Time flies...

Where did this year go? Call me crazy, as some always do, but it just seems like this year flew by. And my kids have grown so much just over the last two years it is almost unbelievable. I guess my mom was rig.. ri... well, you know, about time flying when you hit 35.

So in about an hour we are going to head out and look at two houses. One of them I have already seen but Shad hasn't. I fell in love with it which is the wrong thing to do when looking for a house because anything can happen. I can't help it though. As soon as I saw it I was hooked. Then when we went to the backyard I had this flash of seeing the girls in the pool and the dog running around in the yard. Yep, it was over right then. When we finally do purchase a house, I will share more about it.

glitter-graphics.com

It's been a while...

I started another class. This is number 19 I think and by far one of the most interesting yet. We had a great conversation about the different theories and theorists. And I found it interesting that my instructor works for the juvenile prison system. More specifically with sex offenders. Yes, juvenile sex offenders. I don't think I could ever have her job. Some of the things she described tonight just made me sick to my stomach.

Lets move on shall we?

I am currently waiting to hear about an internship I am trying to get with a non for profit home schooling group. I would be learning all about how it began and is run, not to mention the process they had to go through to become a non for profit organization. I would also be volunteering my time by working on either their web site or their informational news letter. And later on I will probably volunteer to work the conference too. My reasons for this is that I have an idea for a family education center which would cater to home schooling families but would also have some programs for low income families who have children that need tutoring. Anyway, it is all very much in the planning stages still, but a work in progress none the less. I am actually excited to see it come together.

Saturday we will be looking at some houses but I will update on that later.

Anyway, have a great Thanksgiving!

Shock and Awe people!

I was about to take Mackenzie to a 4-H gardening project and all I could think about was how fast she was probably going to change her mind once we got there. She is not one to like any type of work and she isn't shy about letting you know.

Well, we got to the spot where the garden was supposed to be and found a piece of land that was just being tilled and full of weeds. I looked at Mackenzie as she surveyed the land and waited. She said nothing. The ladies that were there introduced themselves, and so did the six other kids and Mackenzie was directed to find a shovel and start digging out weeds. I stood there in amazement as she picked up the shovel and began her work. I followed with my own shovel and after a while Mackenzie says, "I didn't think when we got here that we were going to be starting from scratch." I agreed as I thought we would be going to a garden that was already set up and the kids would just be planting some things. We continued to work. About two hours later, as Mackenzie was taking her turn at the wheelbarrow, she said, "You know, I could totally see me doing this for a living. This is fun."

I almost fell over in shock. This child who avoids work of any kind just said she was loving digging out weeds and planting trees! I was so proud of her. She worked her butt of for 4 and a half hours straight and was learning along the way. And she never complained the whole time. And in the end, it was her and two other girls that stayed to finish the job. AWESOME!!!

It was one of those proud mom moments. And as we were the only home schoolers working on a project at a local school that only the school kids were going to get to use in the end, I kind of felt like we were helping to bridge a bit of a gap or at least making some kind of progress in the area of home schoolers vs. public education or something like that. It was an awesome learning experience for all and I can't wait to do more.

Watch out, brain spill...

You know, I have a hard time with the uncertainty of my future. I mean, well, I just like to have a heads up. Not that I ever do though, I mean, we like to fool ourselves into thinking we know what is going to happen, but when life is lived it never really goes the way we planned. Bare with me, I'm just spilling thoughts here...

So here we are stuck in a place we never really expected to stay. We thought we would get here, experience the place and move on but the reality of our situation is that we are here for another two years or more. Most likely more. What I find sad is that we have been so wrapped up in getting away that it is only now I realize we should be enjoying the blessing of being here instead. Not that we haven't enjoyed being here. We have, but I think we have been taking it for granted more than anything.

Anyway, I've had to accept the facts of the situation and now my next issue is getting my other half to decide what in the hell he wants to do or where he wants us to go because this place is huge and finding a home would be a lot easier if we chose one place to look instead of fifty. We shall see how this all goes. In the meantime, we still have to tell family back home and my mother-in-law is going to be pissed. She'll get over it, but still, it's not going to be pretty.

I hind sight, there are way worse places for us to have gotten stuck so I am done bitching. :)

CAUTION!! I'm ranting...

It was a great dance for Hailey. She made some new friends and had a great time. And Mackenzie had so much fun at a Halloween party she and I went to on Saturday night.


Speaking of the party Saturday night.........That party was so eye opening for me. There are just so many things that Mackenzie seems to be missing out on by not being in public school here, and I have to say that I am so GLAD!!! I'm going to go off now, so don't continue to read if you think this will offend you.


Many of these little girls were rude and disrespectful and when they started dancing, they threw on some rap (which was really good actually) and started dancing like you see on the videos. You know, the ones with the half naked women that shake their asses and do the little head snap thing like they are all that? Yep, and these little girls are just ten years old. Now, I am all for little girls having self confidence, but this was way out of line. And at one point, after hearing how some of the girls were talking, Mackenzie walks up to me and snaps out something about she wants a cookie and she can talk to me like this if she wants to, with attitude flying all over. I snapped that little girl right back in line real quick let me tell you. Soon after, we went home.


When we first arrived to this party I was introduced as a home schooler, and one lady says to me, "so you will be putting your kids back in school for high school right?" And I of course say no, and she gives me this concerned look and says, "Oh? I thought home schoolers always put their kids back in school during high school so they can get the socialization they needed."

Yep, my kids have no social skills at all. They have grown to the ages of nine and thirteen without being properly educated in social skills because we obviously must keep them in the house and never let them out to socialize with anyone but their parents, each other, and their dog. As a matter of fact, my kids probably don't even know how to read let alone have any social skills! Those poor kids! Yes, I am being extremely sarcastic. And no, I didn't say this to the lady.
I said no, that I would home school through High School and left it at that. Some comment at just the right moment set me off.

Now, don't get me wrong, there was some fun during the evening. The girls went on a scavenger hunt and did some cool crafts. And Mackenzie had a pretty good time with most of the girls that were there. And I was very grateful for having been invited and for Mackenzie included. But it made me thankful for the home school group we have. VERY thankful. And helped to reinforce our schooling choices.

Ranting over!


Other than that, life is fine. We are looking for a house to buy as we will not be transferring any time soon. "No transfers until further notice." And we are looking to get closer to the city, so I will update on that later. As a matter of fact, as soon as I am done writing this, I will be contacting a realtor and setting up an appointment to go see a house up north. But again, I will update on that later. I hope you have a wonderful day.

Just One More Joy of Parenthood!

My eldest is going to a Halloween dance as a cut little lady bug! Why couldn't she go as one of those night of the living dead brain eaters! It's freaking me out! This is going to be the longest night ever!

Whew, what a week!

We have been busy. There have been trips to the park, rock climbing, and then there was the trip to the Exploratorium in San Francisco. It was so much fun, and even though we were there for five and a half hours we still didn't see everything there is to see there. If family ever decides to visit again, we will definitely go back and check it out again.

Currently for school I am trying to learn all I can about Bipolar Disorder. My team and I are going to do a presentation on it in two weeks so we have to do as much research as we can and quick. I find it fascinating, and even went out and purchased a book on the subject. I read six chapters before bed last night because I just couldn't put it down. I also purchased a couple of other books about other types of disorders such as multiple personalities, autism, and psychosis. I just find the brain and it's abilities fascinating, and the struggles people go through heart breaking.

Book I am currently reading:

Bipolar Disorder Demystified

by- Lana R. Castle

Wow...

this is why I love the whole Human Services and Psychology area of science. I had a great realization and life changing moment today while reading my school book. The chapter was all about themes and patterns we have and do. What I read led me to think about some of my own patterns and themes. This then led me to grasp a better understanding about the self doubt I suffer from currently, and have suffered from my whole life. And then I thought about how people are often attacked fiercely when their spirit is down and I realized that I simply had only to make a decision in order to change my inner thoughts about myself. No permission but my own required. Acceptance and approval, two other issues I have.

I'm stepping out of the dark and into the light. That is what it is like when I make a realization about my life, and I love the feeling so much that I feel it is my calling to share it with the world. This is why I love the whole Human Services and Psychology area of science.

Whoa Nelly!

Okay, so here I was thinking we weren't doing enough for school and suddenly over the last week we have booked ourselves solid with activities. We are now doing rock climbing every Tuesday for the next four weeks, Volleyball and Destination Imagination every Wednesday afternoon for eight weeks, knitting projects, science projects and tonight we signed up for 4-H which was totally not planned but worked out great. Throw in the holidays and my new class and we are one busy family!

Speaking of my new class, I am now totally freaking out because the reality of what I will be doing is starting to set in. I'm excited too. This means I will be that much closer to my goals.

I will share pics of our activities later.

Just life stuff

I finished another class last night, and now I move on to some extremely interesting stuff. I will talk more about that later. I had to say goodbye to a good friend last night as well because she has to move to a different campus to take the classes she needs. It sucked because the two of us have been working together for over a year and she is an awesome person. Now I have to start over. YUCK!

This school year with the girls has been hard. We are not getting all of the things done I anticipated that we would and I tend to get a little panicked when that happens. However, it's not the end of the world. This I know. Today is another day and we have to keep moving forward.


So, yesterday the girls and I took a tour of the water facility here. It was a great lesson on what happens to the water when you flush. Eew! We also got to go into the lab to see where they test for bacteria and such. It was cool because they had a huge poster with pictures of the different bacteria on it explaining which were good and which were bad. Afterwards the girls and I went out for a birthday lunch, and then shopping. I bought myself a new sweater and some warmer pajamas in preparation for winter. I also got myself a new scarf. Later I prepared for my presentation and went to school. Overall, not a bad birthday.

Happy Birthday!

It's my birthday and I am feeling so much better. On the list of festive activities for today is a trip to the water facility with the kids and school tonight. I'm living on the edge I'm telling you!

Random Pictures

So here are some of the random pictures I took while in Mexico. That's my sister's eye, and the green one is the inside of a beer bottle. The black and white is my brother and one of our childhood friends. He looks like a crazy man with that fluffy beard and mustache! So, I am totally goofy on cough medicine that I got from the doctor on Saturday. I have been sick for the last five days and finally broke down and admitted it on Saturday. I hate being sick, but I guess we all need to build up the good old immune system at some point every now and then, right? Weeeeee!!!

Hola

The wedding was great and I had a wonderful time. I know, your jaw just dropped right? Actually, it is all true. The trip into Mexico was great and my sister and I were able to catch up on life. I was also able to get to know her husband a bit better. He's a fun guy. My brother and his wife were a real kick in the pants too. I'm glad I went. I will share more pics next time.

South of the Border

I leave soon for a trip to visit with my father, brother, sister, etc. It will be interesting if nothing else to visit with them all. I kind of wish I was on a break from school so I could enjoy this trip a bit more. As it is I have a ton of work that I just finished for tomorrows class, and now I will have a bunch of work to catch up on when I get back. It's pretty sad when you start concentrating on the work and not the fun before you even leave the door, but that is how life is for me right now. And it is only going to get worse.

Our transfer request goes in after October first. It would be nice to find out right away if anything will come of it so we can plan accordingly, but I have the feeling that we might have to wait a while for our answer. No matter what happens, we have a plan.

I plan on taking a lot of photos from the trip. I will share them when I get back.

Wow, that was weird. I logged in and my computer was doing some freaky things all on it's own.

We went to the city over the weekend with some family that were passing through on their way to Oregon. It was nice to see some familiar faces and share about life. Shad celebrated his birthday Saturday by taking a tour of Alcatraz and then getting to drive us all around San Francisco without a map in a huge SUV. It was so fun.

It is time to take a walk to the corner store. Then I get to go to the book store, Sears, (put on your Sunday best!) and the movie store. After all of that we can get school done, and I can start concentrating on my own school work. I am actually looking forward to my trip to Mexico this weekend. I will make sure to take lots of pictures to share. My step-sister is getting married and lots of family will be there. Yipee!

Computers Rock!

I had worship right here in my living room this morning while I was still wearing pajamas! It was very cool. You see, I was lurking through some blogs and came across Joe's and saw that he taught at the Vine in Cincinnati Ohio a while ago. There was a link to watch the service so I figured I would check it out. It was crazy because I felt like I was back in Vegas with the old Apex group. I found myself singing along to the music and listening and taking in everything that was said. It was really refreshing to hear the message and I even felt a little lighter when it was over.

Later I found myself thinking about the road I have been on, and how hard I have tried at times to not listen to God while he sometimes was right there screaming in my face. This thought then led me to read some old journals which allowed me to see the growth and positive changes in my life over the years. Boy was that a strange journey. Even though I thought I could change things by myself back then, it was really all Gods doing. That realization kind of hit me right away. I then came to realize that I am embarking on a new journey now. I won't go into that right now, but the point I want to make here is that this all came from watching something on my computer. When you think about it, that's pretty cool.

Random

It has come very clear to me that I have a lot to learn about California. For instance, I did not know that a tree which is determined to be a "Heritage Tree" can not be cut down or you are fined $1500. I did not know that on one side of San Francisco it is beautiful, but on the other side it is a dump, literally. I did not know that the city of San Francisco banned the sale of bottled water as an attempt to save the environment. I am learning things like this all of the time and sometimes these things just don't make sense to me. Perhaps it is because I come from a desert state where about the only concern on any one's mind is water and tourism. No one cares if a tree is cut down, and you certainly won't see anyone trying to ban the sale of bottled water where I come from. I am living in a foreign land and have much to learn.

ANYWHOOO!

Today I am taking a day off. I plan on not planning anything. There are a few things on my list to ignore, and that I am sure I will still have to do but for the most part, I really am doing nothing but trying to live in the moment. I find it a little difficult without a plan. Why?

Yesterday was the Not Back to School Picnic with our home school group. We enjoyed a park full of home schooling families and lots of good food. Mackenzie has made three new friends which is huge for her and Hailey has managed to make a few other new friends and to get interested in an activity called Destination Imagination. She is also gathering with a group to plan a Valentines Day dance. I am planning all kinds of activities too and will share them later.

I think I will go play a video game now.

Teen Brains and other news...

I read a very interesting article this morning about teens and their brains in The Home School Court Report. It was talking about how young kids and teens act out in anger and frustration over being kept from doing things because of their age by parents, teachers, rules and regulations, etc. The author's point was that teens are very capable of thinking and behaving like adults when given the opportunity to do so in a positive way. But by preventing them, teens lash out and rebel in negative ways. He wrote a book about it called The Case Against Adolescence: Rediscovering the Adult in Every Teen. I plan on picking up a copy to check it out as I find his theory very interesting. He says he feels that "...we do not want young people socializing with each other. We want them to learn to join the community that they'll be part of their whole lives. We want them to learn to become adults. Right now, they learn everything they know from each other -that's absurd, especially since teens in our society are controlled almost entirely by the frivolous media and fashion industries." I think he has a point.
Example: One of Hailey's friends who goes to public school got down on Hailey for not behaving differently in front of a boy in her friend's neighborhood. Hailey calmly stated that she would not act like someone or something she is not just to impress a boy, or anyone else for that matter. A very reasonable and grown up response for a thirteen year old if you ask me. So my question is, where did her friend get the idea that you have to behave differently around the opposite sex? Could it be the media? Other kids at school? Yep, but it could be her parents too. I just find it interesting.


In other news, I will be doing a presentation in about 2 1/2 hours on alternatives to coal mining. My main focus is on alternative energy sources. Its riveting I tell you! So I guess I should go practice. Two years of school down, four years to go! Whooohooooo!

The Adventures of Ninja Mouse

Once upon a time there was a mouse who became a ninja. He lived in a house with a family of four and a dog with a broken smeller. It had to be broken because this dog never even indicated that he knew a mouse was ever in the house!

Anyway, one day Ninja Mouse made the decision to go out in the daytime to forge for food. What a mistake! Although he made no sound, one of the occupants in the house saw him skillfully glide along the baseboards. Eeeeekkk!!!! was the scream he heard, then suddenly a giant broom started coming towards him. Ninja Mouse quickly ducked behind the giant book case for cover, and just in time too, for the giant broom quickly came crashing down where he had just been. As ninja mouse tried to think, there was a ton of commotion going on in the house. Books and boxes being moved, and the large couch being flipped over. It was total chaos! Finally, things seemed to calm down a bit. This was his chance to get away. Swiftly and silently Ninja Mouse moved towards the grate he had entered through and finally he was safe. For now. His brush with death made him reconsider ever going out during the day again. No, it was too dangerous. He would have to wait until things calmed down and try again when it was dark out. That was his best chance to survive.

After a day and a half had passed, Ninja Mouse felt that it was time to try again. He was hungry, and didn't know how much longer he could stand listening to his little stomach grumble. Slowly Ninja Mouse stuck his little head out of the grate. No noise, no movement. The coast was clear. As Ninja Mouse entered the room, he began to smell something. Something irresistible that caused not only his stomach to growl, but his mouth to water. It was the smell of peanut butter! The smell was intoxicating. Ninja Mouse no longer cared whether or not he was to be seen, the only thought in his mind now was how to find the place where that irresistible aroma was coming from.

As he crept into the little plastic house of delicious smell, ninja mouse never noticed the large metal bar looming overhead. At last! Ninja Mouse had found the source of the wonderful smell that was calling him. He quickly and silently ate his meal, making sure not to miss a drop of the delicious and creamy substance. With his mission accomplished, Ninja Mouse turned to leave and WHAM!!!!!! The metal bar above him came slamming down in less than a second, quickly breaking the neck of Ninja Mouse. And there he lay, with the smile of satisfaction still on his face.


In other words, we caught the mouse! THE END or is it..................................?