Nice Award!

OK, so it's taken me 10 days to figure out how to get this image into my blog. It's quite a lovely award, isn't it? I thank Heather over at Mini Memoirs for awarding me with this. She is a wonderful friend, and just announced the news that she is expecting #4! The neat thing about her is that she is so strong. I am not just talking physically, people. She can handle and conquer about anything that comes her way. She is the kind of friend would do anything for you. I'm so glad I met her, and get to spend even more time with her on this journey of life.

So now it's time for the awardees...I'll try not to nominate people who have already been nominated, although it's hard!

1st) D. at http://mytotalpv.blogspot.com/. What a sweet mama to a smart as a whip toddler! She is the epitome of "being there" for a child if I've ever seen one. She is always ready and willing to make every moment a teaching moment. I love just watching her in action. I really enjoy spending time with her, even if she is ten times smarter than me!

2nd) Abby at http://lifebysugarcreek.blogspot.com/. Wow, we've known each other for about 6 yrs now. I'm so glad that we were "reacquainted" after a time. We've come to a place that our values, and just generally life have meshed, with kids, marriage, house, loss of parents--all the things you encounter "growing up". She is also a friend that would do anything for you, and I thank her for making herself and her home feel like home to me.

3rd) Sara at http://walkslowlylivewildly.blogspot.com/. It's just crazy when you, by chance, find someones blog that would change your life. From her Christian walk, to her declutter/compact experience, I have learned immensely from her. It's great fun that I've actually run into her twice in Des Moines. God is just awesome like that. She is truly someone that I could become friends with, and I am excited about her journey into a new season of traveling and relying on the Lord.

4th) Another Sarah, at http://theviewfromhere.wordpress.com/. This is someone I haven't actually met, but "know" through mutual friends. I love her personality and her perseverance as she waits on the Lord. She is so fun to read, and I just pray blessings for her throughout her life.

Teaching Meme

This was passed to me from my friend Laura:

Teaching Meme

1. I am a good teacher because… I guess I persevere and make my kids do the same. I don't know that it really makes me a good teacher, but it's been my life song, so it kind of weaves throughout everything I do.

2. If I weren’t a teacher I would be a… mom, a pursuer of better health, a volunteer for Hospice or other organizations.

3. My teaching style is… I need structure. A beginning and an end. I use a lot of repetition, especially with the youngest. We make up silly stuff, songs, and rhyming tricks. I really don't feel like I've actually started!

4. My classroom is… the world (OK, so I'm stealing that from Heather and Laura). I would love for our classroom to be a traveling one. Let's learn about the Grand Canyon--then travel there.

5. My lesson plans are… So far I don't have any. I picked my curriculum for the year, and I've taught the basics out of workbooks I've picked up from here or there.

6. One of my teaching goals… is to raise a person who knows who he is, what he knows, and how to learn what he doesn't know. (OK, I'm definitely stealing from Laura on this one.)

7. The toughest part of teaching is… keeping organized and on task. Oh wait, are we talking about life or teaching? Also, working on patience.

8. The thing I love about teaching is… definitely when the light bulb comes on. It's neat that I get to see that with my own kids as they progress through their academics.

9. A common misconception about teaching is… that you have to know what you're teaching. It is good to learn together. (I am so stealing this one again!)

10. The most important thing I’ve learned since I started teaching is… I am not perfect, so I shouldn't expect my kids to be.

$2000 and a lot of days later

Wow, somehow my last 2 blogs were lost in blogger space. I went to look at my saved drafts, and apparently, that's all they were. Sorry about that. On with the current events. A week ago, we had some serious work done on my van. Oh, the lengths you will go to to keep a 40,000 van running. About 4 days at home, and I was ready to go out. So, a friend and I went to see Stardust the night I got the van back. Good movie.

Next day, Aug. 11, we went up to the repub. straw poll in Ames. What an inspiring thing to see and hear. People who still have faith and the fight to return America to it's original values. I never tire of hearing about the original values speech. Back to family, morals, fiscal conservatism...let's add environment to that. I realize that the party I most commonly align myself with, is not very strong on the environment. I do think that it is a concern, and we cannot rely on foreign oil. I also know that this party is big on life, business (particularly small business) and getting out of debt. That pretty much sums up my life in the last 7 years. So, of course I'm going to align myself with people that I meet my core values. Another bonus, is that our guy placed 2nd in the poll...he's also a HUGE home school supporter.

Next day, we went to Rockford, IL for a family reunion. It was great to catch up on family I don't see very often. I again, stop to marvel at my grandmother for her strength and positive attitude. I love her dearly. That woman never has a complaint...and she's nearly 82! I can't wait to see her again in Sept. And for the kicker...I reconnected with a somewhat estranged uncle, who is by the way, my God parent. He travels around in a $93,000 rv, just floating from one place to the next. Neat, and quirky guy. I found out some very horrible things about my grandma's side of the family. That was an eye opener, and it really made me reflect on what kind of generational curses exist in our family history. Yikes.

Well, I'll have more later..it's late, and I'm filled with thoughts of having to prepare for our homeschooling lessons and the fact that I'm putting that off.

White rice and maggots look the same

So I'm not great at the green thumb/gardening thing, but I'm getting better. I have a huge load of lettuce already turning back to seed! That's right, I planted so much lettuce that we couldn't use it all. Even offering it out, we still had too much. Then I thought, every gardener has to have a compost pile. Now being a perfectionist oldest/only child, I did not want to just dump things in the corner of my yard without the proper bin etc. But waiting until everything is perfect to do something, is just procrastination. So, I have an open compost pile in the corner of my yard. It certainly did cut down on garbage! And, oh, the maggots. How I did not realize the grossness (is this a word?) After dh stirred my "pile," he lovingly dumped the spoon in the sink that I was already washing dishes in. The title of this blog says it all. I would not reach my hands in that sink for anything. Thankfully, dh, is not squirmish with these things.

Herein, a life lesson for me. I didn't know how to parent, and still am not perfect. I found out that the gross things that others think are cute about parenting (vomit, poop), are still gross to me. I thought that I would not have the nurturing instinct. I do...I don't know if it's overprotectiveness, but I don't care. There are quirky things that I do/don't allow my kids to do, and it's starting to be noticed by the in-laws. I don't let the kids watch more than an hour of tv per day (except for sickness). I am a hawk about what they eat. I am anal about them washing their hands. I can hear what's going on in the other room, and know what's going on in the other room. I hope it doesn't come back to bite me, I just don't want things from dh and my past to be present in their lives. I want more for them. So this all from a simply 4x8 raised bed garden...go figure!

I'm back!

Well, after a spell of our computer being on the fritz, I'm back to blogging. With our desktop telling us it was performing a "physical memory dump" we thought, that does not sound like a good thing. So, when we lost the internet on it, we were for sure that it was going to crash. While backing up our files like mad, we used the laptop, which was incredibly uncomfortable to type on for any length of time. Hubby was doing some computer work today, so he tried reinstalling our internet software back on, and low and behold it worked! We'll see for how long!



Let's see, updates...I am finally done with the horse pill antibiotic. Yeeaahhh! Now I have to keep up the water consumption. Someone recommended a naturopath doc that works in 3 different towns. I believe that Des Moines, or a city close by, was one of them. If you were the person who recommended him, please leave me a message.

School and AWANAS are starting up soon. I'm pumped. Heather recommended "Learn at Home" curriculum. Just looking at the first few pages, I know that it's exactly what we need. I need structure. Always have. We get our lesson done, and we can add to it with anything--games, field trips; I'm starting to really love homeschooling, and I'm not even official yet! As for AWANAS, it looks like I will be one of the preschool teachers. That will be a stretch for me. Even though I have a child at that age, it's not my strong suit to teach them. But, that's why God likes to stretch us to do things we wouldn't, on our own, be comfortable doing.



I'm going to sign off for now, but I'll be back with more details. Just tired, and I have to go drink the rest of my water allotment for the day. Yipee.