Simply Monday - September 29th

outside my window - it's sort of starting to become light. the carpenters have already started on the house behind us...at 5AM. i can't believe my children find it possible to sleep through the hammering.

i am thinking - that the first time i think of something, i need to do it to completion. otherwise, it doesn't get done at all. this coming from someone who just incurred a late fee on a credit card by paying the bill six hours late. arrrgh.

from the learning rooms - we are heading into week four of school. this means that if we make it through this week alive, i can mentally check off the first month. ah, progress. it does a mind good.

i am thankful for - so many things. my husband, my children, etc and etc.

from the kitchen - hopefully today (or tonight) will see the homemade breakfast sandwiches (finally!) and homemade apple sauce to can for the winter.

i am wearing - the same workout clothes as last week. that's another beauty of exercising in your basement instead of the gym. not only do you save gas but you can also wear the same clothes every day...and nobody knows. except now you know. oh well. my regular wardrobe is rather small and lackluster. why should my workout wardrobe be any different?

i am reading - "graced and gifted - biblical wisdom for the homemaker's heart" i think i'm only on like page two or something though. and for the record, i found absolutely nothing at the book sale. oh, i could have but a certainly five year old boy and another certain two year old little girl made that impossible with their grumblings. i guess i can sometimes look at the kids as an effective budgeting tool.

i am hoping - that we can work ahead in our lessons for these three days ahead of us to free up some time on thursday and friday.

i am creating - a large pile of tagged clothing and other items for the consignment sale that starts on friday. my hope is to sell quite alot of it. we could really use the extra money right now. a friend of mine from our homeschooling group was gracious enough to use me as a referral when she signed up. thank you! that means that i get my registration fee back. that's definitely a good start. :)

i am hearing - of course the construction. i love living here. i just wish sometimes that the pounding would stop for just one morning. oh well, it won't be quite as loud once they move down the block at least a bit.

around the house - the kids are dressed and getting ready for breakfast...thank you completely to my wonderful husband. he let's me have my mornings where i can get my bearings before having to face the day. i think he is just appreciative that he doesn't have to hear me grumble. oh wait, not all of the kids are ready for breakfast, just the two younger ones. the older one refuses to just put on normal clothes and go down. she always thinks she has to reinvent the wheel, and she thinks i have to have a complete dialog with her about every blessed one. ah, the firstborn.

one of my favorite things - is crisp fall mornings. now if it would just stay this way all day long i could pack away all of my kids warm weather clothes. come on weather stability.

a few plans for the rest of the week - not much in the early part of the week except spanish and piano for the oldest, then thursday is gymnastics for the boy and dance for the oldest and throw in some celebratory actions for a celebratory occasion and then friday my husband is off of work so i can tend to the consignment sale.

here is a picture thought i am sharing with you - my husband is like macgyver with legos. i'm willing to bet that we might be the only ones with a lego ipod station.

run, don't walk, on over to peggy's to check out all the other day book entries. and have a good day of course.

Check This Out!

a friend of mine sent me a link to this video and it is absolutely beautiful. please go check it out. they have hit the nail on the head focusing on the fact that until we, as a nation, get the sanctity of life right, we can never expect all the other stuff we care about to fall in place. in one of the comments below the video someone says the following:

I am so grateful for you, my Catholics friends!

That was a beautiful and moving ad. I hope that you are right and this ad will prick the conscience of those who are not quite as faithful but still believe. I hope they will be motivated to vote on family issues.

Besides the Right to Life, protecting Traditional Marriage is on the ballot in California and Arizona and maybe other states as well. You Catholics have strength and power in your numbers. Those of us without those numbers are depending on you!

let those of us who are catholic stand up and show the world what we believe and profess as a church. let us live our lives in a way that professes the truth and guards all human life. let us be the driving force we should be that all Christians can stand behind and know that we will fight until the end for what is holy, what is moral and what is true.

Boy, Am I Beat.

from the way i feel you'd never guess that i spent the last six hours sitting on my living room floor. and of course right now is your cue to ask "why?" so go ahead, i'll wait. oh, thank you so much for your inquiry. you see, today was the first day that we have all been home with nothing to do for quite some time so i deemed today "seasonal clothing switch day." i really loathe doing this (and it certainly didn't help that it was more humid out today than early august in the south...it wasn't really warm or anything, just so wet that you could feel it...all over the place). so, we started about one in the afternoon by pulling out all the bins that i had packed away in the spring labeled "fall '08" and made each of the kids try on every blasted piece. they were so excited about this and so cooperative. i just can't say quite enough about how (un) cooperative they were. at one point in time, my five year old little boy was running around the living room (in front of the open window) in his camo boxer briefs, flapping his arms like a chicken and yelling "i'm hot, i'm hot, i'm itchy, i'm itchy." you would have to know him personally to get the completely accurate picture of this. let's just say, he overreacts a tad. we've tried to find some sort of condition which would put a thumb on his behavioral tics and all we've come up with is...he is him. not too brilliant, i know. anyway, by the end wouldn't you know it...practically nothing fit. those kids and the nerve of them...to grow. :) anyway, i also have a consignment sale coming up next weekend so i wanted to get out all of the stuff i was going to sell too. thanks to the kids and their growing at the speed of light, i will have more clothing to sell than i thought. and consequently, more that needs to be purchased than i thought. who would think that a little boy can traverse through two entire sizes in a summer? evidently mine thought it was fun. and how about a little pipsqueak of a girl that grew quite a few inches but not a single pound (ok, she actually gained two pounds to be exact but her waistline certainly hasn't expanded). so now the clothes for consignment are in the wash. next to go are the fall clothes before they are put in the dressers. and third will be the summer clothes after they come out of the dressers and before some of them go into the bins and the others go to the donation pile. and i can see all of this being completed, oh, sometime around spring of '09...when it's time to do it all over again.

I Just Don't Get It

today when i stopped off at the library there was a minivan parked near me. i first saw the bumper sticker on the back that said "catholics for peace." i thought "hey, that's great. somebody actually advertising that they are catholic and they are standing up for peace...how noble." but then my attention turned to the other side of their bumper and where they had another sticker, one that made me wish that they hadn't identified themself as a catholic in the first place. "what did this other placard read?" you ask. it said "obama 08." which led me to my conclusion of "i just don't get it." sure, i understand the desire for peace. frankly i think most of us do. but then pairing that with obama. oh, i know he supposedly stands for peace by his promise to end the war (i'm not here to get into a discussion of the candidates and their foreign policy). i know he supposedly stands for hope (the only hope i have is that he doesn't get elected), although he, nor his supporters seem to be able to flesh out that hope aside from the fact that it makes them hopeful that they are hoping for hope. i love drivel...don't you? i know he stands for change. and alot of the change i am hearing an awful lot about has to do with abortion and funding for planned parenthood from my taxes and making abortion legal no matter who is asking for it and no matter what the circumstances. so, my question to the "catholic for peace" is this. what does this, or this, or this have to do with peace?

Simply Monday - September 22nd

outside my window - it is still pretty dark and cool and still.

i am thinking - that today is going to be a long day. not going into too much detail, we have a reason to believe that a service worker we had in the house a few months ago took a few things from us. i had thought so back when he was here, but wasn't exactly sure. now we have also noticed a couple of things missing that we don't use frequently and don't ever leave a certain place. we have to call the company and see what, if anything, they are willing to do. please say a prayer for us. stuff like this just makes me feel really violated and bothers my whole mood.

from the learning rooms - this is week three of school and i am happy to report that things are still going fairly well. i have hidden every writing implement in my whole house so i have not found any other "art, " i am also happy to report.

i am thankful for - a husband that will take care of sticky issues like the one mentioned in "i am thinking" so that i don't have to. i think my phone call would be a jumble of yelling and crying anyway.

from the kitchen - those breakfast sandwiches still need to be made and frozen...and hmmm, i wonder if there are still tomatoes left to can.

i am wearing - workout clothes again. this is week three for the workout too. i don't dread it as much but i'm not noticing results so that isn't helping the motivation.

i am reading - hopefully something good i pick up at the huge book sale today. we have a gigantic book sale for the next three days that benefits our libraries. it is held in an ice skating rink and they manage to fill the place to brimming.

i am hoping - that it doesn't rain again on friday for our homeschool nature study and nature crafts. although, i just watched the morning news and that's what the forecast says.

i am creating - a workbook with stickers for my two and a half year old so that she can have something to do with us while we are at the table for schoolwork. having a husband that is a graphic designer...i didn't really want to pay for one.

i am hearing - the chatter of my littlest one and my husband nearby discussing breakfast and how she can only go if he picks her up. :)

around the house - the laundry needs to be washed (like all monday mornings) and the living room needs to be tidied (oh, kids!)

one of my favorite things - is sleeping in...which i haven't done ANY of for the past three weeks...including weekends.

a few plans for the rest of the week - hopefully staying pretty close to home and getting some things done around here. then, sleep in on saturday because it's the first day in forever that we have nothing to do.

here is a picture thought i am sharing with you - when is this thing going to hatch?

have a great day. please say a prayer for the phone call my husband has to make (that they won't give him the brush off and treat him like he's crazy) and stop over to peggy's to check out all the other day book entries.

Wonder Of Wonders, Miracle Of Miracles...

...sonic opened up right down the block...we went there for training, oh, it was tonight, and everything was all half price.

vs. 2 - we fed our fam-ily for thirteen bucks, yes thirteen bucks. and it was real ta-as-tee. then the dessert, it wa-as a lit-tle late, so it wa-as on the house.

ok, i'll lay off. but seriously, you liked the song, right? that's what we do around our house. make up songs. it's creepy and you know that you do it too much when your kids start naturally at about the age of two.

anywho, we have been watching them build a sonic drive-in at the front of our development for a few months now. watching...with baited breath. you see, i became addicted (wow, my posts today are all about addictions, huh?) to sonic when i was teaching for the summer in kansas. one of the teens in the program would faithfully bring all of us a large cherry limeade everyday at 3pm. God bless you val! and then, my husband became addicted when we lived near new orleans. i told him that the only thing that would calm my heartburn when i was pregnant with our oldest was a vanilla milk shake from sonic. so we would stop there after each of our prenatal classes. and then, we moved back to illinois and the landscape was bleak. no sonics as far as the eye could see. but there was steak n' shake (another addiction), but i digress. then there was the move to pennsylvania. another land without sonic...and without steak n' shake. but behold! about two years ago they built a sonic about 25 minutes north of our old house, so we would trek up there every once and awhile. and then they opened one just east of our old house...but we moved west...farther away from all the sonics. and then...the sign...the building...the car stalls...within walking distance of our house. so tonight my husband arrived home from work and announced that the sign said it was training night from five to seven thirty. and only creepy sonic stalkers like us know that training night equals fifty percent off of your food! we summoned the troops, called some friends (who are also fellow sonic lovers) that met us there and headed off to sonic. dinner was so tasty...it was only thirteen bucks for the whole family of five...and they gave us dessert free because it took longer to get out than they thought it should have.as you can tell from the photos (which i apologize for the quality of...they were taken with my phone), the kids were just as happy as we were to be there. i think this sonic sized addiction is hereditary. ;)

My Good And Beautiful Buy

this summer i was turned on to a local auction by a friend of mine. alright, turned on to it is the understatement of the century. let's be frank (or bob or steve even) and say that i'm addicted. it's a good thing that it only happens every tuesday, so that cuts down on the time i can spend there. and also, i have prior commitments two tuesdays a month so that reigns it in even more. but on those tuesdays i am free, come hades or high water (ok, actually, i don't go if it's raining because the parking lot floods), i am there. sometimes until late...like 11 pm. but these early mornings have stopped that part too. but anyway, this auction is super dee duper. in one barn they have a small animal auction, but i don't venture over there because, well, who needs more critters. the other barn has a plant sale at one end and a produce/boxed food/whatever else people bring in auction at the other end. in addition to all of this the place is huge with a farmer's market, other businesses and tons of other people selling random stuff. now if that's not a winner...i don't know what is. anyway, back to the auctions. i spend most of my time at the plant auction. i have been trying gradually to get our new yard decorated to the hilt for a fraction of a dollar. and so far it's been working.i purchased all this loveliness for around the mailbox about two months ago at the auction. the hostas were two bucks each and the mexican heather and whatever that other yellow flower is were between fifty cents and a dollar per flat. they were tiny plants when i got them and i can't believe how well they have done out there.of course since i got them by the flat i also used them other places around the exterior of the house. the huge boulder in front of the mailbox came out of our back yard when we were putting up the kids swing set. that's part of the reason why we have no grass to speak of. the entire back yard is full of the stinking things. and what isn't boulders is pure clay. rumor has it that the builder hauled the topsoil out of here by the truckload while they were building the place. yippee for us. the crabgrass really seems to like it though. i would buy something to kill the crabgrass but then i'm afraid we wouldn't have anything on the ground.this huge pot of mums was one of my purchases last night. and the best part...it only set me back three buckaroos! it is possibly the biggest pot of mums i have ever seen.these are the other two pots i picked up for the front porch. i paid five dollars each for these. ok, i admit that was still a super buy for pots of mums this big but what can i say? i'm quite the tightwad. my husband always jokes with me by asking, "is it cheap enough?" but how could i say "no" to this awesome color?they are not just your traditional yellow, white or red. and well, it just thrills me to no end to finally be living in a place where i can put something on my porch and it is still there in the morning. at our old house these would have been gone the minute i turned my back to walk inside. did i ever tell y'all about the eight azalea bushes i planted a few years back on our exterior wall (it was an extension of the back yard, still housing dirt, but not enclosed in the fence...strange i know...but work with me). anyway, i bought eight azalea bushes and spent the time one evening trying to not fall off of this wall to plant them. early the next morning when i came out to go to the gym i thought something looked strange up there. sure enough. they were all gone. every last one. and you could see the shovel marks next to each hole where they were dug up. talk about low blows. anyway, i am envisioning these spending a beautiful fall on our new front porch.

so there you have it...my new addiction. and i didn't even tell you about the flats of grapes and strawberries i've purchased for a dollar at the other end of the barn. maybe next time. :)

Simply Monday - September 15th

outside my window - it is just becoming daylight. the moon was still out when i got up. this is quite the new leaf for me. it's supposed to be in the 80's again today. this is september, right?

i am thinking - that this week is going to be at least a bit restful. we only have a few days of activities this week instead of every day.

from the learning rooms - back to the school work after the weekend. this is week two. here's hoping my little guy sticks with it, my oldest daughter comes back from la la land in enough time to do her math correctly and that my youngest doesn't find any writing implements.

i am thankful for - a house to live in where we are safe. this is quite the change from our last place...God is good.

from the kitchen - we'll see what today holds but i am hoping to whip up some breakfast sandwiches for the freezer. we will also be having a lovely breakfast this morning with leftovers from brunch we had here with friends yesterday. i made a sausage "casserole" type thing with cottage cheese and red pepper (it was really good) and the quiche recipe i got from this other volpe.

i am wearing - the exact same thing i was wearing last week at this time. the exercising thing is still continuing. we're on week two now. if it wasn't for my husband diligently waking me up...i'd still be in bed. i'm not fooling myself on that one. :)

i am reading - well, i started again on "spirit of the liturgy" the other day but the grocery list won out.

i am hoping - that we make it through schoolwork without me falling asleep on the table. don't laugh...i know it's happened to all of you at least once.

i am creating - a better ordered home (i hope) and still the secret project, yada yada yada.

i am hearing - the ceiling fan and the littlest munchkin whining about being awake and getting dressed (oh, how i love that husband of mine for taking care of that!)

around the house - it's quite now but pretty soon it will be filled with the bustle of school, playing and many other things...and i certainly feel blessed for that bustle...although sometimes i don't show it.

one of my favorite things - is making progress through a "to-do" list.

a few plans for the rest of the week - those breakfast sandwiches, hopefully canning tomatoes and maybe the produce and plant auction (i'm frankly addicted).

here is a picture thought i am sharing with you - this is one of the reasons why my daughter loves michele's husband. :)

make sure and take a little jaunt over to peggy's for today's other day books. have a great day!

September 11, 2008

today we mark the seventh anniversary of the september 11th terrorist attacks. we pray for all of those who lost their lives and their families whom they left behind. we also say an immeasurable thank you to all those who lost their lives in heroic service to others that day. may they all see our Lord face to face and storm His throne for peace.

Crawfish On The Counter And Caterpillars In The Closet

well, you got a little taste of our bizarre-ness with my little expose on the fact that we have a crawfish on our counter...and the clams that have met their demise. but, in order that you didn't permanently label us the "homeschool freaks," i neglected to also mention that we had a caterpillar in our closet. you see, my husband found it on the driveway about a week ago and brought it inside for the kids. it was one of those cute woolly bear caterpillars (i just dig the music on this page by the way) that supposedly you can tell the severity of the upcoming winter with, so we put it into our butterfly habitat and began to feed it...and feed it...and feed it. did i mention we fed it? i could not believe how much spinach this little guy could put away. we're talking about three to five large leaves of spinach a day. and did i mention that he made the biggest mess i've ever seen...(and that you've ever seen now, don't mention it, you can thank me later).anyway, he must have been storing up all he ate for a special occasion because this morning we found this...
here, let me give you a closer look...just about as tasty as the floor of the habitat huh? well, we haven't decided yet if it is a cocoon or he is just hibernating. in what we have read about this type of caterpillar, they hibernate for the winter and then in the spring they "come to" and make their cocoons. but, i'm not quite sure what time of the year this guy thought it was living in our closet. so, we'll see. i'll keep you updated.

school...day three...

aka...the two year old crayon tagger strikes again. yup, my little graffiti artist is at it again with her favorite medium that goes by the code name of "crayola." but of course, what does a delicate flower such as herself have to do while her mother avails herself of the facilities in between helping someone through pages of third grade math? that's right. streak off to the upstairs wielding a green crayon that just somehow made large (i mean the size of montana large) circles continuing all the way up the wall leading to the second floor. i'm frankly not even sure how she reached as high up as she did. i guess a flight of stairs can work wonders for leverage. one things for sure...she's got a grand start on those cursive "o's." did i take a picture? heck, no. i was just trying to compose myself before i tracked down the beautiful little peach blossom and gave her the what-for. i am pleased to report that with a prayer uttered beforehand it did come off the wall with one of those magic eraser things...without taking this lovely contractor's grade paint that would double as a nice primer right off the wall. so of course, when i calmed down and approached my spirited little one she informed me, "i am very sorry and you forgive me." she was right, i did. but that still didn't stop me from hiding everything and anything in this house that is used to draw a line.

Our First Day Of School

i briefed the kids on sunday night that monday was going to be the first day of school and that we were going to be picking up a new good habit (don't you just love it when you can mandate something?). their new habit was going to be arriving for breakfast...on time...fully dressed and ready for the day. and i am pleased as punch to report that they received a three out of three score for that one. everybody showed up at the breakfast table in something that they could actually wear for the rest of the day. i on the other hand arrived in my pajama shorts because i forgot that i needed to wash my jeans before i could wear them. yep, just call me the rule breaker. then after breakfast my leading man left for a fascinating day of graphic designing and we began our lessons. this is where new good habit number two came into play for my oldest dear daughter who is eight. my son is of kindergarten age now so this is the first year that i am officially schooling two kids instead of one. therefore, she was given an assignment list and an explanation of each and sent off to do some work on her own while i worked with the little guy. you may be thinking, "so what, you asked an eight year old to do some school work independently, whoopity doo." you would have to know my "hasn't done anything completely by herself, asks about every little detail of every little thing since the day she was born daughter" to understand why this was such a nail biter. i want you all to know that she passed with flying colors. she sat quietly and finished all of her work. i made sure to tell her how proud i am of her. i really, really was. as i said, while she did this i began to work with my son for the first time. he devoured everything we did and everything that we talked about. he informed me after we were through that he didn't think we were actually done and that we should do each of the subjects again...just in case.

then i finished up lessons with my oldest, my little boy played and my youngest wreaked havoc.i guess that must be her little "tag" on the top there. hopefully i won't start seeing it spray painted on the wall. this is just phase one of the problems she caused yesterday. but we won't go into all of that...because i doubt that you have all day.

after that (on a tip from a good friend) we went to pick raspberries.

luckily, my littlest one slept soundly in the stroller for most of this but about half an hour before we left she woke up and picked some blackberries for me. i'm sorry to say that i didn't get a picture of her elbow deep in smashed blackberry juice. that was lovely to clean up...just lovely let me tell you. not to mention the blackberry that somehow found it's way into my sandal and met an untimely demise...which dyed my toes purple.

then, for dinner we had our annual back to school dinner, complete with the "back to school bird" (chicken), "abc's and cheese" (mac n' cheese w/ abc noodles) and a few other things. we also had cake to celebrate Our Lady's birthday. this was not any ordinary cake either. it was thundercake. no, it wasn't storming, but frankly, this is about the eightieth time we have checked out this book from the library and i thought it was high time we finally made the cake. let me also say that this is most definitely the most embarrassing cake i have ever made. i'm somewhat of a cake snob i guess as i usually spend hours, if not an entire day, on one cake. i grew up helping my mom decorate wedding cakes and such so i have had years to develop my overperfectionism. healthy? no. but true. so it's quite an uncomfortable thing for me to show you this...please don't scream and call betty crocker on me. you see, we had some late afternoon commitments yesterday which kept me from getting the chicken in the oven until 4:30 or 5:00 (not to mention the crazy bag of chicken parts still frozen in the middle of the chicken after a whole day a thawing...the story of my life). then, we were out of potatoes so those had to be purchase and more etc's than you can shake a stick at. so, i finished up the cake shortly before we ate dinner and popped it in the oven. the cake was still warm awhile after dinner and it was getting close to bedtime so i bit the bullet and frosted it warm. well yes, i know how stupid this is but when you promise a bunch of kids cake...you best deliver unless you want a full scale war raging. so, the large butcher knife in the middle was not because i was angry or was reenacting a scene from psycho. it was there to keep the top layer from sliding right off onto the floor. it didn't work very well by the way. so there you have our first day of school in a rather large nutshell. i'd say it's a filbert.

Simply Monday - September 8th

outside my window - it is not quite daylight yet. you would think i would be purely joyful to have some quiet and watch the sunrise. i'm just wondering what they heck i'm doing up.

i am thinking - that they day has gotten off to a good and pretty much as planned schedule. now if it will just stay that way.

from the learning rooms - today is the first day of school for us. i would like to say that everything is in order and put away on the shelves for eager little hands...but it's strewn all about the kitchen table.

i am thankful for - a husband that just laughs when i refuse to get up for the umpteenth dozen time...and actually stays around to make sure i get up.

from the kitchen - there will be the back to school dinner tonight and hopefully a birthday cake for Mary. happy birthday Mama!

i am wearing - an old Bible camp t-shirt and athletic capris. i already took off my socks and tennis shoes. my feet that are used to being bare wouldn't put up with them any longer. this morning i started my, what i hope to be continuous...only how many more days 'til it becomes a habit, exercising. we have a cheapy elliptical machine in the basement. i couldn't find my handweights (obviously because they have been used so much, right?) so today was just composed of "mock jogging" while watching the morning news and a plethora of crunches.

i am reading - the manual for "spelling power" and the user's guide for "calculadders." riveting! :)

i am hoping - that things go well today and i can find a ride home for my daughter from her little flowers meeting so that i can cook dinner.

i am creating - a rosary with a name in it for someone who ordered one (praise God for somebody buying something!) and still that pesky secret project. wow, i'm slow.

i am hearing - well, it was silence until a little boy awoke to immediately begin playing with a remote control car he won yesterday at our parish carnival. hey, and now there's the garbage truck added into the mix. in the city you only heard garbage trucks on one day because we were all forced to have the same hauler. out here, it seems they are around every morning.

around the house - it is still pretty quiet, except for that one remote control car and the quite clicking of some legos intermittently. he must be setting up a track for the car or something for it to crash through. ah, little boys. but pretty soon there will be breakfast and school lessons beginning.

one of my favorite things - is a new school book. i think they hold such promise and new info. i'm not quite sure the kids would agree.

a few plans for the rest of the week - make it through the first week of lessons and activities (i was either well thought out or crazy to start up everything all at once), sing for praise and worship at our parish and sing at a wedding and mass on saturday. did i mention i'm singing? :)

here is a picture thought i am sharing with you -


make sure and stop by peggy's for all the other great entries for today!

have a great day. i'm off to shower and hopefully begin a great first day of school...ok, at least one that doesn't involve bickering and time outs. well, the eight year old is already arguing with her dad...scratch that.

Our New Pals (Kind Of)

yesterday we went to morning mass and then stream stomping with our homeschool group. it was a great day. the weather was perfect (thankfully before we get much of the outer weather, and especially rain from hanna as she heads up the east coast today). it's actually been pretty dry here lately so the stream was low enough to see well to the bottom. the kids had a great time collecting shells, wading and collecting all sorts of critters and other specimens. in fact we brought some friends home in a plastic cup...the fish which had called our little tank home for the past five years or so went belly up on thursday night. the kids were hounding me to stop at the pet store on the way home to get a new fish. that meant that i would also have to buy some bottled water (the chlorine from the tap kills the fish faster than you can blink) and clean the tank for our new friend. so, i did what any good mom would do, (no, i didn't stop at the pet shop) i had them bring home a crawfish and some clams in a plastic cup. (ok, this was actually motivated more by exhaustion and a dwindling bank account that super parenting technique, but they enjoyed bringing them home nonetheless)taking a picture down into a white plastic cup is obviously not a strong point of mine, or of my camera...yeah, let's blame it all on the camera. so the blurry mass at the bottom of the cup is a crawfish that is about two inches long and a mess of little clam shells, some of them empty and some of them still living (take note of this fact, it will be of importance in a few moments). well, after putting him in the still dirty tank (yeah for not needing to clean out the tank...because hey, crawfish thrive on ick right?) i had to go to church to plan music for a wedding i am singing at and we had a film class for the homeschool group at our house so i didn't give much thought to the new menagerie in the tank. i checked on the tank again about eleven last night and i discovered that one of our new boarders was eating another of them.
that's right. the crawfish had gotten into one of the clamshells and was having quite the extensive dinner. my husband promptly decreed that we had a little piece of nova going on right in our kitchen and he videotaped a bit of the meal. thankfully the kids weren't that attached to the clams.

There It Is Again...

i'm watching palin's speech at the republican national convention and just thought i'd mention...she's wearing a skirt again. :)

The Palin Nomination

well, i have kept my mouth shut on this issue for the past few days. digesting and absorbing. but i feel compelled now to speak my piece. i don't claim to be the be all end all authority on any of this, especially specifics, so please don't take it as that. but, i do have a few things to say about the whole issue (imagine that, me having something to say). anyway, buckle up...here we go.

first, let's deal with the issue that seems to be the hot spot on everybody's radar right now...the pregnancy of her seventeen year old daughter. i have read blog entries and comments 'til i'm red in the face from those who seem to equivocate this situation with only families that have no thread of values. i'm not sure what types of saints the "outside world" thinks that pro-life, family values centered christians are...but they need to get a grip on reality. yes, those of us who value what is moral, what is right and what is true are trying, we really are. but, we are still human...and so are our children. just because we educate our children in what is right and pray for them daily, they still have free will. they rebel, they make bad choices, just like many of us did when we were younger...and sometimes still do. this has been the case for hundreds of years. if you need proof, google st. augustine and check out the headaches he gave st. monica. even if children have a perfect home life chalk full of love, honesty and prayer they still have that pesky concupiscence that gets in the way. isn't this the way the democratic candidate came into this world for crying out loud? but i guess from what i've read, he wouldn't wish that type of "problem" on any woman. talk about the pot calling the kettle black.

second, should a woman with small children be in the white house? if we were talking about me, i would say "no." i'm selfish and with the right set of outside pressures (meetings, phone calls, etc.) i tend to start thinking less of my family, my patience wears thin and i am not the mom i am called to be. i am scatterbrained and cannot perform more than one task at a time. heck, i do well to answer one of my children's questions while driving in a straight line. but, is it my responsibility to say whether palin can do the job? nope, not in the slightest. she has been taking care of this while she has been the governor of alaska so it's not like she doesn't know in part what she is getting into. do i wish that the world was a perfect place where all men would step up to the plate for their wives, their mothers, their sisters, for unborn babies and the elderly? yes. do i wish that all men would respect women and treat us as Christ loves His Church? yes. do i wish that every woman could stay home with their children without the fear of not having enough money to pay the bills knowing that their husband was being paid a just wage for working day in and day out? you bet. but is that the case? no, far from it. are there men who are living this way? a resounding yes! (my adorable husband for one) but not all care to and there are many other issues that are out of our control. so, if a mother is going to step up to the plate and actually be proud of her motherhood, i'll support her. is this the pinnacle of where i would like to see politics? no. truth be told, i would like alan keyes to be president of our nation in a heartbeat. unfortunately, a vote for another party would basically be a vote for obama and i will not let my vote support his agenda. but, i still think it's a big step in the right direction. i believe that nothing else in our society will fall into place until we value life and this woman seems to do just that (and hopefully she can make up for some of mccain's shortcomings in this area).

this brings me to my final conclusion in all of this...the media hates a happy mother. they hate a woman who feels blessed by the children God has given her and who welcomes more, no matter what the situation. they prefer the woman who looks on her fertility as a damnation that must be manipulated at all costs, that must be stifled, that must be conquered. they don't feel threatened by the woman who views the smallest and the most vulnerable little person as a ball of tissues that cramps her style so she can get rid of it, without even throwing around the idea of killing or death. just convenience. they can tell her what to do, they can shape her and she will listen. she will buy the lie. a pro-life woman who is trying to change the world is a threat. plain and simple. and they don't know what to do with it but try to tear it down. we must pray for the election, pray for human life and pray for God's blessings for our country.

Simply Monday, September 1st

outside my window - it's nice, clear, sunny and not too hot. that's my kind of day.

i am thinking - i have a splitting headache. i just took a nap (i'm really late posting this today) but it didn't help.

from the learning rooms - we won't start for real until next monday, but i have been busy trying to put together the ends of the lesson plans and trying to finish up some random science lessons left over from last year. i'm a stickler for order like that and need the other stuff finished before i can feel completely free to begin the new stuff.

i am thankful for - having our whole family together for the past week to do some really cool stuff and for the visitors from new york that came for overnight on sunday.

from the kitchen - right now i am trying to figure out even what we are having for dinner. the two week menu plan ended on saturday night and i need to make a new one...i hate flying by the seat of my pants because it never pans out well in this arena.

i am wearing - a green t-shirt and jeans. nothing too exciting...or fashion conscious.

i am reading - miscellaneous third grade texts trying to figure out how i would like to fit them in amongst teaching a five year old to read and keeping a two and a half year old from burning the place down or escaping.

i am hoping - to finish up the planning for this year so that we can start really fresh next week.

i am creating - still my super secret project that i will be hopefully gifting some of my friends with soon...and i know i'm making this sound much cooler than it actually is. :)

i am hearing - they might be giants "here come the a,b,c's." my two littlest kids absolutely adore it.

around the house - we have accomplished much in the cleaning and straightening department in the past fews days which i am very grateful for considering my dh unfortunately resumes work tomorrow.

one of my favorite things - has been having the whole family together this past week with no interruptions...but it has been much too short. i am already pining for the large chunk of time dh took off for christmas.

a few plans for the rest of the week - band rehearsal for me and dance for dd and other than that a pretty quite week gearing up for next week when all the activities start up.

here is a picture thought i am sharing with you -of course some vacation days double as school days!

make sure to mosey on over to peggy's for the other day book entries.