The Move and other fun stuff

So Gaige moved into the living room, which means I moved the playroom/living room into other rooms of the house. A couple things. I realized that without Josh we don't need the table to be so big. So we took out the middle of the table and made it to fit 6 again. That made room for the piano. The pew fit in the dining room too. So woo hoo to that cool news. Play room, meet family room. :-) But now that Gaige's room is painted, cleaned out, and in order I have to figure out what to do with all this other stuff that used to be in there. Throw it out? Move it? Store it?

Sunday while I was doing some cleaning and organizing, (and helping Gaige move things downstairs into his new room) Bret took Abby (the dog) the girls and their friend Emma to the park. I installed a missing door to Gaige's room for extra privacy, which no doubt he will be needing.

Wow

Things are a changin

The dining room has changed colors and soon the living room will be a bedroom. The weather is warmer so we can get back outside for some fresh air. We caught another mouse... rat... Changes are in the air... I can feel it. Come dance with me.

Yesterday and Today

Bret had a World Fair at her co op yesterday. I was signed up to help out with concessions for a few hours. I do that a couple times a year to help out, or I could choose not to help and pay $25 a month. That wasn't sounding like the workable option this year. Anyway, it is like an art show, and a just basic show of work the kids have been doing. One of the kids had a display showing the kids how to make silly putty (we used to call it goop) with borax and glue. As it turns out I have tons of borax since years ago when Gaige Josh and I made goop together. And we have tons of glue. So we have been making silly putty all day.

i will try to come up with the putty pictures from Josh Gaige and myself from years ago too.

Locks of Love

Every couple years when their hair gets long and they complain about the pain of brushing the snarles through we decide it is time for Locks of Love. Here is Bret with her new haircut and old donatable ponitails.

Swimming

Swim team begins again. This time with Brenda, Bret, and Gaige.

Will you lie down with me??

Brenda asks me a lot if we could just lie down together and snuggle. She just wants to have that special time. So when Dad finally got up in time to take Bret to her co op on the way to work today, and Marley was still sleeping, Brenda seized the opportunity. "Mom, will you lie down with me?" Of couse because I have nothing else to do. We have been trying to finish this book we have been reading together called Witch Catcher, for a while, really. I took that time to grab the book and get some reading in. We finished the book. So I am putting out a book suggestion to the mothers and fathers and teachers of all sorts with children around Brenda's age. She is 9 btw. We both LOVED the book. It is not for people who have religious afflictions to books about fairies, witches, spells, and other crafts of that sort. But if you don't fall into that catagory, this book was fun, adventurous, and the hero was actually a heroINE which I love to see! It is great for the girls to see girls in books doing great things (even if it is a book of fantasy).

So TOP PIC for Brenda and myself. If you haven't already read it... Witch Catcher by Mary Downing Hahn is a must read.

Because we were in need of Spoons

We were out of spoons. I don't know if they were getting thrown in the garbage or if some day we will come across a little crevice in our house where our spoons and nail clippers and brushes are all being hidden by elves or what the deal is. I digress. We needed spoons. That is how this all started. We have needed spoons for a while. The thrift shop that I love and frequent most doesn't sell silver ware. They have everything else but no silver ware. The Goodwill I used to go to before we moved here had silver ware, but it was a half hour drive to get there. It seemed to be a waste of money to go half an hour out of my way to save a few bucks on silver ware. So one of the moms in Brenda's Girl Scout troop directed me to this thrift shop nearby that I didn't know about. I thought I would check it out and see if there were spoons there.

So we went. That was Tuesday. I remember because Bret was at her friend's house. Brenda didn't feel up to going to dance class, and we ended up going to the thrift shop instead. AND THEY HAD SPOONS!! I bought Where in the World Is Carmen SanDiego? the game because Marley lost the cards, and Bret loved that game.

I also bought this preschool Boggle Jr game where there are flash cards with simple three and four letter words alongside their picture. The object is to use the 8 letter dice to make the word before the timer goes out. Bret fell in love with the game and played it for a day. She then decided that she was a great speller and reader. We went to the library and checked out 4 basic reader books. She read each twice with my help. Then yesterday we went back to the library (she begged me throughout the day to get her there before it closed) and she checked out ten more, which she proudly told me this morning that she read them all. All she can talk about is how excited she is that she can read so well, and how she loves to read.

All this because we needed spoons...

The Circus and other stuff

So we went to the circus yesterday. I had never been, the girls neither. It was a fun time. The whole thing cost us $25.00. ($10 for parking, that was bad planning really and not being early enough to find parking farther away and walk the distance like we should have done; $15.00 for one popcorn, one nachos, and one pop.) Not a bad deal since we got in free. But with just a phone camera, the pictures held something to be desired. Sigh. The girls were excited to go, and they had a great time. Marley thought it was too loud and wanted to go home from the beginning. She often has issues with things being too loud. In the end she fell asleep.

Now today might just be my last cookie booth. Cookie sales are ALMOST over. Girl Scouts is almost out of cookies and we are just about done. Time to add everything up and move on to other things!! For that I am truely thankful. And rest assured that the whole family is too.

Hope you are all doing well. Hope to see you all soon somewhere or other.

Park Time

The weather was good. At first we signed up for a Homeschool Girl Scout event. It was a dog whisperer program. But we didn't hear back soon enough, so we planned to attend an outing park program. We dropped Bret off at her co op program and headed over to the park. It was about shelters and safety. When we got there the park person was sick throwing up in the portolet. So obviously the program didn't go on, but we had hours before we would pick up Bret, so everyone who came for the program stayed at the park to hang out and make a day of it. Brenda made a bunch more friends. Lily and I made a cake out of twigs, pine needles, rocks, and leaves, we took a walk, played in our "house" and just had a great day outdoors. The lady who set up the dog whisperer program up called me to tell me she did score a bunch of tickets to the circus. We are off to pick them up soon. What a great day.

Good News!!

If you are not aware of my recent camera problems, here is the quick version. Bret was trying to find a plug that worked for something and ended up losing my camera to computer hook-up. Then we thought he accidentally gave it to Scotty, and took Scotty's plug. So I bought a new device that would take my camera card and download onto the computer that way. That device lasted one use until my computer had a problem and stopped allowing that software to work. I thought I would never have pictures again!! Then I saw that Gaige was emailing himself pics from his phone, which was a no no. I called Verizon to see what the charge was for that, only to find out with our new plan it is free. SOOOO Now I can get pictures again through my phone. What good news and luck!

Making Lip Balm

The girls got a Lip Balm making kit for Christmas this year. We made lip balm today. BUT the kit was only given to Brenda and Bret, and they were not willing to share it with Marley. We went online to come up with a homemade recipe that we could whip up to let Marley in on the fun. Here is Bret making some homemade Lip Balm for Marley, Honey Cherry Flavor.

Been a While

Josh turned 18 the other day.

And I am feeling uncomfortable. That is just one of the reasons why. If you are a friend, feel free to drop me a line and say hi. I could use it this week.

The End of your Rainbow...

After such a great time at the waterpark. From one or two times I was a little peeved that my husband didn't want to join us. Number one it would have made this experience I wanted the kids to have easier on me. Number two it would have improved the quality of time I could spend with the kids. Number 3 we could have spent some good time together as well. But then I remember what I am learning, that I do what I want for my reasons, and I really cannot be happy if I don't let him do the same. And so that makes me happy to remember that. After all he didn't want me to go at all. But I went because it was important to me. Anyway this trip was a good opportunity to remind myself what are my goals and is what I am doing right now helping me achieve them? I didn't get to do all the things I wanted to do. I didn't get to hear all the speeches that I wanted to hear and attend all the funshops. But one night Brenda couldn't go to sleep and we stayed up together watching tv and eating chips and dip. The next day we laughed about it. Once a friend offered to play with Marley so I could go to the waterpark with the girls to go on some water rides with them. We talked about how for now on every year, no matter where we go, we should take a girls trip like this for the fun of it. We really did have a great time together, even though we weren't always together.

So that brings me to the rainbows in the pictures. These, of course, are brought to us by National Geographic. Where are you when you see you rainbow? Where are you when you get to the end? And what is there waiting for you? Those are my unschooling thoughts for the day.

PS my camera is being held hostage by the fact that my family lost or maybe accidentally threw away the plug in to the computer. Bret promises that he will buy a new one this week, but I don't suppose he will. So I will no doubt bug him until he takes me out to get one some time in the near future. I hope for more pictures of us soon.

Is Kroger being left behind? What do YOU think?

Funny story. If you don't know we are getting ready to leave today for the big unschoolers winter waterpark gathering. We are all excited. My girls are in the bathroom washing and brushing and primping as we speak. Getting ready for the ride. Well that is a subtopic for what I want to talk about today. An interesting thing happened when I was at a supermarket yesterday getting the food for the trip. Usually I frequent Aldi as a favorite grocery store. So of course I am used to bringing my own bags and bagging my own groceries. When I am at Aldi and people complain that the line is too long, I smile, because I know we are all standing in that line to save a few bucks. And also come on man, you know darn well the lines are longer sometimes at Kroger!! You know they are. Why are you grumbling?? Anyway, I digress.

So I am at Kroger yesterday with my own bags and Kroger is a mad house. First of all it is Sunday. Plus it is the first Sunday of the month (I think this might have something to do with foodstamps.) PLUS it is superbowl Sunday. So right away I have three things working against me, but I plow through anyway. When I get to the cashier she is snotty with me and implies that I am not getting my things on the conveyer fast enough for her taste. I grumble, forgetting that I can choose to keep a happy mood inspite of my surroundings. She is either too busy or she doesn't like "something" about me. I won't go into details with this one, other than to say sometimes in the town I live in, discrimination and prejudice is spewed from all colors, shapes and sizes. So I get up there with my bags and put them by where the food will eventually be dumped after it is scanned. The bagger begins fumbling unsuccessfully, trying to figure out how to bag my groceries without his plastic bags. I ask multiple times for him to not fill a bag with lots of 2 liter pops or I will not be able to carry it. It will just be too heavy. He doesn't seem to understand. The cashier leaves her station to help the bagger open my bags in the cart and put the groceries in that way, in an attempt to help him find a better way. In the end she tells me that I don't have enough bags for all my groceries and I will need to put some of them in plastic bags. They do that and I leave. When I get to my car, I find one of MY BIG bags has only a couple bags of chips in it and is half full. I find another one of my big bags with only two boxes of cookies. AND all the groceries that they bagged in their plastic bags were DOUBLE BAGGED! Probably I didn't save a single plastic bag from being used by bringing my own bags. Could it be that Kroger is too BUSY to take the extra minute to bag my groceries with my bags? They don't CARE to save the extra garbage of those plastic bags I must throw away?? Aldi has figured it out. Whole foods does it with ease. Why are you being left behind Kroger?

Wallpaper

I think I have said that this month is blue month for computer wallpaper, didn't I? Well jump aboard if you haven't already. Here is another great pic from the big exciting world of National Geographic, where their photographers get to travel all over the world to send us images of all the things we don't see staying at home in our lives.



Antarctica's perennially ice-covered Lake Hoare bears the scars of sand and dirt that have worked their way from the surface down into the ice. Soil blows onto the lake from a nearby dry valley, warms in the sun, and melts downward, leaving a bubble column in its trail.

Photograph by Maria Stenzel

Drumming Circle

Yes it is that time of the month again. Where we circle around eachother and create power and strength around ourselves. Well really this month is more about scheduling the next year of drumming circling and... whatever else we women do... Here are a couple pictures that remind me of our group, since I am in the mode of artists right now.



This painting by Monica Steward, entitled Unity, reminds me of the charge I get from these spiritual gatherings of women. We all create this energy and strength around us. The energy we conjour up when we are at circle carries over through my life for days to come. In a home brimming with testosterone like mine is, these circles help to center me.



For a long time, I had forgotten this part of me. Kinda put it away to live "life", so to speak. Whenever I forget to remember the magic that keeps me alive and happy, I get it back when I am back around that spiritual energy. This painting by Kalidou Kassé is entitled Dancers. It inspires that magic back into me to remember that this is the important part of my life. The wild crazy dancing music silly I-don't-care-what-anyone-thinks self.

Pictures

For the trip, the girls and I are in need of a picture of us for the fairy godparent activity. The girls just love this. It may be what they are most excited about! And so, that said, pictures of us girls to come soon.

January Quotes of the Week

If you want happiness for an hour; take a nap. If you want happiness for a day; go fishing. If you want happiness for a month; get married. If you want happiness for a year; inherit a fortune. If you want happiness for a lifetime; help someone else.

Chinese Proverb

One day it will have to be officially admitted that what we have christened reality is an even greater illusion than the world of dreams.

Salvador Dali

What's a Happenin?

Today's blog features Salvador Dali.

As does my new Quote of the week... One day it will have to be officially admitted that what we have christened reality is an even greater illusion than the world of dreams. Salvador Dali

So my blog has been void of actual homeschooling stuff. What ARE we doing here all day? Where are my political comments? Why is SHE slacking on the job? You might ask yourself.

We HAVE been real busy. You might blame the lack of blogging to that. Maybe. Girl Scout cookie sales have begun and are taking a lot of my time. I am the leader and cookie mom for two troops. This takes a lot of coordination from my part. Also there is Kalahari to get ready for. What is that?? Only the biggest indoor waterpark in the USofA. We are off to an unschooling gathering. But again, we are saving up for this fun. So unless it is free, we aren't doing it right now. And things are already tight. We have spent a lot of time at home doing fun things there.

Politics? What do I think about our new president? What about his inaugeration speech? What about the new first lady's dress? Haven't we heard all those comments already? I try to stay off straight politics whenever I can. It is like religion, breastfeeding, homeschool vs. public school, etc. It is personal and when you discuss it, it makes people crazy. The D's hate the R's. The R's hate the D's. He's wrong. I'm right. No you are wrong, my way is right. If you believe that one person is the downfall of anything, it can only be you. You are the only one that can make or break anything. That is my political view, and my view on all other controversial issues. So what great things will our NEW prez bring to the table? I can only hope that he brings awareness with him.





I am swapping girls with a friend and that is a nice switcheroo. On Tuesdays I have her daughter. On Thursdays she has one of mine. Both of my girls are friends with her daughter so it is nice for them each to get their special time with her. Also I get some special time with that other daughter that stays home. Today it is Bret. She has asked me to take her to the Thrift Shop to spend some of her money. She has $7.00 minus the dollar she spent at the dollar store the other day plus $5.00 for that damn inflated toothfairy deal she has going on. So $11.00 altogether. Not a bad spread for a seven almost eight year old.

Doing the Laundry

Not about homeschooling?? Maybe not. But ok, when I decided to change my homeschooling approach and found that unschooling matched the goals that I have for my relationship with the kids, I soon found that it is not about school at all really. It is more about living, being happy, and enjoying eachother's presence every day. So I started, and still currently am when I have time and energy, reading up about how unschooling fits into every day living. Right off the bat, my personal struggles are this, housecleaning (chores) and food.

To give to my kids eating whatever they want and letting them find their healthy eating choices from trial and error (ex. crap food will eventally make you feel unhealthy, gorging on food will make you feel sick, and eventually you will stop wanting those things that you felt like you needed because you couldn't have them.) Well there is a little more to it than that. But I soon am finding that my girls literally busting the seams of their pants because they are having a freeforall with their food, first of all we aren't buying enough pants for that! Second of all we are rationing our money to pay some things that we fell way behind on so we are really watching the money we spend on food. It isn't that Bret and I are eating like royalty and the kids have pork and beans. We all are eating more wisely because that is how I am shopping. We simply are not buying 10 bags of chips and gallons of ice cream and nutty buddies and whatever else so that they can have whatever they want to eat all day. So that is my first issue, I guess with the radical changes that I want to eventally make. Maybe in due time I will change this view.

The other is house cleaning. Left to their own devices, my kids would and do throw their clothes, toys, papers, garbage, wherever they are and never look back. I am not sure why it has gotten like this. I think it is more out of habit than lack of respect. But how to turn that around? I do assign chores on a need be basis. A radical unschooler would say there is no need. Just a want. And maybe this IS so and true. I want to be able to cook food and eat at the table without having to spend hours of my own time washing all the dishes that the kids chose not to wash and cleaning the table that the kids have thrown everything from school work to toys to clothes on. I want my husband to find his toothbrush in the morning without having to search through tons of bathroom mess, because that is frustrating and no way to start a work day. If I were to do it all on my own not only would it never get done but I would have no quality time with the kids. I would literally be a slave to cleaning and cooking. In our house cleanliness saves the time of spending half an hour looking for the car keys before we go somewhere. Order helps me get things done faster. When the kids take something of mine into their bedroom and don't replace it, I could be all day trying to find it, not knowing that the kids took it.

So for now as I figure this life out, I know two things. One is that I love my kids and I want them to lead a healthy and happy life. The second is that I don't want crazy chaos to get them there.

So that brings me to the laundry. I came up with this idea. So far it is working. I bought baskets for everyone and when the laundry comes out of the dryer I immediately sort it into its rightful owner's basket. Then once a week, usually Sunday is a good night because we are all home, we sit down to watch a movie and fold our clothes. Then everyone can put their own clothes away. The kids seem to enjoy this. I am TRYING to find creative solutions to some of these issues! See? I am trying.

Do You Like Avacados??

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w38KNDmNVHg Vote for Avacados!!!

Time Comes and Goes

Midnight Sun, Greenland, 1925

Eight exposures on the same photographic plate, made at 20-minute intervals, capture the midnight sun over Littleton Island near Greenland.

Photograph by Donald B. MacMillan
Brought to us by National Geographic

I am reminded that time comes and goes. And these magical fairies of mine will only have this moment once. Must go play now. Bye. Hope you enjoy the picture. Hope it reminds you to go play.

Let's Learn About Seals This Week... Just Because

What Ranks?
Photograph by George Steinmetz

Cape fur seals sun themselves in Namibia's Skeleton Coast Park, where in many areas tourism takes a backseat to nature's needs. To prevent the Cape fur seals from feeling threatened, visitors can view them for no more than an hour at a time a few days a week—if they have strong stomachs, says Chris Leibenberg, a guide with Wilderness Safaris. "You have not experienced true stench in your life until you have stood downwind of 30,000 Cape fur seals on a hot day."

This of course taken from National Geographic online.

Here are some pics from camping this last weekend. I bunked with 21 Girl Scouts from kindergarten to 6th grade. All my 10 were 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grades. The girls made God's Eyes, finger knitted, completed 4 or 5 badges, took a night hike, "made" a fire then ate it, roasted hot dogs, made s'mores (in the toaster oven, it was raining and we didn't have any dry wood left), danced, partied, made all their own food, cleaned their own messes, and just had a wild time. We got home on Sunday and the girls were bugging me to take them out to sell cookies. Sometimes we sit at home with nothing to do but have a good time relaxing. Other times we are so busy I can barely keep up.

One of the reasons I really wanted to go camping this weekend with the other troop that invited us is so I could be prepared for camping with just my troop next fall. Some of the things I learned... small groups get more done. We spent so much time preparing food, cooking the food, setting it up, lining the girls up buffet style, getting the food, eating, lining up to clean the plates, then cleaning the kitchen after every meal. It took easily 1-1/2 to 2 hours for this process for every meal. This was just a matter of numbers. It took so long with so many girls. Antoher thing I learned is how important it is to have order. The girls stuff was just everywhere. Even I came home with clothes that didn't belong to my kids somehow. I want to impliment a plan for keeping their things in order so we don't have chaos this summer at TAC camp or this fall camping with just our troop. The girls (mine included) are so used to getting dressed and leaving their clothes on the bathroom floor, dropping their jackets on the floor when they walk in the house, leaving their toys everywhere. I will work on that. That might take a couple camping trips to get into gear. Also I started a list of things I need to bring like rope to hang the mess kits, and clothes pins, laundry bags, dish towels, etc. And lastly I have to come prepared and organized. I was just not organized this weekend. There was no set thing they were going to do at a certain time, so when I didn't have activities going on or I was putting an activity together I had 21 girls running wild. And things like when we made omlets, if we had the bacon cooked ahead of time we could have saved ourselves so much time. I need to plan for that. And last, I think if I am going to take the girls camping ourselves like a troop, 10 girls will be the limit for my troops.
That said, the girls had so much fun. We all met tons of new friends. We had the most wonderful hosts that invited us along on their trip. Big thank you to them. They worked really hard to make this trip a success, and I am able to bring so many ideas home from what they taught me. So a HUGE thanks to THAT troop and their leaders for the opportunity to learn from women who have put in so much time into making their troop's experience great (and ours too.)

New meaningless Schoolboard Quote across the street

Where are the pictures you say? I am usually filling the blog with colorful pictures of our daily happenings. Bret is holding my camera hostage in his car. But he will be bringing it in tomorrow morning for me, bright and early. Little Bret has her co op in the morning, then we are off to go camping with the troops. Me and 15 other tinnie bopper girls locked in a lodge together. Can it possibly be a good thing?? Well anyway, I won't be around for a few days.

So if you are waiting for lots of colorful bloggings, you will have to wait. OOOOOH but, although I don't have the camera today, the school across the street has another new meaningless schoolboard quote posted on their billboard outside!!!

Drumroll please!!!!

"A book worth reading, is a book worth buying."

I will take a picture of it if I can in the next week or so. They got this BRAND SPANKIN new schoolboard and this is how they pay the PTA back? Really. I would be insulted if I helped pay for this school board being used in such a useless way. Inspire someone, won't you.

Last month's was... "Before you can do anything, first you must dream." Really?

Now I must come up with an equally useless schoolboard quote for my blog. Give me some time. I will have to work at this one. Keep checking back. I will update it soon!

And I like the school too. Last year, I volunteered to be a mentor. I wanted to do it again, but my boys aren't available to keep an eye out for the girls during the day anymore. It is nothing against the school. But really, who is letting someone post these things? There are thousands of perfectly inspiring quotes to choose from out there... Mother Teresa, Einstein, Thoreau, etc. Let someone else make up the quote please. PLEASE!

Drawing and Learning

OOOOh I found this last picture I am going to post today. Just because it fits in with me and Marley. The other day we were drawing. I was getting tired of drawing houses, flowers, and beautiful little princess girls and one of Marley's throw-aways looked like a volcano. So I turned it into a volcano and we talked about what a volcano was. Then I got the idea to draw a geyser and we all talked about what those were and how they got there too. Now that I think about it, I might check out what fun books I can come up with from the library with great pictures of geysers. But anyway in the mean time, I found this great picture also. It is also from National Geographic.

Water Ballet

I had to add this picture. It IS truly water ballet to me. I have just been staring at it and admiring it from all different angles. Wow. Who knew water droplets could be such works of art. This photograph is by Wei-i Lee. It is called Synchronized Liquid Art. It comes as one of the finalists from National Geographic's Energizer Ultimate Photo Contest. Here is a comment from "Jim". Jim's Comments
What a delicate, instantaneous water ballet! Glasslike, mirrored and highlighted for our inspection and delight, so that we might marvel in detail at their momentary perfection. Two sets of two drops really, one set falling into a clear pool, the next set arriving just in time to be pierced like jeweled crowns. Visually delicious.

To see more go here...
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/energizer/?fs=travel.nationalgeographic.com

The Picture is blue "ish" and this is blue desktop wallpaper month. So use it if you like it. Make your desktop blue for fun. There are so many fabulous blue pictures out there waiting to be wallpapered to your desktop!!!

Girl Scouts

Well it is January now, time to start thinking about the rest of the school year of scouts. Since next month is Thinking Day we will spend a week putting together our project for Thinking Day. There are only 4 troops in our service unit, and two of them are mine, so no HUGE deal, but still it must be done. Before that of course, we are heading out to the lodge to go camping next week. All but one have rsvp'd in the older troop, and three are going from my younger troop. We are connecting with a third troop and heading for our first troop camping trip. Actually it is great to have the opportunity to go camping with a troop that has done this many times. It will prepare me for next year when we schedule our fall camping trip by ourselves. After this trip is behind me I can start working the girls toward their last keys. The older girls will only have February, March, and April to complete the book if they are to start earning their bridging patch for Juniors in May. This means we need to start thinking about our service project soon. This week... well we will be talking about our trip, picking a country for Thinking Day, maybe making some sit-upons for the trip.

One more thing... Girl Scout cookie orders start Friday. Place your orders now and be the first to get your delicious, once-a-year special Girl Scout Cookies!!!

Sleeping Habits

I am blogging about sleeping habits today evidentally. So I mention the girls now on this blog. I have found Brenda and Bret all snug together in Brenda's bed the last couple weeks. I wonder what that is all about. Is it the cold? Or something else? Maybe..... maybe they love eachother after all. And are keeping eachother company. Could it be????? My kids love eachother?? Some days it seems impossible to imagine, other days it is as obvious as the brown snowless grass on our small patch of noncement.

Which is your favorite apple??

Bret comes to me and says, "Which is your favorite apple? I like Green for the Sour and Red for the Juicy." I don't think we have ever discussed apple flavors and textures before.

Oh What A Wonderful Life

After two days of non stop playing with Lily, well I don't know if it is literally non stop. I do know that it was A LOT of playing. Anyway she was feeling left out tonight. I spent the day cleaning and getting the house in semi order, only to have 10 girls stomp through my house on the way to their Girl Scout skating party. Funny enough, Bret pal'd up with a friend of hers from Brenda's troop. And Brenda found her own comfort zone worth of friends. My troop co-leader brought along her older daughter who was an older Girl Scout. I found out today that her troop disbanded this year, for whatever reason. We talked a bit about her becoming a Juliette for a while until something else comes up. (That is where with the help of an adult she works as an independent Girl Scout.) She could sell cookies to earn money for her camp and whatever else she wants to do, work ahead without the actual troop. She seemed interested. For some of the Girl Scouts there today with us, it was a great learning experience of what they do NOT want to do again. Some of them were begging for more skating parties. I'd say we all learned something... Like how bruises don't kill you for instance. He he he. Just a couple more weeks and we are heading camping. Whoooooo hooooo. What fun. Two nights of no sleep for me. ;-)

Do you WANT TO make a difference...

Fight Global Warming; Go Vegan!
by david baake
http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_david_ba_070513_fight_global_warming.htm
"Probably the easiest, cheapest, and most effective way to reduce your contribution to climate change is to adopt a vegan diet, or at least reduce your consumption of animal products. According to the United Nations, “raising animals for food generates more greenhouse gases than all the cars and trucks in the world combined...”
Thinking of making a change?? Start small, if you can't go all gung ho. Since Bret and I have gone vegan, we have noticed that some things are easier for the kids than others... Change their milk... not so easy. Change from butter to Earth Balance natural buttery spread (vegan substitute), easy for everyone. Change to vegan cheese, easier for the younger kids, not so easy for the teens. Veganaise? Good for some, not so easy for others. Since I switched to Vegenaise... the smell of mayonaise makes me gag now. I am hooked on Vegenaise. I couldn't go back to mayo if I wanted to. Eggs, haven't had them in I cannot remember how long. Chicken, I have eaten that a time or two.

If you are trying to make a change in your life, remember!!! Every little bit counts. If everyone changed just a LITTLE bit it would make a big difference. Don't beat yourself up because you didn't change ENOUGH today. You are beautiful how you are. You aspire. You dream. And some day you will see that you already are...

New old pics just because I found them...

This is the most awesome pic of Josh and Leah. Must have come from the Unity party this summer. I donno, but it is cool!! Josh is awesome!

And here are the girls with Jessie and Leah (undoubtedly their proclaimed best friends) and Griffin, at what appears to be the Museum Center. Boy you guys have made my girls lives so amazingly happy when you are in it...

Thnx Leah for these fab pics. I stole them from you.

Learn something new

This month's wallpaper is blue...

Though it's better known for shades of red, the Grand Canyon is shrouded in blue as night descends on its foggy, snow-covered walls. The canyon's north rim is typically closed to vehicles in winter.
Photograph by Michael Nichols

Brought to you by National Geographic photography. Do you have a blue picture of amazingness to showcase? January is put-an-amazing-blue-pic-on-your-computer-wallpaper month. Just DO IT...

Circle

Here is what I saw through Celeste's special glasses. A normal Christmas tree with a special Chanakkah twist...

Here are the glasses...

Do we look like we are circling around the Winter Solstice?? And celebrating Chanakkah and Christmas? We did all of that and soo much more. It has been a few months since I have been able to make a Drumming Circle. The last one was amazing, I heard, but I was in Tennessee, learning more about the wonderful world of unschooling. So it was great to get together with the girls again. Wild Women, you are amazing. You inspire me to be who I forgot I was. I came home feeling like I had visited again the world of Avalon. Thank you all for being there for me.

Bret and her Beanie

Here is Bret with her new beanie. Both girls totally had to have this beanie. I told them IF I bought this beanie for them they M-U-S-T MUST MUST MUST wear it to every meeting with their sash that they just had to have. They swear that they will so here it is! At Bret's last meeting (the Christmas party) I needed an extra hand and asked for Brenda's help as a senior Brownie. Both girls were there at that meeting with their sashes AND beanies. So we will see.

Before... and After

(My husband) Bret decided he wanted to get dread locks. I have wanted them for a while. When Josh had them I loved them and thought they were the coolest. So we bought the special bees wax with no petroleum in it (that just makes the wax like vasoline, sticky and goopy, I remember from Josh's hair), and decided to practice on me. It might be a while before Bret's hair is long enough. In fact I remember when we did Josh's so long ago, that Bret had wanted to do his hair too, but he never did. Corporate look and all, I guess, who knows. Life happens. Anyway three days and HOURS later...

Ta daaaaaaa! What fun! But let me warn you if you do get this done to you... There is a lot of pain involved. Now I realize that having my perfectionist husband do my hair made the whole experience last longer than normal (like DAYS longer) but even done professionally, it is painful!

So here is what we did. First we went to Knottyboy.com and checked out their video. That was very helpful and would have been great to have for Josh's hair, way back when. Then we bought their shampoo bar, their wax, and their wooden comb (in Bret's opinion, a must-have). For my hair it took an entire jar of the 8oz. wax, but I do have a lot of hair. So anyway, next I washed my hair with their Knottyboy shampoo bar which totally took any softness out of my hair and made it impossible to brush, duh. I dried my hair and crimped it with my crimp iron (this gave it lots of frizz for the dreading process). And Bret got to work, back combing pulling, waxing, and palm roll, palm roll, palm roll (Bret, it turns out, is a backcombing maniac, and that was the painful part). A couple days later, here I was like new, only dreadlier.

Lovin it!

See you soon and Merry Christmas. Happy Chanukah, as today is the first day of THAT holiday. It is also the Sunday Solstice Celebration for us Wild Women so I will be at the drumming circle all night tonight celebrating so many things that are wonderful in my life. And there are plenty.

So to all my many many friends (and it just occurrs to me now how many that be) thank you ALL for being in my life with me. Thank you for sharing your part in my last year, and do stick around for the next one too! I will surely miss you if you don't!

Which do you prefer? Let me know. BUT BE NICE!!