Boxes, Bins and Bags

Lately, I have had this amazing fascination with boxes, bins, cubbies and bags. Now, the bags isn't that surprising, I love purses and bags, but this urge to buy boxes, bins and cubbies is a little distrubing. I have bought 4 "locker bin" type plastic boxes over the past 10 days or so. I also purchased a set of 4 plastic shoe box things today....what am I going to do with all of these???? What does this say about my sanity, 3 days before school starts???

I also received my order from Hearts and Hands today...early!!!! Now that is a box I like to receive :)

New Resources

Upon perusing the internet and the summer issue of The Old Schoolhouse magazine (www.thehomeschoolmagazine.com) I have some "new" resources to share with you. First, are you having trouble keeping track of all those library books? Enter the library elf! All you have to do is enter your library bar code # and pin # and they will send you an email BEFORE your books are due. You can adjust the time to suit you. They will also send you an email (or a TXT message) notifying you if you have a new hold book available at the library. My library was part of their system, and I am in the middle of nowhere, so I imagine that many others are as well. The website is www.libraryelf.com

The second resource that I would like to share came from an article in TOS. It is the Homeschool Buyers Co-op. Members of the co-op will receive discounts from various suppliers and companies. One of the large companies is Dell Computers. This resource is also free!!! Fabulous! Their website is www.homeschoolbuyersco-op.org.

Enjoy!

Countdown to D-Day

Here it is, one week from the start of our school year. Everyone seems to want to know why I would start so early. There are a myriad of reasons, but mainly 1) it is too hot to do anything else and 2) we take a lot of time off during the year when dh is on vacations. So we are starting. I have most everything ready to go. I ordered the rest of our books yesterday and am anticipating their arrival. I am hoping that at least the math books will be here by then :) We definately need them.

Tomorrow, I am cleaning the house, really, really good. I need to do the final organization in the school room and clean off my little workspace back there. And we will need to leave mid-afternoon for a little shopping before Taekwondo.

Here is my sample school schedule. I am sure that it will change a little after about 2 weeks :)
M= with mom, T=together

Leland (4th grade)
8:30 Bible Lesson (T)
9:00 Character (M)
9:30 Bible reading
10:00 Latin (M)
10:30 Math-u-see drill on the computer
11:00 Math

12:00 VDB/Math drill (M)
12:15 Study Spelling
12:30 Handwriting/copywork
1:00 Writing Strands (M)
1:30 History (T)
2:00 Science (T)
2:30 Reading
3:00 Geography Center

Greg (1st grade)
8:30 Bible Lesson (T)
9:00 Bible reading
9:30 Character (M)
10:00 Math-u-see drills on the computer
10:30 Math (M)

12:00 Study Spelling
12:15 VDB/Math drill (M)
12:30 Phonics/Reading (M)
1:00 Handwriting/copywork
1:30 History (T)
2:00 Science (T)
2:30 Geography Center
3:00 Reading (M)


I hope that everyone else is having fun getting ready for school. For me getting ready is the best part!

Saturday To-Do List

I am so happy today....I get to stay home :)

• up, dress and go to Grandma's (1/2 mile down road) to pick green beans and zucchini
• walk Sadie (short walk)
• check email and blogs
• pick up kitchen
• work on review
• cook lunch (fried pork chops, mashed potatoes, broccoli and fried zucchini)
• clean-up
• the boys are having friends over to stay the night
• work on review or work online getting things set-up for school
• supper is tacos and corn-on-the-cob
• quiet reading :)
• bed

I have really enjoyed doing this. I will post again tomorrow and then that will be it....unless someone tells me otherwise :) I will have to actually come up with something to write about!

Ladies Against Feminism

LAF has some great new articles posted. You can view them here: http://www.ladiesagainstfeminism.com/artman/publish/

Enjoy!

Friday To-Do List

Well, today isn't really going to be a list I think. Here's the problem: Remember all that laundry I worked so hard to get hung out yesterday...because it was going to rain today? Well it rained yesterday morning, before the laundry ever got near dry. Where our new clothesline poles are set is bare dirt. So, the clothes got really, really wet most of them drug down to the dirt and got all muddy. See my problem for today? So I have to decide what clothes (mostly the towels, but maybe some others) need rewashed. And I have to see if I can get the others to dry. Outside or in...they have got to dry. What a deal.
Other than that, here is what I need to do:

• clean the living room (declutter and vaccum)
• find the kitchen table :)
• fix lunch.....maybe pork chops
• do something about laundry (see above)
• shower and get dressed
• last night of VBS

Have a good day everyone!

Thursday To-Do List

Here is my list for today:

• up and walk Sadie (5:30 a.m.)
• start laundry
• get dh up (to work on roof)
• check email
• hang out 1st load of laundry (I would like to have all of them out by 10)
• check blogs and post (now!)
• hang out 2nd load of laundry (I have 3 more to do today)
• shower and dress
• clean up kitchen and laundry room
• work on review book
• go to mom's house and prep lunch (around 10)
• Bible reading and devotional work
• fold and put away laundry
• boys- clean up for VBS
• pizza party at VBS before classes (leave at 4:30)
• bed :)

Have a great day!

Wednesday To-Do List

Sorry, I almost forgot to post this :)

• up and walk Sadie (5:30 a.m.)
• check email, talk to mom and shower
• get dh and kids up (this is dh's day off but he is helping my parents roof their house)
• got them off and vaccumed the living room
• cleaned ceiling fan
• shredded zucchini for the freezer
• loaded and ran dishwasher
• made an apple cobbler to take to mom's for lunch
• worked on my homemaking binder while listening to a Dr. Sharp CD
• checked email and blogs (now!)
• go to mom's for lunch
• got to town to pick up co-op order (1:30 p.m.)
• empty afternoon - probably work on book I am reviewing
• supper and VBS

Have a great day everyone!

End Times and Prophecy

I have been reading on several different blogs about the end times with everything going on in Israel. I have read the whole Left Behind series, some of them twice and I absolutely believed every word until I heard Gary DeMar speak. He urges us to use the literal interpretation of the Bible when discussing prophecy and to use the surrounding text of various passages when trying to determine meaning. I urge anyone who has any questions about what is going on in Israel to go to www.AmericanVision.org and take at look at what Mr. DeMar says about prophecy. I really feel that those who believe the Left Behind theory aren't getting all the information that they should.

VBS

This year we are attending VBS with a neighboring church. The boys are having a great time and there is an ADULT class! Can you believe it? The adults are being taught by Dr. G. Thomas Sharp from the Creation Truth Foundation. He is a fascinating speaker. I am eager to hear what he has to tell us tonight. If you would like more information you can go to www.creationtruth.com

Tuesday To-Do List

Well, I am doing a little better! At least I am posting this before lunch :)

• 5:30 up and walk Sadie
• gave Sadie a bath (every Tuesday)
• checked email and called my mom (we try to talk every morning)
• decluttered/swept kitchen
• dusted living room
• checked blogs and emails
• help boys work on VBS projects
• fix lunch
• get dh off to work
• read Bible and devotional book
• nap???
• have boys get cleaned up for VBS
• supper
• VBS

I hope that everyone has a blessed day!!!!!

Monday To-Do List

Hello everyone! Candy (see link) has urged many of us to post our daily to-do lists. I think that this is a fabulous idea! I love to "see" inside the daily lives of other homemakers.
It is afternoon (I forgot to post this morning) so this is mainly a list of the things that I have done already today. I will try to do better tomorrow!

• up, start first load of laundry (5:30 a.m.)
• walk with Sadie (cocker spaniel) for 30 minutes
• bake blackberry cobbler for the boys' breakfast
• shower,dress, etc
• swap laundry in washer, hang out first load
• check email
• get boys up and fed
• swap laundry and hang out 2nd load
• greet dh (he worked a double shift) (7:50 a.m.)
• vaccum living room
• swap laundry and hang out 3rd load
• check email and read 1 chapter from devotional book
• hang out last load of laundry
• go visit my mom (boys are already there) (8:45 a.m.)
• come home, change clothes and go to library for pizza party (11:30 a.m.)
• come back home, bring in laundry
• have boys clean out van and feed the dog
• fold laundry and have boys put away theirs
• boys go to my mom's house again to play, I took a short nap and checked the blogs (2:00 p.m.)
• boys are home, taking a bath, getting cleaned up. I am going to cook supper and we will eat and go to VBS tonight

I am glad that I was able to share a day-in-my-life with you :) See you tomorrow!

School Supplies

Guess what!! It is school supply time :) If you haven't already decided that I am off my rocker, this might just tip the scales for you.....

I love school supplies. I love boxes of brand new, never used crayons. I love to buy the little scissors, erasers, pencils, notebooks and folders. I could spend hours in an office supply store just wandering around....but it is like a holiday during the school supply sales. I wait for these all year long.

So today, I went grocery shopping alone. I stopped at some yard sales and then the 50% off sales at KMart....not really very good sales. Then I went to Dollar General. Found 2 plastic containers to organize the van (2/$3), 2 plastic stacking containers for I don't know what ($2 each), and 2 6-pack coolers for the boys to use as lunchboxes for field trips and taekwondo ($5.50 each). I am feeling pretty good about myself so I go to the Dollar Tree. Now, my husband hates this store, because he says that I will buy anything for a dollar, which is probably true, so I try to contain myself while I am there. Instead of getting a cart, I got a little carrying basket so that I couldn't buy so much.........yeah, right....should have went with the cart.....my arms where so tired by the time I got to the checkout! I was able to get thumbtacks (in a cute little container), 5 subject notebooks, an insulated lunchbag for me, an insulated water bottle holder for me, a coloring book, a book with a blank picture spot on top and lines under for a story, 2 ice pack things for the coolers, a cell phone charm (don't ask), 2 dictionaries, 2 thesaurases, and 2 small sling bags (the boys can use for their game boys at taekwondo). I guess that is all. They had a very large selection of school supplies, but I refrained for the most part because I had bought a bunch of new school supplies in May when they all went on clearance at Walgreens (hooray for new crayons!!!!!)

I am really wanting to go to a bigger town and indulge a little time at Staples or Office Depot. I think that I like August more than I like December in the stores :)

Now, you can officially have me committed.


P.S. I did finally make it to the grocery store...not nearly as exciting though.....

Our newest addition

Drumroll please.........

I now have clotheslines!!!!! When we moved into this new house, my clothes lines were taken down for the construction work and had never been put back up. As part of his home improvement crusade, Norman has replaced my poles and strung me new line.....So this morning I hung out my first load of laundry. I love line dried laundry :)

I think that my husband has been abducted.....

OK, before you decide that I have taken a leap off a tall building....hear me out. My dh (pre Jan. 2006) smoked, drank gallons of Mt. Dew everyday and wouldn't touch veggies or whole wheat bread with a 10 foot pole. In Dec. 2005 he was diagnosed with severe emphysema and told that if he didn't quit smoking he wouldn't see the boys grow up. Now, he had tried to quit before and hadn't ever been able to, but he was determined and I was praying so he quit smoking in mid-Dec. 2005. It was tough. He was very irritable. He ate enough Werther's Originals to fill our house. We all walked on eggshells around here.

In January, I started taekwondo. The boys have been taking taekwondo since Jan. 2005 so it was natural that I would eventually join....I am there for 4-5 hours 2 or 3 days a week anyway, might as well. Norman joined up with us in February. So now he is exercising. This is the guy that thinks a walk to the car is too far. Exercising. Okay, I am adjusting.

My husband hates to drive to town, let alone take a trip and yet we went on a 9 day 7 state vacation in May. He had a good time....all of us did. He conceeded that we might be able to do it again someday.

Then just a couple of weeks ago, he reads an article about proper hydration for the body and gives up Mt. Dew. Just like that. No more Mt. Dew. He used to drink gallons of the stuff and now he drinks gallons of water. He never used to be able to sleep at night and would sleep late into the morning (he works 2nd shift). Now he goes to bed after work and gets up early enough to work around the house and yard and spend time with the boys. What a blessing!

Now, all of this has been a great adjustment for me but I have managed. Until........the other day we had company and I made homemade whole wheat bread. My husband has always refused to eat homemade bread, even white bread and here I am sitting across from him at the table, cheerfully eating homemade whole wheat bread..........

Whoever took my old husband can keep him....I think that I like this one better :)
I love you honey!!!!!

Life Priorities

This weekend, I was reading Disciplines of a Beautiful Woman by Anne Ortlund. I have read this book before, but I thought that a more thorough reading was required this time. Right off the bat, I came to some really good wisdom about priorities.
Here is how I have, over the last few years, attempted to classify my priorities:
1.God
2.Norman
3.Children
4.Others

I still think that this is a good arranging of my priorities, but I find that maybe this isn't exactly how things play out in my daily life....I think that sometimes it goes #3, #2, #4 and then #1....how sad is that??? So maybe that is why I decided to reread this book :) Here are some ways that Mrs. Ortlund suggests that I can make God the first priority in my life.
1. Practice his presence. Jesus did this (John 14:10). In my life, I must always be looking forward to God and his will and wishes for my life....everything that I do must be done acknowledging the presence of God.

2. Jealously guard a daily quiet time spent alone with God. This is the hard part for me. I worry about the million other things that could be done with that time....or I spend the time with my thoughts only half focused on God. I also need to be more discriminating about what I am using to supplement this quiet time.....prayer journal and Bible only. Other books, good books, like this one, can be read at different times. I need to hear from God...straight from God!

3. Seek the Lord in occasional longer hunks of time. I don't know exactly how this might play out in my life. I just don't know how I will fit this in, but I know that I should, so that will be a priority.

4. Be diligent in my attendance of public worship. I failed miserably this week. Norman is on vacation and we had company almost all weekend, and by Sunday morning I needed some me time....so I went to Walmart to run errands alone. I was finding my peace in something other than God (but that is a whole 'nother topic). Worshiping with other believers should give me the boost that I need to get through the week, support and encouragement. God wants this corporate praise and worship every week.....If I am putting Him first in my life, why would I deny Him this pleasure??? So obviously I need to work on that.

Next, Mrs. Ortlund lists priority #2 as to the body of Christ. I have to agree that these people, other believers are my spiritual family. I find it hard, though, to place them and time spent with them above time spent with my earthly family. Maybe it is easier if your earthly family is also your spiritual family, I don't know. I guess that this is something that I will need to pray about.

Priority #3 is the needy people of this world, those that don't know God and his wonderful abundant blessings. This is probably more where my family comes in. I tend to get anxious and fearful when called upon to witness to someone. I am afraid of botching it up and making things worse. I am afraid of mocking and ridicule. God says that he will be there for me. I need to spend more time with God so that I know what he wants me to do and say when an opportunity appears to spread the good news about Him. If #1 and #2 are there, then #3 will fall into place.

So now, I stand before God asking him to work ever more in my life. I want him to work and mold and shape me to be what he has in mind for me. Anyone else want to see the best of what God has to offer them??? Join me in my journey to stand in God's presence!
Blessings,
Carie

My 5 Things List

Mrs. B at Be Not Conformed tagged me....actually I tagged myself after reading her blog :) But anyway, here goes:
5 Things in my Refrigerator:
1. water
2. lunchmeat
3. cheese
4. garden veggies
5. milk

5 Things in My Closet:
1. skirts/tops/dresses
2. strappy shoes
3. material/yarn and DMC floss
4. wrapping paper
5. patterns

5 Things in My Purse
Mrs. B I also love purses...people laugh because I say I collect them :) Currently I am carrying a 3 pocket tote that is tan and blue swirled flowers and has a straw covered bottom. Very cute!
1. Bible - I have a small one that I carry
2. whatever book I am currently reading
3. wallet and cell phone
4. usually a water bottle
5. cosmetic case with 4-5 different lipsticks/glosses My love for lipsticks/glosses is second only to my love of purses :)

5 Things in My Car:
1. CD's
2. empty water bottles
3. dh's sunglasses
4. coloring books and pencils
5. umbrella

I really enjoyed reading all the responses on the other blogs that I have visited. Feel free to consider yourself tagged and let me know where to read your list :)
Blessings,
Carie

Sunday School Discussion

Our Sunday School discussion was very thought provoking. We discussed the ways that we can bring the unbelievers into the church without beating them over the head with their sins, or ignoring them altogether. What is the best balance for this? Do we wait to confront their sin until they have entered the covenant with God? Do be begin preaching on their obvious sins so as to convict them before they even get to know Jesus? We are fairly certain that isn't the way, but we know that we should always be preaching/teaching the truth. Balancing the two appears to be very difficult.

I guess that my stand for the truth needs to be constant, always firm so that others can see that in me. I need to make sure that I am consistent in my beliefs, so that I will not lead others astray. I know that through Christ Jesus anything is possible, but do the unbelievers know that? Will they see how I trust Jesus and lay all my faith in Him? Will they see the love of Jesus through me? I am again reminded of the importance that my actions here on earth have for the kingdom of heaven.

II Timothy 4:7

I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. II Timothy 4:7

This is the verse that we were studying at Fabulous Friday. Isn't this a wonderful verse? I just love this. I guess that I just didn't remember reading it before. Isn't it great how the truths of God's word come to you at the best times? I hope and pray that at the end of my time here on earth that these will be the words that I am able to utter. Don't we all??