Computer Woes

I love my new laptop.
Really, I do.
Except this past week.
My hard drive crashed.
I lost EVERYTHING.
I hadn't gotten around to backing stuff up.
So I lost all my mp3 downloads, my audio books, my homeschool ebook purchases.
I lost all my favorites list with all of my favorite resources and places to visit.
EVERYTHING

We have a new hard drive now.
I am attempting to pick up the pieces.

If you can think of any places that I would like to visit please leave me a comment. I am so sad to have lost many of my friends. I am so grateful that I have some of thing linked from here, but there were many, many more that weren't :(

I will try to post again when I have some happy stuff to report............like my little Bear's first 2 teeth.......or that he has started to crawl. We have been very busy even without an internet connection :)

Blessings to all!!!!

The Simple Woman Daybook

If you would like to participate in today's Daybook please go HERE for rules and guidelines.
FOR TODAY May 12, 2008...
Outside My Window...sunshine!!!!
I am thinking...of dh and problems with our business co-owner
I am thankful for...God's grace every day
From the kitchen...chicken and stuffing casserole
I am wearing...jeans and a sweatshirt (its cool here!)
I am creating...not really anything today
I am going...to town this evening, library, walgreens, mcDonalds and taekwondo
I am reading...just finished Ephesians
I am hoping...problems with our friend will settle down
I am hearing...kitties rustling about
Around the house...baby has his first tooth!
One of my favorite things...spring flowers
A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week: housecleaning, loving my family

2nd Degree Black Belt

This afternoon, at approximately 5:00 p.m., my oldest son Leland will be testing for his 2nd degree black belt. This is a huge accomplishment and I am terribly proud of him :)

Way to go Lee!!!!!

Choosing Every Day

I had a "blah" day yesterday. I frequently have those as the devil and I spar. He tries to bring me down and I try to fight my way to the surface.
I was reading my current issue of An Encouraging Word this morning and realized that I get the choice every day to make my day, my life, be the life I want to be living. Some days are going to go worse than others. Some days nothing will get done. Some days I will want to curl up and cry. BUT, God is still hanging in there with me. He is lifting me up. He wants me to stand on my own two feet and keep "doing the next thing".

Today I am going to keep my head up and continue to "do the next thing".

Have a wonderful day!

Ultimate Homeschool Expo 2008

Although the Ultimate Homeschool Expo is over, the fun is just starting! All of the wonderful presentations are being edited and uploaded by Cindy and will be available on her website FOREVER! $40 is such a discounted price to pay for this fabulous resource. This price is only good until July 1st, 2008 and then it increases to $99. That is still a wonderful price for all the great resources you recieve, but why pay more when it is such a great deal now?

Click below and check out it out!

http://www.cindysaffiliates.com/go.php?offer=carieann77&pid=1

Today's To Do List

I was so tired after working in the garden yesterday that I didn't get everything done on my list. I will be finishing it up today.

Morning
family Bible reading
school
laundry
chores
lunch

Afternoon
declutter table and desk
sort coupons
fold and put away laundry
pick up Shannon (my niece) from school

Evening
supper
family read aloud time
private Bible study
BED

Our Garden

I guess that dh and I were feeling energetic yesterday. I didn't know that we were, but I guess we were. I thought that we were going to plant our veggie plants yesterday. Dh planned on putting the seeds in the ground. In the end, we planted the whole thing.....in 2.5 hours. Did I mention that our garden is HUGE? We extended it out this year by about 4 ft. on the south side. I would guess that it is 60 ft long by 25 ft. wide. That makes it bigger than our house. Anyway, this is what we planted: (our rows are 25 ft. long)

4 hills of watermelon
8 3/4 rows of sweet corn (Kandy Corn variety - yummy)
2 hills spaghetti squash
2 hills zucchini
2 hills cucumber
1 row radishes
1 row red onions and yellow onions
3 rows potato hills
4 sweet potato plants
1/2 row of brussel sprouts
1 row okra
3 1/2 rows of green beans
6 cherry tomatoes
24 regular tomatoes (several varieties)
3 jalepeno peppers
3 caribbean red hot peppers
11 sweet banana peppers
9 bell peppers
6 cabbage plants
3 broccoli

That makes me tired just thinking about it. Everything wasn't in that order necessarily. We have corn and green beans in 2 different places. Our new things this year are brussel sprouts and okra. We will see how they do.

It is supposed to rain the next couple of days so we got everything done just in time.

Today's To-Do List

I quit doing this a while back, but am going to try to take it up again. It works great to keep me accountable and I love to see what others are doing with their days!

Morning
school work
laundry
work in garden
lunch

Afternoon
sweep kitchen
declutter living room tables
declutter desk
fold and put away laundry

Evening
read aloud with boys
bath baby
supper
order my mom's Mother's Day gift (I am late!)
private Bible reading and prayer
maybe some knitting????

I hope that everyone has a wonderful day!

The Simple Woman's Daybook

To participate you can go HERE



FOR TODAY May 6th...
Outside My Window... Sunshine and birds singing

I am thinking...about planting the garden this morning and the finishing up of schoolwork

I am thankful for...a hardworking husband

From the kitchen...might bake something yummy

I am wearing...grubby garden clothes - black sweats and a t-shirt

I am creating...socks and a wrap

I am going...nowhere today!

I am reading...Ephesians, Psalms and Acts

I am hoping...the beautiful weather will continue and the rain will be gentle

I am hearing...my little dog sniff around the house

Around the house...things are still quiet as everyone sleeps

One of my favorite things...homemade quilts

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week: babysitting my niece, shopping with dh, working on my herb bed and flower beds

Wrapping Up Our School Year

We should be wrapping up our school year soon. Once the boys found out that we could very well be schooling until the end of JUNE....they decided to double-up on assignments and get some books finished. They have been very persistant and it looks like we should have no problem finishing up by the end of the month. I am very relieved about that. Last year we schooled on and off all summer and it was mentally tedious for me. Not really hard, but I never got the time to plan and work at the next years stuff and get excited about it. I hope to get excited about this next year's studies.

I am really, really enjoying the audio recordings from Cindy Rushton's Ultimate Homeschool Expo 2008. I enjoy them so much that I am going to get a button soon. I can't say enough good things about this Expo. It is worth the money in so many ways. I am feeling so refreshed and rejuvinated and I have probably on listened to 3-4 speakers. What a wonderful blessing!!!!!

In wrapping up this year's stuff, I am already mentally planning next years. How do you like to plan your school year? Do you plan a month/quarter/semester/year at a time? Do you work at it all in one day or over the course of a week or more? How do you organize the resources that you will be using for the new year (and those that you have but won't be using?)? I guess that I am full of questions tonight. Please share how you plan your homeschool. I love to glean great ideas from everyone!

Have a good night!