Sprittibee

Blessed Friday with Fotos

2009-07-17T00:19:00.000-05:00

There's no field trip to speak of today. No big school update. I just have some photos that I wanted to share because I'm feeling extra blessed lately. Look at those cuties!

Our first week back to school wasn't really that at all. I ended up doing some babysitting and the kids got some last minute pool time in (and a second degree sunburn for Kaden - ouch!). We also have seen family members that stopped in to spend a day, and I spent WAY too much time organizing my online book store last night. I put hundreds of books in categories to make them easier to find. Go check it out!

My cup has been flowing over. God has been giving me a time of refreshing. To top it off, I think it might rain soon! We certainly need rain on this crispy land. I love my kids and I am so happy to be able to be with them and teach them. I'm thankful for my sweet husband who puts up with the chaos around here, and for my awesome mother who is my biggest cheerleader and such a major help to me when she's here during the week.

I am also thankful for these sweet cheeks and all this baby squishiness to cuddle and kiss on. Baby K got his first rice cereal dinner last night to celebrate his 4 month birthday (which is today). He ate it up like a baby birdie; almost ate his fingers along with it.

And can you believe how growed-up and handsome that big guy up top is? I hate to see him getting older - and can't imagine him with a cracking teenage boy voice... which could come at any time since he'll be 13 in less than a year! I'm so proud of him. He's a great guy, a sweet big brother, and has a huge heart. He even does diapers!

What are you thankful for?

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Buzz Words: boys, blessings, family, homeschool, parenting, baby, motherhood, inspiration, thankful, sweet, brothers, kids, mommy, photography, children, love, mom, infant, SAHM

About Our Bookstore

2009-07-15T12:26:00.005-05:00

I heart books. Don't you? Any homeschooler will tell you that books are the backbone of a home education. If you learn to read well, the world is your oyster. You can teach almost any subject with just good books... including spelling, vocabulary and grammar!

Because I love books and love to keep lists, I keep a book list each year of all the books we read for school. To read these lists, click the "Homeschool Link" on my sidebar and it will take you to a post that contains a detailed year-by-year, grade-by-grade list of our homeschool posts (each year there is a book list you can click). We have from Pre-K through 7th Grade (plus a bunch of books that are adult-level reading). I have most of the books the kids have read listed on this site.

I have marked our favorite books on our lists, but I wanted to do more... so that we can purchase favorites as we have the money, and so that we can share them with our readers.

So... I created an Amazon store! I went in and spent an hour or so picking all the favorites we have had over the years (the ones we could find, anyway). Now you can go purchase the books if you are interested in them - without having to do a huge search online.

I have quite a few books listed already and we are adding to our favorites all the time. They are listed in these categories:

Homeschool Helps
Baby and Preschool
Picture Books
Devotionals
Chapter Books
History & Famous People
Science and Nature
Poetry
Just for Fun
Mom Books
Cat Books
Geography
Movies

If you want to check out our beloved books, you can click the "bookstore" at the top of my blog. When you hover over it, you'll see my bookworm appear.

As a present to the kids, if you buy a book in our store, my children get a few pennies towards a new book for our home library! So far, in the past 4 years of blogging, we have only gotten 2 or 3 free books because I've been too lazy to take the time and link them in my blog. Now I have remedied that and ALL of our favorites will be just a click away! I'm not trying to sell you books, I just want to share our joy. Cuz we love 'em. And no - no author is paying us to tell you about our favorite books. Just in case you wondered.

Thank you in advance if you buy something at Amazon through our little book store (even if you click on a book and end up buying a separate item, I think our affiliate link will give us credit for the sale). In this economy and on one income, every penny helps!

Happy browsing and reading!

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Buzz Words: books, reading, teaching, homeschool, parenting, read, motherhood, inspiration, Amazon, family, favorites, kids, mommy, homeschooling, summer reading, school, mom, school year, resources

Online Homeschool Conference Ticket Give-Away!

2009-07-14T15:12:00.005-05:00

This has been the year of the conference for me. I’ve been to THREE so far… and am planning on attending another one before the summer is out. I need all the pep talks I can get after enduring our worst year ever last year. At the two conferences I have attended in the real world so far, I spent more of the time in a nursing room than I did listening to speakers. Even when I don't have a baby in the mix, I usually don’t have the energy to attend BOTH days at any conference. While conferences are sooo worth it, you have to admit that giving up a weekend, traveling, and dragging kids or babies out in the heat and away from home is a hassle.

Then came Heart of the Matter's online conferences. I spoke for them last year about homeschool burnout (something I was living through last year) and blogging (something I love). It was an entirely NEW experience. Then, this year I attended the ‘A Woman Inspired’ online conference. Boy, that was awesome. Just the spiritual kick I needed after feeling drained with no time for Bible study or me after baby was born this spring. I needed the spiritual encouragement and learned a lot about social networking and my digital camera in the process. HOTM's Homeschool Conference and AWI both lasted a number of days – all of which I had the option of attending without spending any gas money, packing a diaper bag, or getting out of my pajamas!

Going to book fairs with babies isn’t an easy task. Neither is driving half-way across Texas to attend a conference in another city. The next conference I was considering attending was the one in Houston at the Woodlands. I dread that drive. It’s much easier to sit at home and nurse the baby in front of the computer as I listen to the online speaker talk.

How would you like to attend a HOME-conference? To have famous speakers lined up to talk in your own living room… folks like Andrew Pudewa, Sue Patrick, Linda Hobar, Lee Binz, Sheila Wray Gregoire, etc. Wouldn’t that be cool?

I know you know where I’m going with this!

YOU CAN!

The Heart of the Matter Online Magazine is having a Parenting & Home Education Conference August 3-7 2009...

...and I’m giving away FIVE free admission tickets.

Here’s how you can win a free ticket (leave a separate comment for each thing you do):

1. Comment here and tell me why you want to attend the conference.
2. Add yourself to my Google Friend Connect box.
3. Follow me on Twitter.
4. Follow me on Facebook.
5. Tweet about this contest and leave me the url of your tweet.
6. Tell about this contest (with a link) on your Facebook page and leave me a link.
7. Subscribe to my email updates or feed (see the sidebar or the bottom of this post).
8. Blog about this post linking both the url of this post and the conference info in your post.
9. Put my Sprittibee button in your sidebar.
10. Bookmark this post with Stumble or another page bookmarking site.

You have until 7/21/09 at midnight to enter (each of those items in a separate comment counts as one entry). Random.org will pick a winner for me and I'll post it here on Sprittibee.com on Thursday, the 23rd. HOTM will then contact you with instructions on how to log in to the conference in August!

*Don't just join here. The Homeschool Post is also giving away 5 free admissions!*

Don’t want to wait until next week to find out who won the contest? Want to make sure you get registered for one of the 1,000 spots NOW? The cost is only $12.95.

(If you missed last year’s conference, you can pick up the handouts, chat logs, and MP3s for only 9.95$, too!)

Wanna join me? Hope to ‘see’ you there!

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Buzz Words: conference, online, teaching, homeschool, parenting, give away, motherhood, inspiration, encouragement, family, baby, kids, mommy, homeschooling, summer, tickets, mom, school year, freebies

Even Girls can Shoot

2009-07-12T23:32:00.005-05:00

Home or the range? That was the question at about 7:30 AM this Saturday morning.

I actually left my child to go to the shooting range this past Saturday. Well, I left two of them at home and took one with me. It was no problem leaving the 12 year old boy with grandma... but the 4 month old was another story. My stomach was in knots. I haven't been away from him for more than 30 minutes since he's been born... especially since I'm breastfeeding. I just knew he would wake up the second we drove out of the driveway.

And he did. So grandma said.

You see, Kaden and Daddy got to go last weekend to the range by themselves. It was only fair that Morgan and I got to go this time. We got up really early and tried to be as quiet as we could, so as not to wake the little bumblebee sleeping on mommy's side of the bed. He was totally unaware that his milk supply was slipping out the garage door.

Morgan was afraid to pick the gun up at first.

So Daddy gave us a quick gun safety lesson. And some nifty ear muffs and safety goggles. Morgan rented shades, so she looked cool.

I didn't. Which is why you won't see my picture in this post. And because Daddy took a shot of ME shooting from behind. I swear my butt must have been photoshopped in, because it looked a lot larger than it could be in real life. I told him to delete his pictures and keep his day job. Or else.

After the first shot, Morgan fired a few more times on the 9 millimeter. Then she decided it had too much kick for her. Hey - she's only 10. Give her a break. My arms got kind-of tired after a while, too.

A nice feller shooting next to us offered to let her borrow his 22 target practice pistol. Both of us shot that one off a few times and liked it much better. It might be a sissy gun, but I'm sure a 22 would still give a robber something to think twice about. I know Morgan's orange man was definitely dead when she was done with him.

One of the owners of the shooting range asked her, "What did that orange man ever do to you?"

While we were there grandma called twice to let us know that Baby K had figured out we were gone. More specifically that MOMMY was gone. We stayed only an hour, because we had to get home to the little critter.

Even if it was short, we had fun doing something with Daddy. I'm looking forward to having it as one of our extra curricular activities this year. I'm excited that it will be a 'class' that Dad will be teaching. I'm also planning to do a little extra-curricular class with a different kind of shooting: photography!

Ignore these photos. They were taken with my iPhone. Silly, lazy me. I ran off and forgot the Canon again.

Morgan was thrilled to show her brother the targets we brought home from the range. Even girls can shoot! He was impressed. Well - the big brother was impressed.

The little brother, not so much. Maybe he'll come around when he gets a little older. For now he's only interested in his milk.

(By the way, don't tell my mother I posted this picture of her. She'll kill me.)

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Buzz Words: shooting, guns, teaching, homeschool, parenting, life, personal, handgun, shooting range, family, baby, kids, mommy, homeschooling, summer, motherhood, mom, school year, plans

The Winner of the STUFF!

2009-07-11T14:52:00.004-05:00

I swear I didn't rig it. Just cuz I know the purdy lady that won this, doesn't mean I cheated. I promise. Blame it on the Random.org number generator if you have a complaint.

The contest is over... if you missed it, there will be another one next week. Only next time I'll be giving away 5 tickets to an online conference... and maybe something else, too. It's all in the works behind the scenes. I try and give away something each week... or at least once a month for sure. Sometimes it's expensive things - like Kodak printers, sometimes really simple things - like hand-picked Texas wild-flower seeds. You just never know what's up my sleeve.

For the 50$ Free Stuff contest, the winner is:

Beth of The Brew*Crew Adventure!

Thanks so much for playing everyone! Please give her a hand in the comment section... and do tell us what you got with your 50$, Beth! Inquiring minds wanna know!

School Planning for 2009

2009-07-09T13:56:00.008-05:00

Well, it's THAT time of year again. I'm itching to fire up the pencil sharpener and stretch out on the King-sized bed with the kids to read a good book. Sure, they have been reading on their own during the time off we took (our summer started early out of necessity - maternity leave). Because friends don't let friends homeschool on hormone overload. We're starting school back up next week after about 3 months off (minus a few weeks of school that were strung out haphazardly from April through June). That's what I call a 'fizzled out' year. Hopefully THIS year will start and end with a BANG. Being more specific, in case God has a lightning storm in mind, what I mean by BANG is FUN and SUCCESS... because I'd rather keep my 8 years-worth of photos backed up on an external hard-drive. Bang could mean a lot of things that are very educational and yet completely contrary to our desires as homeschool parents, ya-know?

You laugh at me for being specific, but there was that one year I prayed to get out of debt and get rid of our car note... and God sent. a. flood. That's one way to get out of a car note, for sure! I wouldn't recommend it to the faint of heart. God is more creative than you give Him credit for. I was instantly cured of obscure and generic prayers. For good, people.

To get ready for school, there are projects that needed to be done FIRST:

School closet organized (check)

Bookcases straightened (check)

Book lists and reading goals made (check)

Portfolios finished (we have only one year's worth of school left to binderize)

Last year's paperwork finalized

Read through 'The Organized Homeschooler' again (started...)

Report cards printed

School boxes cleaned out (check)

Schedule written out (check)

Generic monthly menu plan created - to keep us out of the drive-thru lanes! (check)

Planning for the year (In progress...)

Evaluations and goals/heart-to-heart discussion (check)

Notebooks, workboxes and supplies in order

Curriculum list made out to show what we want to cover

Annual back to school breakfast (check)

We've been working away at our list up there and are hoping to come to a close and get started on school this coming Monday. It will be interesting to see how God works things out with a baby in the mix. You notice that I said "GOD works things out" (heavy on the capital G) - because I know that with Him, 'all things are possible'. With me, I assume at some point there will be a meltdown and I'll be crying in the closet like a sniveling ninny. So I'm planning to wear my knees out this school year (like I should have been doing last year). Hello?! You'd think a girl would learn.

Have I ever mentioned that I'm HARD-HEADED? I give great advice, and yet can't follow it. Story of my life.

Truthfully, last year was our worst school year ever. E.V.E.R. If it weren't for reading Clay and Sally Clarkson's "Educating the WholeHearted Child" and starting Robin Sampson's "Heart of Wisdom Teaching Approach", I might not have a homeschooling blog to speak about any more. I'm sure that there were prayers from friends and family that were answered as well. My mom helped me out some when I was in nervous-breakdown mode, also. She's a keeper. We had a few of those "I'm going to set you on the curb for the school-bus" talks. Or rather, yells. It wasn't pretty. And with pregnancy hormones and the desperate need for naps... mom was a walking time-bomb. Sadly, I was pregnant the entire school year. What a learning experience for the kids, eh? They now have "How Not To Homeschool 101" covered.

The past few months have been detox. Lots of fun with friends, free reading and drawing, time to play and learn on the computer... and - as the kids would tell you - unfortunately, CHORES. We've been working on finding a household groove - a routine - that fits baby in to our life without allowing him to take up our entire day with leaking poopy daipers and nursing sessions. The kid has to learn that there are other priorities around here. Up until now he's been calling all of the shots.

It wasn't until very recently (he'll be 4 months old on the 17th) that he started to show some sign of a nap and sleep schedule. PRAISE GOD. I'm weeping for joy.

So now the fun begins... a new year... a new schedule... a new baby... even MOM is getting a homeschooled edu-ma-cation!

I feel like God has been giving me little gifts along the way as I struggled to keep my heart in the whole homeschooling movement. I know that He is in the driver's seat. There have been sweet comments made about my kids, homeschool book fair conference pep-sessions I needed to hear, friends that have shared with me about public school issues they have had - kids that are behind grade level and forced to be on meds, and much support from family (especially my husband and mom). The day I decided to start school planning again and start the school year early - I won the TOS Schoolhouse Planner on a blog contest! Now I have a stack of shiny new planner forms, recipes, charts and goodies on my desk to make my planning easier. A few of my friends have offered to do some co-oping with me on certain units this year. Seems like all green lights and rights.

Just like a kid with a stack of brand new supplies - sharpened pencils and un-opened books - I'm thrilling at the prospect of 2009-10 unfolding before us. That's the sign of God restoring my homeschool passion... which is a very, very good thing. I've survived the first half of my children's home-education! Survived a nervous breakdown and the birth of a 9.4 lb. baby coming out with his arm beside his head (sorry for the visual). And it wasn't all that bad after all. OK, maybe the labor and delivery were.

Bring on the 6th and 7th Grades, baby! Hopefully by Monday, we'll be ready!

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Buzz Words: school, thoughts, teaching, homeschool, parenting, life, personal, planning, babies, family, SAHM, kids, mommy, homeschooling, summer, motherhood, mom, school year, plans

Smacking of Arrogance

2009-07-08T14:40:00.007-05:00

This comic in the Austin paper made me want to go turn every stinkin' halogen light in my house on. I resisted for the sake of my energy bill.

Meanwhile, down the street, despite a surplus, gas went up another ten cents.

Another year goes by and we hunker down - prepared to keep both of our vehicles when they are paid off soon... no new cars for us. I'll be driving mine until the bolts rust and the doors fall off.

We'll need the car note money to pay for the gas price increase and cost of living increase. In case you hadn't noticed, all the goods in the country are more expensive since gas has made the price of transport and shipping go up. Don't know about you, but are you suffering at the grocery store lately? Remember a day when you didn't HAVE to clip coupons?

How these stupid light bulbs and cap & trade taxes are going to help the economy, no-body knows. Sorry, but the economy is a bit more important to me than some rare albino salamander in the Edward's Aquifer. Or the doomsdayist global warming alarmism (that's an incomplete sentence ON PURPOSE). Not to say I don't love nature, I do... but using nature as a tool to suck the food off of my table with extra taxes is just low-down and dirty politics. It's the thing that revolutions are made of. Tea and taxes. Government growing too big for their breeches.

I say 'keep your ugly, unnatural, blue light bulbs and your fingers out of my wallet'.

Let the American people alone so we can get on with the business of living - free from tyranny and oppression... free from insatiable, corrupt Government greed.

That is all.

Sorry for the soap box. I need to get on one at least once every five or six months. Consider yourself lathered.

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Buzz Words: energy, Obama, conservative, economy, taxes, gasoline, America, oil, cost of living, freedom, arrogance, recession, economic crisis, transportation, issues, life, families, money, opinion

"I Wish Life Was Simple" Woman's Daybook

2009-07-06T13:29:00.003-05:00

The last time I did a Simple Woman's Journal was a month before I delivered my son. I was huge and miserable! I got a kick out of going back through my answers on that day. Here are today's journal notes...

The view from where I sit ... a nursing baby on a boppy (love the little click of swallowed milk) whose fingernails need clipping, piles of paperwork on my desk - screaming at me without a sound, a cold mug of ice water, my digital Photoshop book by Scott Kelby (can't wait to read it), loads of laundry waiting for us to wash-dry-sort-fold and put away...

Outside My Window... Blue skies and blistering heat. Yesterday it was 105. I'm beginning to wonder if the rain will ever come. We are all certainly praying for it.

I am thinking... of all the gazillion things I have to get done if I want to start school this week. Which is why I'm blogging. I tend to blog and avoid starting a project when it overwhelms me. Maybe that's why I've been blogging for four years. Normal life overwhelms me. Ha!

I am thankful for... the freedom to homeschool, freedom of speech, the freedom to worship and pray without government sanctions or interference, the friends I've made online, air conditioning (can't live in Texas without it)...

We are learning... about taking care of a baby, mostly. The kids have gotten a hands-on education in the past few months. They are begging me to start school back up. Morgan actually cried this morning when I told her I wasn't ready!

From the kitchen... Needing to make a menu (as usual). We've been in a mesquite grilled fish mode lately (cooked it for friends last night). I have no idea what's for dinner... and hopefully that doesn't mean we're having fast food!

I am wearing... jeans and one of my two Old Navy striped shirts that I always wear (this one is greys and white, the other one is reds and oranges). I probably SHOULD be wearing my shoes, too. I've heard that it makes you get more work done (Flylady.net).

I am creating... a mural on the baby's and Morgan's wall. The only thing left to add is the owl.

I am going... crazy. My kids would tell you I've always been there.

I am reading... The Power of a Praying Wife by Stormie Omartian, The Heart of Wisdom Teaching Approach (Robin Sampson), and my Bible.

As for homeschooling books... We're getting our book lists made for the school year and we'll be starting a new chapter book together for school soon. Not sure, but it might be The Cat of Bubastes by Henty, Mara Daughter of the Nile or The Golden Goblet - both by Eloise Jarvis McGraw (winner of the Newberry Honor).

I am hoping... that our financial stresses will melt away. I always get uptight on bill-paying day (which is why I'm in here blogging instead of doing the checkbook right now).

I am hearing... the washer, the dryer, the voices of unhappy children doing chores, and a babbling baby who's now chewing on his Cracker Barrel bunny in his play pen.

Around the house... there is much to be done and it doesn't seem like the kids are as anxious to get it done as I am. Clean houses are my favorite.

One of my favorite things... chocolate chip cookies (Morgan baked me some this morning). Mmmm! Chocolate chip cookies are my favorite!

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week: Blog, pay bills, get school planned and started, tackle the to-do list, finish the mural, start learning how to Photoshop. Photoshop is my favorite.

Here is picture thought I am sharing...

Sorry. Another iPhone pic. Man, I need to get the Canon out and go take some real pictures! This one was of me and my honey at Red Robin burgers on July 4th. Nothing says American like a cheeseburger. Cheeseburgers are my favorite.

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Buzz Words: memes, thoughts, daybook, simple, women, life, personal, journaling, babies, family, SAHM, kids, mommy, homeschooling, blessings, motherhood, mom, bills, plans

My Blogroll

2009-07-05T02:42:00.007-05:00

My spine may never be straight again after hunching over my desk in the dark until 2:28AM to type out this list. I'm not even going to hope that it is complete or updated - even though I typed it just now. I love too many invisible people. I hope you grow to love them, too.

If you are a reader here and would like to join my blogroll page, let me know. If you catch a dead link or a blog that has been shut down on this list (heaven forbid that twitter kills off all my favorite blogs), let me know.

These aren't in any order, nor are they sorted in any way. I just dumped my old lists and mingled them all together in a lump so I wouldn't lose them. As I get time, I'll come in here and clean this list up. I've been blogging so long that a few of them may lead you to a virtual black hole. You just never can be too sure!

Otherwise, here are 'those that admit to reading my site from time to time' and 'blog gems I have discovered over the years':

The Homeschool Post
Gathering Manna - a recipe blog
Momomimic (my son)
Mees-Alees (my daughter)
Gooblink
My Home Sweet Home
Bunny Trails
Holy Experience
Life with My 3 Boybarians
Robin of Heart of Wisdom
Lighthouse Academy and Shots From the Heart Photography Blog
Sheila of To Love, Honor, and Vacuum
The Brew*Crew Adventure
From the Rubber Room
Gremlin Wrangler
Kelly of Wisdom Begun
LJC
Wifely Steps
About Homeschooling
Growing in Grace Magazine
Ambleside Classical
Heart of the Matter
Spunky Homeschool
Beth of Pages of Our Life
Smockity Frocks
Renae of Life Nurturing Education
Amy S of Milk & Cookies
Amy B of amybayliss.com
Marsha of Our Homeschool Happenings
Lori of All You Have to Give
Nikowa of Knowledge House Academy
Mandy of MandyMom.com
Sallie of Everyday Me
Bev of Pufferfish Diaries
Jacque Dixon of Walking Therein
Kellie Ann The Pirate Mom
Simply A Musing
Design Chicky
Antique Mommy
Boo Mama
Big Mama
Simple Mom
Fiddledeedee
Robin of Pensieve
Sister Lisa of Apples of Gold
Like a Warm Cup of Coffee
The Crafty Crow
Why Homeschool
Common Room
Shades of Pink
Jack Lewis
Semicolon
Dana of Principled Discovery
School @ Home
Rhonda Mom of 2
Grown at Home
Floresita
All Sorts
Heather Bailey
A Dollop of Sour Cream
Dandelion Seeds
Funny Movie Reviews
Big White Hat
Veerle's Blog
Ward-O-Matic
Homeschool Buzz's Blogwatch
Farmgirl Fare
Like Paper Lanterns
The Curriculum Choice
Smooth Stones Academy
A Dusty Frame
Life in a Shoe
Lil' Duck Duck
Jasmine Star Photography Blog
Biblical Womanhood
Valerie of Homeschooling with Encouragement
Bluebird Blogs
Girl Talk
Owlhaven
Save the Kittens
Rocks in my Dryer
Trivium Academy
Mama Says...
All Sorts
Everyday Mommy
Texas Homeschoolers
The Purl Bee
Robot Jumping Rope
The Savvy Organizer
The Pioneer Woman - Photography
Higher Up and Further In
The Daily Planet
A Pondering Heart
The Milk & Honey Tea Room
On the Road to Manhood
Maiden in Training
Dawn's PhotoBlog
Sweet Juniper - Detroit Photostream
Texas Home Educators
Nesting Place
The Pleated Poppy
My Wooden Spoon
Blogging from the Boonies
A Peaceful Day
My Quivers Full
Joyfully Feminine

Because I know it is bound to have happened, here's your apology ahead of time: "I'm so ashamed that I forgot you. Please forgive me." There. That's out of the way now. Please, let's still be friends anyway!

... not listed up there and want to be? If you comment here and are interested in adding your blog to my list, just let me know (click the contact link above my header).

4th of July: Pink, Orange, White and Brown?

2009-07-04T19:42:00.003-05:00

What to do on 4th of July weekend: fireworks, swimming, camping, grilling, and eating of yummy American foods.

What NOT to do on 4th of July weekend: Buy clearance rack hair color, let non-licensed crazy cousin foil you some 'highlights', go to church with pink-white-orange-&-brown hair.

Even when I really WAS a punk-rocker, I never dyed my hair. I was always too chicken. I once bought a bottle of WASH-OUT burgundy red ...only to have it stay for 3 months - while I was working at a Pizza Hut and my uniform was the same color. I was mortified. That was the END of my hair dying feats.

Until Kevin. My man can do a mean highlight kit. Twice he has done my hair - very mildly highlighting and always cautious.

But I wanted to get in on the fun yesterday while my cousin was over. My mom wanted her hair frosted, so I figured we would both do them at the same time. Guess I should have known when the dye bottle turned bright neon pink that things were off on the wrong foot. Granted, the dye was cheap and my cousin did her best with my tender-headed whining self.

I'm just glad that most of the pink washed out. Hubby and son have taken to calling me "Pinkie on the Brain". Facebook friends are sending me pictures of Cindy Lauper. My daughter now officially thinks I'm 'cool'. Things could be worse, I guess. The entire of my head could have turned out bright pink. Or all of my hair could have fallen out.

So I'm heading out tonight to go see some fireworks and hoping that even in the dark, my hair won't be brighter than what's crackin' and poppin in the night sky.

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Buzz Words: crazy, kids, summer, fun, children, life, parenting, photos, Wordless Wednesday, funny, happy, personal, photography, pictures, silly

50$ Free STUFF Give-Away

2009-07-03T00:01:00.008-05:00

FREE STUFF:

I talked some about bookcases on my last post, but I'm certainly not giving away book cases (Unless you consider this a bookcase: Wood Designs - Book Display Rack). I just wanted you guys to know that the store I'm giving stuff away from HAS book cases... and if I were to BUY something there, that's what I would get. My owl nursery is needing a book case right about now... so I have book cases on the BRAIN. Instead of book cases, I'm giving away STUFF.

"What's STUFF?" you say. Well, that's really the only difficult thing to explain about this give-away. You see, there are very few things that this online store doesn't have... they might even have kitchen sinks if you look long enough. I scrolled through half of their children's furniture (and stuff) store until my eyes dried out and got bloodshot. I kept getting more and more amazed at all the groovy name brands and neat THINGS there were. I think I got the raw end of the stick here - YOU get the toys and goods, and I don't!

What kind of stuff do they have at http://www.allchildrensfurniture.com?

diaper bags
rugs
bedding
window treatments
lamps
high chairs
mobiles
book cases
toys
toddler beds
cribs
car seats
wall art
stuffed animals
picture frames
strollers
benches
wall-paper border
stools
bikes
baby carriers
coat racks
tables
remote controlled helicopters
dressers
night stands
toy boxes
doll houses
backpacks
storage bins
bookends (had to link that one - it was too cute!)

That's a lot of stuff!!!

Next time they ask me to do a give-away, I'm going to hold out for some toddler toys or a snazzy new diaper bag. I'm telling you, these people have got their STUFF ON!

Take for instance these items:

What do they have in common? All of them are under 50$! Some of them are closer to 25$! If you win my contest, you can get as many items as you want with the 50$ as long as you don't go OVER $50!

Shown in the photo above:

Little Tikes-Cozy Coupe 30th Anniversary Ride-On (regular 94.98, on sale for 49.99$... one penny under the 50$ free prize limit!)

Lambs & Ivy - Bubbles Decorative Starfish Pillows ($23.77)

Learning Carpets - Marble Game Kids Game Rug ($49.99) Cool! That is so what my kids would beg me to get if I could win!

Melissa and Doug - Shape Sorting Cube Toy ($12.99) ...can't have enough blocks for motor development!

I WANT TO WIN:

To get the logistics of the contest out of the way, here's how you can win:

All entrants must leave a comment for each of the following things individually that they do. Each thing counts as one separate entry. All entries must be received by Friday, July 10th. A random winner will be chosen and winner will be announced Saturday, July 11th.

1. VISIT THEIR SITE: http://www.allchildrensfurniture.com , and tell me a favorite item you would love to have. (1 entry)

2. TWEET THIS: @sprittibee http://tinyurl.com/ldjtdv is giving away $50 worth of free stuff from http://tinyurl.com/znyx3 enter 7/3-7/10! Please RT! (1 entry)

3. ADD YOURSELF TO MY GOOGLE FRIEND CONNECT BOX (1 entry)

4. FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER: click the 'Follow the Buzz' link in my sidebar (1 entry)

5. SUBSCRIBE TO MY FEED: enter your email address above or follow me in a reader - or just let me know you already subscribe (1 entry)

6. POST ABOUT THIS CONTEST: make sure to link back to this post and to http://www.allchildrensfurniture.com on your blog.

7. SOCIAL NETWORK THIS CONTEST: Stumble, Digg, Del.icio.us, Furl, Kirtsy, Google Bookmark, Reddit, etc. Use any sort of bookmarking social site. (one entry per bookmark!)

8. FACEBOOK THIS CONTEST: You can add a link to your facebook page easily - and even add a graphic from this post with one or two clicks. You can use the twitter phrase above or come up with your own comment to go along with the link. (1 entry)

9. Fooled ya! There aren't any other ways to win. However, I'm not above home-baked chocolate chip cookie bribes (naw, I'm just kiddin').

By the way, I check these types of people out before I offer goods away. They are 100% BBB Accredited and super nice. They have a TON of stores online and a return policy (which I doubt you would ever need since the STUFF you'll be getting is FREE anyway). In fact, since I'm not in the market for a toddler bed right now and I can't win all these other things, I browsed their list of other online stores and found one for KITCHEN STUFF! Maybe I can talk them in to doing a give-away on my food blog! One can dream.

OK. The contest is on. Ready, set, have fun!

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Buzz Words: give away, furniture, children, parenting, freebies, free, toys, baby, contest, thrifty, household, bedding, fun

May, June... and The To-Do List Saga

2009-07-01T23:56:00.001-05:00

For those of you who are absolutely nuts about lists (like me), you can check out my previous posts for 2009 in the list department. They are at the bottom. If you are just tuning in, you may get the impression I'm crazy. You would be right. Lists are my thing. I love them. It's a love-hate thing, though. I've heard that if you set your expectations too high, it only leads to depression when you can't accomplish your goals. This doesn't seem to stop me. I do it anyway. The baby has helped me to be a bit more realistic, however. I gave up hoping to be perfect at least. Now I just struggle to get as much done as possible. Like everybody else, I suppose...

...except I can't be at peace unless my house is clean and I have at least accomplished three things on my list. No matter what. I kid you not. It's a sickness.

So... since I gave up grading my progress after the baby arrived, I won't be doing that in this post, either. Just letting you know up front. Our school year suffered a serious blow after St. Patrick's Day... which is why we'll be starting this coming year in July! We took off most of the time since mid-March... with exception of maybe 2.5 weeks of school spread out within April, May and June. I call that a "fizzle-out". In came baby, out went the school year. I know some homeschool moms can rebound and get back to the books in a matter of weeks. I'm just not one of them.

Here’s what I got done in May and June (remember, I need to get 12 things done each month to finish by Dec. '09):

2. pay off another credit card (only one more to go, for next year)
5. get my blog redesigned (thanks Darcy!)
9. get Photoshop (still need to learn how to use it)
37. organize the bookshelves (a never-ending project, but we made progress)
38. organize the school supply closet
39. eat out less (could use a little more work on keeping up the menus, though)
75. buy another must-have book for our homeschool library
78. give away a baby carrier and a book on The Homeschool Post
93. make progress in cleaning email boxes out
97. have someone over for dinner in June (mmmm... mesquite grilled tilapia and salmon)
113. declutter once a month (bookshelves, paperwork, supply cabinet)
115. put past school papers in binders (portfolios - still have this year's to do)
117. Morgan makes cookies and brownies by herself, both kids help with cooking dinners/lunches
118. Cook and freeze meals (chicken & rice, broccoli cheese rice, sweet potato casserole)
121. get a new phone (oh, how I love my iPhone)
132. install cat door - move litter to garage! (yipeeeeee!)
136. get a rocking chair (Craig's List rocks)
140. work some on indexing blog
145. make a mock Thanksgiving meal (I heart stuffing and cranberry)
149. decorate M & baby's room (wish my room was so pretty)
150. paint a mural (oh, how cute it is - and I'm just a few moments from being finished)
152. clean off my desk again (and again)

Not numbered:
thank you cards sent out
attend two homeschool conventions
start prayer project: Power of a Praying Wife
open a 'Page' on facebook for The Homeschool Post
find friends from high school on facebook
meet up with another blogger in real life
attend an online conference (AWI)
dad and son start shooting range lessons and gun safety lessons
take wedding pictures for my husband's cousin (for free)
purge the baby's drawers and give away all his newborn & 0-3 mo. clothes

OK, so even if it feels like I'm drowning and floating back towards the sea, I really am going upstream some. Hallelujah. The only problem is that many of my accomplishments are items that are every-month items and not just one-time, cross-it-off stuff. I only got 6 items crossed off my original list this month that won't repeat. Not so hot.

____________________________________

Below are my plans for July (some of these may be carried over from above if they aren't done yet):

7. work more on organizing kids' closets and rooms/toys-storage, etc.
8. eat at the Melting Pot
10. read with the kids
13. more photos of baby's feet
15. completely caught up with grading, paperwork, portfolios
18. organize filing cabinets and handles replaced
19. for heaven's sake, write down and type up Ammie's recipes! I keep doing this half way and forgetting to finish!
20. start a postcard project
21. earn some money selling used books/curriculum
23. find good homeschool groove
25. blog about a procrastination project that I complete
27. work on bedtimes/getting up earlier (this is hard with baby in the house!)
28. start every day with the Lord
30. finish GeeArt
32. birth announcements
33. finish reading camera manual
45. work on eating less sweets!
47. get school schedule written down and re-vamped
48. standardized tests
49. highlights or colorwash my hair
53. read homeschool books for mom
58. have a homeschool planning day
60. family and baby portraits
65. keeping regular menus and eating at home more
69. use video camera more, learn how to use it for blogging
73. go swimming
78. do a give away on my blog
79. post recipes on my food blog (check the link on the right!)
82. school first - housework second
84. start back up with our nature journals
85. start family devo and reading time
86. start reading book with hubby about marriage
94. finish printing 2009 calendar pages, make annual letter
97. have someone over for dinner
102. measure/weigh kids
107. read TO kids every school day
112. make dolmas
113. declutter somewhere
114. help the kids blog
117. set up a meal for each kid to cook without help for July
118. cook and freeze meals
130. get rid of old xbox (sell)
133. kid's book list
140. work on blog indexing
150. finish baby's mural
152. clean off my desk again (because I'm sure it will pile up like the laundry!)

Not numbered:
more thank you cards sent out
finish prayer project: Power of a Praying Wife
take lots of pictures
get school binder organized
get plans, goals and assignments entered in to Tracker for the year
begin Photoshop and photo lessons for me and kids
Morgan to enter homeschool photo contest
back to school breakfast

The good thing is, I am aware that I won't get to everything on my list and am not even going to fret about it. Me and the Viking are going to do our best and let that be ENOUGH. I love this advice: "Do the next thing." And another favorite quote: "Rome wasn't built in a day." I raise my ice cold glass of water and toast my progress so far in 2009 despite all the setbacks. Here's to taking it one thing at a time and savoring the relationships and life that happens in-between.

How are you doing on your list for 2009?

Quick Links
2009 LIST
Monthly BREAKDOWN of goals for January
Progress report for January
Progress report for February
March and April Goals

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Buzz Words: 2009, getting things done, resolutions, goals, homeschool, life, personal, procrastination, organization, time management, priorities, family, motherhood, parenting, lists, homeschooling, pregnancy, self help, New Years, to do, tasks, plans, declutter, cleaning, busy, baby

Blog Foolery

2009-06-30T23:32:00.001-05:00

FOTOS
The photo above and the photo I added to yesterday's blog post was from the camera on my iPhone. Pretty groovy, hu? (By the way, if you were wondering what that crazy baby's shirt says? "Don't be FOOLED by my SIZE". It's Old Navy. Ridiculously cute. Couldn't resist the bee!) I have been neglecting the Canon lately because the iPhone is attached to my palm as if by super-glue. It's rather handy as a camera, I have found. But it makes me want to get out and take some REAL photos... in November when it cools off. Dratted Texas summers really are a killjoy when it comes to photography. I lurve my Canon, but I hate the heat. The A/C is my best friend from April through October.

FREEBIES
Oh, I forgot to notify you that this post is completely random. In case you hadn't noticed. You are excused if you are too busy for random. But I do want to inform you, before you go, that I'll be hosting a GROOVY give-away starting Friday. Yep - 50$ worth of free children's furniture or toys from an online store! You'll have to be here Friday for the details and to start your entries! I've been drooling on their book cases. Figuratively.

FRIENDZ
Yes, I said bookcases. You homeschoolers are all alike. That one word sends shudders of joy up your bookwormie little spines. I am anticipating all the traffic on Friday. I'll bet more than 80% of it will be drooling homeschoolers looking for bookcases. Just sayin'.

FOWL
Speaking of bookcases. Or - well, of household goods and home decor in general... I'm nearly done with the mural in the baby's room. The only thing that's lacking is the OWL. Well, there are owls in the room - just not the one painted on the wall. (Yep, another iPhone photo!) Do you have a favorite owl graphic? Care to share it with me? Shoot me an email. I'm looking for the perfect and cutest style of owl illustration to paint on my lovely trees. Gotta find the best one before I make it permanent.

FUNCTION
The other thing I've been working hard on is my to-do list. Now that the blog is redesigned and the desk is partially cleaned off, I'm delving in to my stack of paperwork and piles of projects to try and see if my groove is hiding somewhere in there with the 16-inch long house spiders. Man, that was a serious run-on sentence. Excuse me.

FREAKY
What is it with the bugs this year?! Holy cow! We have been taken over by sugar ants. Anyone else suffering insect invasion? It is unreal.

FLURRY
Tomorrow night I'm going to update my to-do list in here. Because I know you care. I bet you just sit around twiddling your thumbs in anxiety - waiting for me to update my to-do lists so you can see how much I have checked off. You poor, sick soul. Well, tomorrow is your day. You are going to get your list fix. Just you wait.

FRESH
We've completely neglected the garden this year. The lettuce has turned in to huge flowering and towering stalks of bitter strangeness. I had no idea that lettuce can look that freakish. I'm homeschooling myself, even. Or I guess you would call that yardschooling. At least the tomatoes are putting out. Had six juicy, dripping, red, sugary, sweet, sliced and salted tomatoes from the garden tonight. Man, they were good. And we have sweet potato vines that came up in our gravel path - so we let them stay because it was heartless to kill them just because they couldn't grow within the lines. They are PLANTS, after all.

FOURTH
For the first time in years, we are staying home on the Fourth of July. Grandma Betty's pool party will just have to go on without us. Traveling with an infant (and without money) is just too difficult. So we're going to hang out around here and maybe do something with friends if we are lucky. Like burn ourselves with sparklers. And stuff.

What are you doing for the holiday weekend?

FRUIT
I think our holiday will involve watermelon for sure. What's 4th of July without watermelon? I mean, come on already! Seed spitting contests are the new black.

FAREWELL...

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Buzz Words: owls, parenting, iPhone, 4th, Summer, Garden, Fourth of July, Photos, Parenting, Freebies, Give Away, Watermelon, Getting Things Done

Bloggin' Live From the Convention

2009-06-27T09:10:00.003-05:00

This is my first attempt at an iPhone post. Brought to you straight from the nursing room at the Austin CHEACT Book Fair. I'm about to go in to hear Jessica Hulcy's son talk about how he's greatful to his parents for going that last mile to finish what they started. It is so easy to understand why homeschoolers give up when the kids get in high school! Not to mention why moms get burned out half way in to the journey of home education.

Kind of like how this little peck and poke keyboard is burning me out half way through this post...

But I digress...

... And abuse elipses. Sorry.

I better take advantage of this sleepy-baby moment to slip in to the conference session late! Talk to you later. Check out my facebook page to see what Homeschool blogger came to see me yesterday: www.facebook.Com/Sprittibee! I need to go get some halfway-mark Homeschool mom encouragement.

Later!

Third and Fourth Grade Learning Enrichment (& Summer Activites)

2009-06-25T15:33:00.000-05:00

Every year, I keep a record of our homeschool journey here. Click the 'homeschool' link in my sidebar for more information if you are interested. You can use the ideas in this list for rainy days, to beat summer boredome, or to add to your school year as extra curricular activites. Or you could just do them in your free time with the kids and have fun.

Below is a list of fun ideas we used as part of our learning enrichment for Grades 3 and 4. We did all these things while homeschooling during the 2006-7 school year. They were NOT a part of my curriculum (at least not scheduled for the units we were working on at the time)... they were just extra fun things we threw in. My school-aged kids were 7 and 8 at the time. I can't guarantee that there are not duplicates between my previous enrichment idea lists and this one since I just jot these down as we go throughout the school year. Some of them probably are duplicates. Things like 'helping in the kitchen' and 'writing poems' are things we do every year, so you'll likely find them on every enrichment list on my site (sometimes with a different 'twist' or 'angle' thrown in to make it somewhat unique). However, I wouldn't stop reading just because you might run in to a few 'tried-and-true', 'rainy-day' 'fun-items'. There may be a few on here that surprise you. Feel free to print the list off to save your eyes from too much screen-time. Just be sure to link back to me if you pass it to a friend. Of course, if you love and use my ideas, you can always leave me a tip in my tip jar. We Texans need snowcone money to beat the heat!

They look like such babies! This was our last year (of the 2) that we spent in Arkansas - away from family. It was a time that God grew our family as a unit since we had no other place to go and hardly a distraction. Life in a 2-bedroom apartment and some of the best outdoor scenery in the nation... It was a time we all look back on now and miss (even though we would have done anything at the time to return to Texas). This photo was taken at Burns Park in North Little Rock near a covered bridge in the fall as the leaves were turning. I was using a point-and-shoot digital! Too bad I didn't have my nice camera until the end of the following school year.

192 Learning Enrichment Ideas (Grades 3 & 4)

Back to School Party (water balloons, relays)
Ride a 4-wheeler
Journal your hight, weight, age, grade, goals at the beginning of school
Set goals and go over unit objectives
Do Bible memory verse system
Learn what a Venn Diagram is and use one for a report
Ride bikes
Write misspelled words every week
Pray as a family
Write penpals
Look up places on a map as you study or read about them
Sing
Do chores regularly
Draw something in a sketch book every day
Learn how to clean the bathrooms well
Practice the cursive alphabet
Talk about careers you might want when you grow up
Drill yourself on how fast you can find verses in the Bible
Go to church & Bible class weekly
Review last year's standardized tests & discuss what you missed
Help mom grade papers
Play on the playground with other kids
Play in the woods with friends
Do Mad Libs
Gather eggs from a friend's hen house
Color a coloring page
Learn how to cook eggs
Look at your favorite paintings online
Learn about history, science, creative writing online
Learn about the solar system, and holidays online
Learn about Civil War and Napoleon online
Draw a self portrait
Eat Thai food out
Discuss 9/11 (look at old drawings)
Catch bugs and identify them online, draw them
Write Thank You cards
Ride a horse
Play vocabulary games
Glue vocabulary words into our journals artistically
Learn how to play solitaire
Make an A-Z of What I'm Thankful For list
Learn how to address an envelope
Write the books of the Bible
Learn about China
Review goals and work on changing bad habits
Cuddle and take a nap with mom
Take the day off to just have fun together
Have a "Reading Only" day (snuggle)
Learn how to make lasagna
Play Bible Outburst
Take a walk
Have a family discussion
Learn some Latin
Pray for someone fervently
Go have lunch at a burger joint
Spend the night at a friend's house
Copy a favorite poem in to your journal
Learn about copyright laws and plagiarism
Build and watch a fire - learn safety with fire
Watch science videos on animals
Give away the clothes the kids outgrow
Help mom babysit a friend's kids
Make cards for a little boy in the hospital
Learn about the Lord's Supper & take communion at home
Learn about Thailand
Jump on a Trampoline
Explore in the Woods
Visit a pumpkin patch
Do a leaf rubbing craft
Watch the geese migrate
Discuss abortion, elections and politics
Look at paintings in books
Sit on the porch and sketch nature
Organize the bookshelf
Learn about Islam
Take photos at a local park
Grade each other on attitude and behavior
Sing Hymns
Swim at the gym with Daddy
Take sermon notes at church
Draw a map of Thailand and draw and color their flag
Help cook Thai food at home
Read about SE Asia in Families book
Copy work on Bible verses about character and discipline
Sketch leaves
Draw horses
Watch documentary on China
Watch documentary on Iran
Read Presidential Prayer Team website
Share the meaning of Thanksgiving with a foreign friend
Sponsor a child in India and write them
Make mud pies
Eat a pomegranate
Learn about geometry and square roots
Walk a mile on the track with Daddy
Play basketball
Study about Christmas Trees
Read current events about Indonesia
Look up photos of Thailand and Indonesia online
Make popsicle stick reindeer ornaments
Make bookmarks
Learn about North Korea
Draw North Korean flag and a map of NK
Learn some French
Learn about Van Gogh
Look at a map of Washington State
Discuss baptism
Read about Christian persecution in the Middle East through ICC
Read Atlas and Geography books about North Korea, discuss Communist Govt.
See photos online of North Korea
Read current Event online through BBC about North Korea
Make Daddy an online Birthday Photo Card
Play with Playdough
Play with Legos
Read the Christmas story in Luke
Roast pinecones in a chimnea
Make smores over a campfire
Copy work - write out a recipe
Research online about calories
Read introduction to the "Maker's Diet"
Put together Lego Mindstorm Alpha Rex
Play educational Computer Games
Email grandparents
Look up info about the Ark of the Covenant online
Help with spring cleaning
Learn how to clean out cat litter box/pet care
Make a map and flag for South Korea
Read Family atlas, world atlas about S.Korea
Build Lego "Sandcrawler" with Daddy
Build a snowman
Look up South Korea photos/foods online
Take the Texas TAKS test online
Take the online science Quizzes at BBC Schools
Write and type an essay on Eggs and how to cook them
Walk in the park
Watch an online movie about circulation and the heart
Learn about the history of Valentines Day
Send e-cards for Valentines Day
Learn about the history of Chocolate online
Read Bio of Milton Hershey online
Read poem: If I Ever Had to Raise My Child Again - Diane Loomans
Do current event on North Korea & Journal
Map of Malaysia, draw & color their flag
Create Art online with Corel Painter Essentials (GeeArt Challenge & Play)
Make honey cookies from recipe in a book
Take 3 days off for Standardized testing in AR (IOWA Skills Full Battery)
Play with baby chicks & frogs
Pet baby lamb and bunnies
Learn to scrapbook (tools)
Celebrate Passover
Make Passover crafts
Chat on Google Talk
Draw Unicorns
Do creative writing about cats
Start cooking without help (following recipes)
Unit Study on Bees in one day
Read encyclopedia bug books
Talk on the phone to friends out of state
Color post office postcards of famous American wonders & send them
Play Star Wars Monopoly
Write the author of a book you like and thank them for writing it
Discuss the goals for the day
Cook dinner for friends (host dinner)
Read and see photos online about Petra (Peter/Rock)
Use Spelling Time Online
Make and decorate prayer journals
Review Geography we have covered this year
Draw cartoons
Modpodge
Read about the American Revolution
Read about birds
Look up books without help at library
Read about Asian Countries in Atlast and Geography books
Learn the Language of Art (GeeArt)
Practice Latin phonics
Bake cookies for neighbors
Play board games with Daddy
Learn about the Message of Art (GeeArt)
Draw your hand
Learn mapping skills
See a lock for boats at a dam and learn how they work
Get to know your neighbors
Look up and identify birds we see
Read about birds in a National Geographic Atlas
Send out Father's Day Cards
Make a map of Vietnam
Look up animals that live in Vietnam
Study geometric shapes and do shape puzzles online
Find out you have to move in one week - frantically pack
Say goodbye to all your Arkansas friends
Move Home to Texas and stay with friends/family while house hunting
Move in to a new house and unpack

Seems like we are always moving, eh?! We moved at the beginning of our 2005-6 school year and at the end of our 2006-7 one. We were still getting settled when our 2007-8 school year started, but thankfully, we have stayed put since then! We've been at our current home since July of 2007 - nearly two full years now! Hope we get to stay a lot longer. Amazing that we were in Arkansas the same length of time that we have been here at this house.

Up next in the series will be:
Post #5 - Favorite KONOS Memories from Third and Fourth Grade
Update of Homeschool Series Post with past and current upcoming school year info
Beginning posts of 2007-8 school year (Fourth and Fifth Grades)

I'm finally getting caught up! Hurray!

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Buzz Words: Homeschooling, Children, Homeschool, Enrichment, Learning, Education, Family, Parenting, Texas, Extra Curricular, School, Field Trips, Summer, Fun

Free Wedding Photography and Happily Ever After

2009-06-23T01:06:00.002-05:00

Cousin Kristen tied the knot this weekend. She looked like an angel. Of course, she didn't have to try hard, because she truly is one of the sweetest people I have ever met. I love being invited to weddings... especially weddings of those whom I know well enough to not appear crazy for taking photos. Because I am going to take photos. Just sayin'.

Kristen never stopped smiling yesterday. I took over 400 pictures and never caught her without a glow and a shiny smile. I loved seeing her and her sweetheart - now husband - steal glances at each other. The other hundred or two hundred people might as well have not even been there. Good thing she was busy being in love - so I wouldn't look so much like a stalker as I followed her around snapping pictures.

Unfortunately her wedding photographers noticed me. I pestered them as much as I could with questions and followed them like a lost puppy. One of them was using the same camera I have, but they had a lot of fun gear to go along with it. Expensive lenses, flashes, hoods and other neat camera gadgets. They are lucky that I didn't ruin their tools with my drool.

It was fun taking pictures. Even if I wasn't the one Kristen hired to do the job. I'm going to retouch some of the pictures and print them for her as a belated wedding gift. That's what I call a steal of a deal... free wedding photography. Which of course takes all the pressure off of me and makes taking the pictures enjoyable - because I'm not responsible if they don't all come out fantastic. Which all of them didn't. Blame it on the lens.

But I got a few that I think she'll love. When she comes down off of cloud nine, that is. I'm sure none of her wedding photos will compare with the memories she's making this week. I'm soooo happy for them.

I think you'll agree that they make a happy couple. That gleam in their eyes is Jesus. What a great way to start off a life together: best friends that have a heart for the Lord.

Makes me all misty eyed. I glanced at my sweetheart as Kristen walked down the aisle, too. Can't believe that seventeen years has gone by since we met and fell in love. For us, the Jesus part came later.

Funny how love gets sweeter as you get older (if you are best friends and are trying to serve the Lord and each other). We aren't 20 any more - though that was certainly a fun time. We might have a bit more to be preoccupied with (kids tend to add a little more responsibility and take a little more time away from what you have to give each day). I can see the worn lines of shared experiences in our faces. We have made a life together. Christ has multiplied that life in our children. We have lived our 'I do's' daily now for nearly two decades. I'm thankful that I see the same depth of conviction and commitment between Kristen and her man as I have with mine. One day they will finish each others' sentences, too.

Kristen's was a fairy-tale wedding.

It was worth carrying the baby and the Canon around at the same time... so I could share in the dance and capture the feeling with my camera. I hope Kristen and Buddy share a life of joyful photographic moments together. If they ever need a free photographer for future wonderful events, I'm their gal. May they weather the storms well and live happily ever after.

P.S. Want to see her cake? Go check out my food link. I'm posting a picture of it with a short story about it on Gathering Manna.

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Buzz Words: wedding, photography, marriage, relationships, Jesus, life, love

Honey-Sweet Blog Template Redesign

2009-06-21T11:00:00.000-05:00

Darcy is an animal. She goes like the energizer bunny until the project is done and has a long list of anxious clients in her queue. She really worked well with me on this template redesign... allowing my children to participate and making my blog an extension of ME. Favorite colors, whimsical graphics and personal touches... all of it screams "Sprittibee". Whatever that means, right?!

Anyway, I wanted to welcome you formally to the new Bee Hive on the net and request that you join me in telling Darcy THANK YOU and how much you love her work! Just leave a little note in the comment section here and I'm sure she'll be back over to see them some time after she catches up on her sleep! We were up until 2am a few nights last week together on GTalk!

While you are here, check out the groovy hovering animated navigation bar up top. So cute! Leave your friendly face in my Google Friend box! Snag a graphic button to put in your sidebar. She thought of everything.

When I get home from vacation, I'll finish the fine details of making the template home, but until then, I'm enjoying the fresh new look from afar.

Keep us in your prayers for our travels and join me in praising the Lord that one of my best friend's families was spared this weekend. Her husband and daughter were in a head on collision and flipped around 5 times - both are fine, but the police officer could not believe they lived through the accident. Pray for their minor injuries to heal. I hear that there are pain meds and bruised lungs involved.

While we travel, take some time and look around my new digs.

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Buzz Words: design, blogging, blog design, bees, personal, life, random

Another Good Reason to Live in the Country

2009-06-19T17:00:00.004-05:00

If you have to live in the suburb, it's good to take up landscaping. Especially TREES. And if you have a 2-story house, TALL trees.

This is what suburb trees are for - besides for birds and squirrels. Lots of trees. Too bad it takes so long for them to grow.

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Buzz Words: neighbors, humor, landscaping, trees, privacy, backyard, summer, personal, life, random

It Only Looks Quiet Around Here

2009-06-17T23:16:00.001-05:00

Quiet. Or lack of it.

Not NOISE quiet. But activity quiet.

I'm not talking about the insane colic that went on tonight with Mr. Viking and his 2 hour cry-fest. I'm still twitching from that one, but shall recover. Must have been the round of 'I-can't-believe-my-own-mother-would-do-this-to-me' shots he got at the doctor the day before.

I'm talking about posts on this here blog. Or the lack of 'em.

Sorry folks. Blog designing, purging and purdifying takes a lot of concentration. A few tears, too. I sit here waiting on Darcy to get online, watching for her name to appear on my GoogleTalk (rather like a stalker) - and then I accost her with all sorts of requests and questions so as to use up every ounce of her free time. It's busy work, you-betcha.

There's also a hefty amount of whining. And then there are the panic attacks. Three years with a blog template tends to marry you to it in an unhealthy way. And as much as I talk about simplification and decluttering, there's a little of my mom's pack rat in me somewhere. Because Darcy has been having to tell me to go take a Prosac or a deep breath in between her stern commands that I MUST NOT cave and put all this j-u-n-k back on my sidebars.

She's nice like that. She needs to go in to drug and alcohol counseling.

Anyway, you peoples are going to probably drop a jaw when you come in here later on and see what she's done. I feel like I'm having my mind erased in the process... but I know I'll be glad when the site is pretty and fresh... and the sidebars are STARK NEKED. BLANK. EMPTY. Holy moly, they look funny!

I figured you wanted to make sure I was alive in here since it got so quiet. You were probably thinking... 1. she spilled sweet tea in her laptop and was in a major depression because she couldn't afford to replace it... or ... 2. she overloaded on iPhone applications and had some sort of seizure - and is spending the rest of her days in a straight jacket, drooling... or ... 3. she secretly decided to quit blogging here because a twittering Target executive offered her $5,000 a month to blog for them on another site...

... or maybe you just thought I was busy with the baby?

Well, whatever you were thinking, I thought I would set the record straight. YES, Target. I will blog for you. But you have to ask first.

And about the redesign while I'm waiting on that offer... it will happen some time around... June. Because I don't want to put any pressure on Darcy. Or she might make me give up another five categories.

Don't worry. You'll love the new look. It's rather BRIGHT - and ORANGE, but you'll love the new look. You better!

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Buzz Words: funny, humor, blogging, Target, quiet, design, blog design, personal, life, blogger, random

iPhone Killed the Blog Star

2009-06-14T23:00:00.003-05:00

Unless you run a blog that is about gadgets and gizmos, the iPhone is something that a blogger really shouldn't have. You see... once you get one, you are instantly able to:

surf the web (and actually see web pages the way they are supposed to look)
sync your Outlook contacts, calendar and reminders
watch YouTube videos and TV
take pictures and quickly upload them to flickr or Facebook in just a few touches
play all manner of video games (Pocket Tanks being one of our faves)
listen to ALL OF your music via a built in iPod
listen to the radio via Pandora (picking the bands/genre you are interested in) or just tune in to K-Love instantly!
Google by voice command - hands free!
use your iPod as a level to hang pictures
keep up with your Netflix queue
check the weather
see what time it is in lots of places at once
track your driving progress on a trip with an interactive map and get directions
look through endless amounts of groovy pictures with Cooliris
check the pollen in your area with Pollen Lite
find restaurants that have healthy foods (including caloric/nutritional info & menus) and are near you (using GPS)
track your weight and exercise goals with Lose It
keep up with baby's feedings, diaper changes, naps, sleep patterns and medicines
text your husband to remind him to bring home milk
calculate the answer to a math problem
time how long it takes your kids to do the dishes
read a book on Kindle
look up a Bible verse at church quicker than anyone who is using a real Bible
use the device as a flashlight when the power goes out (in a variety of colors)
twitter about what you saw along the road on your family vacation
check your email (and actually DELETE G-Mails so you don't have to do it twice)

...

oh... and make a phone-call at the touch of a finger after you look up your contact or information on the web about a person or business. I mean just click the phone number from a web page and it connects you to them on the phone!

It's the coolest thing since sliced bread. I lurve it, y'all. But what a time hog! You hardly want to put the thing down!

My blog is so jealous. But thankfully, my heart for blogging is winning out over this infatuation. I actually put my "phone" in my purse for half a day the other day. I managed to keep it in the daiper bag for most of church service today, too (except when I had to go in the nursing room). I'm planning to get back in the saddle around here in blogland after the site is back up with its new purdy face.

I bet you just stopped in to see if I had redesigned it yet! You sneaky sneak. You'll just have to wait and see...

...and while I'm waiting on the final touches to be put on my blog design, I'll be weaning myself off of the iPhone high I've been on for the past month. AT&T certainly knew a good thing when they saw it.

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Buzz Words: iPhone, gadget, electronics, cellphone, communications, mobile, review, blogging, att, wireless, apple, phone, orange, wasting+time, opinion

Elbow Grease, Boobiejuice and Poppyseeds

2009-06-12T22:43:00.004-05:00

I'm so busy cleaning up the back end of my blog that I don't have time for the front end - or the side that you are reading. My blog designer told me I had to clean up my categories. Seems a hundred categories is too many! Who knew?! And then there's the decisions to be made, the graphics my kids have to draw, the backing up of templates, the GoogleTalking with Darcy. Things are pretty hairy.

During all this design prep, I also have some nursing issues going on that aren't pretty, either. Things you just don't blog about. Boobiejuice containers being one of them. Needless to say, I'm going to the doctor on Tuesday. Kohen is going, too. Pray for some resolution to our ills and for the little Viking to start gaining weight to live up to his namesake.

While I await the blog to be finished and the health issues to resolve, I'll be attending a family reunion this weekend. I'm guessing that there are poppyseed kolaches with my name on them. My husband's family is Czech. They KNOW how to cook, baby. I can already feel the extra weight I'll be wearing home. If there's one thing that can get me away from my computer (as good as Mr. Viking can), it's poppyseed pastry things made my honest-to-goodness real Czech people.

New blog design coming soon. Pictures to follow of the kolaches. As for the boobiejuice... well... let's hope that everything works out fine.

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Buzz Words: poppyseed, kolache, food, baby, life, random, motherhood, nursing, getting things done, blogging, blog design, infant, health, mommy, personal

Sneaky Snotty... and Her Accomplice

2009-06-09T01:02:00.001-05:00

I've been down and out with a horrible cold as of late. Made it's way through my entire family, picking us off like a lioness in the night. None of us were spared.

Except the non-human one.

The man.

He's a machine, I tell you. A machine. His employer is so lucky. He's the last of a dying breed (must be dying of rust if they are machines). He never takes a sick day (burns his own vacation). He is NEVER late for work; rather, he's thirty minutes early. Takes a snack to eat at lunch and works without pay so he won't even LOOK like he's taking advantage of company time.

And I have to bribe his co-workers to get his phone number at his desk... because you DON'T MAKE PERSONAL CALLS AT WORK. I do when he forgets to leave his cell phone on, though. I feel for the poor chap that let the number out. I'm sure they aren't friends any more.

He's not what this post is about though. So let's get back to it, shall we?

Sick. Yep. All of us. Especially me. And the poor itty bitty witty little baby! His first cold. And it's all Morgan's fault - who came down with it first. Even grandma got it. We sound like we have two weeks to live and need to be in the TB ward (me and granny). However, for the first time in five days, I feel human again.

I felt good enough to play on the computer today (instead of homeschooling, cooking, or paying my bills... or any of the other pressing duties that had my name on them). [Did I say that out loud?]

It's not my fault you know. It's all Darcy's fault. She's a web designer. She took it upon her sweet, charitable self to give me a blogiversary present (since my FOUR YEAR blogiversary was YESTERDAY - you may leave belated happy comments now). Four years in blog years is like 162. Because every hour another of the 6 billion blogs out there DIES! Because some homeschool mother realizes it takes too much work to keep it up.

Not me, baby. I'm no quitter.

I may not remember my name by the end of the summer... after pregnancy, bed rest, delivery, recovery, postpartum, depression, nipple confusion, lack of sleep, cluster feeding, prolonged Spring-Break Syndrome ... or has that become Summer Break... let's just call it homeschool burn-out. I need a vacation. But that's for another post.

Not a quitter. Nope. But hey - I AM a whiner. And Darcy happened to be available to whine to. Either that, or she just got fed up of my twittering about being fat, pregnant, in labor, a human pacifier, and snotty. So she decided to design my blog!

My kids must be sick of me, too; because THEY are supplying the graphics. Yeah, I homeschool them. They're blog designer artistyish people. And they haven't even hit puberty. So there.

Call me crazy (which is probably what Darcy did behind my back on GoogleTalk a few minutes ago when I told her I was still on a Classic Blogger Template)... but three years is long enough for a good design. I know some of you - or all three of you - who read my blog religiously - may have a hard time letting go of the trees and the shiny bee. Don't worry. She's NOT DEAD. She's just being archived in to my graphics folder on my PC. She's OKAY.

I may not be. But she's OKAY. Darcy, on the other hand. She's more than OKAY, folks. You need to line up at her doorstep for a blog design. It should be like the day after Thanksgiving (besides all those people that get trampled, of course). She's done a great job. She's very professional (which makes me wonder why she's doing this for ME). She's FAST at Photoshop and has a keen eye for color... and has made my children VERY excited by "offering them a job" doing graphics for her if she should ever need any more whimsical hand-drawn artwork again.

My husband will never get my son to mow the lawn again if he can make 'easy money' doodling for Darcy. Think of my poor lawn!

Anyway... as you were all sleeping in your beds tonight... I, the still-snotty sicky, was up making crazy design plans with my crazy friend. The world may not be a better place because of it... but I know that two little bees in this hive have gained a new confidence in their artwork... and I've gained a true appreciation for how hard designers work - and the long hours they put in.

The next time you see a blog designer, make sure to give them a BIG hug. Unless, of course, you are infected with a cold or the flu. In that case, STAY AWAY. Stay very far away.

Back to the Blog

2009-06-04T22:20:00.001-05:00

There's a blank page awaiting within Blogger when you log in. At the top of the page is the command: "Create". I don't know that I ever even noticed it before today. I have logged in to write many times without any idea of what exactly I was going to say... but I always came up with something. Four years of almost daily posts and you would think that I might have made the connection between 'Creating' and blogging.

There are many different ways to create. I have friends who quilt, decorate, design, take pictures, scrapbook, tell stories, make music, and cook. If you love what you do, it's artwork. It's beautiful. It's a passionate thing.

Do you think of blogging as creating? Being creative? Bringing forth something worthwhile to share with the world? After all, blogging is writing... with a touch of scrapping - photography - formatting - and design. Writing is creating.

I have thought of my blog as my outlet to the world. My creative outlet. However, as of late, I feel anything but creative with a matter of rushed minutes between feedings and diapers to change. I steal a few quick moments of hands-free time at the computer each day and can't even get through my email, much less really write. There's no rest for mama.

I can say that being one-handed and tied down to a Boppy pillow has truly given me a bit of time to read. Reading is something I had lost. I was too busy getting together my own daily posts to have much time to mull over the amazing talent on all my favorite blogs. It has been a blessing to me to read again. It has made me thankful, inspired me, and given me a desire to get back to blogging with my own voice again... not just mechanical blogging with contests and give-aways, memes and reminders of social networking cyber-parties... but real writing. Writing from the heart. After all... that's what I began blogging for.

A solid week of twitter tweets is enough to drive anyone back to the meat of a blog. Tiny bites of information just aren't enough. I need the full story. The photos. Give me the whole blog and nothing but the blog.

Now if I could only find the time to get back to business.

Maybe my upcoming 4 year blogiversary and site redesign will give me the inspiration and push I need to find time to blog more. I certainly hope so. Not sure I would ever be satisfied on 140 charachters or less. Sorry, Twitter. You're fun, but you just can't compete with the real deal.

Photo Editing in Fast Stone, Picasa and Picnik

2009-05-30T23:56:00.005-05:00

Lets face it. Photography isn't always easy; and for that matter, neither is blogging when you are a beginner and all the technology is new to you. I believe that both should be demystified, however, so that more of those who truly love to take pictures and blog can enjoy success.

If you are reading this, chances are you're a parent. That would mean you most likely take a lot of indoor shots of your kids. When that 'Kodak moment' lends itself, the lighting and background aren't always what we moms and dads hope for. Quite often with indoor photography the pictures come out darker than you want even with your white balance set correctly. I don't really like using the flash, so more often than not, my indoor shots are really murky.

The other day my daughter was standing in front of the quilted wall-art with her baby brother, talking to her big brother. Baby brother commenced to chew on her arm, making her laugh. Mom grabbed the Canon and started clicking. I didn't want to miss the shot despite the fact that it was nearly evening and I wasn't using a flash. The window provided enough light and my white balance was set to shade or cloudy (can't remember which). I think I might have tried both of them on different shots.

After uploading the photos from the camera on to my laptop, I put them in their folder (I keep mine by year and month in folders on a separate external drive - and every time it thunders, I UNPLUG it from the wall). After looking at my shots, I picked a few favorites and started editing them. No sense in deleting a good shot if it's too dark. There are ways to doctor your photos and bring out the best in them - even ones you really don't think are salvageable.

The tools I use are FREE programs. I don't get paid to review them, either. Although I'd love a sponsorship to BlogHer in case anyone is listening. This is the Welfare version of a photo tutorial, folks. For the higher end photo touch-ups, you'll have to rely on people like Ree or Dawn. They have the expensive gear and software to back it all up with. Since I'm a photo-nut, "a girl has to do what a girl has to do". Life isn't going to stop happening long enough for me to become rich and buy expensive gear, software and college courses. I'm not planning on missing out on all the photos it has to offer while I wait for my photographic ship to come in, either. So if you, like me, are Photoshop and Lightroom wanna bes... and just haven't had the time or money to buy, learn, and use the REAL tools... by all means, read below to find out how to quickly tweak your photos FOR FREE. Add some pizazz to your blogshots. It's what the photo-hobos do.

I happen to know some designers out there who use these free services even though they have all the expensive software, anyway. So there.

So what do I use to edit my photos? The Poor Photographer's Tools: Picasa, Picnik and Fast Stone. There are things that all of these do which are unique. It's hard to pick a favorite. For example:

Fast Stone is a downloadable program that you store on your computer. I use Fast Stone to resize my graphics, crop graphics, add my signature to photos, and organize my pictures on my PC. It does those things the quickest and easiest. It also does many of the same things Picasa does - but Picasa has some cool features that Fast Stone doesn't....

Picasa is another downloadable program that you keep on your computer - which has a nice organizational system for your pictures and is a super way to star your favorites and make collages. All of my photo collages come from Picasa. The collage feature, the favorites feature, and the one-touch "glow" effect are my favorite things about Picasa. I also think it's neat that you can easily upload a set of photos to a webpage with Picasa. I've had to do that for some pictures I took for a church function and it saved me the time it would have took to save them on a disc and take them to someone.

Let's not forget about Picnik. It's my latest discovery. It's very different than the other two because it's an online service that has a bunch of free one-click actions that change your picture into works of art. It also has creative tools like text and "stickers" to make graphic buttons out of your photos. I have used this program to make small graphics for my sidebars when we have contests or give-aways.

Here's an example of a graphic from a photo that I made on Picnik:

I changed the exposure and colors, added a frame, added a butterfly sticker, and added some text. The original picture is below:

My daughter actually took this shot. It was detailed and had good composition, but too dark to post. I edited it in Picnik and the edited version went on my "How Does Your Garden Grow?" post. Click over and go see it! It is so pretty that I kept a copy on my phone as a background.

I used Fast Stone to resize all of the pictures in this post and to add my blog name and copyright symbol. The editing of the photo past that was done in Picasa or Picnik; both of which do a great job and are user friendly enough for even a non-techie person to get around in. If you have a photo that you are planning to print for grandma, taking it for a spin through Picasa or Picnik would be a great way to make the photo POP and look more professional.

Take for example my dark evening photo-shoot with 7pm window light:

The first original of three I'm sharing today:

Cute photo, but here are some cool things I did in Picnik with it...

After altering the exposure and colors to brighten the picture and make it more vivid, I used the 'Create' tab and selected a few fun applications that automatically create artwork-type results out of your picture. The one above is called "Posterized". Really groovy. You can play with it to get the exact look you are going for. The one below is called "Circle Splash". It reminds me of a nativity picture. Baby K looks like Jesus with a Christmas-card glow.

Then we have another original:

I loved the way the baby was sucking on her hand and the animated expression. I didn't like the fact that she had written on her hand in pen. Nor did I like the darkness of this shot and the coloring seemed a bit off. The baby also had a red spot on his cheek.

I did some edits in Picnik and in Picasa on this shot. Below each are the steps I took for the effect (of course, I can't remember every little click, but the general gist is there):

The above was Picasa. I edited the exposure, highlights, color and then used the retouch tool to erase the baby's red spot and her pen marking. All that took seconds. Much better looking already, right?

After that, (still in Picasa), I used the "saturation" one-touch alteration. It brightened up all the colors for me without me having to use my brain. I love a program that helps my brain activity... of which there is little after childbirth.

Here is the same editing in Picnik (online, mind you). It takes a bit longer since you have to wait for it to load. Like Picasa, all I did here was minor changes to exposure, temperature, color and contrast. And then I used the "blemish remover" tool - same as the "retouch" tool in Picasa - to remove the spot from baby's cheek and pen mark from her wrist. A neat feature in Picnik that Picasa didn't offer is the TEETH whitener! Move over red-eye remover. This one is a keeper! I do still plan to take the kids to the dentist, though.

Then comes the fun part. This is one of the "create" tab's one-click actions called 'Ortonish'. It kind of reminds me of Picasa's "glow" feature, but you can really get artsy with it. There are a TON of neat one-touch actions on Picnik. It would take up all of Blogger's bandwidth for me to sit here adding copy after copy of this shot. I use this particular one a lot.

This one is the "Cinema Scope". Very fun. I also love the 1970's, Pencil Sketch, Cross Process, Gritty, and Lomo-ish. The frames are also really nifty. You can round your edges, add a mirror-look, make your picture look like a postage stamp (like I did with the "Spring Flowers" graphic above)... etc.

Just with a few clicks. There's no magic to it. Really.

Here's what the screen shot looks like when you are working in the creative actions of Picnik (for those of you who need a visual):

So clean and easy to use. Really.

And the third and final original. Really (then I'll leave you alone).

I just love these shots. Almost as much as I love those kids. Miss M. is always holding her brother and he's always chewing on her. It's just so sweet. I couldn't let this picture go to waste just because it was too dark.

Picasa to the rescue!

Four or five clicks... and a nice colorful glow.

Or you could antique a shot... make a black and white... whatever floats your boat.

The secret is out. Anyone can photo-edit with class... even if you don't have Photoshop or Lightroom. If you aren't a hard-core photographer and you just want to edit a few pictures here and there for your scrapbooks, prints, or blogging... why not give these programs a try. Come on. It's better than deleting your photos.

Works for me!

Buzz

MEMO from the New Blog Editor:

2009-05-28T00:47:00.008-05:00

Staff and Subscribers:

Hi. My name is Kohen. I'm cuter than Mr. Daddy... as you can see from my shirt. This note is to serve as an announcement that this blog has been taken over by new management and: I am the boss.

I have been known in certain circles as "High Maintenance", but I assure you, I'm worth all the effort you'll put out working for me.

I say when my staff is allowed to post. I will be giving them assignments from now on. Most of these assignments will not be blog-related, but are time sensitive and very important.

Such as...

1. Bath time. Hint: wait until after you know I've pooped in my diaper before putting me in the bath. I'm not sure about that yellow plastic thing with eyes that floats around in the water. Please keep it away from me or I will cry.

2. Press Photos. Only staff with one-handed photo-editing capabilities will be allowed to post photos with articles. In fact, one-handed blogging is a required skill now that I'm calling the shots. Just pretend like you have one arm. Don't ask me to feel sorry for you. You're whining to someone who can't eat chocolate. We all have our own problems; don't we now?

3. Keeping the man from blowing raspberries on my belly. Can we say "harassment"?! Note: please tell him to shave. Whassup with the whiskers on my exquisitely soft skin? What exactly is Mr. Daddy's job-assignment again? We don't need any slim-shadies around here with five o'clock shadow.

4. Making me smile. When I'm not happy, 'ain't nobody happy. Not even the neighbors.

5. Food. Constant supply of warm milk should be top on the to-do list. No exceptions.

As long as these and other duties are performed in a timely and adequate manner, the blog may or may not run smoothly. I'm not promising anything, people. I have my moods. Live with it.

I'll be watching to make sure that things are done according to my schedule. I'm a real stickler for putting people to work - making the most of their time, you know. I run a tight ship, but I'm sure that these changes will be better for the blog in the long-run. That's why I'm the boss and you're not.

Sincerely,
Baby K