Tips From Tricia: Cords and Chargers Edition

Remember Hints From Heloise? Well, this is Tips From Tricia. It will probably not become a thing, because while Heloise was a 'hints' kinda girl, I am not. You'll not usually hear me telling you the best way to get stains out of your clothes, or how to get rid of that darn soap scum, or how to best iron out those pesky wrinkles. I kinda like wrinkles.

What I do not like are cords. Everywhere. Kindle cords, iPhone/iPod, cell phone cords...

Our non-adult children are required to put their devices in our room every night before they go to bed. What that means is that every outlet has a cord sticking out of it (or several) with some sort of device charging, usually emitting a small blue or red indicator light. Not only do the cords everywhere annoy me, but the lights are super annoying in a dark room. Since you can't just turn off those lights we usually cover them with a sock or some handy piece of clothing. Pause for a minute and imagine what my bedroom looks like. Every night. Piles of electronics near every outlet with random clothes over them. ANNOYING!

So I devised this solution.

I bought this cute little wicker basket and put an outlet extension cord in it. I thought I might have to cut it a bit to get the big plug to fit out the side, but I managed to squeeze it through.

I bought a multi-plug USB charger for the iPhones/iPods and new cords. I wrote MOM on them and threatened anyone within an inch of their lives if that charger or the cords ever left the basket.

There were several plugs left for the Kindle and non Apple product cell phones.

Best of all? NO CORDS EVERYWHERE!!! And while there is a faint blue glow coming from the basket when the lights go out, that's much preferred over the sock covered lights near every outlet in the master bedroom.

SUCCESS!!

Now, If I can just get that kid of mine to figure out how to turn off the alarm that goes off at 7am on a Saturday morning, we'll be golden.

Summer's Here!!

Summer has finally arrived at the Hilltop Homeschool. Oh Happy Day!!

Every year our school looks different. It's hardly a 'home'school anymore, and everything ends at different times. My two older children have graduated. Bryce is in a Paramedics program that goes straight through the summer and into next year. Gunnar is finishing up today with EMT/Fire Academy.

Evelyn, who is just finishing up her Jr. year in High School is ending gradually. She's taken 2 of her college finals, one is next week, and she finished her Anatomy class at our co op yesterday. She has a little work for me over the summer in History and Government. She's mostly done for the year.

Annika who just finished her Freshman year of High School finished yesterday...sort of. She takes many of her heavy classes at our co op, which finished yesterday. She has to finished a chapter of History today, and she'll do Algebra and Driver's Ed through the summer.

One of the things I loved about homeschooling was control of the schedule! HA! That perk is long over, with kids graduating and branching out to classes outside our home. But I still love to celebrate a year finished.

So today, the day after co op ends, like we've done for the last many years, we celebrate the beginning of summer. Even though Bryce's schedule does not really change at all, and Ev still has a final to do and a class this summer to finish, and Annika also has some school work to finish this summer...still we celebrate. We mark the day. You're done. Summer officially starts. Your schedule is your own. You can get up, get in the pool, chat with friends, make a cake, whatever you want so long as you get your chores done and your bit of school accomplished sometime during the day.

Ahhh, summer.

Here are their goodie bags to ring in the summer season. I added a personal note of congratulations for each child.

Celebration is good for the soul!

Evelyn's Goodie Bag

Annika's Goodie Bag 

Bryce's Goodie Bag 

Gunnar's Goodie Bag 

HAPPY SUMMER!!

Talk Like Gunnar!

My son Gunnar is in Fire Academy this semester (he did EMT last semester). He's done beautifully and his dad and I couldn't be prouder of him. Bryce has already done Fire Academy, EMT, and is currently in Paramedics school.

It's a funny thing, to have your sons training to be First Responders. I am of course, terribly, terribly proud. I know that they both have the character to go with the Fireman/Hero image. But, well, walking into burning buildings for a living? I mean, were all the Playing On The Highway positions filled? Sheesh. Could they have picked a more dangerous career?

Gunnar told me a funny story the other day about his time in Fire Academy that had me laughing. I'm sure I'll get some details wrong, but you'll get the gist of it.

They were all on a break out in the field behind the school playing Frisbee. Apparently, the language can get a little, ahem, colorful during the games. One of the other students saw the Dean of the school walking up to them and started trying to let the others know to watch their language, but the others were not getting his subtle attempts. Finally he said, 'Everybody talk like Gunnar!' which, of course, made the rest of them realize they needed to clean up their language. They all looked around, noticed the Dean just in time, and then went on about their game using less colorful language while the Dean was in earshot.

This is the kind of thing every mother wants to hear.

Now if I could just talk them into less dangerous careers... I wonder how long it takes to go to culinary school? Accounting perhaps? Librarian?

Moving Base Camp

Yesterday we moved my Mother in Law from her house of 20+ years to a smaller apartment on the campus of the missions organization she and my father in law served with their entire careers.

It was fun in many ways. It’s always fun when the whole family gets together. 3 of her 4 sons and their families showed up to move her in. (Eric lives out of town, but was here a few weeks ago and he and his daughter put in lots of time helping her get ready for the move.) We laughed and played music and were silly. The teens ate donuts between lugging large boxes and unpacking. Overall the atmosphere was upbeat and festive.

There was an undercurrent of sadness, however. There was no Far Far. Many of the things that have always been part of my in-laws house were notably absent: Far Far’s chair, the walker, his hats. Hard to believe it’s been almost 2 years since his passing. There is none of Far Far in this new place. It seemed sort of cold and sad as we were moving the things from the old house, so full of his presence, to the white-washed walls of the new place where Far Far had never been. There were no memories of him here. I know we all felt it, though no one really spoke of it. It was a hard enough day for my mother in law without bringing that up.

We were pretty much finished in the old place and we were all packed into the new apartment trying to get her settled a bit before we left. A few of the teens were trying to put her coffee table together and having a hard time of it. It’s an old table someone brought back from Colombia. It has eight sides and they had to be placed just so before the top would fit on. The teens were not having much success.  Dave walked in as they were struggling and said to them, “Look underneath the table top. If I know Far Far, it’s marked under there somewhere so you’ll know how to put it together.” The kids did and sure enough, there were markings showing just how to line it up so it would fit. We all laughed and my mother in law got a little teary.

Far Far was here. Even though he’d never been physically present in that place, he left a little part of himself with every single one of the people in that room. He’d left marks on all of us. Directions. Showing us all how to line up, so we could stand.

We miss you Far Far.

The Saturday

Saturday was a bit of a rough day around here. The family and I were preparing for a large Easter gathering the next day and there was much to be done. This is a busy time of year for most families and ours is no exception. We left a lot till the last minute.

Everyone had lists, and no one really wanted to be there to do the things on those lists. I was having quite a bit of pain that day and had to pace myself so I could get it all done. I find that very frustrating. So much to do and every so often I have to just sit there. Rest. Think about all the things on my list while I sit there not doing them and watching my people do their work. It causes some grumpiness among the ranks I think, to see mom sitting a lot when everyone else is working diligently, and it certainly makes me more irritable.

Even with this tension, the work got done and for the most part, good attitudes won out. But there was a tension, a frustration. I kept having to remind myself that I was determined NOT to ruin it all with my grumpy, frantic, rushing around, ‘getting ready’. I started down that path a few times and then stopped. I hope the family would say I did better this time.

It was not a joyous, happy, carefree Saturday, this day between Good Friday and Easter Sunday. I thought about that a lot, during my resting periods that day. The Saturday in-between, what a horrid, awful, heartbreakingly dismal day that must have been. Hopeless, utterly.

Those people who had truly believed Jesus was who he said he was, who had given up everything to follow Him, were they deceived? Was he really just another man? It seemed so. They’d taken up their crosses and followed…a man, a regular, human man. The confusion. The sorrow. The wondering, where to go from here. It was all a sham, a lie.

We have the hope of Easter. We have the end of the story. We are the Resurrection People, to borrow a phrase from Ann Voskamp.  They were not. They didn’t know. They were truly and utterly hopeless; the Saturday People. I thought about them, on my Saturday of Frustration, how hard that day must have been; those long dark hours between Jesus saying ‘It is finished,’ and his resurrection.

Then on Sunday I heard the idea of The Saturday People of today. They’re still here among us. Still hopeless, still let down, still waiting on yesterday’s promise. Still unfulfilled. And that made me so sad. It also made me so very thankful to be among the Resurrection People. It makes me want to go and find them all, the Saturday People and tell them there is HOPE. HE IS RISEN! HE IS ALIVE! Come, let me introduce you to my Savior, my Hope. You don’t have to live another single Saturday. Not one.

Come, let me introduce you to the One who came to seek and save the lost.

Please Lord...

Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master,
Grant that I may not so much seek
To be consoled, as to console;
To be understood, as to understand;
To be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Prayer of St. Francis

Happy Birthday, Ruthie!

Dear Ruthie,

You don’t get to choose the family you’re born into, but you do get to choose the family you marry into, as they say.

I’ll admit that having you and Rachel as sisters in law, sweetened the deal as far as becoming a Staalsen. I’m continually thankful that God brought me into this family. (I wonder if Rosa felt the same about the three of us when she married in? Or perhaps those three crazy Staalsen Ladies we were a deterrent! Haha)

You helped me get ready on my wedding day. 

You loved my children like they were your own.

 You’ve been there for me in so many ways over the years; a listening ear when I needed one, a girl to laugh with, a sister to roll my eyes alongside as our husbands got injured yet again on those darn bikes, a fashion & decorating consultant (the world thanks you for that one) and simply a friend.

Not all sisters in law can say they are also friends. I am so very glad we can.

I could go on and on about the ways you've enriched my life and that of my children. You and Dan have poured into them since they were babies and I never once had to worry or be concerned about what they might learn or hear from you. I knew I could always trust you would give them a loving, godly example. Do you know how rare that is?

I love you, Ruthie and I wish you the happiest of birthdays!

Tricia

What is this thing you call 'A Blog'?

I think I've forgotten how to blog, to write at all really. It requires time and complete thoughts and those are things I seem to be having less and less of these days. I guess that's not true, no one ever really has 'less time' it's just what our time is filled with and these days mine is filled with teenagers and a husband. I thought things would get easier and less busy once they got older, and in some ways it has, but in many ways it's busier. 

So, for today, to help me get back into the grove of this thing called blogging that I used to love, I shall go with a template.

Outside my window...

It's a beautiful day. Cold front came through last night and cooled things down and got rid of the humidity. Sun is shining my tulips are blooming, horses are grazing in the field behind our house. It's happy outside today. 

I am thinking...

About next school year. Decisions, decisions. Trying to remember to keep it simple and not over-think everything. As they get older the stakes get higher as far as their education goes. 

I am thankful...

For my husband who loves me, healthy kids, a happy contented life. God is good. 

In the kitchen...

We're enjoying our Bountiful Basket veggie co op. Lots and lots of fruit and veggies every two weeks for me to figure out what to do with. It helps me to stay creative with our food and learn new things. For instance, I made bok choy last week! I almost burned down the house making the Asian Chili oil to put in it, but that's another blog post. 

I am wearing...

My pj's. Still. At 11:30 AM. I love Saturdays!

I am creating...

I've recently picked up my knitting needles and crochet hook again. I've made several baby blankets for my (KIDS) friends who are having babies. (Know what will make you feel old? Knitting baby blankets for friends of your children who are starting their own families!)

I am going...

To a baby shower today. This lovely girl is actually younger than my oldest son. (HI. I'm old). She and her husband are having a boy and I crocheted them a cute blanket, hat and booties set.)

I am wondering...

If anyone is ever going to fold the towels that have been sitting on the couch for a week. I think I may be the only one who can see them. 

I am reading...

The latest Janet Evanovich book. She cracks me UP! I'm also reading A Place of Healing: Wrestling with the Mysteries of Suffering, Pain, and God's Sovereignty by Joni Eareckson Tada. I figure if anyone has something to say on this topic, it's her. 

I am hoping...

This new med I'm trying that is actually working a little bit (Pain is down by about 50% I'd say.) is not giving me high blood pressure. But I think it is. I've borrowed a blood pressure monitor so I can check it over the next couple of weeks. It is a side effect of this med for some people and I think I might be one of the unlucky ones. Bummer. This is the first med that's actually made any difference. 

I am looking forward to...

I am actually quite content. There are several fun events in the future that I will enjoy, our summer vacations, watching my 2nd child graduate from Fire Academy, celebrating all the spring and summer birthdays in the family, but I think I can honestly say that I'm really just enjoying the now. 

I am learning...

That sometimes God allows a hard thing to happen, to teach us something, or perhaps, to keep a worse thing from happening in the future. It's hard to trust during the hard things, but I'm learning. 

Around the house...

The tulips that I planted in December have come up and bloomed! I generally have a black thumb so I am so very excited about this!

I am pondering...

What God has next for me, after my days of homeschooling are over. That day is fast approaching. What else am I good at? I don't know. I guess I'll have to figure  that out. 

Also, hubby and I are considering taking part in a new ministry our church is starting up. Praying about what that will look like. 

A favorite quote for today...

I'm still laughing at the somewhat altered idiom that my hubby used to give some sage advice to his daughters regarding dating and the importance of choosing a spouse wisely...

"One boy with a job is worth two on the beach."  ~ Daddy

One of my favorite things...

My kitchen aid mixer. I love that thing. I use it constantly. How did I ever manage to cook anything before that beautiful piece of equipment came into my life?

A few plans for the rest of the week:

I have to get the tires rotated and balanced, and the title transferred on Ev's new (to her) car. Prep for my co op class. Start thinking about what I'm going to cook for Easter. And get those stupid towels folded and put away...you know, just the regular and the mundane. I love regular and mundane.


I hope your week is filled with regular and mundane because that means everything is going smoothly  and who doesn't love that? 

How to Stay Happily Married: Top 10 List

Recently there have been a flurry of weddings among my acquaintances. I would like to think that it’s just a weird coincidence and not because I’ve reached the age where my children’s friends are all now getting married. Because that would make me old.

All these sweet, happy-couple wedding photos showing up on Facebook have me harkening back to my own days as a new wife. In some ways it seems like I’ve always been married to Dave, and in other ways it seems like it was yesterday he was trying to talk me into riding off from our wedding on the back of his motorcycle. (I said an emphatic NO. I wish I’d said yes.)

While that first year is full of new, young love, it was also hard. Much harder than I anticipated. We were both very young, and Dave was still finishing college so he worked during the day and went to school in the evenings, and like most young couples, we were broke.

Even harder than dealing with the work schedule, and the school schedule, and the money (or lack thereof) was figuring out what kind of couple we were going to be. My parents were divorced when I was very young and I didn’t have an example of what a healthy married couple looked like. You sure don’t see many on tv! But you know what? We figured it out. We’ve had some hard times, sure, but I don’t ever recall a time in the almost 23 years we’ve been married where I’d wished I was not married to Dave. I think he would say the same.

So, for all those fresh-faced, happy new couples:

  How to Be Happily Married Top 10 List

1.       Always remember, you’re on the same team, not adversaries. Act like it.

2.       Choose to always think the best of your spouse. If you hear something from a friend about your spouse and it could be taken 2 ways, assume the best. If he leaves a coffee spill on the counter, don’t automatically think “Who does he think I am the maid?” instead think, “He must have been in a hurry and forgot.” Or, “He must have not noticed the spill.” Trust me on this one. Satan is going to fight you on this. He wants you to always think the worst, always be annoyed, and always assume your spouse is out to get you or using you or does not appreciate you. Simply choose to think the best.

3.       Always be honest. Be honest about the clothes you bought at the store when you really didn’t have the money. Be honest about the ding on the car door. Be honest about the important item of his that you were careless with and accidentally broke. Be honest. Always. And about everything.

4.       Keep no secrets. Similar to being honest, but it goes even further. Never know anything that you would not tell your spouse. Be the woman that people tell things to, expecting that she will tell her husband. Never agree to ‘let’s keep this between you and me, and not tell your husband.’ Other than happy surprises, keep no secrets.

5.       Pick up the clothes he drops in the wrong place. Just do it. Every day.  And don’t complain. How do you think your curling iron gets back in the drawer every morning?

6.       Make the meal that you hate, but he loves. The words ‘I love you’ cannot speak louder than this.

7.       Watch the guy TV. Don’t just sit nearby and read or get on the internet. Watch. Many of those shows are actually kinda good.

8.       Never belittle your husband to others. If you would not say it with him standing next to you, don’t say it at all. Be his cheerleader. It’s exclusively your job. Nobody believes his mom when she says how wonderful he is, but they’ll believe what you say, be it positive or negative.

9.       Don’t begrudge him his guy time. Let him go play. You don’t want to have to play poker/smoke the cigar/watch all the races/tinker with the garage things, do you? He’ll come home happier. I promise.

10.   Say ‘I Love you’ and ‘Yes’ as often as you can.

All 10 of the things in the How to Stay Happily Married Top 10 List can be summed up simply in Jesus’ words.

 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Matthew 22 37-40

Love God, and love your husband as yourself. If this is your top focus, you cannot go wrong.

I wonder what Dave’s list would look like? Perhaps something like this…

1.       Eat your wife’s food. Even the gross meals. Maybe, with some encouragement, she’ll get better.

2.       Just because she kills all the houseplants doesn’t mean she’s going to kill you too.

3.       Give up trying to share the blanket and get your own. No one will ever figure out why she has to roll up like a sausage every night.

4.       Perhaps she can’t see the curling iron sitting on the bathroom counter EVERY MORNING?

5.       Yes, she really does need all those bottles in the shower.

6.        Make ‘houseplants’ a line item in the budget and don’t ask questions.

7.       Try to ignore Morning Trish. Regular Trish will arrive somewhere around coffee cup #2

8.       Make ‘coffee’ a line item in the budget and don’t ask questions

9.       Yes, she really does need that many bags, pairs of shoes, and books.

10.   Say ‘I love you’ and ‘yes’ as often as you can.

Homeschooling the Latter Years

The older the kids get the less comfortable I feel using the word ‘Homeschool’ because less and less of their education actually takes place at home. I am more an educational facilitator than a homeschooler.

(Our homeschool looks nothing like that anymore. It's kinda sad!)

But I also feel like there is very little information about ‘homeschooling’ in Jr. High and High School, so I’ll put something out there.

Here’s how we do it.

We’ll start with the boys. Though they’re not in highschool anymore, what we did for them in high school prepared them for what they are doing now.

Bryce – in the last 2 years of his high school he took classes at our local community college. He was able to get credit for both highschool and college in one class. He took all his basics; math, English, Spanish, Speech, etc, but we tailored his sciences. He wants to be a Fireman/Paramedic so we had him take health related sciences like Anatomy and Physiology. We also looked at what is required for an Associates in Paramedics and took the ‘Electives’ that would count for that. 

Spanish was required as was Sociology or Psychology. He took his EMT Basic and did Fire Academy after he graduated and now he is about to start the Paramedics Program. Because he’s got all the required academic classes already done, he will be receiving the associates degree instead of just the certification when he is finished.   

Gunnar – Gunnar his similar goals as far as being a Fireman, but he is less interested in the medical portion of the job. In Texas it is required that all Fireman be certified in EMT Basic so he will be taking that class in the Fall. He graduated in May, but we allowed him to do something a little different to prepare for his future job. He started taking duel credit classes at our local community college when he was a sophomore. He took the basics, but once he got to his senior year, he’d already had many college credit hours and he really wanted to enroll in the HVAC program instead of taking academic classes, so we let him do that. When he graduated highschool he had several college credits, and all the certifications required to do residential HVAC repair. In the Fall he’s going to do his EMT classes and then Fire Academy in the Spring. By May of next year he’ll have all the schooling and certifications nessessarry to be a Fireman and do HVAC repair on the side. That is what he wanted to do, and we used his highschool years to make that happen.

Evelyn – Evelyn is taking a more traditional college track. I suspect she will be my 4 year college degree girl, perhaps in business or maybe even law. This year she will be a Junior and will be starting at the community college. She’ll be taking English 1301 and 1302, Spanish 1 & 2 (not sure what the official class numbers are for those classes) and College Algebra.  (she’s hoping to add an art class in the Spring semester but we’ll see how that goes.)

At our Homeschool Co Op she’ll be taking an Anatomy class. She’s already taken Biology and Chemistry.  She had a choice of Marine Biology, Physics, or Anatomy this year and Anatomy is what she chose.

She will be finishing World History and moving into American History. This will be done at home. I also have a Government/Economics curriculum she’ll be going through, as well as a list of required reading for the year. This is how her Junior year breaks down:

English – CC & Book list at home

Spanish – CC

Algebra  - Tutor and CC

Art – CC (maybe)

Anatomy – Co Op (Apologia)

World/American History – home (Notgrass)

Government/Economics – Home (Uncle Eric Books)

Annika: Annika is really the only one I’m teaching this year and I use that term lightly. She is taking several classes at our homeschool Co op. Because Annika loves music and is already talking about majoring in Music we’re letting her run with that. She also loves kids and works at our church's Mother's Day Out program most of the day on Tuesdays. 

She will be taking part in our co op’s Show Tunes class that culminates in a major performance at the end of the year. This year they are working on the Musical, State Fair.

She also takes private voice and piano lessons.

At co op she will be taking a creative writing class, ASL for her foreign language, a dancing class, Biology and Show Tunes.

At home we will be working through Teaching Textbooks Pre Algebra  and still slogging through Sequential Spelling. Spelling and math are her weakest areas so they require a lot of time and effort. 

Annika will also be finishing up her World History curriculum and moving into American History this school year using Story of the World and various fiction books.  She also has a list of ‘required reading’ this year. Books like Lord of the Flies, Animal Farm, 1985, Jane Eyre, etc. This is how her Freshman year breaks down:

English: Creative Writing (co op)

Spelling (home)

Literature (home)

Math: Teaching Textbooks Pre Algebra (home)

Science: Apologia Biology (co op)

Music : Show Tunes (co op)

Private Lessons

PE: Dancing (Co op)

Foreign Language: ALS (co op)

So there you have it. Homeschooling Highschool. It looks nothing like homeschooling at all!