Thursday Thirteen - things Robert's done to our house

These are thirteen of my favorite things.

1. When we moved here five years ago, this house was terribly dated, with lots of dark wallpaper with tiny print right out of the '70s. The entry hall, which is narrow already, had dark chair railing topped with dark maroon swiss-dotted wallpaper. To open and lighten it up, Robert replaced it all with a very light patterned paper. He also replaced the dark brown closet doors with mirrored doors.


2. He removed a cabinet above the stove and installed the microwave. He did this in our last house too, and I appreciate the extra counter space.


3. He replaced the banged up kitchen sink with cast iron. (Yes, I have a dishrack, but we've hidden it away until the house sells. The coffeepot gets hidden away for showings too.)


4. And like in the last house, he installed undercabinet lighting for me. The lights run over three sides of the counters, with two different switches.


5. There's another wall on the left side of the fridge here. Proving his point, "This new refrigerator WILL SO fit!," Robert later repaired the wall, and if you didn't know the cutout was there, you'd, well, never know it was there.


6. He replaced all the light switches in the house with either dimmers or rockers.


7. He replaced all of the country blue bathroom counter tops.

This main floor powder room had blue and orange striped wallpaper, identical to the dining room. Eeek!!


The kids' bathroom had one sink but plenty of room for another. When he replaced the counter top, he installed a second sink, and rewired the lights, replacing the fixtures.


8. He installed glass doors above the tubs instead of using shower curtains. (This was also something he did in our old house.) The "rain" pattern on these means you can never see the water stains. You can see the kids' door in the picture above, and ours in the picture below.

9. In a moment of boredom a few years ago, he tore out a row of our bath tile and replaced it with a contrasting color.


10. In another moment of boredom, he decorated our closet. He put up border wallpaper, installed canned lighting with a dimmer switch, and shopped for all the decorations.


11. He planted hundreds of new plants and flowers outside. He poured 1000 lbs. of concrete to make a waterfall. There's also outdoor garden lighting all along the backyard that I didn't get a picture of.

12. He replaced all the uneven wooden vertical retaining walls. The walls in front are now brick; the longer walls in back are horizontal railroad ties.


13. He put up several brackets across our front porch for hanging flower baskets. He even maintains them. :)
I am SO grateful to have a husband who can do this. We never could have afforded the tens of thousands of dollars that we would have to pay someone for all the things that Robert has done. Thank you, honey! You ARE my hero!!!

Wednesday

As much as Robert grumbles about me pulling out my camera so often, he sometimes slips and lets me know he doesn't mind. He's the one who told me to grab a shot of this.


Spring time is when we get more wind and rain than any other time of year. Along with that can be the fog. I thought Pikes Peak looked rather Rainier-like, appearing to hang from the sky instead of push up from the earth.

Today is my Dad's 70th birthday. 70. That's old. But he's not old. I could deal with the 60s just fine. Thinking about him being 70 is sort of like thinking that my younger sister is 41. I try not to think about it much, because it makes ME think I'm old.

My dad and I are both big on denial when it suits us. I think denying he's 70 suits us both just fine. So we'll just pretend he isn't. (And I'm sure that's okay with you, right, Dad?)

Meanwhile, he is off on another motorcycle trip this week. His wife rides her own bike. When I talked to him tonight, they'd ridden through some nastier weather, wind, rain, some thunder. 70 year olds don't do stuff like this--so don't worry, Dad, we don't have to think about you turning 70, at least not for a few more years. :)

Here you are 50 years ago. How about you settle for an age in between?

Happy Birthday!

Book Review - The Yada Yada Prayer Group books 4 and 5

I've really enjoyed this series so far by Neta Jackson. I hadn't realized that she'd written more until I saw them on Laura and/or De'Etta's reading lists.

Book 4, The Yada Yada Prayer Group Gets Tough, continues the story of the friends. Nony's husband is violently assaulted in a race riot and much of the book focuses on his hospitalization. The secondary storyline is the possible merging of two churches to which some of the prayer group members belong. As in all the books, there are several smaller storylines.

In Book 5, The Yada Yada Prayer Group Gets Caught, Nony's husband's recovery moves to the background, and the lives of many of the other characters are more prominent. Someone is pregnant in this book too, but I'm not giving away any secrets!

In the first two books, I didn't care much for Jodi. I've enjoyed seeing her evolve into a more sympathetic character as she becomes less self involved. I've already reserved Book 6 from the library and will wait for it to come in. I'm trying very hard to not read the reviews about it, because I don't really want to know what happens ahead of time. I have one big guess, but I won't possibly spoil that here!

These are fun, light fiction books, and I recommend the series. Definitely begin with Book 1, The Yada Yada Prayer Group.

Lazy, lazy week

This is such a dead week, and I'm feeling a little bit guilty.

Trevor came down with a nasty cold yesterday. We thought it was an allergy attack. He's been taking medicine daily for several months, but he was crawling through the grass on Sunday, playing Spiderman. Testing showed he is very allergic to pollen; this is not a great time of year for him. While it's not good that it's a cold, at least it's not allergies, and at least we have absolutely nothing going on this week.

We had a showing scheduled this morning and went to Cracker Barrel for breakfast.

We submitted a contract for the house in Virginia. We'll see what happens. We've been looking at this house for several weeks online, and we are sure this is the house for us. But we'll see what plans God has for us. We are getting antsy about selling this house. We know we are very competitively priced, however, and we're not willing to rashly sacrifice here in the hopes of moving things along.

He said to His disciples, "Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?" Mark 4:40

Okay, so I have faith. :)

Feeling guilty for doing nothing over the past several days, I commented about it to Holly tonight. She says she's not bored at all and is enjoying this complete down time to read and write. I will take her lead and enjoy this week too, knowing that if anyone starts going stir crazy, they'll be sure to let me know!

The only things I have planned are to continue reading my Yada Yada book, and take Holly to riding lessons. I also want to pull together a list (easy, thanks to Paula) and take it to both the used homeschool bookstore and the library book sale coming up.

I never look at the donated books the library has for sale, but when I happened to last week, I found an Apologia Elementary Astronomy book--for $2!!! (This is ~$25 brand new and resells for quite a bit used too.) I already have my own copy, but I snatched this one up. I'm taking it to a friend next week to see if it is a good fit for her kids.

I'm eagerly awaiting my first book order from Chris. It will be like Christmas! Don't ask me why I'm buying books just before we move, but I'm excited to be finding things that I want now that might not be available later.

* * * * *
The love of learning, the sequestered nooks,
And all the sweet serenity of books.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

* * * * *
Let your bookcases and your shelves
be your gardens and your pleasure-grounds.
Pluck the fruit that grows therein,
gather the roses, the spices, and the myrrh.
Judah Ibn Tibbon

* * * * *
Some books are to be tasted,
others to be swallowed,
and some few to be chewed and digested.
Francis Bacon

* * * * *
I cannot live without books.
Thomas Jefferson

* * * * *
There is no Frigate like a Book
To take us Lands away . . .
Emily Dickinson

* * * * *
When I get a little money
I buy books;
and if any is left
I buy food and clothes.
Erasmus

Product Review - Bare Minerals: get started eyes

I began using Bare Escentuals face makeup last summer and absolutely love it. I bought the "starter kit," which contained a brush, "mineral veil," warmth, and foundation colors. From the beginning, I knew that the mineral veil seemed to make everything else work better. The products are meant to be used together, not separately. Not only do I like how nicely it goes on and how it feels on my skin, but I also like how my skin looks and feels even after I wash the makeup off at night.

I've tried one of the mineral eye shadows but wasn't too impressed. I should have known better. The products are meant to be used together, not separately. This eye kit comes with three brushes, and four different shadows, including one liner. While the basic color in this kit is brown, the individual colors range from a light beige to a very dark brownish black. I like the way they go on together, and I can mix and match, using two or three of the colors of my choice. I wondered if the powder liner would "stick" and I've been very happy with how easy it is to put on and how long it lasts. I can wet my brush to make it more dramatic, too.

So far, everything I've tried of BE has been a big hit--as long as I use it the way they tell me to. And now that I have my newest ULTA gift card, I can't wait to buy more. :) It's not cheap, but it's worth it, and ULTA has some sort of guarantee on the products too; very convenient if you buy it and hate it. (I just googled, and the closest ULTA store when we move is 2 hours away. Gulp! At least there's always online shopping!)

This week's menu

Kathleen's Orange Muffins (not as a meal, of course, but I want to make these!)

bbq hot dogs, deviled eggs, baked beans, creamed cucumbers

pork chops, Browned Cauliflower, applesauce, green salad

Marlboro Man's Sandwich by Pioneer Woman

chile rellanos by Robert, guacamole and tortilla chips

Lisa's Santa Fe Chicken (I was going to make this two weeks ago, but everyone asked for Tortilla Soup instead, which ingredients are very similar!)

turkey and avocado subs, chips, fruit
(I'm waiting for a really nice day so we can take these to one of our lovely parks for dinner.)

????


On the back burner:

cheeseburgers

BLTs

breakfast burritos (these are such a big hit and make great leftovers)

pasta salad and fruit

bratwurst with peppers and onions

manicotti

YOYO

considering Pioneer Woman's Chicken Spaghetti Casserole . . .

Kate's Peanut Chicken on SHS "awesome chicken recipe for Lisa"

Kelly's White Cake & Buttercream Icing (how can I not make this? It looks fabulous, and we all know Kelly's reputation as an awesome cook!)

Happy Mother's Day!

You know it's true. Some Mother's Days are just better than others. I can remember a time when I asked Robert, please, just take the kids to your mom's house so I can have some time alone. I can't imagine doing that now--which is almost funny, considering I'm around my kids almost every minute of every day.

This was a great Mother's Day. Our weather's been warm enough to keep our bedroom windows open at night, something I really like to do. This is the view I woke up to, Garden of the Gods on the left, Pikes Peak behind the tree on the right. Can a day that begins like this ever be that bad?

My next treat came in on two legs. Trevor spent an hour and fifteen minutes yesterday making this card for me. He slept with it under his pillow so he'd be sure to remember to give it to me first thing. (I'm glad he did!) You can't see all the detail here, but he cut all of these out from colored paper and taped and stapled (and stapled and stapled) everything together. This was only the inside. The back had a cutout of the two of us holding hands, giving each other googly eyes.

AND Trevor made me breakfast!!! He scrambled eggs and made toast--enough for all of us!

Holly and Trevor gave me their assorted cards (Holly also made one with cutouts :), along with an ULTA gift card and perfume.

Robert and I went to the Family Christian Store and I bought myself a few other things.

We hung out for most of the rest of the day, and I was able to do some of the reading I'd hoped to find time for. Robert banished me from the kitchen (to do more reading) while he fixed dinner: shrimp cocktail, bbqed steak, baked crab legs, asparagus. He also surprised us with gooey brownies for dessert.

It was still nice enough outside for him to wash his car, and the kids got into a soaking wet water fight.

It was a terrific day. I didn't have to cook or clean, Holly and Trevor were very pleasant, and it was just all around special. :)

Recapping the rest of the week

While Holly and I were in Virginia, Robert took pictures of Trevor's belt test and awards ceremony on Trev's last day of karate at co-op.





The teacher (I'm sure there's a proper "karate" name, but I don't know it!) is offering a class for the kids to continue working on their skills this summer. Even though we aren't sure how long we'll be here, I've signed Trevor up. The class will run an hour each on Mon./Wed. mornings all summer and the total cost is $99. We waited to see if he was interested in doing it before telling him we'd also buy him a real uniform. :)


We've been a migration stop for birds this week. I've never paid any attention to it before, but we read about it in our Zoology course this year. And Robert's the one who notices the different, brightly colored birds. We had one bright red one stop in our little backyard stream, and I was able to get a picture of this yellow bird at our feeder later the same day. I'm glad someone notices this stuff, otherwise I'd never see it to appreciate it!


Friday was also our last day of school. With Holly and me being gone, the "last day" was pretty anticlimatic. I'm not sure if we really did any "school" work. A friend called asking if we were going to our hs group's monthly roller skating. We haven't been all year, but it was a great opportunity to catch up with my friend, and for Holly and Trevor to skate with their friends too.

We were invited to dinner with friends on Friday. Like all little kids, little Sam LOVES the big kids, and Trevor had fun entertaining Sam for a few hours. It's a treat for Trevor too, who really hasn't been around many littler kids. Sam calls Trevor's name, brings him books to read, takes him to the sandbox, and just in general adores Trevor.


Another house showing this morning, and we headed over to Starbucks. Another rare photo--one with both Robert and me! Holly took a bunch of "nice" ones, but we ended up way too goofy looking to post. :)

My body and brain are almost caught up from traveling. When did I turn into such a wimp? Robert and I spent most of the day lounging around and reading. It was a great, relaxing day, and I'm looking forward to more of the same on Mother's Day.

Trip pics

This was a quick trip, definitely a "turn and burn." It was a great treat that Holly was able to come. I found a great plane fare ($200 RT), and she was okay with missing the last day of co-op. We also wanted her to have the opportunity to see Virginia ahead of time. We left the house at 5:20 a.m. Tuesday and caught a plane to Atlanta. Holly and I agreed it would not top the list of pretty airports (not that we've seen many.)


Thanks to the Sea Bands, the plane didn't really look like this. But it was a really cool photo and I had to include it somewhere. I turned the flash off (as I do with virtually every picture) and rocked the camera back and forth as I snapped.

We had a two hour layover and began our diet of lousy travel food.


From Atlanta, it was a nice hour-plus flight up to Roanoke.


Living on the Eastern Slope in Colorado, directions are easy. From anywhere here, you know the mountains are on the west. Hills surround Roanoke, and I had a hard time even guessing where I was. It was also confusing that most of the streets are referred to by highway numbers instead of their actual street names.

The Roanoke airport was like a dream. There are a total of six gates. The rental car counters are literally 15 feet from the two or three baggage claim areas. Robert says it's smaller than our Sam's Club. I don't mind that one bit! The city's population is just under 100,000, and we went from the airport to the hotel at the other side of the city in about 15 minutes.

It was a good trip for me. I am so very used to and spoiled by Robert taking care of every little detail. I had to figure out all of the plane info, get the bags, take car of the rental car and check into the hotel. It was beneficial for Holly to see me doing this too.


We headed out to the property that was the real basis for our trip. My Mapquest directions were horrible and led me down a 10 mile, two lane, twisty, horrid little country road. We found the property easily though and looked around briefly. I knew there was another road back to Roanoke. Even without a map (or worse, without cell phone coverage), I was determined to find it--and I did, without making any wrong turns! I'm still pretty pleased about that! Over the last few months, I've pored over information, maps, and more online, and it definitely paid off. We headed up the much nicer four lane highway and got back to Roanoke in no time at all, settling in to watch American Idol and eating more travel type food. (Ugh.)

We met up with our realtor the next day and looked at a few properties, including our main interest. This is seriously smack in the "Moonshine Capital of the World." Seriously. The house is under construction and we chatted a bit with the workmen, poked around the house, and walked what we could of the property down to the line.


We drove around a bit more. Holly was a trooper, and she was also assigned videographer duties, so I didn't have to take as many photos as I would have otherwise. She was wiped out by the time we were done, but when we got back to Roanoke, I dragged her up to Mill Mountain.


It's near the center of town and is home to the largest standing man made illuminated star in the world. (How cool is that?) It's typically lit in red, white and blue, but is currently all white as a memorial to the students and faculty who died at Virginia Tech last month.


There are also incredible views of the city. My whole motivation for going to the mountain was to take photos. This is a panorama, going from left to right.


Back at the hotel, we again watched American Idol. We were up "late," 11:30 east coast time. This wasn't so great since we were up before 6 a.m. to get back to the airport and make our way home.


Robert and Trev picked us up from the airport. After showing them the video and photos at home, I took a nap. Holly, who loves to sleep, didn't even go to bed early. Robert made dinner for us, yippee, real food again!

It was definitely a great trip, fun for Holly and me to do something like this together, and fun for us to poke around Roanoke and Franklin County. She has warmed up a little more to the idea of moving. We continue to love the house we saw and are planning to write a contract on it. We'll have to see what happens with that, and we're waiting for something to happen on this house. We've had three more showings this past week, with one more scheduled for tomorrow.

I'm still pretty tired, trying to catch up. At least school is DONE!!!!!!! and I don't feel rushed to do much of anything for the next several days. :)

* * *

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jer. 29:11

The Best Product Ever!!

I was very concerned about flying this trip. Not only would we have to switch planes (never done that before), but three of our planes were smaller than I ever remember flying on. I don't do well on planes; sometimes I even take the crown as Queen Barfer. As daughter of the queen, Holly would have had a difficult time too (being royally embarrassed, and worrying that the crown might pass to her).

At the last minute, my dear sil Barb recommended Sea Bands. Not exactly Elizabethan formal wear, these look like sweatbands decorated with a white plastic stud. The studs poke into a pressure point on each wrist, minimizing nausea. They looked horrifyingly common; yet they did a magnificent job, allowing me to travel in a high falutin', ladylike, and upright manner. No bags required.

They are also totally reusable and use no chemicals, smells, oils or anything else on your skin. They might not be quite the "best product ever," but we sure thought so while we were in flight. They were $8-10 at Walmart/Walgreens, and come in a package of two, one for each wrist. I can't help but wish I'd had them before (such as whale watching last summer), but I'm sure happy to have them now!


* * *

Note: Do not attempt to google "queens clothing."

Last day of co-op

Holly and I were gone, so she missed her final photography class earlier this week. Robert not only needed to take in the gifts for the teachers, he also was able to wait in the central hallway with 100+ moms and a zillion kids while Trevor attended one of his last classes. Dads are few and far between in this crowd.

The baskets turned out great. Packed in popcorn bowls, there's movie candy, microwave popcorn, a gift card to Blockbuster, and a note from Holly or Trevor. I found this idea few years ago in Family Fun, and it's come in very handy.
Robert also took pics of Trevor's belt test and awards ceremony, but I'll have to post those later.

We interrupt this program

I won't be blogging for the next few days but expect to be back posting late Thursday!

Book Review - The Young Peacemaker by Corlette Sande

Thanks again to my wonderful library, I was able to borrow this book as I consider using it with my kids. I first read about it on Kathy's blog, and then other loopy friends recommended it highly. I also read Corlette's husband's book, Peacemaking for Families.

I like this book, I am so tempted to buy it. There are additional student materials that go along with the book. I'm not sure what Holly and Trevor would think of it; they could go either way.

I am a curriculum junkie. So many things look good. So many things are good. I don't know yet what I'll decide, but I know it will be easier for me to say no once this book gets returned to the library. Meanwhile, I have my very favorite parenting book of all, Scott Turansky's Say Goodbye to Whining, Complaining, and Bad Attitudes . . . In You and Your Kids, and I think I'll read through this again first before making up my mind.

Kathy, your posts are so often both thoughtful and thought provoking. I thank you for sharing so much of yourself through your blog and for being one of my loopy friends. :)

This book is definitely recommended.

My two guys

It's not too sharp, but it's not often I get a picture of both of them together.

Book Review - The History of the Ancient World by Susan Wise Bauer

If you are unfamiliar with Susan Wise Bauer and her Story of the World series, you will want to skip this review.

* * * * *

This book, titled The History of the Ancient World from the Earliest Accounts to the Fall of Rome is SWB's long awaited first volume of history for adults. I checked it out from my library with the thought of considering it as a history spine for high school. Additional books in this series are expected. It follows the general chronological format of SOTW, although there is considerably more detail and twice as many chapters. At almost 900 pages, I didn't actually read much of it, and I had conflicting opinions as I skimmed through. While written as a narrative, the book is very dry. With names such as Hierakonpolis, Manetho, Khasekhem, Saqqara, Naram-Sin, a pronunciation guide would have been extremely helpful. (Unfortunately, one is also lacking in the SOTW books.) As the book progressed through history, the reading became more entertaining, and I read several chapters on Caesar, since that's what we're currently studying in history. (Sample chapters can be read by clicking here, and don't let the chapter on monotheism fool you. It's not representative of the rest of the book, and I can only guess why it was chosen for a sample.)

I don't get SWB. Her husband is the pastor of a non-denominational church. Why does she try so hard to satisfy the masses--her secular readers? On the other hand, when I consider her track record, it really comes as no surprise. (In a twist of irony, her non-Christian readers always claim that her books are "too Christian," proving that in her quest to please everyone, no one is that pleased.) This adult book contains about as much Bible history as her children's book. I don't know how the two can be separated, but she's done her best to eliminate Biblical history. (And no, Noah, Abraham, Moses and Nebuchadnezzar don't count. Especially when they garner more mention than Christ.) For this reason alone, I would never consider this book as part of our curriculum, nor would I recommend it as a general interest read. It was a disappointment, but I should have rather expected it . . .

More house stuff

We had six more showings this week and continue to be encouraged. We've had a few negative comments but mostly positive. When we returned home today, the people were still here, so we kept on driving and ended up at an open house a few blocks away, continuing to check out the competition. :)

Trevor came home to find that some of his toys in his bedroom had been moved (and they really had), along with his Lego castles taken apart in the family room. The castles are the only things we've allowed to stay out, and Trev was understandably upset. It's freaky enough "knowing" that people are in our house, but for an 8 yo, it was tangible evidence that not only were people in the house, but they let their kid touch a bunch of his stuff. Holly's notebooks (stories) had been moved in her bedroom too. Robert and I tried to make Trevor feel better, but it was really surprising that someone had such little supervision over their children.

Meanwhile, we make every effort to keep the house looking pristine. It's never-ending Windex, paper towels, counter polish, dusting and Pledge, sweeping, vacuuming. It looks great, but sometimes I am afraid to do ANYthing for fear of messing it up!

Book Review - My Several Worlds by Pearl S. Buck

This must be a pretty obscure book, since there's neither a photo nor comments about it on amazon. I have enjoyed several of Ms. Buck's books, even reading her children's book The Big Wave to my kids last year. She grew up in China, the child of missionaries, in the early 1900s, eventually leaving China for political reasons and living in Pennsylvania. Although American by birth, she has the unique perspective of growing up in China, not a view that most writers have.

My Several Worlds is a good book, an interesting read going into great detail of the author's life. She can write about anything, take you down a dozen rabbit holes, and bring you back to the topic again and again. It's never boring.

Unfortunately for me, this is a big book, lots of print on each page, 400 pages. It's not a book that I can easily skim. I don't have the time I would like to read through this book, enjoying it slowly, taking in each story. Three-quarters of the way through, I've put this book aside to concentrate on other things. It's a book I hope to come back to in a few years when I can give it the attention it deserves. Recommended? Yes--just not for me, at this time.

It also briefly mentions other books she's written, and I plan to request those from my library. I only hope that they'll be shorter reads!

Storms roll through

I think we've seen the last of spring for awhile! It's been cool, sometimes rainy, sometimes thunder and lightning. We rarely get tornadoes close to the mountains, but I can remember it happening a time or two in the 20+ years I've lived here. These are from last night.



It's cool today, some clouds, some rain, and a little bit of blue sky intermittently. But I can stay inside, drink loads of coffee and read.

Guess I'll have to go to Virginia this week to get a little bit of warm weather. :)

(Of course, now that I've said that, it will probably rain there too!)

Hits and misses

LATIN: HIT

* * * * *

One of our big curriculum additions this year was Prima Latina, an elementary Latin program. I've wanted to incorporate Latin into our school for several years, but each time I would look at the popular Latin choices, I would be horribly discouraged by the teacher's books.

Holly received Spanish instruction in ps kindergarten and first grade (until we withdrew half way through). She also received it twice a week during second and third grade when she attended the cottage school. After 3.5 years of Spanish, which included weekly homework, and in which she did "well," she could count to 100 and name about 40 nouns. It was a colossal waste of classroom time.

I would still occasionally check out those homeschool Latin programs and be embarrassed that I just could not do it.

We began a formal Spanish curriculum at home during fourth grade. My thought was that Holly had enough exposure to it, and it wouldn't be too hard to maintain it. It went pretty well. Trevor participated too, and the kids learned quite a bit that first year. It was for older kids and after the first year, Trevor began to lag. Holly was bored.

After being fed up with having Spanish crammed down my throat on telephone customer service recording hell, on forms that I have to fill out, on food packaging, on signs at Home Depot, and more, I rebelled and said NO MORE SPANISH. (Actually, there's a whole lot more to my rebellion, including the fact that Denver is a sanctuary city, with our COUNTRY not far behind, but I digress.)

Breathing deep.

But I prefer my children learn Hindi and Chinese before Spanish.

So why would anyone want to teach Latin? It's surprisingly popular for several reasons. It's not a spoken language, so pronunciation isn't as crucial as other languages. It goes a long way in understanding our English language, as more than 60% of our language has Latin roots. French, Italian and Spanish are all rooted in Latin, so students make the transition to those languages much more easily.

There's also the grammar connection. The ending of a word indicates that the word is a subject, indirect object, etc. When I teach Latin, it's not necessary for me to use a formal grammar curriculum at the same time. In fact, it's only in the past 100 years or so that students have NOT been taught Latin. (No, Dad, I don't mean that you're over 100!)

I bought Rummy Roots, and we began learning Latin roots with a card game similar to Go Fish. (Hey, it worked!) But it wasn't enough to satisfy my desire to really DO Latin.

I sought advice from my wonderful local homeschool bookstore lady, who has a great love for Latin, followed closely by classical eduction as a whole. I ended up bringing home Prima Latina. Sure, it's written for K-3rd grade. But I didn't choose that level for my kids. I chose it because it was easy enough for ME to teach.

Even so, after the first few weeks, Holly and Trevor completely surpassed me. This past year, they've learned 125 vocabulary words, constellations, numbers, and more. (I didn't learn all of these, but I now am even more assured that I don't have to know something to teach it well.) They've been introduced to declensions and conjugations. (Those words made my head swim, so I just ignored that I don't quite "get" this yet.) Holly finds Latin fun. Trevor talks about it frequently, looking for connections with English words, sometimes muttering in Latin that we've learned. As for me, I continue to recite Latin roots from the dictionary.

After studying Julius Caesar for the past few weeks, I enthusiastically told Trevor yesterday, "When you are in high school and can read Latin, you can read Caesar's book The Gallic Wars IN LATIN!" He wasn't quite as enthusiastic as I was . . . Perhaps I should have instead mentioned Dr. Seuss's Cattus Petasatus or Virent Ova! Viret Perna! Yes, even The Cat in the Hat and Green Eggs and Ham are now available in Latin--along with Quomodo Invidiosulus Nomine Grinchus Christi Natalem Abrogaverit--How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

Meanwhile, I have time. I'm looking forward to teaching a more grade appropriate Latin curriculum next year. I just hope I can keep up, at least a little.

What am I worth?

According to Salary.com Inc., I'm worth quite a lot, well over $200K per year. It's both a silly and cute survey that can be personalized for the work you do. Unfortunately, the only teacher category is for preschoolers, so they definitely short changed me there.

What I really want to know is even if I'm "worth" a fraction of this, WHO is going to pay me for it?! Robert especially is wanting to know! LOL.

It does make me look more forward to summer, even if my vacation is unpaid . . .

Please pray for Heather today

Brain surgery is expected to begin this morning. To read Heather's story, and to read updates that will posted today, please click on the link to the right.

Holly's gift

Ever since she was a toddler, Holly has had an incredible imagination. I don't know where she got it. I don't have a creative bone in my body, and Robert is definitely more the logical, engineering (i.e., anal retentive) type too. Holly also has always enjoyed being read to. She's very auditory, remembering everything she hears--just like Robert, and believe me, this is NOT to my advantage with either one of them.

Combine her imagination, her exposure to books, and her strong language arts skills in general, and she's an amazing fiction writer. She does some fiction writing for school, mostly because it's enjoyable. Like most writers, she runs hot and cold, usually in periods that last several weeks. She asked if she could substitute her own writing this week instead of her writing curriculum, and of course I said yes. I always do. She rarely does any story planning on paper, just starts writing and can't seem to stop. She also rarely goes back to make any type of changes or editing, it just ends up on paper exactly as she plans. She started this on Monday, and completed this first chapter yesterday.

I have her permission to post her first chapter here, and I'm jumping at the opportunity. Comments are welcomed. :)

* * * * * * *

Chapter One:

My stomach growled in hunger. I put a hand over it and felt it rumble, like the Earth rumbling in a thunder storm. Across our yard I could hear the unicorns and dragons eating happily. I blinked up at the sun. 10 past one. Why hadn't Mom made lunch yet? My stomach rumbled again, this time louder.

"Owl!" Someone screamed my name from behind me. I turned to look, scaring the fairies who sat in my light brown hair away. It was my big sister, Hawk. "Owl, why are you sitting down there?" Hawk barked.

I looked around. Pine trees and tall dark green grass sprang up beside and all around me. "Is it BAD I'm sitting here?" I asked her, raising an eyebrow.

Hawk walked toward me a step or two, her black dress flowing in the sight breeze. "Well, you could get dirty," she said, stammering a tad.

I gave her a questioning look and cocked my head. "Hawk. Oh Hawk. I don't care if I get dirty. Besides, my dress is brown. The dirt would blend right in," I pointed out.

Hawk paused considering this. But then she said, "Mom wants you in the house, so get up."

I stood slowly, and brushed off my back side with my pale elfin hand. I gathered the pine needles I had collected for a pine needle basket. I put them in an old straw basket Hawk had made three years ago when she was 13, my age. I slowly waltzed toward her, swinging the basket around. Hawk's brown elfin cat like eyes looked toward a tree where a robin sat chirping. As I walked beside her back to our 2 story stone house, I heard Hawk's stomach moan. "You hungry too?" I asked, looking down at my knees and watched how they made ripples go through my dress. Hawk nodded, tucking a piece of her dark brown hair behind her curled brown hair. "Why doesn't mom do anything anymore?" I asked quietly so Mom wouldn't hear.

Hawk looked at me, "I think because of Dad." She was so quiet my ears had to strain to hear. Our Dad left for a battle, between our clan and the neighboring one, almost 1 year ago. We don't hear from him much, only 1 time every other month, but when we do hear from him he always seems happy and healthy.

I frowned and stopped walking. Hawk stopped beside me. "But why? Dad always seems fine. And he's a good warrior--" My voice stammered so I stopped talking.

Hawk shrugged. "She's probably still worried 'bout him. Owl, even the good fighters die," she said, then walked quickly to the house, where my twin brother Thunder sat at a wooden table, playing patty-cake with our 2 year-old sister, Leaf. Mom sat across from him, writing something. Her turquoise dress was ruffled and her blond hair was falling out of the bun she had thrown it into. I put the basket of pine needles down next to her.

"What are you writing?" I asked, plopping down into a pine chair beside her. Mom looked up at me.

Despite the way the rest of her looked, her light blue eyes were bright and happy looking. "A letter to your father," she answered simply. Her head went back to the thin yellow piece of paper and her long slender fingers moved the quail feather pen across it.

"Oh...well Hawk said you needed me." I rested my chin on my palm.

Mom sighed. She put down the pen beside the letter and the small clay bowl of ink, which was blue berry juice. "Yes, I do. Could you and Thunder go pick berries? I want to make a pie," she said. I grinned. We haven't had one of those since Dad left.

Thunder jumped up almost knocking his chair over. "What kind?" he asked.

"Any kind. But I would like strawberries," was Mom's answer. Leaf laughed and clapped her tiny hands. Thunder ran out of the door, but I stayed where I was.

"Why are you so happy today, mom? I mean--" I started, but Mom cut me off.

"Owl, I know. I've been acting like it's the end of the world since Dad's gone. But I've decided to quit worrying and go on with life. The war will soon be over and everything will go back to the way it used to," said said.

"C'mon Owl!!!" Thunder yelled. I grabbed two baskets to carry the berries in and ran out the door.

* * * * * * *

More May showers

It was one of those Pacific Northwest-type rainy and foggy mornings. Since they are not common, I enjoy them very much!


We are flying through the rest of school. Today, we finished our last official literature book for the year. We finished formal Bible time. Both of these will continue during the summer, but they won't be "scheduled." Both kids finished up spelling, with the exception of one more placement/progress type test next week. Trevor has one more math workbook assignment, so he spent his math time today playing with Legos and created a castle.


After reading the terrific reviews of Night at the Museum, we saw it at the $1.50 movie today. It didn't meet my expectations, but it was a good movie.

The countdown to the end of school continues . . .

Beautiful Feet

And, no, I'm certainly NOT talking about mine!!

The verse in the sidebar today says:

How can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!" (Rom. 10:15)

Beautiful Feet is a history curriculum. Holly and I have dabbled very casually with their History of the Horse lesson plan. What that really means is that together we read one of the books, Marguerite Henry's King of the Wind. We even forgot about the accompanying lessons. She asked about it last week, and it will be something fun to follow over the summer.

I think I'm going to choose BF's Medieval Study Guide this for Holly's history next year. History has long been her favorite subject, but my efforts to continue this year what we've done in the past has not been terrifically successful. She already reads a ton, last year about 36,000 pages. I don't think that loading up on oodles of more history reading can be of much benefit. I'd rather cut down her required history reading, instead expanding a little more into a literature specific study, and freeing up more time to read books just for pleasure.

Additionally, I like that BF does not follow much of a schedule. That's not worked for me in the past, and it will help me keep her on track with what Trevor's history study is. The advantage of this is that we often study art, music, science and math in the context of our history period, so I want to keep them together topic-wise.

I like the questions that accompany the study guides. I can't keep up with everything she's reading, and this will give me some guidance. When we move, I'll no longer have The Greatest Library Ever, so a scaled down required reading list will come in handy--if I choose, I can realistically purchase those books. I can also add in extra books like I've always done, based on what selection I have. The price is great too, just $15 for the guide, easy to absorb.

Planning is always fun for me, I enjoy looking at and weighing all the options, evaluating and re-evaluating, making changes when the time has come.

* * *

How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, "Your God reigns!" Isa. 52:7

Homemade fruit and vegetable wash

I can't bear to pay $4 for a bottle of this anymore. After searching online, I came up with the following recipe:

1 T. lemon juice
1-2 T. baking soda
1 c. water

I mixed it up in my old veggie wash bottle. The baking soda tends to cake a little around the sprayer, but it's easy to rub off. This has been a great substitute, and I don't worry about "wasting" it since it's so cheap!

American Idol

Was that so cool tonight?! I like Jon Bon Jovi a lot, and I knew it would be good. (I loved him before I knew of his political bent.)

Phil was awesome. I am glad he's stuck around this long. He's not consistent, but I he was by far my favorite tonight. He still needs to get some sun.

I don't care for Blake's music, but he's the most talented overall of all the idols. Not only can he sing, but he knows his music, knows how to work it to his advantage.

Melinda took on a different persona, that was fun to see.

Jordin's improved so much, but she was boring tonight. I liked Lakisha a lot at the beginning, but she's not come as far as most of the others.

I don't like Chris at all. It's enough to make me wish Sanjaya was still around. At least Sanjaya was entertaining.

April showers bring . . .

May showers. More often than not, our spring and early summer days begin clear and blue.


Later in the afternoon, the clouds roll in and the rain begins.


Even with the temperature drop, it was still nice enough for Robert and me to sit outside for a while. I'm desperately trying to finish My Several Worlds.


Eventually it began to hail. Afternoon thunderstorms are the norm here for the next few months, not every day, but several days a week.


Things have been hectic. Not an exciting or long post, but I wanted to write something!