Sprittibee

Momophobic

2008-05-11T15:33:00.001-05:00

We had to go to Wal-Mart last night to buy some groceries so my husband could make home-made salsa for our small group after church tonight. We were as full as ticks after eating Greek food at a little place in town. They must have put some sort of mind altering dope in that stuff because Kev and I were supernaturally tired and our brains were foggy. We ditched plans to watch a movie we rented so we could go to bed early instead.

While we were waiting in line to pay for our groceries, Kaden (my 11 year old son) was checking out all the last minute items on the shelves before you get to the register. He picked up a bottle of trial sized Lysol.

His daddy saw him pick up the Lysol and said, "Now, there's something you DON'T want to get your mom for Mother's Day."

Kaden looked back down at the package in his hand, wondering. "Why?" he asked.

"Well, it says there on the bottle that it kills germs, right? It would be deadly to your mother."

Kaden smiled. We all started laughing in the check-out line. Good thing I had already finished my lemonade, or I might have spewed it out on the conveyor belt.

I guess there are worse things to be called than a germ, right?

Just in case there's any truth to it, I'm refraining from using any household cleaners today. I'm wondering if there might be an angle here that could get me out of cleaning the house for good?

Click below to see where germs like me might be hiding in your house.

Oh, and have a happy Mother's Day (free from cleaning products or anything that remotely reminds you of having to clean up your house)!

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Buzz Words: cleaning, humor, Mother's Day, life, funny, Lysol, Moms, laugh, housekeeping, family, Walmart

'Twitterpated'

2008-05-10T15:56:00.004-05:00

"What's Twitter?"

That was a question I had to ask after hearing so much about it. Many of my online buddies started telling me about this wonderful service that allowed them to get every-day random thoughts, ideas, and information from their friends - without the hassle of a phone-call. I logged on and was part of twitter without posting for a while, until I learned that you could post your twitter updates on your sidebar of your blog - to update people in "random-brain-fart-mode" all day long.

"How cool is that!" I thought.

I began following a few folks I had met online. It was interesting to see their twitter messages - to see what they were up to. It was like a "fly's-eye-view" into their lives that I couldn't have gotten any other way. Now I'm hooked on twitter and am posting daily dribble through G-Talk.

YEAH! G-Talk! It is like IM - only for YOURSELF. You IM twitter and it posts to your page and updates your blog sidebar at the same instant. Or if you are on the go like my friend LJC of http://www.ljcfyi.com/, you can twitter from your cell phone, too!

Check out twitter and see if you like it. We all would love to know what you are doing in your spare time. What you ate for dinner. Where the best gas prices are. What you need to remember to do tomorrow. Whatever.

If you do sign up, you can follow me by clicking the follow button on my personal twitter page. And if you are really in to making things pretty, you can even customize the look and feel of your twitter page template just like you can on blogger!

If you still need some extra info about exactly what twitter is about, click the "What's Twitter?" link in the beginning of this post to see a video by Common Craft. They did a smash-up job of explaining it "in Plain English".

See you on twitter.

"Tweet. Tweet."

Love,

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Buzz Words: techie, twitter, personal, life, random, reviews, online, friends, connected, information, blog tools

Sweet and 17

2008-05-09T23:59:00.002-05:00

I have had the bountiful privilege of meeting the heroine of this post: Jocelyn Dixon. Some of you might know she had her 17th birthday today from the post at HSBA. Many in the blogosphere have been wishing her well. It is easy to see why she's getting so much attention. She is as beautiful on the inside as she is on the out. Her family is blessed and her friends are twice blessed - for the one has her loyalty and the other has loyalty given not by duty but by choice.

Every time I saw her on my short stay in Indiana she was busy helping out. Carrying the baby, cleaning up, finding shoes, quietly helping her family as a young lady should. She writes with passion and wit, but she is silently observant and shy when you meet her. Her eyes sparkle a welcome, but her humble heart would rather listen and share a smile with you than take any glory. What a wonderful mother and charming wife she will make one day!

I may be a little late at 11:59PM to wish her a happy birthday today as she turns 17, but I wanted to let her know that she has truly impressed me... first when I read her blog and then in person when we met. I pray that she will be truly happy and blessed in all her days... and that wherever she goes, she will be led by the Lord.

...in the heart of every true Christian parent there glows an ideal of very fair beauty of character and nobleness of soul, which he wants to see his child attain. It is a vision of the most exalted life, lovelier than that which fills the thought of any sculptor as he stands before his marble and begins to hew at the block; fairer than that which rises in the poet's soul as he bows in ecstatic fervor over his page and seeks to describe his dream. Every true, godly parent dreams of the most perfect manhood and womanhood for his children. He wants to see them grow up into Christlikeness, spotless in purity, rich in all the graces with character fully developed and rounded out in symmetrical beauty, shining in this world, but shining more and more unto the perfect day...

~ J.R. Miller, "Home-Making"

I pray that you continue to shine, Jocelyn! You are a glistening jewel in your father and mother's crown.

Happy birthday, sweet Jocelyn! You are a beautiful lady.

In Him,

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Buzz Words: homeschool, friend, parenting, birthday, Christian, children, Jesus, tribute, personal, happy

Cat Distractions and Early-Onset Before-Summer Burnout

2008-05-08T00:01:00.000-05:00

It isn't feeling like spring here any more... but I was glad that it was cool enough to sit and eat my Sonic Breakfast Bistro in the car tonight without breaking a sweat. [Cherry Coke is from heaven.] I'm tempted to put up my summer background for the blog... and this will make - what? The third year I have had that same summer background? I think it is time for a blog face-lift... but I'm not sure where the money for that would come from. Certainly not when the house appraisal just came in and I'm sure the taxes are not going to be easy to cough up once the mortgage company figures it out!

Summer weather makes for summer on the brain. I thought spring was bad. I'm wondering if it isn't just my mind going? Stranger things have happened. Of all people... right? But yes - I have been feeling like a homeschool flop lately. Even after our trip to Michigan for robotics! Especially. Two weeks off and I turn to mush. A puddle of non-routine and ADD hyperfocusing. It makes me want to clean things. So the unpacking and laundry got done, the desk got cleaned off, the sheets got changed, the bookshelves got rearranged, the school closet got an overhaul, my piles of paperwork are sorted and ready to grade and put away, and the refrigerator and menu plan is next. And I wonder why it's hard to get back to school!!! All that without a drop of coffee.

Maybe I'll slow down long enough to get some SCHOOL planning done tomorrow. Cuz, you know, I AM a homeschool teacher, after all. After the refrigerator is clean and my menu is done for the next two weeks, that is. Because you know a girl can't do school with things growing in her refrigerator. Unless they are science experiments (which is what that rotisserie chicken looks like on the top shelf that has been there since three weeks ago...). But I digress.

Another distraction has been my cat. He is the 'goodest boy'. You just can't understand how awesome this cat is. It was really, really hard to go without his furry belly for 7 straight days. I'm making up for lost time and he is so spoiled. He gets up on the bed when we are trying to read and rolls over so all we see is his fat furry belly - with his little paws in the air like a bunny rabbit. HE KNOWS what he's doing. It is serious cuteness. Cuteness that kills. Must. look. away.... "now what were we studying?"

Tomorrow we are finishing up our grading/organizing/paperwork project (if we can avoid the cat long enough), and then Friday we are meeting with another mom to plan a KONOS co-op for States and Regions! I'm so excited. I haven't co-oped with another family since we were in Arkansas (and that didn't last very long because the co-op we were in up there disbanded when a lot of ladies went to other curriculums). Before that, we co-oped with my buddy, Kelly. She made me look like a bump on a log. I'm thrilled about co-oping because I need a breath of fresh air. I need some life back in my dry bones. I'm fizzled out, people. I have homeschool early-onset before-summer burn-out.

We start Monday with New England area... so if you own a pet whale or know any Pilgrims, please comment! Recipes and tips from locals are coveted. Send us a postcard! Email us a photo. Give us a history lesson. Maybe we can swap Flat Stanley with you.

Wish us luck on getting back to school! We'll be trucking across the USA 'FIGURATIVELY' this time... in our unit study.... until some time in August! Don't worry, I'm not entirely heartless. My kids WILL get some summer break (a week in June when our buddies come home and a week for July 4th... and 1/2 of August and a week or two of September). That makes 4-6 weeks, right? And you thought I was Miss Viola Swamp! Shame on you!

In Him,

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Buzz Words: homeschool, distracted, parenting, life, teaching, children, elementary, KONOS, personal, cats, pets

Wordless Wednesday: Bee

2008-05-07T15:30:00.002-05:00

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Buzz Words: bee, bugs, insects, photos, friends, pictures, photography, Arkansas, personal, humor, Wordless Wednesday

Groovy Tunes

2008-05-06T00:30:00.001-05:00

I keep a playlist from my own music archives at my Lounge site, but I also enjoy this neat playlist music player:

Morgan posted about it on her blog tonight, too. Me and my girl were goofing off on her blog and managed to fix her background, add a pink playlist to the footer of her blog, and add her "Pet of the Month" button (finally) in her sidebar. Time is short for things like that around here - especially when school is frantic in the last few months of the school year.

We're praying our school day is a success tomorrow. Today wasn't so great since it was the first day back after two weeks off for our Robotrip.

Hopefully you are experiencing some smooth summer sailing in homeschool-land if that's what you are up to. Stop in and leave us an encouraging note - or just chill out to our groovy tunes. You can also click the button for the pop-up player and continue browsing blogs with my playlist if you have to run! Take it with you if you want! Just pop it up in another window.

Have fun!

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Buzz Words: music, playlist, tunes, life, listen, parenting, homeschool, bad day, groovy, homeschoolers, personal

March & April Swap for HSBA - IRL Swapping!

2008-05-04T15:34:00.001-05:00

Talk about going to the extreme for this past 2-month HSBA Swap! Try driving over 1,500 miles to pick up a swap present! That is exactly how I got my swap buddy's gift last week. What a joy to actually hang out with your swap sister and hug on her adorable children. Meeting other bloggers is the most fun ever. Especially when you get to meet a family that has over 8 blogs and writes for soooo many online publications! Three of them even write for ME at the HSBA!

The Dixons got me the mostest awesome box of fun stuff. Here's what was in my cool indestructible plastic bin (which was as groovy as the contents):

Nature Valley Honey Nut Granola Bars
2 Sketchbooks for the kids
2 Mead 5-star notebooks for the kids
2 packs of mechanical pencils
Above Rubies magazine
Ghiradelli Raspberry Dark Chocolate Bar (mmmmmm!)
Scrapbook stickers
2 Smiley face folders for the kids
Travel themed scrapbook kit
1 package of clickable colored ink pens

I heart school supplies, snacks and Raspberry Dark Chocolate! You can't go wrong with dark chocolate in my book! Those plastic bins are also a big hit around here. We are always needing boxes for organizing things. I just cleaned out my son's closet this past weekend. I love to clear out clutter and put things in their place.

These pictures were taken in the Dixon Blog-Station and Internet 'Cafe'. They were letting me upload some photos to their PCs. See Jocelyn in the corner back there at the computer? Every one of the Dixons are such lovely people - inside and out!

So, THANK YOU Dixons! It was so fun meeting you all. Thanks for the swap present, the delicious dinner, the hospitality, the hugs, and the good company! We wished we could have stuffed you all in our suitcases and brought you all back home. Texas would be a much nicer state if you all were in it! Even the littlest of Dixons are SUPER peoples.

I'm looking forward to the next swap - which will begin next Saturday (sign-ups)... but I'm pretty sure I won't be picking the next swap present up in person. This was a one-time blessing. So glad to have photos and memories to cherish of our brief visit in Indiana.

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Buzz Words: swap, vacation, friends, life, travel, photography, Indiana, HSBA, blogging buddies, road trip, personal, homeschoolers

World Robofest 2008

2008-05-03T17:56:00.004-05:00

To love and win is the best thing. To love and lose, the next best.
~ William M. Thackeray

It is many a young boy's dream to play with robots and build things. It has been one of my son's dreams since he was five years old. The very first time I heard about robotics from a homeschool list I was on, he started begging me to get involved with it. At first he was too young, then we had trouble finding a group, then we moved and it wasn't available in our new area. There was always some extra excuse, but mostly the reason we hesitated to participate was because it just wasn't affordable for us on one income. Robotics kits are not cheap.

I think God knew Kaden needed a helping hand if he was ever going to get involved with robotics. This year He brought us together with a sweet family in our local co-op that had participated in these sort of events before... and lucky for us they were looking for another team member for 2008. They even offered to pay the entry fees and already had the supplies the team needed. I just couldn't say no. Kaden was beside himself with glee. Finally, his dream come true! He was going to be a part of a robotics team!

The boys created a small team of two and began practice two times a week for an hour or two each time they met. We made it a part of our weekly routine to make sure they had enough time to work on the 'bots'. Kaden didn't even use the bot that he owns because his buddy already had two bots out of the box and was already building them. This would be a learning experience for him as his first year in robotics. He hadn't been previously trained even though he did have an NXT Lego kit that his grandparents got him a year before over the holidays. We were excited that he was going to get to finally enjoy robotics and had no expectations of him winning anything.

Winning in the regional competition was the icing on the cake - and a shock to both us and Kaden's friend's parents. Competition was long and hard. The boys competed in two rounds and ended up with a winning score. They won the regional qualifying championships and we had only two weeks to prepare for a trip to the World Championship games in Michigan. After a bit of fundraising and planning, we set out for Detroit. Kaden's teammate flew and we drove. It would have been easier to fly, but ticket prices and threat of layovers scared us away. With one win under our belt we wondered if we could pull off another win in Michigan.

At 7:30 AM Saturday morning we signed in at the college so the boys could practice. It was a grueling day for Kaden (after only 3 hours of sleep and 18+ hours in the car the day/night before). We got to see a lot of great robots and there were 36 teams competing against our team in the Junior level. They also had an exhibition to show off robots that had won that category of the competitions, a robot fashion show, Sumo-bot (where the robots fight and push each other out of a 'ring'), and we got to listen to a high-school band play.

The next best thing to winning is losing! At least you've been in the race.
~ Nellie Hershey Tullis

Our scores had been pretty high on regionals, so we were disappointed to come in 13th overall in the World Competition. 13th place isn't so bad when you consider that those were the best teams in the world (3 different countries competed in the Junior division: America, Canada, South Korea). Although the BIG trophy didn't come home with us, we sure gained a lot of knowledge and experience. We scored an E for effort in my book, and not only did Kaden learn a lot about robots, Lego Mindstorm kits, programming, competing in Robofest, etc. - he also got to drive through a total of 9 states and have a few other adventures along the way.

Nothing is a waste of time if you use the experience wisely.
~ Auguste Rodin

Who knows if there will be a next time for Robofest or not. Right now we are just savoring the memories. It isn't every day that you get to claim that you are the regional Robofest champion... and it isn't every day that you get to travel over 3,000 miles across the USA. We'll worry about other robot ventures later. We were all just thankful we got to participate! Winning isn't the important thing anyway... enjoying the journey and being a champion in all you set out to do along the way is much more important.

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Buzz Words: robots, competition, parenting, life, travel, technology, Michigan, education, learning, Lego, personal, winning, attitude, motivational, teaching

La Grange and the Kentucky Hot Brown

2008-05-02T18:21:00.005-05:00

A burger and its girl.

On Day 2 of our “Heartland America” tour – during our “States and Regions” Homeschool unit - we just happened to be passing through Kentucky. If you read part 1 of this series (and the few posts generously donated by friends while we were on our trip), you’ll have already seen the photos from early on in Day 2.

Norma Jean's Trackside in Kentucky

Day 2 was our LONG drive. We were in the car for more than 18 hours – except for a few brief stops. The most memorable stop on Day 2 was in La Grange, Kentucky. It even topped meeting a truckload of Mennonite women and children at McDonald’s and getting our photo taken with them (which I won’t be posting out of respect for them).

Historic Downtown La Grange, KY

In case you haven’t ever heard of LaGrange, Kentucky (I hadn’t)… here are some interesting factoids from their historical website...

Oldham County was established in 1824, and in 1827 La Grange became a city. The deed was presented by William Taylor, who named the city La Grange because his friend, the Marquis de Lafayette, had an estate in France by the same name, which means “the farm.” Before this, the site was call Crossroads, because it was situated on 5 major springs and had already become an established wagon path.

Local Shops and Restaurants

Also interesting:

La Grange is a song by ZZ Top.

La Grange is a town in Texas – settled by Germans and Czechs – and is home to the Taco Bell Chihuahua.

La Grange is a town in Tennessee with a population of under 200 that was nearly destroyed by Union Troops in the Civil War and never was able to return to its former size (once 3,000 citizens strong) or glory.

La Grange is a town in Illinois… established in 1879 (named after the town in Tennessee).

There’s also a La Grange in New York!

Norma's Kentucky Hot Brown. (Must. Have. Recipe.)

La Grange was our dinner-time stop along our Heartland America Tour. A traveler is bound to get hungry, right? What better to do on a trip through unchartered territory than to stop in and try the local fare? When in Kentucky, do as Kentuckians do. Eat a Kentucky Hot Brown. Lucky for us, another tourist on Main Street that had stopped to eat some ice cream told us about Norma Jean’s Trackside. They told us that the Kentucky Hot Brown was tasty there… so we set out down the street for a bite.

Down-Home Kentucky Cookin' and Down-to-Earth People

Norma Jean's was quite a step up from the sandwiches, snacks and fast food we had been enduring on the trip. It was time for a hot meal! Inside the restaurant was covered with fine art. There was something beautiful to gaze at beside every table. Amazingly, the artist came in to eat while we were there and I was able to get a quick photo of her and many of her paintings. Norma Jean and her team posed for our camera, too – and tipped us off to the cheesecake. Our waitresses were awesome and the food HIT the SPOT! We were so stuffed after eating the amazing Kentucky Hot Brown that we had to take our cheesecake in a to-go box.

Feast your eyes on this art!

La Grange, Kentucky and Norma Jean’s Trackside are definitely worth a detour in my opinion. The kids enjoyed getting their photo taken with the restaurant owners outside and seeing the quaint Main Street market. Morgan opted for a burger, but did enjoy her bite of my “Brown”. Too bad Norma and her crew are in La Grange, Kentucky and not La Grange, Texas… because I doubt I’ll be able to go back for quite a long time. In the mean time, though – I hope that you’ll stop in and pay them all a visit if you are in the area or passing through. We drove off into the sunset with visions of antiques, ice-cream, toasted "Brown" cheese sauce, race horses, Teletubby Hills, and lovely old red barns in our heads. What nice memories of Kentucky to carry with us in to our 'States & Regions' unit!

Beautiful!

____

If only we had stayed in La Grange for the night! Ohio and Michigan passed by in the dark and the drive drug on and on. It would be Saturday morning in a rush to get to Robofest until we were able to see any state-side scenery again! Stop in for more about our Saturday (Day 3) tomorrow…

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Buzz Words: roadtrip, vacation, parenting, life, travel, photography, Kentucky, food, restaurants, La Grange, personal, roadtrip

Heartland America Tour Photos: Day 1 & 2

2008-05-01T13:11:00.001-05:00

In case you are just tuning in, my son recently won a robotics competition and we had all of two weeks to campaign for donations, pack our bags, and organize a cross-country trip from Texas to Michigan. Our trip began at 6 AM last Thursday when we pulled out of the driveway and ended yesterday at around 8:20 PM when we arrived back home. That made almost 7 full days on the road (and some of those nights as well). I took over 1,000 photos along the trip. After sorting through them and deleting a few, I have about 945 left.

There's just no way to share with you all the precious moments and photos of the journey, but in the next few days, I'd like to give you some highlights... and share some of the very best of the pictures I took.

________________________________

Day 1 was from Texas to Arkansas. It is a 9 hour drive to Little Rock and we stayed on the East side of Little Rock with some wonderful friends that we met while living there. On the way to Texarkana, we had to stop to fill up our ice chest and get snacks and stuff to make sandwiches so we could stop for lunch at a park. With gas prices so high, I figured sandwiches would help our budget go further.

We stopped in at New Boston and bought groceries at Wal-Mart and had an interesting conversation in the check-out line. A young guy from Miami was discussing the small-town's attitude with his girlfriend and I overheard him say, "There's more drama in this little town than in all of Hollywood." I had to chuckle.

"Why, what happened?" I butted in.

"See! There you go - looking for gossip!" He laughed. Then he asked where we were from.

"Oh, we are just passing through. We're on our way to Michigan."

"I'm sorry." He said.

I wondered if he had ever lived in Michigan. I wondered why he would move from Florida to New Boston... I mean - New Boston is a speck on the map in Texas. It is funny to think about the people along the way as you drive... what brought them to the towns they live in and where they work and what they do in their towns; even what they eat for dinner.

Since I had driven to Little Rock many times before, we hardly took any pictures along the way on our first day... except for the photos at the park (of which you already saw the best ones).

When we got to Little Rock it was getting late, so my friend took my children with her to some baseball games for her sons. We stayed at her house and rested - and rearranged the cooler, snacks, suitcases and other things in the back of the vehicle. I had time to check email and send a few pictures to Lisa before bed. Poor Kaden stayed up all night with his buddies... which would cause him to miss 1/2 of the day in the car on Day 2! He slept through 2.5 states!

***

Day 2 was from Little Rock to Detroit! It was the longest drive on the trip. We left at 7 AM Friday and didn't get to our hotel until after 1 AM Saturday. We also lost an hour with the timezone change (so our actual time checking in was closer to 2:15 AM or so). That was not good news considering we had to be up at AT the convention at 7:30 AM to register and set up. Breakfast started at 6:00 AM, so we also had to fit that in to our itinerary. Competing after only 3 hours of sleep was not going to be easy!

We passed through Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, and Michigan. Here are a few pictures from the drive on Day 2...

Tomorrow I'll share pictures from our stop in Kentucky on Day 2. We met some interesting folks and tried a local dish. It will fit in great with my Field Trip Foto Friday theme, don't you think? My mom said, "This trip gives 'Field Trip' a new meaning." on our way home. I tend to agree. Be sure to pop in Saturday also. I'll share highlights from the actual Robotics Competition.

See you then!

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Buzz Words: roadtrip, vacation, parenting, life, travel, photography, random, personal, roadtrip

Down Home on the Farm

2008-04-29T20:13:00.009-05:00

Sprittibee has come and gone from the Dixon homestead, and we were all sad to see her, Chickie and her two great little munchkins head back home. I know you all know how the Queen Bee is with taking pictures, but I don't think you have any idea how she is about taking pictures! She pulled into our driveway, head out the window, camera firmly in hand, clicking away!

I had a hard time deciding which one of her beautiful photos to use, but I know she was particularly fond of this one of Eric and Kaden with the rooster. She tried and tried to get a good photo of those chickens pecking the grain at feeding time, but they just move too fast. It was all a blur. Eric had to wrangle this Rhode Island Red to hold him still for the photo. The Rooster below is Mr. Bennet, by the way, named affectionately after Jane Austen's Mr. Bennet from Pride and Prejudice.

Heather was quite impressed with barn chores, and her children took to it real quick-like. After arriving around 7:30pm, we ate a wonderful dinner of chicken and noodles (no relation to Mr. Bennet), and then it was time to feed the chickens and goats. They carried feed and water down to the barn from the house and wrangled chickens to their pens - that night and the next morning! It was great! And they actually had fun. Imagine that! A favorite memory of mine was Morgan dumping a bucket of fresh grass out for the goats in the morning and saying in a sing-song-y voice, "Here you go goat-iees! Come on and eat the grass, goat-iees!" That girl is a cutie!

That all happened when we were getting ready to go to Heather's mostest-favoritest restaurant: Chipotle's. We have one in Fort Wayne, and we have never been there! gasp! So, Heather introduced us before she left!

Rachel, Hannah and Morgan

We all had a blast eating hard tacos, giant burritos, wonderful guacamole, and the delicious rice from Chipotle's. [I want that recipe, too, Heather.] We did get some very cute photos of all of us before we left and some from being up 'til four in the morning the night before, but I will let Heather post those... after all, it's her vacation, right? We just got to tag along for the ride! Thanks Heather! Looking forward to your return here to bloggy-world, my dear friend!!

And, we'll see you in the Lone Star state very soon!

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Buzz Words: roadtrip, vacation, parenting, life, travel, photography, random, personal, roadtrip

Driving, Driving, Driving with the Bee Family

2008-04-26T15:25:00.008-05:00

Friday was a day of driving, driving, driving for the Bee Family. Sprittibee reports, "I thought I was going to get to take a bunch of photos - but we got in after 1am and lost an hour to time change... got to bed at 3 and had to get up at 6 to be at the competition at 7:30..."

Yesterday's token photo sums up a day blurred by sleep deprivation and white-line fever. I have a confession to make here: I wasn't entirely sure what "white-line fever" meant. Knowing that Sprittibee's readers are accustomed to being informed when they stop by this blog, I thought I would enlighten you, too (in case you are as clueless as I was):

Highway hypnosis is a mental state in which the person can drive an automobile great distances, responding to external events in the expected manner, with no recollection of having consciously done so. In this state the driver's conscious mind is apparently fully focused elsewhere, with seemingly direct processing of the masses of information needed to drive safely... In some parts of the Southern United States, the phenomenon is called white-line fever, in reference to the white lines painted on asphalt.

[I'm wondering if it's possible to live your life in a state of "white-line fever," aren't you?]

The robotics competition is taking place today, with awards at around 4:30 - 5 p.m. Although Kaden's team has done well, they aren't winning. It sounds like a team from South Korea is whooping up on everybody. It hasn't been smooth sailing for many teams today, and it's no wonder considering there are probably a lot of sleep deprived kids competing. Sprittibee said, "I stopped counting times that robots flung themselves off the table early in the day! " What's a kid to do when the robots have minds of their own?

While ~~I've taken over~~ I'm guest commentating (and yes, I've verified with The Free Online Dictionary that this is a real word) on Sprittibee's blog, I thought I would note that she and fellow guest author Dianne have ~~indoctrinated~~ ~~inculcated~~ convinced me that my life will be incomplete without Chipotle, so our family will be eating there for the first time tomorrow. Let it not be said that we failed to support the Burritos for Peace Program™.

A Bee News Update

2008-04-25T11:23:00.004-05:00

Sprittibee made a quick call from Kentucky this afternoon to share a couple of very interesting pieces of breaking news:

Yesterday, while dining at Chipotle, the Bee Family was very excited to discover that a new global-wide peace program has been implemented. It’s called Burritos for Peace*, and as you can see here, Chipotle burritos are bridging the gap amongst nations, factions, and other –tions around the world.

Do your part to support the Burritos for Peace Program* by heading to your nearest Chipotle (even if it is in another state – after all, isn’t worldwide peace worth a small road trip?).

Sven, the Stalwart anxiously awaits the burrito hand-off from Special Agent Stan in a gesture that top world leaders predict will eliminate current and potential future wars.

* completely fictional, made-up by little Lego men.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Secondly, the Bees were excited to discover the answer to a long-hidden mystery. While its clandestine location has been well veiled for many years, they unearthed the Hills of Teletubbies. While taking in its splendor, they were confronted by members of the TeleGuard, with strong warnings to never reveal the aforementioned whereabouts, so as to prevent innumerable visitors from trampling the lush, green hill grass.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Stay tuned for future Bees on the Road Updates.

Her Sanity Or Her End?

2008-04-24T20:17:00.005-05:00

Sprittibee is having a wonderful time on her road trip and wishes she could be here to post her news herself. She sent me these gorgeous photos of her drive today. Below you will see the park where she and her family ate lunch at, just outside of Texarkana, TX.

As many of you know she also enjoys the hobby of photography and captured these wonderful shots showing her hand and eye at Depth of Field.

Depth of Field is when you focus in one one object while the rest of the photo is slightly blurred. You can learn more about photography with me and our other fellow photographers on Foto Fridays at Homeschool Blog Awards.

Here we have Morgan, which from what I've heard is behaving wonderfully. I'm not sure I'd be as happy sitting for as long. Tomorrow they will be in the car for 14.5 hours. I wonder if we should pray for her sanity or her rear end. What do you think? ;O)

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Buzz Words: roadtrip, vacation, parenting, life, blogging, travel, photography, random, personal, humor, roadtrip

Wordful Wednesday: Carrot Cake and Goodbye

2008-04-23T01:54:00.003-05:00

There needs to be a book written about how good that carrot cake was. That's how many words it would take. A picture is so inadequate. It was bliss, people. It was better than Whole Foods' Carrot Cake. I thought (prided myself, even) that I made a good carrot cake. Then I tasted this cake... and my life was changed. It had home made icing even! And those little ginger-bread people on top.

Of course, I'm exaggerating about my life being changed (unless you want to count the extra pounds I probably am wearing)... but I'm not exaggerating about my recipe needing to be changed. I'm going to exact this recipe from Aunt Mary. 'Resistance is futile'. She 'will be assimilated'.

So there's my photo for today's "Wordless Wednesday"... and as I sat looking at it, I just couldn't let it post without something being said about how delicious it was. If only blogs were edible, right? You with me here? Because THAT would be what I wanted my blog to taste like. And everything else in my life, too... besides Breakfast Tacos. Of course.

....

So this is what I do before a long 3,000 mile trip. I ramble into the night online when I should be sleeping or packing or paying bills. Procrastination is a disease. I'm pretty sure it is fatal.

The day wasn't a total loss... I did get the maps. One big fold-out to mutilate, spill coffee on, mark up with highlighters and all sorts of pens, and certainly fold the wrong way so it won't look good any more.... and another expensive 2008 USA spiral-bound map that shows close-ups of big cities.

And we went to art class. And Robotics - where the boys worked on their introductions for the contest.

And we ate breakfast tacos. Because who can go on a trip without breakfast tacos? Who can just endure a day without breakfast tacos? I am going to have to pay someone off at that taco joint so I can find out where they get their bacon. There's another item that needs to go in the food hall of fame. Mmmmm. I'm making myself hungry.

So I thought I would come in here and dump my brain out before bed... and update my Dashboard for the trip. And I did. And I started a bunch of sentences with conjunctions. Which was nice.

Now that you want some breakfast tacos with your carrot cake, I'll go. My job is done. I hope you have a super Wordless Wednesday.

Time for bed.

Tomorrow is Thursday and you'll be getting an update from SisLisa in here as we document our roadtrip. She's tomorrow's guest author. The next time I post will be next week after we return home. I'll be checking in when we have internet access along the way.

Happy Trails for me!

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Buzz Words: cake, vacation, parenting, life, blogging, travel, photography, random, personal, humor, roadtrip

Prayer Journaling

2008-04-22T09:42:00.004-05:00

This post was originally posted at The Old Schoolhouse Company Porch when I did their tips for the month. I wanted to have a copy of it on my blog because I love my prayer journal and want to make sure I have this post somewhere in my archives just in case they move it or dump it one day. Enjoy!

Tip of the Day ~ Prayer Journaling

by Heather aka Sprittibee

Probably the very best advice I could give anyone (especially a homeschool mother) would be to start your day off with God. My kids remind me of this when we seem to get off track and the days start ending with melt-down rather than feelings of joy and accomplishment. The question we all need to ask when we feel overwhelmed or like we are failing is “am I spending enough time with God?”

Jesus told the parable of the vine and the branches to his disciples right before he was betrayed and had to leave them. He spoke of the vinedresser’s pruning. Pruning doesn’t ever feel good to a vine… but sometimes those feelings of being a failure or being overwhelmed will lead us back to the source of our strength – the VINE. We have to remember that the fruit we produce will never grow without us abiding in Him.

John 15:4b-5 ~ “No branch can ever bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the Vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”

A lot of why we think we are failing and overwhelmed is because we ARE failing and overwhelmed. If we are not connected with the vine, those feelings are the clippers of a loving vinedresser that is trimming away our self-reliance, self-pride, and wrong-priorities. When we see that we can’t do the job of a wife, mother, homeschool teacher, friend, daughter, worker…. Without Him… the light goes on and we turn back to abiding in the vine.

When we were doing the Stewardship Unit with KONOS more than a year ago, one of our assignments was to ‘start a prayer journal for the family’ so that we could all pray together and see how God was working in our lives to answer prayers. This was an activity that would foster a sense of stewardship of our talents and time. I decided that it was a ‘keeper’, and instead of having us do a family prayer journal, I got the kids their own notebooks and set aside time for them each day before we start school to spend alone with God so they could write their own requests and praises. Some times we had lessons on what types of things they might pray for. Some times we wrote lists of others who we knew needed prayer. Sometimes we wrote poems or “Psalms” to God. Some times I even let them draw things in there (they enjoyed drawing what the throne of God might look like one day after we read a verse about it in Ezekiel). I have never corrected or graded them on this journal. It was something personal - between them and God.

Journaling has always come easy to me because I used to do it as a child. I understand that some people have a harder time thinking of what to say, so I wanted to share with you a few ideas we use while we pray in our journals other than just the ideas above:

1. Praying in Victory by Carol Ann Hon is a little booklet with tons of scriptures separated by topic (ISBN 609 993). It is out of print, but you can get a copy of it online for free at the link I have included. Sometimes we use bible verses to help us ‘claim’ God’s promises as we write to Him.

2. Sometimes we write down notes for sermons and then go back the next day as we pray and talk to God about what we thought of them.

3. Sometimes we use our chart from Moms In Touch International (31 Ways to Pray for Our Youth) and pick a spiritual character trait to pray verses about, asking God to build us to be more like that trait.

4. Sometimes we pray prayers from Power of a Praying Wife or Power of a Praying Parent by Stormie Omartian. Both of these books are wonderful.

5. Someone handed me a copy of the PART prayer method and it is what I try and follow most regularly in my prayer journals. I wasn’t able to figure out where the idea came from, but when I went online, I did find this church website that explains it very well.

Here’s below is their advice (not exactly how my prayer journal – a simple notebook – is laid out… but this is very interesting):

Get a looseleaf notebook, paper, and eight section dividers. Write one of the following words on each divider tab: Praise, Admit, Requests, Thanks, Passages, Listening, Awareness, and Notes. You don’t have to write something in each section every day. Adjust the plan to your own devotional needs.

My PART

· P-Praise.

Copy a psalm or write a praise poem of your own on one page of the Praise section. Date your entry. The next day, skip a space and write a new love letter to God. Praise expresses your feelings toward God because of who He is, not for what He does for you.

· A-Admit.

On a page of the Admit section, write out a confession of your sins. Look back of the past 24 hours and ask God to show you where you have failed Him. Be specific in your confession. Then, open your heart to receive His cleansing and forgiveness.

· R-Requests.

Draw a vertical line one inch from the left-hand side of your page. This column will be used to date your requests. Draw a vertical line one inch from the right-hand side of the page. This column will be used to date the answer received. In the middle column, list your requests. Don’t hesitate to list your wants as well as your needs. Also include your intercessory prayer for others.

· T-Thanks.

Put in today’s date and write a thank-you note to God. Express your sincere appreciation for blessings sent your way, gifts given, trials permitted, and prayers answered.

God’s PLAN

· P-Passages.

Here you record powerful passages of Scripture that speak to you. When you find a verse that touches your heart, stop to look it up in other versions and in the SDA Bible Commentary. Write down your thoughts about this verse, including a paraphrase if you wish. If you limit yourself to one text per page, you can later file these according to the Bible book or topic; after several years, you’ll have your own commentary.

· L-Listening.

Take time to listen for God’s voice. Sit quietly for a few minutes and wait for the Holy Spirit to speak. Ask Him to reveal His thoughts and plans for your life. Write down impressions that come to you. Test your impressions against Scripture.

· A-Awareness.

Become aware of lessons God wants to teach you in nature. Spend some time contemplating a part of God’s creation; write down the object lessons you see. Try to find something beautiful or interesting in nature to record each day. If you sense a lesson for life, write it down; if not, just thank God for the beauty He made for you to enjoy.

· N-Notes.

Here you will include the notes you made of sermons or seminars. Take your notebook with you to church, retreats, and camp meetings. Date the page and make note of the speaker. Outline the main points and jot down Scripture references. Taking notes will increase your ability to concentrate as well as clarify the message the Holy Spirit has for you in each presentation.

Other sections you may want to include are: to-do list, goals, calendar, books I have read, ideas for articles I want to write, stories I have told (sermons I have preached), and dates to remember (birthdays, anniversaries, etc.).

Source: Becky Tirabassi. Releasing God’s Power. Oliver-Nelson, Nashville, 1990.

May God bless you through spending time with Him and teaching this practice to your own children each day. May you always abide in Him.

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