more Works For Me Wednesday posts here.

Is it Spiderman?

No! It’s Teenager #2 cleaning the living room windows. Turns out, they are supposed to be transparent! Wow, who knew?

So now, I can see outside of my house through these rectangular shaped holes in my walls. I was unaware of their presence until now because they were covered with grime and dust and as such, not transparent.

Okay, I kid, they were not that bad. We do this periodically, but it is always so enlightening (hehehee) when they are cleaned. That dust adds up fast.

So now the blinds are up, the windows are open, the fresh smell of pine and Windex is floating in on the breeze and later this afternoon the girls and I will be adding the smell of gingerbread to the mix.

Sweet.

Something to think about.

I thought I would share an email I received from Compassion International. I was thinking that many families might be looking for something special to do for Christmas this year. Not everyone can commit to a sponsored child indefinitely, but this is a way to help out with no commitment. It is a small price to pay really. But the impact will be huge.

Dear Tricia,

Would you be willing to provide short-term assistance for children who don't yet have sponsors?

More than 150,000 children are on our waiting list right now. They live in abject poverty, and every day is filled with hardship, pain and extreme risks.

Your gift of $30, $60, $90 or more to Compassion's Unsponsored Children's Fund will provide immediate assistance for one or more of these children while they wait for a regular sponsor.

Please donate now. And thank you for your faithfulness to children in need.

Sincerely in Him,

Dr. Wess Stafford
President

P.S. If you would like to sponsor an additional child on a regular basis, click here.

Partially Moronic.

I feel the need to point out that I do realize threw and through are two different words and aught not to be used interchangeably. In fact, they are homophones (one of two or more words pronounced alike but different in meaning or derivation or spelling as the words to, too, and two. So says Merriam-Webster)

I have no excuse for yesterdays egregious error, but, well I do have an explanation.

See, I’d been on the computer for hours looking at pictures and it was 10:45, and it’d been a really long day. Just so we’re clear. I am not a total moron, just a partial one. And usually, only after 10 at night.

You are now free to roam about the Internet.

Isn't she cute?

I was flipping (electronically of coarse) threw a few pictures and came across this one of Ann.



I love this photo. This is her with the Kit doll. I think she looks just like the Kit doll.

You need to eat this.

I feel the need to point you over here, to this. I made it for dinner tonight. It was exceedingly yummy!

Though the consensus was; way fewer raisins and way more sausage. But that's just my family. They really love sausage.

Demolition

I thought you might like to see what my boys are doing today.

They are working on a demolition project at their Uncle’s house.







The girls and I are cleaning up this pigsty and the boys are destroying things elsewhere. Seems about right.

No one is getting any school done.

Oh well, I guess if all else fails my girls can get a job as maids and they boys can do something in the construction\demolition field.

And now that things are starting to get a little less pigsty-ish around here, I’m starting to get a little less grumpy.

By the way, if you click on the first photo, you can see Bob crouched in the back watching, and you can see Will driving. Their faces are glowing, they are positively gleeful! What is it about abject destruction that makes boys giddy?

Crap!

I have a confession to make. Mess makes me grumpy. Really grumpy. For me mess is a little like PMS. I start to feel a little tense, a little snappish, a little off. I don’t really know why. Everything on the outside is okay so why am I so uncomfortable, like my skin is crawling? OH, now I know, PMS.

Mess works the same way for me. Life gets busy; we end up driving down to Houston a few times in a week. We are all a bit preoccupied with SDB, etc. Then Sir D gets a head cold. Then I get a head cold. Then I start to get better, but I’m grumpy. Something’s not right. My skin is crawling a little. What’s the deal?

Then I look around. There are three baskets of clean laundry in the living room waiting to be folded and put away. The living room floor needs to be vacuumed. The girls room is messy, the boys room is messy, the back room is messy. The hall has baskets of dirty laundry in it because the place where the baskets go in the laundry room on the shelf has other stuff on that shelf that is not supposed to be there and needs to be put away in its proper place. My room is messy and my desk is cluttered, and now my skin is crawling. Then I grab the ringing phone and my finger sticks to a smear of honey. THAT’S IT! I CAN’T STAND IT ANYMORE THIS PLACE IS A PIGSTY!

So what to do? We had a pretty unproductive week last week since I was sick. The kids still did some school, but I was not on it, and as my good friend who has been homeschooling forever says…You don’t get what you expect, you get what you inspect. I did not inspect much last week.

Really I should just cancel school for a few days and clean this place up. We’d all be happier for it, but how? We didn’t get much done last week. Next week all the public schools are off and the kids have youth group and church activities planned, not to mention I’ll be busy baking. I really don’t feel like we can afford to take any more time off.

That’s always the rub. I know that homeschooling is more than the academics, they need to know how to cook and clean and live with other people. But they need to know how to read, write, add and subtract too. If I were reading this on anyone else’s blog I’d tell them to relax. Clean the house. The academics will always be there, there will always be more to learn. Get things back on track at home and everything will run smother.

Great in theory, but now that one of mine is taking college classes in highschool and the other is about to enter highschool and there are two more trailing ever so closely behind them, I realize I don’t have all the time in the world anymore. 8 more years. That is all I have to teach them. And that is Ann. The others will be done sooner. 8 more years. I don’t know how this happened. I used to make myself not even think about how many years I’d be homeschooling when Ann was a baby, the number was just too overwhelming. But now? Now it just freaks me out.

I have 8 years or less to teach these kids what they need to know before they fly away from my nest! And my house is a wreck.

Crap!

(Told you I was grumpy.)

One Word

Here's a fun little Discribe Yourself In One Word Meme for this Saturday morning. I saw it on Amanda's Blog and thought I'd try it.

If you want to do it, just grab it from my blog and link back to me so I can see what you wrote.


Where is your mobile phone? Purse
Your hair color? Brown
Your mother? Unique
Your father? Recovered
Your favourite thing? Chocolate
Your dream last night? Absent
Your dream goal? Author
The room you're in? Living
Your hobby (hobbies)? Writing
Your fear? Unknown
Where do you want to be in 6 years? Published
Where were you last night? Family
What you're not? Mathematician
One of your wish-list items? Kindle
Where you grew up? Kansas
The last thing you did? Drank (coffee)
What are you wearing? Robe
Your TV? Off
Your pet? nonexistent
Your computer? Laptop
Your mood? calm
Missing someone? always
Your car? Excursion
Something you're not wearing? Makeup
Favorite shop? bookstore
Your summer? Hot
Love someone? Sir D
Your favourite colour? Green
When was the last time you laughed? Yesterday
When was the last time you cried? here

Book Review

I have a new review up on my Homeschool Review blog. It is a book series, so even if you don't homeschool you might be interested.

Lead By Example, Anyone?

I find this unbelievable. Dallas ISD is Giving Out Fake Social Numbers to Foreign Born Teachers. This has been going on for several years.

This was not some stray teacher who made a bad judgment call. This is a practice that was ongoing by the administrators. An illegal practice.

The district is trying to educate students. Trying to get them to be respectful in class, to work hard, to learn the material and not cheat, yet the administrators can do this?

I’m just incredulous! Cheating is an epidemic problem among our students and yet DISD does this? Why on earth would a student study hard for that Biology test? Why would he not just cheat? Cheating is way easier and everyone, even the top brass at DISD is doing it!

Unbelievable.

Very badly done, DISD.

Still Sick

I’m still sick. My head is full and when I stand up to fast everything swims, in fact things swim even when I don’t stand up too fast.

I got up this morning at the bright and early hour of 9:30 and threw on my favorite comfort clothes. It is my go-to outfit when I’m sick. Will, who is suddenly very fashioned conscious, asked if I was really going to go out in my PJ’s. WHAT? I ask in exasperation. These are most decidedly NOT PJ’s. Right?



Now don’t look too closely because remember, I’m sick. And I don’t have any make up on; well, okay, I have yesterdays make up on, and my glasses. But this is a going out outfit right? I mean, I’m not saying I’m a walking fashion plate or anything, but I can stop at the store in these without people thinking I’m in my pajamas.

And also, why is it when you’re sick and wearing clothing of questionable appropriateness do you run into everyone you’ve ever known in your whole life?

Dadgum that Murphy and his stinkin’ law!

I think they call that over-sharing.

In honor of the fact that Sir D so kindly shared his head cold with me, I'm going to keep this short and sweet. I am on cold meds, and my head is swimming a little bit, yet I still get to drive downtown today because it's my day on carpool to get the kids to their Dyslexia Remediation class. Yippee.

Because I have nothing to say, except to whine and you don't really need that; I'm going to point you over here.

Those are the coolest things! And if it is easy enough for me to make (and I think it is) then anyone can do it.

Go check it out, unless you are expecting a Christmas gift from me this year, if that's the case don't go check it out, cuz that's what you're getting.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I must go blow my nose. Again.

A Pretty Darn Good Monday

Bible Study was canceled tonight due to the host (my Sister in law) getting sick about half an hour before we were all due to show up at her house.

I was on snack tonight and had already made the cookies. The kids were very happy to have the cookies me stay home. Sir D decided that since Will’s soccer practice was canceled due to rain and my bible study was canceled due to sickness, we should take advantage of the fact that we were all unexpectedly home and do something together.

Some families might sit around a warm fire, roasting chestnuts and reading aloud, others might discuss the changing political climate still others might enjoy watching something like The Sound of Music while cuddling on the couch eating homemade popcorn. Not my family. We played cards…for profit. It wasn’t actually Poker and we were not playing for real money, but there was no competitiveness lost due to that fact.



We played Oh, Heck! For cookies. For every hand won, a cookie was awarded. Will ended up with 2 and a half. Ann got 1, Eve got 1, Bob got 2 and Sir D got 1 and a half. And even though I baked the cookies I got none. Actually Sir D was magnanimous and split one of his with me.



I’d like to say I was throwing the game for the good of my offspring, you know, building up there self esteem. I wasn’t. I just stink at Oh Heck. Badly.

While it was not the Monday I had expected and I am sorry my SIL is sick, it was a wonderful night.



And on a totally unrelated topic, don’t those hoodies my boys are wearing look like they walked right out of the 80’s? Every time I see them I hear Michael Jackson singing Billie Jean, you know, back before he went weird.

I think they have hollow legs.

You know how I often refer to my family as a pack of wolves in regards to how much they eat? Here is proof.

Tonight for dinner we had…

2 pork loins

2 and ½ packages crescent rolls

3 cantaloupes, cut up

4 apples, cut up

There was not one single solitary crumb left. They ate it ALL. And they acted like they were still hungry.

Seriously, I think paying for their college will be cheaper than feeding them.

Dude!

That's my boy.



And let's just say that if I tried that little move, I'd break something.

One Day They'll Thank Us.

This is what boys did yesterday. I am so glad they have each other.



I am also glad The Teenager has an old car. I know he does not know it now, or appreciate it yet, but fixing your own car is a skill he will appreciate having when he is an adult.



Because when Sir D and I are old and doddering and our car won't work, who do you think we're gonna call? A mechanic? No way. I'll be calling my well trained boys.

The Day After

On this day, let us look back to one of the greatest men our country has ever seen in office.

Ronald Regan.

Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.

And also...

All great change in America begins at the dinner table.

Barak Obama is now my president. I have great respect for the office, and while I don't share his beliefs, I have respect for his achievement.

I will however be watching and praying and teaching my children at the dinner table. I will not hand over my freedoms; they were hard won by men greater than me. I will not sit idly by while the constitution drafted by our forefathers is ignored.

We conservatives respect the people's choice, but we are watching and we won't sit down and allow anyone to slide us into socialism.

Donuts

Today in honor of Election Day, I made homemade donuts.



These homemade donuts.



Okay, it was not really in honor if election day, it was in honor of the fact that someone finally let me in on the secret handshake of the homemade donut world.

See, I always thought that only those mom’s that wore pearls and heals while they vacuumed, made their beds every day, grew their own food and made their own clothes, made homemade donuts. Since I only do a few of those things, (okay, I don’t wear pearls and heals when I vacuum…or make my bed every day…or grow my own food…okay! I don’t do any of those things!) I did not think the homemade donut thing was for me.

But recently Sarah let me in on the dirty little donut secret. Canned Biscuit dough. You unroll yourself some Grands biscuits, cut a little hole in the middle (as an aside, a small shot glass makes the perfect tool for creating the perfect little round hole in the donut, and that is the ONLY reason I was at the Dollar Store buying a shot glass yesterday! REALLY!) then throw your newly formed donuts in the fry daddy, then throw the holes in there too.

When they are appropriately cooled, sprinkle some powdered sugar over them and serve!

You will instantly become SUPERMOM! And your kids and husband will love you forever, and all your friends will be duly impressed and next thing you know you’ll be vacuuming in your heals.

Reading Class

This is one of the things I love about homeschooling. My kids love to read in this tree. Often I'll send them off to go read their books and then wonder where they went, only to find them in the tree.

I love to read in a quite place too. Wonder if I could get up there...

And on another interesting educational note, The Teenager told me of an exchange between his Spanish prof and a student. Apparently the student answered a question he was asked in class incorrectly. Once he was told it was the wrong answer, he used the name of Jesus in vain. The Prof said "We won't be saying that in my class."

Wow. Some standards. And in a community college no less. My faith in our higher learning institutions is increasing.

The Day After: Let the sugar highs begin.

Yesterday was interesting here in the Hilltop. We went to our Church's trunk or treat. Here is Eve, she was Julie the American Girl from the 70's.



And here is Ann, she was cotton candy. I really wish I'd gotten a photo of her right away. This is about halfway though the night and we'd had to re wrap her several times. Now she really just looks like a sad pink mummy.



The boys did not dress up. They are too cool for that now. They went and helped out and told people they were either 'hot stuff' if it was a cute girl asking or 'pedestrians' if it was an adult or a guy.

Earlier in the day, The Teenager went to an el Dia de los Muertos event at the community college he attends. He is taking a Spanish class there and he was given the option to do this for extra credit. He needs the extra credit.

We talked about what the Day of The Dead is, and how it is not something that we believe in, and it does not match up with our Worldview. I asked him to try to come up with some ways that what we believe to be true and the celebration of El Dia de los Muertos contradict each other. I think this is a very good practice. He is 17, almost a man. He’ll be leaving home soon and choosing to either take on the Truth we have taught him or look elsewhere. Sir D and I are doing our best to help him understand his faith better and be able to detect falsehood when he sees it. We can’t run from all things that disagree with what we believe, we must be able to stand firm, to be a light in a dark world.

When he got back, we sat down in the living room and I asked him what he learned from the experience.

His response?

“I have learned that I hate Mexican music. It’s just like country music except you can’t understand it. And there are trumpets.”

Eternal truths, my friends. My family aims high.