Ramblings and Reflections of a Retired Homeschool Mom

Need Help With Homeschool Transcripts?

2009-01-24T10:28:00.005-06:00

Fearing the homeschool high school transcript stage? I did, too. We got ours done, but I wish I had had access back then to the ebook my friend, Lee Binz, has recently published.

Lee is a homeschool consultant, owner of The HomeScholar and mom of two homeschooled sons. She learned how to convert four years of independent homeschooling into transcripts that earned both of her sons full-tuition scholarships at their first choice university! After many, many "How did you make such a great transcript?" questions, Lee has put this valuable information into a very reasonably priced ebook, available now.

I know Lee and can promise that she does top-notch, high-quality work. If you need to make a high school transcript for your homeschooled children, and you will, I would urge you to check out her book. Don't put it off; time flies so fast when you're homeschooling and you'll need this information before you know it.

Check out The Easy Truth About Homeschool Transcripts today!

Homeschool FAQ

2008-12-29T16:19:00.004-06:00

I wrapped up my homeschooling career several years ago, but I still love homeschoolers and always will. There's just something special, probably the camaraderie between homeschooling moms, that I always want to be a part of my life.

Recently, in my "current life" on Squidoo, I met a homeschooling mom who has knocked the socks off me with her Squidoo lens (pages on Squidoo are called lenses) called, simply, Homeschool FAQ. If you have a question about homeschooling, Carma, or Tandemonimom on Squidoo, has probably asked and answered it.

I would encourage you to visit Carma's lens, bookmark it, and refer your friends and acquaintenances to it when they have questions about homeschooling. Her questions and answers are well organized and accompanied by relavent resources, books and more to benefit even the seasoned homeschooling family. If you like her lens, please leave her a comment, tell her that Susan52 sent you, then come back here and leave me a comment to let me know. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

Delicious Words for Lexophiles

2008-04-21T10:23:00.008-05:00

Love words? Then you're a lexophile. Here are some words and phrases for you and your young lexophiles to savor and digest.

I wondered why the baseball was getting bigger. Then it hit me.
Police were called to a day care where a 3-yr-old was resisting a rest.
Did you hear about the guy whose whole left side was cut off? He's all right now.
The roundest knight at King Arthur's round table was Sir Cumference.
To write with a broken pencil is pointless.
When fish are in schools, they sometimes take debate.
The short fortune teller who escaped from prison was a small medium at large.
A thief who stole a calendar got 12 months.
A thief fell & broke his leg in wet cement. He became a hardened criminal.
When the smog lifts in Los Angeles , U.C.L.A.
The dead batteries were given out free of charge.
A dentist & a manicurist fought tooth and nail.
A bicycle can't stand alone; it is two tired.
A will is a dead giveaway.
Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana. (My favorite!)
A backward poet writes inverse.
In a democracy it's your vote that counts; in feudalism, it's your Count that votes.
A chicken crossing the road: poultry in motion.
If you don't pay your exorcist you can get repossessed.
Show me a piano falling down a mine shaft & I'll show you A-flat miner.
The guy who fell onto an upholstery machine was fully recovered.
A grenade fell onto a kitchen floor in France , resulted in Linoleum Blownapart.
You are stuck with your debt if you can't budge it.
A calendar's days are numbered.
A lot of money is tainted: 'Taint yours, and 'taint mine.
A boiled egg is hard to beat.
He had a photographic memory which was never developed.
When you've seen one shopping center, you've seen a mall.
When she saw her first strands of gray hair, she thought she'd dye.
Bakers trade bread recipes on a knead to know basis.
Santa's helpers are subordinate clauses.
Acupuncture: a jab well done.

(Just a note. This list is not my original work but something I received in an email. I suspect it's been floating around in cyberspace for some time but if you know its author, do let me know.)

P.S. Mother's Day is May 11th. To receive a collection of quotations about mothers, send an email to RetiredHSMom (at) gmail (dot) com (formatted the usual email way). I'll send it to you via an attached PDF file, no cost, no obligation.

I am Siamee, if you please.

2008-03-05T14:33:00.005-06:00

I was looking at a picture of my friend Beth's Siamese cats (aren't they gorgeous?) when a tidbit from our family history popped into my head.

One of our sons (who shall remain anonymous) has always had a way with words. He talked early and often and barely stopped to take a breath along the way. When he wasn't talking he was listening, and when he'd talk again he'd usually have a new word in his vocabulary.

Somewhere along the way we must have talked about Siamese cats because once when we saw one, he said, "That's a Siamee!" He was old enough to pronounce the word right, so we corrected him, explaining that it's a Siamese cat. Well, he corrected us right back: "But there's only one, so it's a Siamee. When it's two of them, they're Siamese."

Made sense to me.

Teaching Life Skills with Playing Cards

2008-02-03T10:46:00.000-06:00

Does your child like dogs? cats? horses? airplanes? boats? Here's a great idea for starting a collection of some of your child's favorite things, a collection that can be fun, educational, and last a lifetime. Now, before you start worrying about where you're going to build the airplane hanger or what you're going to feed all those horses, don't worry. I'm not talking about real animals or airplanes, not even toy animals or airplanes. I'm talking about a two-dimensional collection. Why not start a collection of playing cards with and for your child?

My friend Sally collects playing cards. Not decks of cards but single, collectible playing cards, the kind with pretty pictures on the back. She started collecting as a child, then took a number of years off from collecting until after she was grown up and became Dr. Sally. Now her collection numbers in the thousands and she trades with collectors all over the world as well as sells her extras on eBay. Sally really is an authority on playing card collecting and collectibles and her enthusiasm is contagious. (Ask me how I know and I'll show you my cards!)

So, why should you get your child started with collectibles and collecting? Pride, organizational skills, letter-writing (in case they do trade with others), history, research, budgeting (to buy the next treasure) are just a few reasons. But all you have to tell them is that collecting playing cards is fun!

Sally just started a blog about collecting playing cards, she has a Squidoo page that her dog Bashful wrote, and you'll find thousands of cards to give you ideas and get your collection started in Sally's eBay store. (If you buy something, tell her Susan sent you.) If you want to read more about how to help your child start and maintain a collection, there are books such as this one that can help.

Does your child have a collection? I'd love to hear about it. Feel free to leave a comment and let me know why you believe your child's collection is a good thing.

Organizing Your Homeschool for the New Year

2007-12-18T08:15:00.000-06:00

It’s that time of year – time for New Year’s resolutions. Have you resolved to revise your lesson plans? Are you ready to regroup and reorganize? That’s okay; you’re not alone. In fact, it’s a good thing, something I always did and something I think most homeschoolers do at this time of year.

It’s always good to step back from homeschooling occasionally, to take a break and reassess what you’re doing, to look at your schedule objectively and see how you can improve. Mid school-year is the perfect time to do those things. Nice how that time tends to coincide with the Christmas break. There’s just something about the last week of December that demands an improvement, a change for the better – a New Year’s resolution.

If you’ve resolved to figure out a better way to run your school day or to keep your kids and their records better organized, I’d like to encourage you to take a look at The Full-Year Notebook System. If you feel stressed out about your children’s schoolwork or have doubts about your ability to keep proper records, this truly is a system that can work wonders for you. In just a few days, you can have a great notebook system set up such that both you and each of your children will know exactly what to expect on any given day of the school year.

If your homeschool is perfectly organized and your lesson plans are perfectly intact and working out well, then you don’t need this system. But if there’s room for improvement, and especially if you feel like you need a major overhaul of your plan – or if you don’t really even have a plan, don’t be discouraged. Instead, take a look at The Full-Year Notebook System. It may be the answer you’ve been praying for – and have resolved to find.

P.S. For additional help with homeschool planning and more about homeschool planners, here are some great additional resources.

P.P.S. If you need a smile today, take a minute and check out this homeschool family.

What? You Don't Have a TV?

2007-11-27T18:09:00.000-06:00

It must have been Super Bowl XXII, January 31, 1988. Washington Redskins and Denver Broncos. In my mind's eye I see a picture of our little family huddled around the stereo speakers, listening to the big game on the radio. Yes, the radio. We didn't own a TV.

Our boys were Redskin fans and I'm trying to remember why and how they even knew about the team. It was probably because of where we lived; in Virginia all the stores were stocked with Redskins fan stuff year-round. Partly it was because of Brett, the little boy who stayed with us before and after school. Brett's dad was a huge football fan and so, quite naturally, was Brett. When he'd come to our house on Monday mornings during football season, football was his favorite topic and our boys loved to hear all about it. Brett's excitement was contagious.

Since we didn't have a TV, our boys used their imaginations and our dress-up closet to create all sorts of costumes and scenarios, including football helmets and great game plays. They read prolifically and library books contributed unlimited fuel for the imagination bonfire. I love to look back through our photo albums to see some of the costumes they came up with. (The face guards on the football "helmets" in the picture were made from taped-on drinking straws.)

Living in Virginia Beach gave us lots of opportunities for short family field trips to historical sites, places rich with wonderful stories that the kids would continue to study and read about and act upon when we were back home. (It helped that we home-schooled.) Visits to places such as Williamsburg, Jamestown, and Yorktown were just the beginning of both our sons' lifelong interest in history. Visits to coastal North Carolina, home of Blackbeard the Pirate, led to our older son writing and acting out stories about his own pirate characters. (When he dressed up, we called him Pirate Frecklebeard.)

Maybe if we had had television back then our sons still would have done well in school and grown up to be fine young men, but I can't help believing that allowing their young brains to fill first with pictures from their own imaginations gave them an excellent start in building their thinking and problem-solving skills, as well as their character. If I had it to do over, I'd do it the same way with lots of books and field trips, a big dress-up closet, some great radio shows, and lots of time for their little brains to mix it all together.

By the way, the Redskins won that Super Bowl game, 42 -10. I'm sure the Lone Ranger and Tonto thought up a great way to celebrate!

(Read more about nurturing imagination.)

Preparing for Advent

2007-11-18T11:32:00.000-06:00

Thanksgiving is early this year so there's still another week before the fourth Sunday prior to Christmas, the time that many families begin a study in celebration of Advent, the coming of Jesus to earth. My online friend Kimberly has written an Advent devotional guide for families, downloadable as an e-book, so there's still time to get yours and make preparations for your family's study.

Here's a quote from the first chapter in the book:

I began to formulate a devotional study for our family to use, to help them understand WHY Jesus came to earth, how His coming was prophesied for many thousands of years, since the Fall. In it I also emphasize the very real fact that He is coming again, and that we needed to be ready. While reading and discussing this devotion we often talked about how to know for certain you are saved, and how to become a Christian and grow as a Christian. We often would sit, after I read the devotional or told a story, talking about it over some fruit tea. I always tried to have questions for each child, asked directly to each child, on their level of understanding, making sure that one child does not monopolize the whole conversation.

Over the years, our Advent season has changed to fit our family. We try not to be too liturgical with it, but keep it fun as well as Jesus-Centered. I have seen many books that go into some in depth strict liturgical plan pertaining to this and other holidays, which trips many people up. If we make things too complicated during such a busy season, it will likely fall by the wayside. Many times if we get too focused on doing things "just right" we lose sight of the whole point of the celebration - pointing our families to Christ during a hectic, materialistic time of year.

If your family needs a guide to help stay Christ-centered through this upcoming, busy season, you might like to take a look at Kimberly's book. Her website, Joyful Momma Online, contains a wealth of other resources, too, designed to encourage wives and mothers as they glorify God in their everyday lives.

Write a Novel in November

2007-10-22T13:41:00.000-05:00

I saw a post about this on one of the homeschool lists I subscribe to. I think it's a wonderful challenge and a great idea. Best way to explain it is to quote from the website (linked at the bottom):

The Young Writers Program of National Novel Writing Month is a fun, seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a novel by midnight, November 30. The word-count goal for our adult program is 50,000 words, but our Young Writers Program encourages teachers and students to work together to set reasonable, yet challenging, word-count goals.

The only thing that matters in NaNoWriMo is output. It's all about quantity, not quality. The kamikaze approach forces you to lower your expectations, take risks, and write on the fly.

Make no mistake: you will be writing a lot of strange stuff, and some of it will be just plain bad. But that's a good thing. By forcing yourself to write so intensely, you are giving yourself permission to make mistakes, to forgo the endless tweaking and editing. For 30 days, you get to lock that inner editor in the basement, let your imagination take over, and just create!

As you spend November writing, you can draw comfort from the fact that, all around the world, other National Novel Writing Month participants of all ages are going through the same joys and sorrows of producing the Great Frantic Novel.

In 2006, over 79,000 adults participated through our main site, and 15,000 young writers participated through our Young Writers Program. This year we are expecting over 100,000 kids, teens, and adults total to take on this challenge.

So, to recap:

What: To meet your word-count goal, and write a novel from scratch in one month's time. You will be able to enter your chosen word-count goals in your profiles starting November 1.

Who: You!
We can't do this unless we have some other people trying it as well. Let's write laughably awful yet lengthy prose together.

Why: The reasons are endless! To write freely without having to stress over quality. To be able to make references to passages from our novels any chance we get. To be able to mock real novelists who take far longer than 30 days to produce their work.

When: Sign-ups begin October 1, 2007. Writing begins November 1. To be added to the official list of winners, you must reach your word-count goal by November 30 at midnight. Once your novel has been verified by our web-based team of robotic word counters, the celebration begins.

Still confused? Just visit the How NaNoWriMo Works for Young Writers page! If you are an educator, visit the How NaNoWriMo Works for Teachers page.

There's also an adult version of the event. Read about it at the National Novel Writing Month site. If you participate, even if you don't succeed, leave us a comment. I want to meet a novelist!

Helping You Over the Homeschool Humps

2007-09-08T15:41:00.000-05:00

When we were still homeschooling the boys, I loved getting homeschooling magazines in the mail. I'll admit that I didn't get very much else done on the day a new magazine arrived - I couldn't wait to read it - but it always seemed that I found just what I needed to encourage me over the current homeschool "hump" that I was trying to get over, around, or through. Have you ever faced a homeschool hump? Sure you have. We all do from time to time.

The Old Schoolhouse Magazine is a newer magazine, one that wasn't around when we were active homeschoolers, but I feel like I can recommend it both by reputation and by reading all about it on their website. Their list of contributors reads like a who's who in homeschooling with dozens of the great names that I'm so familiar with. Dr. Ruth Beechick's name is on the list and she's my all-time favorite homeschooling author, so I'm sold on the magazines' contents for sure; if anyone could get me over a homeschool hump it was Ruth Beechick.

Another thing I like is their current subscription offer. You get 25 free homeschool gifts with a $25 one-year subscription. That's four issues of the magazine plus the free gifts, a bargain even without the bonuses for something you can hold in your hand or take with you to the privacy of your, uh, "reading room." You can find out about how the special works at their website, where you can also subscribe to one or more of their free weekly or monthly e-newsletters. The current issue of each is posted online, as well as the archives, and they're fantastic.

So, why not take a minute and take a look at The Old Schoolhouse Magazine. When you face your next homeschool hump, I think you'll be glad you did.

Delight-Directed Learning

2007-08-18T09:00:00.000-05:00

The following was posted last night on one of our local homeschool e-mail lists:

Did you know you can get live internet feed onto the space shuttle right now? (Here's the link.) Today they are getting ready for their spacewalk they are doing tomorrow.

It is interesting to watch and has my son mesmerized by it. Yesterday I gave him a spelling test on NASA words. He has told me on the map what countries the shuttle was flying over at the time. I love this kind of school. He has learned so much just searching around the NASA website.

I saw the message this morning and have been watching the space walk. Very, very cool!

I call this delight-directed learning, which was always my favorite part of homeschooling. How wonderful to have the freedom to stop what we are doing and spontaneously take advantage of an opportunity that might never present itself again!

Even though my friend Kim often attributes the term to me (because I have talked about it so much over the years), "delight-directed study" was actually coined by Gregg Harris. When we first started homeschooling back in the late 1980s, we attended a seminar by Gregg Harris and our lives were never the same again. He truly inspired us and set the direction of our homeschooling path. I will always be grateful to him for that.

You can read more about delight-directed study in this post from Gregg Harris's blog. His book, The Christian Home School, is out of print but you can find a used copy on amazon.com. Timeless information - I recommend it!

The Learning Parent

2007-04-26T13:20:00.000-05:00

Though our youngest graduated four years ago, we’re still on some homeschool company mailing lists as I do like to keep just a little bit in the loop, so to speak, on the subject. We received a catalog in the mail this week from The Learning Parent, Rick and Marilyn Boyer’s company. It’s always nice to see materials from the Boyers, parents of 14 children and now grandparents of five, homeschoolers for 26 years. You might say the Boyers know a thing or two about families and about homeschooling.

Many years ago, probably 1989 or 1990, my friend Janice and I drove to Liberty University for a weekend homeschool conference. One of the workshops I attended, in fact the only one I specifically remember, was with Marilyn Boyer. Her topic was "Hands-On Character Building." I loved that workshop and bought the book to go along with it, Marilyn’s original, spiral-bound version. I incorporated a number of her projects into our family as our boys were growing up.

I was happy to see the current version of the book, Fun Projects for Hands-On Character Building, in the new catalog. They say it has full-color photos of the most popular projects. As I recall, the pictures in the original were hand-drawn. You’ve come a long way, Boyers! The Boyers also offer a recording of their one-hour seminar on the topic of "Hands-On Character Building." I wonder how much of that seminar I would recognize from the conference I attended.

Either or both of these resources would be a wonderful addition to any home with young children. The Boyers’ catalog is online and you can see the book here, or explore the entire website and catalog here. You’ll find back issues of the “Uncle Rick” newsletter and more information about the Boyers and their family ministry on the site as well. I hope you enjoy their materials as much as I have over the years.

FIELD TRIP MEMORIES

2007-04-21T08:45:00.000-05:00

Our oldest son, who is now a police officer, remembers well one of his first homeschool field trips, a visit to the police station. He was only six or seven (he’s the one in the middle of the picture), but what he saw and learned on that field trip seems to have had quite an influence on the rest of his life. Interesting how that worked out.

I was trying to remember some of the other field trips we participated in with our homeschooling friends. Besides many trips to play at the park (I think they qualify as field trips!) we have been to pick blueberries, we went to the zoo (two or three of them), the post office, the newspaper, the airport, the Fort Story lighthouse in Virginia Beach, the Chrysler Museum in Norfolk, the National Historic Site in Fort Smith, the Air National Guard at the airport, and I’m sure there were quite a few others.

Family vacations were our favorite field trips with visits to the Alamo in San Antonio, the Wright Brothers museum at Kitty Hawk, Yorktown battlefield, Colonial Williamsburg, many, many visitor centers at state and national parks (which usually have wonderful exhibits whether small or large), Garden of the Gods and Pikes Peak in Colorado, and baseball games in many different cities (it’s fun to compare ballparks) just to name a few. Most of these visits were in the non-tourist season (since we could travel any time of the year, a great advantage of homeschooling) when the crowds were lighter, so lines were shorter and access to exhibits was easier. What wonderful learning experiences we had, not to mention the memories we will always have.

Field trips can be highly organized with a large group, or spontaneous and smaller with a group of close friends. I found a great website from The Smithsonian that tells families how to make the most of a museum visit. These are suggestions that can be used on visits to other places, too. Highly recommended reading before your next field trip!

Over the years we did a lot of field trips, and I hope you do, too, with your kids. A trip to the zoo may not mean your child will grow up to be a zookeeper, but then, on the other hand, you just never know!

Zonotrichia albicollis - The Happy Sparrow

2007-04-13T16:10:00.000-05:00

Occasionally I hear the happiest-sounding bird in my neighborhood. We are blessed to live in a wonderful wooded area, so I’ve learned to identify many birds by both sight and song, but I had never figured out what species of bird this happy-sounding one is. Until today.

I heard the happy bird singing this morning and it made me smile despite our impending stormy weather. I always think the bird sounds as if he must be skipping along joyfully, whistling like a cartoon bird. Sometimes the bird’s song brings to mind Gene Kelly singing, whistling, and dancing through the puddles in “Singing In the Rain.” Funny that today it’s been rainy off and on, and today was the day I finally saw the bird.

Actually, I saw a small flock of them. Dandy (our big cat) was restless this afternoon, so I put him up in the bathroom windowsill where we could look outside together and watch for birds. In fact, there were quite a few birds out there, birds I didn’t recognize. They were striking in appearance with three black stripes on their otherwise mostly white heads. They resembled sparrows, but they were so pretty and I didn’t recall sparrows being particularly pretty birds. So, I ran to get the bird book. I ruled out several (too big, wrong bill type, right markings but wrong color) then suddenly I saw him. He was a sparrow. I was right! I wasn’t sure if the birds were white-crowned or white-throated sparrows and when I looked outside again to see more details, they were gone. So, it was time to google it.

After a couple of false starts, I had my answer. It turns out that white-throated sparrows come in two types, white-crowned and tan-crowned, so I guess I was right either way. The recording of the bird’s song was the finishing touch, though. Listening to the recording made me smile once again, although I have to say that “my” bird sounded even happier this morning than the bird in the media file.

Did you ever hear Mister Rogers as King Friday XIII sing his song about Troglodytes aedon, his pet house wren? Well, I am very glad to have Zonotrichia albicollis sing to me in my neighborhood and brighten up my day, any day I hear his lively, happy song.

Get $10 off $75 at Highlights Catalog. Shop Now!

MARCHFLIES

2007-03-27T12:47:00.000-05:00

You’ve heard of mayflies? They’re insects, ones that resemble overgrown mosquitos, very dainty-looking things that dance on the window screens in the evenings and do no harm to anyone as far as I can tell.

We live in the south, so our mayflies usually appear in April. If a mayfly appears in April, is it still called a Mayfly?

We’ve had a wonderful warm spell over the last two or three weeks and everything outdoors has popped into bloom. It’s beautiful, and a bit early this year (odd after the unusually cold winter we had). We’ve even been sleeping with the windows open. The dogwood trees are blooming already, well before Easter – and Easter is early this year.

Another thing that is early is the mayflies, or should I say Aprilflies? Thing is, it’s still March. If a mayfly appears in March, is it still called a Mayfly? Goodness, now we have Marchflies!

(Here’s a great fact sheet on mayflies, another resource for a spring “teachable moment” opportunity.)

Get $5 off our NEW spring products – shop Highlights Catalog

I Love Teachable Moments

2007-03-22T19:35:00.000-05:00

Ah, I'm so enjoying this warm weather with the windows wide open!

Now, if we were still homeschooling, I'd use that thought as a teachable moment and a lesson in alliteration. I'd have my boys each come up with a great sentence using words that begin with the same first sound, then another sentence, and yet another if we were still having fun with it.

I love teachable moments almost as much as I love words, and when I can combine the two . . . ah!

I love teachable moments!

Operation Komando

2007-03-17T10:23:00.000-05:00

We've sent one son to Iraq and brought him home safely, and we're sending another one to "the sandbox" next month, so it's pretty easy for us to remember to support our troops. But I'll admit that since Stephen has been back, we haven't physically done anything to help out the guys and gals that are there defending our freedom.

Kim Komando has always been a wonderful supporter of our troops overseas. Now, she has decided to reach out to them through Operation Komando. If you would like to help her, simply click here and read about what you can do.

Whether or not you decide to send a package, I hope you'll pray daily for the safety of all the troops overseas. And I ask specifically that you remember our Marine, Cpl. Tim, as he joins them within the next few weeks. Our family felt your prayers while Stephen was there and we'll need all the prayer support we can get over the next eight or nine months while Tim is there.

Thank you, Kim Komando, for all you do for our troops!

Stop and Think About It . . .

2007-02-17T15:58:00.000-06:00

"Never undertake anything for which you would not have the courage to ask the blessings of Heaven." - Georg Christoph Lichtenberg

It's Groundhog Day

2007-02-02T09:04:00.000-06:00

Here's the official word from The Groundhog himself, Punxsutawney Phil, posted on his very own website:

El Nino has caused high winds, heavy snow, ice and freezing temperatures in the west. Here in the East with much mild winter weather we have been blessed.

Global warming has caused a great debate.
This mild winter makes it seem just great.

On this Groundhog Day we think of one thing.
Will we have winter or will we have spring?

On Gobbler's Knob I see no shadow today.
I predict that early spring is on the way.

So, there you have it. Wondering why we celebrate Groundhog Day? Here's an explanation from weatherbug.com:

Although most of us are entering the heart of winter, the start of spring could be just around the corner - that is, according to the legend of Groundhog Day. While there is no meteorological truth to Groundhog Day, there is fun in the legend of it all. Each year on February 2, we wait in great anticipation for Phil to issue his latest Groundhog`s proclamation.

Bill Murray made Punxsutawney Phil a household name in 1993, when he starred in the movie Groundhog Day, but the people of Punxsutawney have been celebrating this day since 1886. The tradition of Groundhog Day began as the Germans who settled Pennsylvania celebrated Candlemas Day.

Candlemas commemorates the presentation of the Christ-child in the temple. Early Christians commemorated this holy day by blessing and lighting candles and interpreted the weather conditions on that day as a sign of some sort. As the Romans conquered Europe and spread Christianity, the German people adopted Candlemas and believed that if the sun shone that morning such that a hedgehog could see its shadow, they would experience a "Second Winter" lasting about six weeks.

As the Germans settled in Pennsylvania, they were amazed by the number of groundhogs that inhabited the area. Because the groundhog closely resembled the hedgehog, they decided that they made for a suitable replacement as the prognosticator on Candlemas.

The first official Groundhog Day was celebrated on February 2, 1886, though it wasn`t until 1887 that the local newspaper, The Punxsutawney Spirit, began its tradition of recording Phil`s outcome each year.

And I guess that's the rest of the story. Whether you believe it or not, I hope Phil is right this year. I could do with a little early springtime!

Remember Highlights for Children?

2007-02-01T13:07:00.000-06:00

Remember Highlights for Children magazine? If you’re between the ages of 2 and 72, you’ve probably read an issue and maybe subscribed to it as a kid; the magazine recently celebrated its 60th birthday – and the post office delivered its one-billionth issue this past August to a subscriber in Dallas. That’s a billion-with-a-B issues. That’s a lot of Fun with a Purpose!

I had a subscription to Highlights when I was a kid. When my boys were growing up, we subscribed for years and also belonged to some of their book clubs. They have a lot more products available now, including great toys and puzzles and lots more publications, but there’s just nothing more exciting to me than the original magazine.

Highlights for Children now has a website. They’ve grown into the information age, but I don’t think there could ever be a substitute for a child holding his own copy of the magazine in his little hands, searching through to his favorite feature. Remember your favorite section? Was it Goofus and Gallant? Science Corner? The crafts? If your favorite was Hidden Pictures, then you might like to know that you can print a Hidden Pictures page on your very own computer via the Hidden Pictures Hotlink on the Highlights for Children website. Just look on their home page under “Fun for Families” at the bottom of the left column and click on the link. It opens a pdf document with the monthly Hidden Pictures puzzle which you can print and solve. When you're finished, you can even share it with your kids!

I hope you’re more successful with your Hidden Pictures puzzle than I have been today with mine. Maybe it’s because I’m not between the ages of 6 and 12, but I still can’t find that boomerang!

Get a special discount on Highlights for Children Magazine HERE!

THE DAYS ARE GETTING LONGER

2007-01-06T17:42:00.000-06:00

What I should say, I guess, is that the daylight hours are getting longer. (Days are still just 24 hours. Sorry if I got you all excited there for a minute, giving you more hours in a day.)

It's still early January, so winter is officially only a couple of weeks old, but I have already begun to notice that it's staying light just a little bit longer each evening. I love noticing this each year, even though there's something about this fact that has never made sense to me. Let me see if I can explain what doesn't make sense about it.

I understand that the earth is tilted on its axis, that it rotates around the sun, and that the angle of the sunlight on the earth creates the seasons and the amount of daylight we get each day. That part I get. The part that always bewilders me, though, is that as the daylight hours get longer in January and February, the weather just seems to get colder. It seems to me that, instead, the shortest days would be the coldest days and that the weather should get noticeably warmer following the first day of winter since we start getting more sunshine each day after that. Does that make sense?

The only answer I've been able to come up with for this perplexing question is that this is a blessing from the Lord. When the cold, dreary days of winter start to overwhelm me, I can look at the clock and see that it's 5:45 p.m. and, by golly, it's still light out when just a couple of weeks ago, it seems, it was dark before 5:30. The days really are getting longer - and with that I know that springtime and warmer weather can't be far behind. That, indeed, is an encouragement to me, sort of a light at the end of the long winter tunnel, a blessing indeed!

FLYING INTO 2007

2006-12-31T13:26:00.000-06:00

My dear next-door neighbor moved into a brand new house across town this week, and now a new family is moving in. As much work as it has been for both families, and as much as I NEVER want to move again, I envy them both just a little bit. What an opportunity to de-clutter!

My name is Susan and I’m a pack rat. There, I’ve confessed. That’s the reason I don’t ever want to move from this house; fifteen years means a WHOLE lot of accumulation. I’m helping my former neighbor to de-clutter a little bit by listing a few of her things on ebay (hey, Teresa, we have a bid on one of the pairs of jeans!). If ebay isn’t for you, or even if it is, you may still need some additional guidance in your fight for clutter control.

The most popular person online to help you take control of your belongings, helping you learn to de-clutter and organize your home and your life, is Flylady. Have you heard of her? You may be one of the at least 366,000 people who have. Flylady has an e-mail mailing list of daily reminders and inspiration with a plan to help you in taking back control of your house, and over 366,000 people currently subscribe to that mailing list! I suppose that number speaks to the need and desire that so many of us have to de-clutter our lives. It helps to know we’re not alone!

Flylady, whose real name is Marla Cilley, also helps to encourage people to take control of their health and manage what she calls their “body clutter.” In fact, Marla, along with Leanne Ely, has a new book called Body Clutter: Love Your Body, Love Yourselfnow available that addresses that topic.

This a weekend for resolutions, so if getting organized, home-wise or health-wise, is part of your New Year’s resolution, you might want to check out Flylady’s words of wisdom. You can sign up for her mailing list through a link on her website, flylady.net. You can find her new book on amazon.com. Resolve to FLY with Flylady in 2007!

(Are you already a Flybaby? I’d love to read your comments!)

SILENT NIGHT, HOLY NIGHT

2006-12-23T21:46:00.000-06:00

"For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. "
Luke 2:11

May His light shine on you and in you this Christmas season and always.

Silent night, holy night,

All is calm, all is bright

Round yon virgin mother and Child.

Holy Infant, so tender and mild,

Sleep in heavenly peace,

Sleep in heavenly peace.

Silent night, holy night,

Shepherds quake at the sight;

Glories stream from heaven afar,

Heavenly hosts sing Alleluia!

Christ the Savior is born,

Christ the Savior is born!

Silent night, holy night,

Son of God, love’s pure light;

Radiant beams from Thy holy face

With the dawn of redeeming grace,

Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth,

Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth.

Silent night, holy night

Wondrous star, lend thy light;

With the angels let us sing,

Alleluia to our King;

Christ the Savior is born,

Christ the Savior is born!

THE MATH WORKSHEET SITE

2006-12-21T14:55:00.000-06:00

Does your child need practice with math facts? Does math time bring tears and frustration for your students? Or, does your child love math and can’t get enough of it? Either way, you need The Math Worksheet Site. From counting to word problems, algebra and exponents, to geometry and dodecahedrons, The Math Worksheet Site has math problems to suit your children’s needs.

The Math Worksheet Site allows you to create an endless supply of math worksheets. The intuitive interface gives you the ability to customize each worksheet to target a student's specific needs. Every worksheet is created when you request it, so they are different every time. Each worksheet that is created will have a new arrangement of problems, or new problems altogether, depending on the type of worksheet. This ensures that students learn the concept, not simply memorize the order of the answers on the page.

The Math Worksheet Site is not a collection of worksheets. It is a web site that creates the worksheets you want when you want them, according to the criteria you specify. This way you can add the practice that your student needs to a curriculum you already like (or their school curriculum if you’re not a homeschooler), or you can be freed from the constraints of a workbook or textbook that gives either too much or too little practice.

Check out the preview link on the home page to give the worksheet generator a trial run. If you need a longer trial, just drop Denise a note and let her know. (See the November 30th posting in her blog for details on the “test drive” offer.) Hundreds of subscribers love The Math Worksheet Site. With no obligation to subscribe, what are you waiting for? Go check it out now at The Math Worksheet Site.

COOKIN' THROUGH THE NEW YEAR

2006-12-18T10:29:00.000-06:00

I love new calendars! One year I had so many I even hung one in the bathroom. I got a new calendar in the mail today that will go in the kitchen for sure and will come off the wall frequently because it's just filled with wonderful recipes. Ah, calendars and recipes. Two of my favorite things.

This one was a gift from Betty Crocker, not personally but from BettyCrocker.com. I signed up a long time ago there for their Dinner Made Easy e-mail newsletter and in one of those recently there was an offer for a free calendar, limited supply available. Well, I clicked right through on that link and apparently got there in time since this just arrived in the mailbox, the snail mailbox, today. There's a main dish recipe on the top of every two-page spread with a dessert at the bottom. How do they get those food pictures to look so good? I'm trying to decide which of these recipes I want to fix first. Will it be October's Southwest Mac and Cheese (ah, comfort food) or February's Italian Sausage Soup (which I suspect will be my husband's first choice).

If you want a calendar, these are available now for download on the Betty Crocker website at BettyCrocker.com/2007Calendar. The recipes are on the website and you can also sign up for a variety of e-mail newsletters while you're there, then watch for all those delightful pictures to make you hungry and keep you cookin' through the new year. Have a yummy 2007!

GOT BOX TOPS? GOT SCRAPBOOKS?

2006-12-16T15:32:00.000-06:00

The other day I had bananas that were just perfect for making banana bread, and I was thinking about my perfect banana bread recipe. My mouth was watering just contemplating using the former to prepare the latter. :-)

What I didn't have was flour, and it was already suppertime, too late to run to the store to get more. Well, I put those thoughts on hold until the next evening after I had made yet another trip to the grocery store and bought the flour. When I was measuring the flour for the banana bread, I first used the tiny bit that was left in the old bag. As I was flattening the bag to throw it away, I noticed a pretty pink little coupon on the back that said "Box Tops for Education." Oh, good. A Box Top for Kellie.

My friend Cheri is collecting Box Tops for Education for her granddaughter Kellie's class. In fact, Cheri has set up a web page asking for your help in collecting the Box Tops and, the best part, Cheri is offering to send you, as a thank-you for your Box Tops, a free scrapbooking item.

Cheri is into scrapbooking big time and has a scrapbooking blog with oodles of great ideas and resources. She also has lots and lots of scrapbooking embellishments. If you would like a free embellishment that you can use for your scrapbook, just visit Scrapbook for Box Tops and read how to go about making the connection with Cheri. Even if you're not into scrapbooking, Kellie would be thrilled to receive your extra Box Tops for Education, so contact Cheri through her website.

And, if you're a scrapbooker like Cheri, don't miss her scrapbooking blog, Scrapbook Layout Ideas.

QUOTE FOR TODAY

2006-12-08T09:13:00.000-06:00

"You cannot plough a field by turning it over in your mind."

Author Unknown

Wow! If you're one to procrastinate, as am I, I hope this quote speaks to you as it has to me. In fact, I could write volumes on procrastination, but if I did, I wouldn't get anything else done today.

So I will leave you with this thought and, if it applies to you, I hope you'll take action on a project you've been putting off - and do it today!

SEEING SPOTS?

2006-12-03T20:10:00.000-06:00

Are you seeing spots in front of your eyes? Don't worry, it's just our newly remodeled look!

There comes a time that you just have to update, and that time for this blog finally came. I hope the soft shades of green of our new blog design will be pleasing to the eye and you won't miss the bright pinks too awfully much!

I'll be back with more posts soon but just thought it might be a good idea to announce the makeover so you'll know it's still us behind the spots and dots.

Talk to you soon!

Susan

RECIPES AND RAMBLINGS

2006-11-26T11:33:00.000-06:00

I know I tend to ramble a lot on this blog and one thing I've enjoyed rambling about is recipes. With that in mind, I've decided to devote a separate blog just to that subject.

With that in mind, I would like to announce "Recipes and Ramblings." I hope you'll visit and read - and read about - some of our family's favorite recipes. If one of my recipes reminds you of one of yours, or if you try a recipe, please do leave a comment. I'd love to read your "ramblings," too.

THE CINNAMON BEAR

2006-11-24T11:20:00.000-06:00

Do you like old-time radio? If so, then do I have a treat for you!

The CINNAMON BEAR is the classic story of Judy and Jimmy Barton who search for the family's Silver Star which goes on top of their Christmas tree. They discover the star has disappeared from the attic. Then they meet The Cinnamon Bear, and fly to Maybeland in his Soda Pop Airplane in pursuit of the Crazy Quilt Dragon, whom they believe took the ornament. They meet a host of characters, including Crazy Quilt Dragon, The Wintergreen Witch, Fe Fo the Giant, and even Santa Claus.

The Erskine family of www.homeschoolradioshows.com is graciously offering this entire series of 26 12-minute episodes FREE! This is perfect for family listening during the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Go to www.the-cinnamon-bear.com to read more about the series, listen to the first episode, and sign up to receive links to the rest of the series - and a coloring book - all absolutely free, no strings attached.

When our boys were little, we listened to radio programs and tapes often. If your family has not experienced listening like this, I highly recommend you try it; it's SO much better than watching TV. Absolutely nothing stimulates the imagination better than a well-written, well-read story such as this one. Print out a coloring sheet, grab the crayons and have the children color while they listen. I promise, they won't want to stop listening after just one episode.

If you try it and like it, do leave a comment and let me know!

P.S. A disclaimer from the Erskines: "Content Note: In this 26 part childrens' holiday audio series, the characters do encounter a witch and some magical creatures. These are NOT "Harry Potter" type realistic characters, but old fashioned cartoony 1930's versions. However, because some parents wish us to let them know if there are elements of magic in a program in any shape or form, we're letting you know that now. "

A LIFESTYLE OF LEARNING

2006-10-23T11:34:00.000-05:00

I read a post on an e-mail list this morning from a new homeschooling mom with a kindergartener. She was concerned that she wasn't doing enough for her child and worried when she saw other kids doing homework worksheets at the dance studio, although she knew her child could do the same work. She went on to explain many of the things they do work on when schooling - and her list was impressive with an emphasis on problem solving and academic skills that her child enjoys. Like all new homeschooling moms, she was worried that she wasn't doing enough and that her child might fall behind. I remember those feelings, don't you? I felt compelled to add to the responses to her concerns and thought I'd post my reply here as well:

Evie,

I love questions like yours - and the answers that you have gotten thus far! I'm the mom of two homeschooled-all-the-way-through sons and when I read what you are doing, I am just flooded with wonderful memories!

I believe the biggest difference between classroom schooling and homeschooling is that homeschooling becomes a lifestyle, and it sounds like you are at that point already! Even though my kids are 24 and 21 now, I still tend to ask open-ended questions and answer a question with another question - tough habit to break!

You say you worry about "doing school" every day. Remember that education extends far beyond the classroom so, yes, you ARE "doing school" every day! You are doing so, so much for your child and he will appreciate it so much in the future, even the near future, as he is able to interact well with people of all ages. My oldest is a police officer and he has had many co-workers comment on his writing skills (they have a lot of paperwork!) and on how he interacts with others. My younger son is a Marine and has progressed rapidly through the ranks because of his study skills and work ethic and how he applies those things to his work. These are all natural skills for both of them because of the atmosphere in which they were raised and educated.

Continue to expose your child to many things, read, read, read, and allow some flexibility when it's time to be on a heavier-duty study schedule; take time for the delight-directed learning opportunities as well as the school books. Teach your child how to think, to read, to love reading, and where to find information and the child will be on the fast track to success as an adult.

I love homeschooling and homeschoolers!

Blessings,
Susan

SEMICOLONOSCOPY

2006-10-13T14:13:00.000-05:00

My favorite punctuation mark is the semicolon; I like using it when I write.

I was one of those oddball kids in school who loved English and grammar. I even enjoyed diagramming sentences; can you believe that? These days I enjoy writing and I always hope that my sentences are formed properly and the punctuation makes sense; it’s been a long time since I memorized all those rules.

I like using semicolons when I write. I think I use them properly (except when I overuse them). I have my son’s book leftover from college that I use to look up grammar and punctuation rules when I write, the Eighth Edition of The Little, Brown Handbook (which isn’t little at nearly 1000 pages and isn’t brown but white; maybe those are the names of the two original authors, you think?). I haven’t looked up semicolons in that book yet, but I think I should do that just to check up on myself.

Okay, here it is on page 491: “Use a semicolon between main clauses not joined by and, but, or another coordinating conjunction.” Other coordinating conjunctions that are listed are or, nor, for, so, yet. A main clause is one that can stand alone as a sentence. So, when you join two main clauses in a sentence, you can either use a coordinating conjunction or you can place a semicolon; of course I prefer the semicolon.

On to page 494 for an additional rule: “Use a semicolon between main clauses related by however, for example, and so on,” and on page 495, “Use a semicolon to separate main clauses if they are complicated or contain commas, even with a coordinating conjunction.” I think that’s what I just did in the previous paragraph.

Two more quick rules while we’re at it: “Use semicolons to separate items in a series if they are long or contain commas,” and “Use the semicolon only where required.” I like that last rule, which reminds me of my punctuation pet peeve of people using apostrophes before every “s” when they are not required, but that’s a topic for another day.

Well, now that we’ve analyzed the whys and wherefores of semicolons, I know a lot more about them than when I started writing about them and I haven’t changed my mind; the semicolon is still my favorite punctuation mark. Now I need to research and find out why this thick, white book is called little and brown!

AUTUMN LEAVES ARE FALLING

2006-10-09T09:18:00.000-05:00

Fall is my favorite season and I have wonderful memories of doing leaf projects with my kids when they were little. Speaking of leaf projects, today's post is from my friends at In The Hands of a Child, a website I highly recommend. If you enjoy autumn as I do, you'll love these projects!

Autumn Leaves are Falling
By Katie Kubesh © 2006 In the Hands of a Child

Autumn leaves are falling and what are you going to do about it? Don’t let the piles of leaves to be raked get you down, take the opportunity to play in the leaves and have some fun! Fall is a great time of year and there are so many subjects to study ranging from why the leaves change colors and fall off the trees to what chipmunks do to prepare for winter. A great place to visit this time of year is an orchard or farm market. You can pick up some pumpkins or acorn squash while you are there and learn to make a nutritious meal while you are at it!

Better yet, when you pay a visit to the farmer’s market pick up some pickling cucumbers and can some pickles! Not only a delicious treat, but also a fun hands-on activity that incorporates harvest, winter preparation, and healthy eating! Don’t forget the pumpkins! Pumpkins come in all sizes, they are healthy to eat, and there are many different ways to prepare them! The Five Little Pumpkins Project Pack from In the Hands of a Child incorporates a poem, pumpkins, shapes, colors, and counting activities all in 5 days worth of hands-on activities.

Let’s start with the leaves. If you haven’t already purchased the Harvest Festival Project Pack from In the Hands of a Child, this one is selling like leaves falling from the trees in October! This is a PreK unit but there are lots of ways you can adapt this to fit the needs of your older students as well (For a list of helpful ideas, visit
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HandsofaChildTalk, go to the files section and look for September 28 Chat. You’ll find a plethora of ideas to bring this unit up to higher levels).

Learn about the different types of leaves there are, why they change color in the fall, why trees lose their leaves in the fall. Many people think that deciduous trees lose their leaves in the fall so they won’t freeze in the winter. While this is one reason, the main reason they lose their leaves is due to the frozen ground. When the ground is frozen, the tree is unable to absorb water through its roots. Losing its leaves is one way the tree can cope with the lack of water during winter months. (The Forest Habitats Project Pack is a great way to learn about conifers and deciduous trees.) Discover why deciduous trees lose their leaves, but conifers don’t. Do some leaf rubbings of deciduous and conifers and compare the two.

And what do chipmunks do in the winter? We all hear about bears hibernating, but chipmunks are hibernators too! Chipmunks only wake up to eat. These small creatures have a lot to do to prepare for winter, they have to make their underground burrows, their bed of leaves, gather nuts and acorns, and carry them all home. What a great time of year to learn about hibernation, migration, and what we all do to prepare for winter (it’s also a great time to incorporate chores like raking, bringing in summer toys, preparing the garden). A great fall story you might not think of is
Blueberries for Sal by Robert McCloskey. This is a great story to introduce hibernation and preparing for the winter months.

Here are some additional Project Packs and links for fall projects:

www.handsofachild.com:

Five Little Pumpkins HOCPP 1110
Harvest Festival HOCPP 1108
Little Miss Muffet HOCPP 1112
Bats HOCPP 1018
Spiders HOCPP 1017
Forest Habitats HOCPP 1099
Thanksgiving HOCPP 1016
Blueberry Sal HOCPP 1063

http://sidedish.allrecipes.com/az/DillPickls.asp

http://www.cdkitchen.com/recipes/cat/79/0.shtml

http://www.thatsmyhome.com/general/pickles.htm

http://gonewengland.about.com/cs/fallfoliage/a/aafallfamilyfun.htm

http://kidsdomain.com/craft/_fall.html

In the Hands of a Child provides lapbook-style Project Packs for all ages and abilities. Project Packs are wonderful hands-on learning tools that give children an ownership of knowledge. When children own their knowledge it is theirs forever!

COMFORT FOOD WEATHER

2006-09-28T13:30:00.000-05:00

I just love this autumn weather, don't you? It's always a little sad to see summer go, but with the cooler weather comes an irresistible urge to spend time in the kitchen. Macaroni and cheese is my favorite comfort food; chicken and dumplings is my husband's.

The other day I came across a recipe that I had forgotten about, one I really love this time of year. It's so quick and easy and tastes so, so good. Don't leave off the dollop of sour cream when you serve it; that's what really "makes" this recipe, I think.

Zesty Sausage and Beans

1 pound smoked sausage, sliced
1 16-ounce jar thick and chunky salsa
1 15 1/2-ounce can dark red kidney beans (drained)

Combine all in a large skillet. Bring to boil and simmer 10 minutes or until hot. Serve over rice. Top with sour cream.

Oh, so comforting on a cool autumn evening. Enjoy!

HAPPILY EVER AFTER

2006-09-27T07:53:00.000-05:00

We have a new daughter!

The wedding was Saturday and was beautiful. The only person missing was the brother of the groom, but we'll forgive Uncle Sam for that, especially since he'll be home next week for a month.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words so I decided to let this picture speak for itself and represent the day. Congratulations to the bride and groom and may you live blessed and happily ever after. We love you both!

DANCE, CHIFFAROBE, DANCE!

2006-08-30T09:16:00.000-05:00

I like the word “chiffarobe.” I learned it in tenth grade, studying that great literary work To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee. I like how the word sounds and how my mouth feels when I say it. Try it. Say “chiffarobe.”

You don’t hear that word much anymore, and I just discovered that it isn’t in my spell check, either. “Chiffarobe” comes to mind occasionally, probably because we have a chiffarobe of sorts. My husband’s chest of drawers (or “chester drawers” as you often see in the classified ads) has doors on the front, so I think of it as a chiffarobe. Our big cat, Dandy, likes to make his way up on top of the chiffarobe from the table by the bed, then leap across to the bed. He does it to get attention; he knows full well he isn’t allowed up there. A few minutes ago I got Dandy down from the bedside table, before he got to the chiffarobe, so now “chiffarobe” is going to be dancing around in my head all day long.

I was thinking that I don’t believe my kids read To Kill A Mockingbird in our homeschool. If they did, I don’t think we discussed it, or maybe we did but I have forgotten. I was also thinking, though, that if my kids were here and we were homeschooling today, I’d have them choose a book, read a chapter and find an interesting new word that we could discuss then use as often as possible all day long, maybe all week long. That would be fun, it would be educational, and when they are old like me perhaps their words would come back to them and dance around in their heads all day.

I need to rent the movie To Kill A Mockingbird with Gregory Peck. Great movie. I always think of the book and movie when I think of John Grisham’s A Time to Kill, another great book (John Grisham’s best, I think), because they both take place in the south and the situations are so similar. Yes, I need to read both those books again. Maybe I’ll find another vocabulary word that can be a brain-dance partner for “chiffarobe.”

POTATO SALAD

2006-08-19T16:32:00.000-05:00

I made potato salad this afternoon to have with supper tonight. I make THE BEST potato salad! That's not bragging, that's just stating facts and quoting my husband. I don't make it as often as I should, but I'm always glad I did. Would you like the recipe? I'll even include the secret ingredient - the one that makes it taste so good.

It's really quite easy. Cook four medium to large-sized potatoes. I usually just fix them in the microwave like "baked" potatoes and make sure I don't get them too awfully soft. Cool the potatoes for half an hour or so, until not too hot to handle. Peel the potatoes (easy - the skin pretty much pulls right off) then dice them into half-inch or so pieces and put them in a large bowl. Dice a stalk or two of celery and two or three green onions; add to bowl. Peel and coarsely chop three or four hard-boiled eggs; add to bowl. Sprinkle on pepper to taste. Pour about half a jar of Marzetti's Original Slaw Dressing (that's the secret ingredient) over the potatoes and other ingredients and stir together. Add more dressing to get to the consistency that you prefer. Transfer to a pretty glass bowl, top with slices of boiled egg, then cover and chill for at least two or three hours.

That's it. Really quite simple and oh, so good! As for the Marzetti's dressing, it is available either in the produce section (refrigerated) with the salads or on the shelf with the salad dressings (the jar with the blue lid). As far as I can tell, it's the same recipe in both so I look for the one on the shelf first. Marzetti's made that before they branched out into the refrigerated dressings and I think it's their best product ever. It makes some pretty great coleslaw, too.

If you try it, let me know and tell me how you liked it. Enjoy!

P.S. If you have trouble coming up with menus for your family, click on the banner below and see if Christine can help you!

TIME IN PERSPECTIVE

2006-07-20T08:19:00.000-05:00

Take a look here: http://home.tiscali.nl/annejan/swf/timeline.swf

This is a neat clock. Makes you want to watch it for a whole minute - or hour, or day - to see it change. It really puts time in an interesting perspective, I think.

This is one of those spur-of-the-moment, fun but educational tools that I still love to find. Don't you love the freedom that homeschooling gives, just to be able to stop and study and learn from something that you happen to run across, but it wasn't in the lesson plan? I certainly did when my children were home. Of course you don't have to be a homeschooler to enjoy opportunities like that, but it helps.

Hope you and your family enjoy the clock - and your time together!

P.S. Now this song is running through my mind - by Jim Croce, it goes like this:

If I could save time in a bottle,
The first thing that I'd like to do
Is to save every day
'Till eternity passes away,
Just to spend them with you.

If I could make days last forever,
If words could make wishes come true,
I'd save every day like a treasure and then,
Again, I would spend them with you.

HULA-HOOPING IT UP!

2006-07-14T11:20:00.000-05:00

I have to tell you what I did. I posted a message on a work-at-home message board yesterday about exercising and that I hadn't been using my hula hoop lately. I encouraged myself with that post so decided to pull out the hula hoop last night.

Wow, was I going to town! I went probably five minutes without stopping, maybe longer, although I almost lost it a couple of times so had to get those hips spinning pretty fast to keep the hoop up there! Well, the hula hoop that I have is one with water inside, which makes a nice little "whoosh" and actually keeps the thing moving nicely. There's some scientific principle there, I'm sure, but that's beside the point, or maybe it is the point but, as you know if you've read some of my other posts here, I'm no scientist! Anyway, when I finally put the hoop away, I felt it and thought hmm, this doesn't feel as heavy as I remember it feeling. In fact, I think the water must have evaporated out of it or something. I felt at the "seam" and there was a little dampness, but I really didn't think much of it. So I put it away then went back in the living room, sat down, and what did I notice but water droplets all over the coffee table. And the floor. And the end table. Oh, my goodness, water was everywhere!

The whole time I was wildly flinging those hips, the hoop was spewing water out all over the place - and I hadn't even noticed it. (My cat had, though. I had wondered what he kept sniffing at all over the floor while I was working out.) So, I got paper towels and ended up wiping up a good bit of the wood floor from the kitchen to the living room (I had been hooping in the middle of our open floorplan) plus the two glass tables and the magazines on top, as well as the edges of a few chairs. No damage done and my tables and floors got an unscheduled cleaning. Actually I thought it was pretty funny and, indeed, I got two workouts for the price of one with crawling all over the floor wiping it up. It shouldn't happen again; I think the hoop is plenty empty by now!

I still recommend hula-hoop workouts, but perhaps, if you try it, you should pass on the water-filled ones!

FREE SAMPLES

2006-07-12T12:59:00.000-05:00

I like free stuff, especially free samples. Who doesn't? Yesterday, I found free samples in a place I wouldn't have thought to look. They're on Wal-Mart's web site! I get e-mails from Wal-Mart (Can you believe I live 100 miles from their corporate headquarters with probably two dozen stores between here and there and I still order from their web site? I really do need to get out more. . .) and yesterday there was a link in their e-mail for a sample of Dove Color Care for hair. Of course I clicked on the link and filled in the form for my sample, then I clicked on the link to see all the samples. There are about half a dozen offers on the page, things like hair care and body lotion. Cool!

You want some free samples, too? Click here.

ME TIME

2006-07-06T10:06:00.000-05:00

I just answered a post on a WAHM (Work At Home Mom) message board and decided I'd post it here, too, because I guess it reveals a little something about me.

The question was: We all need "Me Time" and need to take time to treat ourself special. What is your favorite way to "Pamper" yourself?

My answer: I pamper myself by getting comfortable on the couch (that usually involves a nice fleece blanket) and watching the movie You've Got Mail with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. I just love that movie! I've probably watched it twenty times, well maybe not all the way through twenty times - sometimes my "pamper time" gets interrupted! I even have Tom Hanks saying "You've got mail!" on my computer so I hear him every time I receive e-mail, which gives me about two seconds of pamper time dozens of times a day!

So, what does that answer reveal about me? I guess I'm not really sure, but it certainly makes me want to go slip that DVD into the player and grab a nice fleece blanket!

TWEET TWEET Y'ALL

2006-06-17T18:43:00.000-05:00

Did you know that birds have accents? It’s true. I read it in a bird book a long time ago. I didn’t have to read it, though. I knew it was true.

I’ve always enjoyed listening to birds and especially remember listening to a mockingbird in my grandparents’ yard, watching as it sat high atop a telephone pole just singing away. I know that mockingbirds imitate, nearly duplicate, a variety of other bird calls. The mockingbird imitates the birds that he encounters wherever it is that he lives, and mockingbirds live most places east of the Rockies in the United States and southern Canada. Not all birds have the same range, so it isn’t surprising that a mockingbird in Virginia would have a different vocabulary (so to speak) than a mockingbird in Arkansas. And so that has proved to be true, as I realized when we moved to Arkansas and I heard mockingbirds here. But that isn’t what I meant by a bird having an accent.

When we moved to Arkansas, we moved to a house in the country with lots of birds around. One bird call that I recognized was that of a whippoorwill. The bird sounded the same, but not exactly the same, as I was used to hearing in the past. The last syllable, the “will” of the “whip-poor-will” was sort of drawn out to two syllables. It almost sounded like the bird was saying “whip-poor-whe-el, whip-poor-whe-el.” By golly, it had a southern accent! Not a Virginia southern accent, but an Arkansas southern accent. People sounded different in both places, but who would have thought the birds here would sound like they were from Arkansas, too!

Of course my family thought I was just a bit loony when I pointed out the bird’s southern accent. So, I looked up whippoorwills and birdcalls in a library book (that was a long time ago, before I could just Google it online) and I honestly did read that birds have regional accents. I know I did. I can’t find the reference anymore, but I did not make that up. When I Googled today to try to find proof online, I actually found a report of a scientific study done in Australia – and reported this year – that whipbirds in different parts of Australia sing the same song, but with regional accents.

Now, I wonder how much they paid those scientists to figure that out! It really was a sophisticated study with recordings of 112 birds in 16 bird populations, measuring the syllables in the songs, the frequency, the time between the frequency extremes and other characteristics. It was probably a lot of fun to go traipsing through Australia recording whipbirds, too. Oh, well. I’m no scientist, and I’ve never really traipsed anywhere just to listen to whippoorwills, but even with my untrained, unscientific ear, I could have told those Australian scientists 15 years ago that birds have regional accents!

Below is a link to a story about the Australian study, on the Discovery Channel news site. They even have some audio clips if you want to hear the birds yourself. Maybe I’ll try to record our Arkansas whip-poor-whe-els and post the audio on my blog. I don’t know how to do that, but it would be sort of scientific – and you wouldn’t have to take my word for it! http://dsc.discovery.com/news/briefs/20060320/birdaccent_ani.html

SCIENCE EXPERIMENT IN THE REFRIGERATOR

2006-06-09T13:57:00.000-05:00

No, I’m not referring to moldy leftovers, not this time. ;-)

Earlier this afternoon, I was searching the refrigerator for something that looked tasty to fix for my lunch when I spied something rather unusual. There was a Coke can lying on one of the refrigerator shelves. Nothing terribly strange about that, except that we really don’t drink Coke very often and this can had probably been around for awhile. The odd thing was the shape of the can. You know what a soda can looks like after you empty it then give it a bit of a squeeze to squish it before you toss it into the recycle bin? That’s what this one looked like – except that it was unopened and definitely not empty.

Whoa! I reached for the can and picked it up carefully, checking to make sure there wasn’t a sticky mess underneath it. No, no mess. But the can was definitely closed. Oh, my goodness! Was it about to explode? I had no idea, but I wanted it out of the refrigerator – and out of the house – as quickly as possible, just in case. I held the can gingerly and kept my eyes on it as I carefully hurried to the front door and out into the yard. I figured I’d just put it in the yard, just set it out in the grass, just in case. In fact, I put it WAY out in the yard, far enough from the house so it wouldn’t fly through a window if it did explode, just in case.

Well, it’s an hour later and the can is still setting out there in the sun. It finally occurred to me that it probably won’t explode because the gas in it must have seeped out. In fact, I guess it has already sort of imploded. If my guys were here, I would ask them if they remember the weather presentation and demonstration that Jay Hilgartner, our former local TV weatherman, did for us at the library years ago. Something about heating a can and atmospheric pressure and the can suddenly squished up – sort of like this one except his can was empty to start with. I’m not very good at science and I don’t remember the details. When my husband gets home, he’ll explain it to me I’m sure, after I explain to him why there’s a Coke can setting out in the yard. I probably still won’t understand the scientific explanation, but I’m just glad I don’t have to clean sticky, exploded Coca-Cola off the entire inside of the refrigerator. Whew!

TOO HOT TO COOK

2006-05-25T16:02:00.000-05:00

Summer has arrived in Arkansas. I guess it’s right on time since Memorial Day weekend is upon us, but it’s still too soon for me. Spring was very pleasant this year and I’m not ready to see it end.

Yesterday was A/C day, the day we dread every year, the day we (I) can no longer stand the heat and have to turn on the air conditioning in the house. Each year I try to see if I can make it all the way through the month of May without the A/C; I failed again. Makes me wonder how I survived growing up, sleeping in a third floor bedroom in a house without central air, with just a fan in the window. I guess I’m spoiled now.

I was thinking today about baking a pumpkin dessert that we really liked a few weeks ago when I made it, but I guess I won’t turn on the oven for that. Besides, pumpkin is traditionally for fall and it was odd enough to fix that recipe in April, much less the end of May. So, I guess I’ll hold off on that one. I happened to see an article earlier online about no-bake desserts and that caught my eye – good timing! One they had listed is like one I’ve made before but haven’t in a very long time. In fact, years ago I took this to a party at work and everyone was very impressed. Funny that I remember that. Anyway, here’s my recipe if you want to try it. (I can’t remember if I got this recipe from my mom or she got it from me.)

Marshmallow Cream Cheese Fruit Dip

8 ounces cream cheese, softened
8 ounces marshmallow cream
dash of cinnamon and dash of nutmeg

Blend cream cheese and marshmallow cream; add cinnamon and nutmeg. Use as dip for fresh fruit. When I made this for the office party, I cut a pineapple in half, hollowed out the shell and cut the pineapple in chunks to use for dipping, and served the dip in the pineapple half. Very pretty! Also dip strawberries, apples, bananas, and grapes.

Stay cool!

ABOUT BEES, HONEY

2006-05-23T14:45:00.000-05:00

I’ve never much liked bees.

Walking barefoot in the clover as a kid, I stepped on a bee more than once. A sting on the bottom of the foot takes all the fun out of a summer’s day. Mom used to treat the sting with half an onion rubbed on the bottom of the foot. In this case, the onion would help dry up the tears. I don’t know why the onion worked, but I guess it did. When I became a mom, I treated my own kids’ stings with an onion rubbed on, thus passing on the memory if not the cure. Popsicles are good for bee stings, too. Not rubbed on but eaten, melting, running down our hands and taking our minds off the sting.

We have neighbors who have bee hives. We’ve seen the white boxes back behind their driveway but have never gone over there and talked to them about what’s inside. I wonder if they get honey. My sister-in-law Mandi (with an ‘i’) sent us the best honey at Christmastime, honey harvested from their local beehives. I wonder if our neighbors’ Arkansas honey tastes as good as that Pennsylvania honey did. I suppose I should go visit the neighbors sometime and maybe find out about that.

When I go, I will definitely wear shoes.

SILVER

2006-05-02T14:36:00.000-05:00

Today is our 25th wedding anniversary.

I’ve been trying to think of what to write about it, but everything I think of is either too personal to share or makes me teary-eyed (from happiness!). So, I’ll just share what is on the front of the card I received this morning from the love of my life.

“Our anniversary is a special time to thank God for the many blessings He has given us. Of all the blessings I have received, I count you as the greatest one.”

I feel the same way.
I love you.

Susan

"He is risen!"

2006-04-16T18:14:00.000-05:00

“He is risen indeed!”

At least that’s the traditional response. We have a family story, though, which has spawned a family tradition. One Easter when our boys were younger, their daddy greeted them that morning with, “He is risen!” The response? “Cool!” Hey, it’s hard to argue with that. Certainly I can’t think of anything cooler than a risen Christ!

This morning when our son called, he was greeted on the phone with “He is risen!” His response? “Cool!”

I don’t think Jesus minded one bit.

Christ, the Lord, is risen today, Alleluia!
http://www.cyberhymnal.org/htm/c/t/ctlrisen.htm

GARDENING

2006-04-04T10:00:00.000-05:00

I read an article about gardening this morning and I feel inspired. Combine that with the beautiful day we have outside and I just might not get much work done today!

The article I read suggested a really easy way to plant vegetables just by using a good bag of soil, poking some holes in for drainage, flipping it over, watering well, then planting the plant right through a nice hole in the bag. Hmm. That sounds simple enough.

Have you ever grown a tomato plan upside down? I found an article about that online a couple of years ago and go back to it about this time each spring, but I haven’t tried it yet. Maybe this will be the year. You start with a five-gallon bucket, drill a hole in the bottom . . . well, it would be easier if you read it yourself, so here’s the link: http://oldfashionedliving.com/tomato2.html. I think it would be fun, and I can think of nothing I crave more in the summertime than a REAL, home-grown tomato. I still think West Virginia, where I was born, has the best tomatoes. Of course eating vegetables out of my mammaw’s garden, with family all around, made everything taste the best!

Speaking of my mammaw, have you ever eaten pink pickled eggs? It’s almost Easter and time for that memory, but maybe I’ll save it for another day, another blog entry. For now, I think I need to go find a good bag of soil and a five-gallon bucket.

Happy planting!

MARTIN

2006-03-30T14:42:00.000-06:00

It has been about six weeks since my dear father-in-law passed away. I was thinking about him this morning, looking at his picture, smiling to myself but feeling kind of sad.

Dad was a quiet man, but maybe surrounded by a wife and four daughters he just couldn’t get a word in most of the time! The evening after his funeral, the whole family had a wonderful “Irish wake” of sorts where we each talked about and toasted to something that we especially remembered about Martin/Marty/Daddy/Granddaddy. What a great time of remembrance that was! We shared a few tears but more than a few laughs and heard some great stories, a few of which no one had told before! What I talked about was how, when we arrived for a visit and before we left, he would always hug me really hard, like I was one of his own daughters. That always made me feel really special, truly like part of the family. His only son, my husband, talked about his dad’s work ethic; that is something that was certainly passed down from father to son, and to our sons now as well.

My mother-in-law found a poem that she thought described Dad very well, and I totally agree. One of my sisters-in-law made copies of it for each of us and framed it with a picture of him, the picture I was looking at this morning. I want to share the poem here, as a tribute to my father-in-law, Martin.

Happy is the man who can
enjoy the small things,
the common beauties,
the little day-by-day events;
sunshine on the fields,
birds on the bough,
breakfast, dinner, supper,
the daily paper on the porch,
a friend passing by.
So many people who go
afield for enjoyment leave
it behind them at home.
-David Grayson

SWELL NELL

2006-03-26T11:29:00.000-06:00

My mom’s name is Nell and she’s swell – she really is. She’s been online in the past, but her computer has been down for quite some time. Great news, though, she’s back online again! I’m not going to tell you her complete e-mail address, but it starts with SwellNell. I think that’s pretty neat and I’m glad that name was available for her.

Sometimes I print my blog entries and send them to her – she’s my biggest fan! I’m glad she’ll be able to read the whole thing now, at her leisure in the comfort of her computer room. I can hear her now, “Chuck! Come here and look at this!” Chuck’s pretty swell, too.

I just sent her the link to my blog, then I decided I wanted to write something special for her to find here. So, here it is, my special note to Swell Nell.

I love you, Swell Mom! Glad you’re back online!

SHAMELESS COMMERCE

2006-03-25T17:28:00.000-06:00

There is one hour a week that my husband claims as his own. That is the hour in which his favorite program, Car Talk, is on the radio. He loves that show! Cars are his “thing,” plus he has a great sense of humor. Car Talk is perfect for him! If you haven’t heard the show, check the listings of your local PBS station and tune in soon. Tom and Ray are so funny, and they give great advice to people with car problems, too. If you can’t listen on the radio, listen at their web site, www.cartalk.com.

Another thing Car Talk has is something they call their “Shameless Commerce Division.” That’s the part of their web site that sells Car Talk products. They have CDs, shirts, and other items such as the license plate frame that’s on my car (come to think of it, I’m not sure why it’s on my car and not his truck!). I like the name “Shameless Commerce Division;” they aren’t afraid to “plug” their own products. Hey, something has to help pay the bills!

Well, today I am offering a Shameless Commerce plug of my own. For the last few weeks, I have been putting together an online business – and I need your input. This latest effort of mine is called More Magazines Please! which is an online store that sells, drum roll please, magazine subscriptions! What is unique about my store, though, is that the magazines I have selected are oriented towards families. This is a magazine site that will be safe for your children to browse. You won’t find magazine cover art here that will make you blush or make you rush to find the escape key if your six-year-old happens to wander by the computer while you’re shopping online for your favorite women’s magazine.

The magazines I have chosen to offer fall into many different categories and I am trying to offer a good selection for every member of the family, youngest to oldest. It’s a lot of work and I have lots more magazines to add; currently I have 88 titles online but several hundred more to be added. I’m learning a lot about selling magazines – there are a lot of rules to follow! For instance, some publishers do not allow their magazines to be sold on the Internet. (If you want Martha Stewart Living, drop me an e-mail!) I will be able, however, to offer some specials and package deals, which I will do through the mailing list.

So, what I am asking is for some input from you. Could you take a look at the site and let me know what you think? Let me know what additional titles you would like to see listed. As I mentioned, I have many more to be added and I’m happy to add those that you suggest, if they are available. You can find my store at www.MoreMagazinesPlease.com, and you can drop me a line from the site. Please feel free to register on the site and sign up for my mailing list. I do plan on offering regular specials, probably every couple of weeks. I won’t bombard you with e-mail and your information will remain private. Oh, and please feel free to tell a friend – or two or three - about the store. I appreciate it!

End of Shameless Commerce plug. ;-)

FIVE POUNDS OF POWER

2006-03-07T09:50:00.000-06:00

During the night last night, I think it was about 4:30 a.m., Oreo decided to get me up out of bed. She has figured out how to "wake up" the computer, which is in our bedroom. I have the sky field screen saver on so that the bedroom stays dark, but Oreo went over and bumped the mouse to wake the screen up and brighten the room. Then she came over and stepped on the button on the clock radio so that the radio came on (and the alarm turned off). I couldn't ignore all that, so I got up and went with her over to the vanity sink. She jumped up there, I turned on the faucet a little bit, she watched it for a second or two then got a nice, long drink out of her cup of water which sets by the sink. That's all she wanted, a drink of water. You'd think she could do that by herself, but she likes to have the water running while she drinks. She has never drunk out of the faucet for me, although she drinks out of the one upstairs for her “boy” when he’s home and brushing his teeth. After her drink, she settled down and we both went back to sleep.

Silly little girl cat.

BLOGGING WITH SANDY

2006-03-05T08:04:00.000-06:00

My friend Sandy has a blog. She also has a large family, giving her plenty of opportunities for blogging material. She e-mailed last night, asking if I had finished blogging; obviously I haven’t updated my blog for a while. I told Sandy maybe I’d blog about her blog, so that’s what I’m doing.

I love to read Sandy’s blog. Colors seem to play a big part in her life. You should read about the paint in her living room and then about the interesting way she prepares (well, she prepared it once anyway) leftover potatoes for lunch. I guess one of the biggest parts of making things work in a large family is being able to laugh at yourself and about the crazy things that you do and mistakes that you make.

Funny how moms with lots of children seem to accomplish so much. Maybe they would disagree, but that has been my observation. I always wanted a large family, but the Lord knew what He was doing and blessed me with what I could handle. I figure having lots of children gives a family multiple helpers, and that is probably true, but the equation of exactly how things get done in a big family is probably one of those things that only the Lord knows for sure. I do know this – Sandy and Mike count on the Lord as they raise their eight (so far) blessings and that certainly is the most important factor in their family’s equation.

Enough of my blogging for today. Read Sandy’s blog. Her colorful stories will brighten your day! http://artags.blogspot.com.

BEN

2006-01-10T09:33:00.000-06:00

The Ben my family has on its collective mind these days is big Ben Roethlisberger of the Pittsburgh Steelers; we love a great Steelers game! The other Ben, though, that I often think about is Benjamin Franklin, he of colonial America, signer of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, flyer of kites, printer of newspapers, founder of the first public library in America, author of Poor Richard’s Almanac, and the list goes on.

The vision I have of Ben Franklin is that of a rotund caricature of a man with hair much longer in back than on top, with glasses on his nose, in stockings and knee britches, walking through the town of Philadelphia with a long loaf of bread under each arm. That was the picture in the first book I ever read about the man, and the image has stayed with me and still makes me smile.

I think of Ben Franklin often. I think of him when I observe our world today. I think of Ben when I click the remote control on the television/the DVD player/the VCR then turn the dimmer switch to lower the lights and watch a movie. I wonder what Ben, the scientist with a key on a kite string, would think of that. I think of Ben when I type on this computer. I wonder what the printer Ben Franklin would think of how easily I can change my words or correct my mistakes. I think of Ben when I send an e-mail. I wonder what Benjamin Franklin the statesman, who traveled back and forth to Europe on a ship so many times with urgent information, would think of that. I wonder what Ben would think when I drive on an Interstate highway at 70 miles per hour – and get passed! I wonder what he would say if he could ride beside me.

I think of Ben because I know he was a thinker. I wonder, did he even imagine any of the modern inventions we live with today? I wonder, what would he think?

Benjamin Franklin was born January 17, 1706. This year will be his 300th birthday. Wow! If you want to wonder a bit less about Benjamin Franklin, try starting here:
http://bensguide.gpo.gov/ Ben’s Guide to U.S. Government for kids. It’s mostly about the government but includes some information about Ben, too. Hey, Ben’s on the Internet. Wonder what would he think – he’s famous!

NEW YEAR'S REVELATION

2006-01-01T12:13:00.000-06:00

I discovered something about myself recently. I figured out why I am such a pack rat.

My cat opened a dresser drawer the other day, the one filled to overflowing with “stuff.” (Dandy likes to open drawers and pull out everything inside. Only a “cat person” would understand.) One of the things that Dandy pulled out of the drawer was a little notebook. When I picked it up, naturally I looked inside and on the first page were notes from a homeschool co-op class my boys had taken, dated 9/8/98, and I had sat in on. The class topic was “Survival” and the first two rules of survival are listed in my notes: 1. Stay put, and 2. Stay calm.

As I looked at the page of notes, the details of that class came flooding back to me and made me smile. Our friend Gary taught the class. Our boys really liked Gary. I could picture Gary and the room and his writing on the green chalkboard. I read more of my notes: If you’re lost the rule is STOP: S for stop, T for think, O for observe, P for plan. Ah, I remember that! Then it occurred to me why I had kept this little notebook, and why I keep so many thing. I am a visual person. My memory is triggered by visual cues. I keep things so that I can see them and remember. Throwing my “stuff” away would be like throwing away my memories!

My brother has an amazing memory. He recalls events and things that we did as kids so clearly and in great detail. He’ll say, “Do you remember that?” and I’ll say, “Maybe. Maybe if I saw a picture I would remember.” And things we have pictures of, I do remember. Yes, throwing away my “stuff” would be like throwing away my photo albums!

This New Year’s revelation has eliminated the need for me to make (and break) a New Year’s resolution. Instead of resolving, as I thought I should, to stop saving everything/accumulating/ being a pack rat, I will continue to keep things, things that are special to me, things that bring back special memories. I will still make copious lists and try not to leave the house without having written down everything I need from the store. Maybe I will re-read the little notebook that Dandy found and recall again the places we went on our vacation that year (it’s all in there, day by day) and the presents we bought the boys for Christmas. Maybe I’ll re-read the calendars that I have kept and let the notations there bring back memories of the things we have done through the years. Most of the memories are good ones, so I think that is a good plan for 2006.

I think I shall write it down, so I don’t forget!

I hope everyone has a blessed and memorable 2006!

Susan

P.S. For those who have resolved to better organize their homeschool lesson plans this year, consider taking a look at my friend Julie’s very successful Full-Year Notebook System. It’s simple – and it works.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

2005-12-24T21:25:00.000-06:00

“O holy Child of Bethlehem!

Descend to us, we pray;

Cast out our sin, and enter in;

Be born in us today.

We hear the Christmas angels

The great glad tidings tell;

O come to us, abide with us,

Our Lord Emmanuel.”

May the holy Child be the centerpiece of your Christmas celebration today, and may He be the center of your life every day.

Christmas Blessings to all,

Susan

CHOICES AND THE BOTTOM LINE

2005-10-09T17:20:00.000-05:00

When my husband and I traveled with a tour group in Spain and Portugal during our honeymoon, we were amused to find that on an almost daily basis we had the same four choices for our lunches on the road: ham, cheese, ham and cheese, or cheese and ham. We really didn’t mind. The European bread was always so tasty and, besides, we were on our honeymoon!

Life is full of choices. Homeschooling is full of choices, especially when it comes to curriculum, and sometimes during our homeschooling years I wished the choices were as simple as choosing a sandwich in the countryside in Spain. I was looking through a packet of homeschool advertising cards this week and found that the choices just keep getting more plentiful, though better and better, but probably even more confusing! For instance, families have a dozen or more foreign languages that their children can study, and from multiple publishers. Oh, the places in the world homeschoolers can travel to now and be familiar with the language – I love it! Another thing I found in the advertising packet was information on a few after-graduation choices that young homeschool graduates might pursue. There were a couple of traditional college programs offered but also a couple of more vocational-oriented, certainly less traditional programs. (I had never heard of Christian massage therapy, but what an interesting idea for ministry.) Many curriculum choices now are online or otherwise computer-based. Times, they keep a-changing!

Bottom line in homeschooling and in life, of course, we want our children to end up having good Christian character as well as a good education. One area of education that is getting more and more attention among homeschooling families recently, one that contributes to good character, is entrepreneurial education. It doesn’t take much of a look around on my blog to see that I have a great interest in home and family business, and in Ebay in particular. I do have an Ebay business – and I have had some very good success with Ebay recently. Although sometimes I don’t have a lot of time to keep a lot of auctions going, I have been consistently making some nice extra income. What has been really great is networking, via online e-mail groups, with others who share the same interest in online auctions and home business. Many of those that I network with and learn from are homeschoolers, and many of them, more and more in fact, have been able to have both parents at home, with Ebay and related interests providing a full-time income for them so that they can spend more and more time with their families. How I wish that that had been a choice that we could have made several years ago in order to have the four of us at home, pursuing a business together.

If the choice of starting a home-based business sounds like a good one for you and a good addition to your homeschooling program, you probably know that there are as many businesses out there as there are families looking for the best one. In this blog, I will continue to provide links to information that I believe will be helpful to you and your family, whether your kids are at home or grown, homeschooled or not, in regard to choosing, pursuing, or growing a business that the whole family can participate in. Ebay is certainly a business that requires little time and virtually no money to start, and one in which the entire family can participate. What a training ground for the budding entrepreneur of any age! None of the links I provide on the blog obligate anyone to anything in any way, and I will only provide links to information or products that I am familiar with. I encourage you to make the choice to look into some entrepreneurial information to help make your child’s education more complete. I know that the more I read, the more interested and certainly more educated I become.

If you are interested in learning more about Ebay, you will find several links on my blog that will give you some excellent information. My favorite one is here. Clicking on it will give you the opportunity to sign up for a very informative free newsletter, as well as the opportunity to purchase an e-book. You don’t have to purchase the e-book and, I promise you, Jim will not “spam” you in any way, plus you can cancel the newsletter at any time if you’re no longer interested. If you do decide to “do” ebay, though, I would encourage you to invest in this book or perhaps one of the others mentioned in the right-hand column of the blog. I think you’ll find any of them to be an excellent choice when it comes to providing for your child’s entrepreneurial education, or your own, helping to contribute to the bottom line of a both a good, sound education as well as excellent character.

FAMILY MEALTIME

2005-09-18T11:42:00.000-05:00

Our family will be having dinner together, all of us, in less than two weeks. I’m excited! We’ll be celebrating one son’s return from a few months out of the country, one son’s graduation from the police academy, both sons’ birthdays just a little belated, their uncle’s retirement from the military, plus we’ll be celebrating family and extended family being together around the dinner table once again.

There’s something really special about eating dinner together as a family. In fact, there’s even a week a year designated to celebrate just that. Welcome to National Eat Dinner Together Week! This is the tenth anniversary of the annual event which runs this year from September 18-24, 2005. We’ll miss that by a few days, but since our family is becoming so scattered, we celebrate every time we have even one of our kids with us at the table. Through the years, we have always tried to make dinnertime a pleasant event although we’re no different from most families, including homeschooling families, with activities and schedules that too often included meals on the run or even in the car. As much as we enjoyed baseball or soccer season, it was always nice when those ended and we had time to relax for a change instead of rush, rush, rush, far too many evenings.

National Eat Dinner Together Week was established in 1996 to encourage Americans to get dinner on the table and nurture relationships within families. One of the most clever sites on the web I have seen is that of “The Daily Pork” at www.theotherwhitemeat.com. The folks behind this web site have the greatest sense of humor, not to mention some fantastic recipes! From that site you can also access the official web site of the National Eat Dinner Together Week where you can find some interesting statistical information as well as a weekly dinner schedule with themes for each night and tips, ideas, and easy recipes (including some the kids can prepare) to help you celebrate this important week. You don’t have to celebrate during the third week of September, either. This is information you can use anytime, all year long. Explore the “Dinnertime Solutions” section for some wonderful ideas including some practical suggestions from “real people” for dinnertime success. And you don’t even have to like pork to reap benefits from the site!

Here’s to family togetherness – at mealtimes and all the time!

BIRTHDAY IN A BOX

2005-08-21T14:52:00.000-05:00

My baby boy will turn 20 in a couple of weeks. I can hardly believe it.

He won’t be here to celebrate his birthday again this year; that’s two years in a row. Last year I baked a cookie cake and sent it to him. The cake only had to go halfway across the country and, as I recall, it traveled well and didn’t last long once it got to him. I’m not sure he shared it, either. He loves cookie cake! When his dad and his cousin and I went to Parris Island for his boot camp graduation a couple of months before his last birthday, we brought plenty of goodies for a picnic on Family Day, which is the day before graduation, the day when the brand new Marines get to spend a few hours with their families before one last night under the supervision of their drill instructors prior to graduation ceremonies the next morning. The Marine Corps feeds their recruits well, which is a good thing because they work them out physically equally well – and then some! When we had our little reunion picnic that Family Day, though, the three of us watched in utter astonishment as our new Marine devoured a large sub sandwich, cheese chunks, carrots, bananas, chips, and almost an entire, large cookie cake – which was the one and only thing he had requested that we bring for him – all in one sitting! He would have finished the entire big cookie himself, but he did the right thing and shared a little bit of it with the rest of us. Maybe you had to be there to appreciate it, but when I think back to that meal, watching him eat, my goodness I can still hardly believe it. He is tall, but he is a lean, mean, fighting machine – with emphasis on the lean! We had never seen him eat like that!

He’s out of the country this year and we are sending him a “birthday in a box.” We bought balloons, birthday streamers, a single candle in a holder that plays “Happy Birthday” when you wind it up, and party favors. The favors are a package of eight sets of “ugly teeth.” You know, the kind that little boys like to put in their mouth and go around smiling at cute little girls or moms and dads who gratuitously offer a nice “Oooh, that’s gross!” Little boys love those things. We put in a package of Little Debbie decorated white party cakes and I hope he’ll actually put the candle in one, listen to the song and pretend he’s at home celebrating with us. I’ve told him he needs to open his package with friends, but I haven’t told him why. I’m sure he could eat all those little cakes himself, but he really does need to share those “ugly teeth” and the balloons. It should be fun – eight tough Marines, big little boys, smiling at each other, laughing and taking turns telling each other how gross they look. I need to remind him to take pictures!

I didn’t bake a cookie cake to send this year. He’s in a hot, humid climate (not in a desert and not in a war zone this year, thankfully) and I was a bit concerned that a cookie cake would spoil in the humidity. Decorated white cakes are his second favorite and I think he’ll be happy, especially when he opens the Pittsburgh Steelers lounge pants and the other presents in the box. He’ll be home for a visit in a couple of months or so and I’ll make him a big cookie cake then. In fact, I think I’ll make two!

Happy 20th birthday, Tim. I miss you. Love, Mom.

BLAST FROM THE PAST

2005-08-08T14:35:00.000-05:00

My mom doesn’t have Internet access at home right now, so the other day when we were on the phone I was reading her a couple of my blog entries. There is nothing like receiving affirmation from one’s mother! In other words, she loved what she heard and told me I should be a writer. I told her, “I guess I are one!” and we both laughed. As somebody famous once said, “Writers write.” Well, I’m not sure I’m really a writer; as someone else once said, “Bloggers blog,” so maybe I’m just a blogger. In any event, my mom suggested that I publish a couple of pieces I wrote when I was a kid. After giving that some thought and going back and reading some old school assignments, I decided that it might be okay to share the one I called “The Bus Ride,” which was the result of an assignment during a unit on hyperbole. With that in mind, I humbly share the modest piece below.

THE BUS RIDE

Oh, to get out of the over abundant torrents of rain! The bus pulled up, and I stumbled on along with hundreds of other people. My arms were filled with packages – I had been shopping – and I couldn’t get my umbrella down. Frantically counting my pennies for the fare I stabbed with my umbrella the man who was patiently waiting behind me. Howling and clutching his coat to his wounds to stop the gushing of blood, he fell into a man who was standing on the steps of the bus. This man fell to the sidewalk – right on top of a woman who happened to be walking by with her small son. The little boy was clutching a huge lollipop in his hand. As his mother fell, he hit a passing dog with the sticky mess – right in the eye. Blindly the dog ran, kicking over screaming pedestrians and an occasional garbage can.

Casually observing the melee I handed the bus driver my fare, waded through the puddles of blood, and sat down – right on someone’s hand. “Someone” shrieked and kicked over a shopping bag full of apples. The apples rolled down the aisle as the bus started moving. I lunged and grabbed something. “Something” turned out to be a handful of a boy’s hair. He jumped up screaming and slid down the aisle of the bus on the apples.

The bus arrived at my stop. Carefully I stepped through the bloody applesauce to the door. As I got off I thought I noticed the bus driver sigh as if relieved. I wonder why.

If you and your homeschooled students have not shared a lesson on hyperbole, I would encourage you to do so – you’ll have TOO much fun – and maybe they will eventually become writers, or at least bloggers!

OREO AND THE ORIOLE

2005-08-02T15:31:00.000-05:00

Oreo met an oriole today, and was she ever surprised.

Oreo is our little cat. We have two cats, or they have us, brother and sister from the same litter but you sure wouldn’t guess it. Oreo is the petite, shy female who hides under the bed at any hint of a visitor while Dandy is the big, friendly male who never met a person he didn’t claim as his very best friend. Dandy isn’t a fat cat but weighs in at twice little Oreo’s weight, but this story isn’t about him, it’s about her.

Oreo enjoys lying in a shallow box on the wide bedroom windowsill, behind the partially open window blinds, safely watching the world on the other side of the glass. She loves watching birds year-round but particularly enjoys fall, especially breezy days when the leaves blow off the trees and float down outside the window. She gets excited and tries to reach out and touch the leaves that come close and hit the screen. It’s still summer now but looks like fall since we have had so little rain and the temperatures have been so, so hot, thus the brown leaves that this week have literally covered the dry, crispy grass in our yard. This morning, the breeze was blowing and Oreo was watching the leaves fall when all of a sudden I heard her scamper. I turned around and looked to see what was going on, and there, hovering outside the window, I saw an orange and dark gray bird. It hovered almost like a hummingbird, but Oreo has seen hummingbirds and this was no hummingbird but a quite a bit bigger bird that seemed to be trying to come right on in through the window. She had scampered out of her box and was crouching behind it, apparently trying to figure out just what to do. Should she run and hide or would she be safe behind her box? Her eyes were wide and, as the bird flew off, she looked at me and meowed in her squeaky, Siamese-like voice, obviously asking me, “Did you see that!?” As I said before, Oreo is shy. In fact, I think if you look up “fraidy cat” in the dictionary, Oreo’s picture just might be there. Before either one of us could decide exactly what to do, the bird reappeared and we both got a better look at it, Oreo still crouched behind her box for safety, and I saw it from several feet away but was able to see it long enough to figure out that it certainly looked like a Baltimore Oriole. I’ve seen those around here but rarely, only a couple of times before. As the bird flew off again, I ran to the front door to see if it had stayed close and, indeed, I saw it perched on the holly bush by the front porch step. Wow! I love watching birds as much as Oreo does and this one was pretty special!

I think birds are pretty smart, despite their tiny little bird brains, and I believe the oriole was trying to let us know that the birdbath needed to be filled. I got the message, put water in my little bucket and took a brush out to clean out the leaves and what little bit of water was left from yesterday and replenish the bath supply for the birds. When I came back in, I stayed with Oreo and patted her as we watched all the birds appear. We didn’t see the oriole again, at least I didn’t, and Oreo settled back down into her box for her morning nap, which she certainly needed after all that excitement. Sometimes I wonder how the birds know that the birdbaths have been filled, because certainly they seem to know. Today, I think it was the oriole who spread the word. He was the brave little bird who fluttered at the window – in full view of a cat named Oreo – to remind us that he and his friends were thirsty and needed drinks and baths.

I hope watching birds is something your family does. A web site that can help you to identify birds is here: http://www.wildbirds.com/Identify.htm. Invest in a nice little field guide to birds. That, a feeder, and a pair of binoculars would make a great family gift, for any occasion.

BIRDBATH BALLET

2005-07-26T21:17:00.000-05:00

I saw a hummingbird at the birdbath on Saturday. I had never seen that before! It’s been so hot and dry lately that, besides filling the regular birdbath every day, I put out some big plant saucers to use on the ground as miniature birdbaths for the smaller birds. Little did I know how small the birds would be! I love to watch the birds drinking and bathing and on that particular day as I was watching, I saw a little area of big splashing going on in one of the saucers. I wondered what it could be that was splashing like that – and then I saw the hummingbird rise up and hover over the water. Wow! Now that was really neat! Tiny wings flapping at 50 times a second – no wonder it was a lot of splashing! The hummingbird hovered for a moment, drying its wings no doubt, then flew away.

I saw a roadrunner at the birdbath yesterday. I saw it first in the driveway, running this way and that in pursuit of an insect that I hoped it would get because one more insect for the roadrunner is one less for me to swat away when I’m outside. He (she?) apparently caught and ate the bug then casually strolled across the yard toward the bedroom window from where I had been watching. I grabbed my cat, told him to “Look at the bird, Dandy!” then put him on the windowsill and slowly raised the blinds. Dandy couldn’t miss this particular bird and appeared quite interested, watching closely as it wandered on by, not even noticing us, headed toward the birdbath. I could see its beak was open and I admit that I was hoping to hear a nice little “beep-beep!” since it looked surprisingly like its cartoon relative as it sauntered past. The bird reached the saucer on the ground first and took its time drinking, looking around casually between sips. The little guy was obviously pretty thirsty. Next thing I noticed, he was sitting up on the big birdbath, drinking some more, then finally he jumped down and took his time lazily road-running away.

I see bluejays and cardinals, chickadees and titmice, woodpeckers and wrens every day dressed in their colorful feathered costumes, enjoying the water, taking turns drinking and bathing, swooping in and out of the birdbath, accompanied by the melody of the windchimes in the breeze. What a surprise, though, to see a hummingbird splashing and a roadrunner washing down its lunch, all in my own front yard.

WIND CHIMES!

2005-07-19T09:01:00.000-05:00

This has absolutely nothing to do with homeschooling, but I have to tell you what just happened.

I was busy working this morning and didn’t get into the shower until late. My adored husband was out working in the garage which, bless his heart, he has been trying to get organized over the last couple of days. Anyway, I was in the shower and had just stuck my head under the running water to wash my hair when suddenly I heard something that sounded to me like wind chimes! Now, I know that things sound a little different when your head is under water, but I had never heard that sound in the shower – and I wash my hair in there every day!

My first thought was, “Wait, isn’t the rapture supposed to be ushered in with trumpets??” Was it trumpets I was hearing? No, it really did sound like wind chimes. Then a crazy thought: “Could an angel be getting its wings?? Could it be ME???” All these thoughts raced through my head in a split second, and I have to tell you I was torn between staying under that water (I didn’t want to stop the rapture or anything) and getting out of there!

I did get my head out from under the water and, hmm, I really couldn’t hear the sound anymore. So, I stuck my head back under! Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately, I wasn’t sure which), I didn’t hear the wind chimes sound again, so I proceeded with my shower with nothing else out of the ordinary.

A few minutes later, after I was dried off and dressed, I came out into the bedroom. My adored husband happened to be sitting at the computer. “The strangest thing happened when I was in the shower,” I breathlessly told him. “Just as I put my head under the shower - I thought I heard wind chimes!” Well, I barely had the words out of my mouth when he just burst out laughing. “You mean you heard it too? What was it??” I asked him. You know what he said? Still laughing, he answered me: “Wind chimes!”

“WHAT?? Where did you get that sound?” I figured he was playing something on the computer and had just turned the volume up really loud. Before he could answer, it occurred to me that we had a nice set of wind chimes in the garage whose cord had broken a long time ago. “Did you fix those wind chimes that were in the garage??” He assured me that yes, that is exactly what he did and then came inside to let me listen and rang the wind chimes outside the bathroom door. When he realized I was in the shower, he took them outside and hung them on the porch.

I told him that his timing was certainly perfect and that I really had thought for a moment that an angel was getting its wings, and that the angel might have been me!

My heart rate has returned to normal now and I am just a little disappointed that the sound wasn’t trumpets; but, while I’m waiting for the rapture to be announced, I will have the pleasant melody of newly-repaired wind chimes to remind me that, “In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.” And it just might happen when I’m in the shower, washing my hair.

REFLECTING ON ME

2005-07-10T13:07:00.000-05:00

It occurred to me that I jumped right into this blog without even introducing myself. You will probably get to know me by how I write and what I write about, but a more formal introduction still seems to be in order.

In general, I am Susan, a middle-aged wife and mom with an adored (and adoring) husband and two amazing sons. I’m a homeschool mom, or at least I was until a couple of years ago. Our family learned about homeschooling and decided to follow that path the summer before our first son was to enter kindergarten. (God’s timing is perfect, isn’t it?) Once we discovered that path, we have never looked back. Both of our boys have graduated and are in the adult world now – and we could not be prouder of them. Certainly I will be writing more and more about them; I just can’t help it. They have both made some awesome accomplishments over the past couple of years and it has been just amazing for us to watch them mature and grow doing what they do now. Both have military jobs, one full-time and one “weekend warrior” now that he is back from Iraq. They both have achieved honors and recognition in their respective military careers and are highly regarded by their peers as well as their superiors, and what parent doesn’t want that for their kids! Our “weekend warrior” has also achieved his long-time dream of being a police officer and has set some goals there that demonstrate to us that, by golly, he was paying attention to what he was being taught when was growing up! Both boys are still young and single but are looking forward to having families of their own in the future. Both want their kids to be homeschooled – and I can hardly wait for that! My boys aren’t perfect, but I might make them sound that way sometimes.

Okay, back to me. I was born a Mountaineer, became a Buckeye when I was 12, located to the state that says it’s for lovers ten years later (I found mine there!), then relocated to Razorback territory fourteen years ago just before the boys turned 9 and 6. We live in a small, cedar house with a big, rock fireplace, in the country but within the city limits of a small-ish town. We love it here and hope we don’t ever have to move. We have an outside dog, two inside cats, and lots of birds, rabbits, squirrels, wild turkeys, deer, and even coyotes and snakes to enjoy. Okay, we don’t really enjoy the snakes very much and we are glad the dog keeps the coyotes out of the yard, but we are captivated by the wildlife. We still say “beep-beep” when we see the roadrunners that live on our hill and we are still fascinated with the tarantulas whose shadows we can see beneath them when they walk across the road, they’re that big! We can really see the stars at night from our yard! Couldn’t do that when we lived in the city.

I don’t care much for housework, but I love a tidy, organized house.

I am definitely a “saver;” I have a terrible time parting with my “treasures.”

I am a reformed perfectionist. Well, I’m trying to reform.

I have an entrepreneurial spirit and enjoy delving into that realm, and I’m excited that lots of homeschoolers are getting involved in home businesses, too, and getting their whole families involved!

I just might be addicted to the Internet and cannot imagine how we ever got along without it. The Internet to me is like having an entire, huge, never-ending reference library right on my desktop! I am in awe of the people who have put together Amazon.com and Yahoo and Google. Wow, I wish I could think outside the box like that!

I miss reading aloud to my boys.

I love that my boys call home every chance they get, sometimes every day.

I am growing older and probably a little bit wiser, but I’m not sure I will ever really grow up.

Sometimes I do ramble on. This was supposed to be a short introduction! If you have stayed with me to this point, I thank you very much and ask that you visit periodically to see what has popped into my mind recently and ended up in this blog. Hopefully I will have made it worth your trip. In the meantime, count your blessings and have a wonderful day!

Susan

IN THE SPIRIT OF TITUS 2

2005-07-03T10:27:00.000-05:00

One day, a number of years ago when I was a much younger wife and mom and lived in a different part of the country, I learned an amazing lesson from a friend named Cathy.

Our church’s group of young moms met often to share experiences and learn from one another. There was one particular time when we were scheduled to meet and share. I wish I could remember the actual topic, but whatever it was, it had to do with something for moms with children even younger than mine. I do know that I thought the topic really was nothing I could learn from, that my kids were already past that particular age.

When I mentioned to my friend why I had decided not to go to that meeting, she said something to me that hit me like a ton of bricks – and changed me forever. She admonished me to come to the meeting anyway, that even if I didn’t learn anything for myself, I could share, from my own knowledge and experience, something that might be helpful to some of the other, even younger moms. In other words, go for what I could GIVE, not for what I could GET.

What? I knew something about being a mom that could be helpful to somebody else? That sounds so simple, so obvious, but I had never thought of it before! Up until that time, even though I was quite comfortable in my role as a mom and was doing okay in that regard, I still soaked in every bit of information at every opportunity I could find to help me do my job as wife and mother even better. I felt like I was still only in the early stages of learning, that I couldn’t possibly be considered an expert in anything that had to do with parenting. I had never looked at myself as one of the “aged women” that are spoken of in Titus 2, the ones I so loved to be around at our church. “That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children.”

That realization literally changed my life. Again, I don’t remember much about that meeting – except that I did go, and that I did make it a point to find some tidbit of my own immature wisdom to share. Since then, not only have I continued to enjoy learning and receiving encouragement, I have learned to teach, to advise, and to encourage others. As time went on after the meeting that day, I became a leader in my church community and, later, in our homeschooling organizations.

That is why I decided to start this blog. Since my boys have grown and graduated, I have struggled to figure out what I want to be when I grow up. I have been looking for that “niche” that I keeping hearing about. I’m still not an expert on anything, but I certainly do have experience with parenting and with homeschooling that I can share; one does learn a thing or two leading two kids from birth, to kindergarten, to graduation and beyond.

I hope my ramblings and reflections teach, touch, or encourage someone out there. If they do, it will be in the spirit of Titus 2. I don’t think I have ever shared that story about what my friend taught me that day with anyone – but now I’m sharing it with the whole world wide web! Cathy, wherever you are, I happily, and humbly, thank you!

MY HEROES

2005-07-02T13:04:00.000-05:00

When I look at my computer today, my wallpaper shows me a picture of two little boys, ages about six and three, both dressed in camouflage pants and jackets. Their backs are to me as they kneel in the grass, preparing to drink water from their canteens, no doubt thirsty from the last great battle. They are soldiers. I can tell that by the green plastic helmet on the ground and by their weapons. Each is wearing a cap pistol, one on the right hip, one on the left; certainly they are sharing a pair. Their “rifles” are next to them on the ground, a black plastic baseball bat for each of them. Though I can only see a little bit of their faces, it is clear that this is a very serious moment. Perhaps they expect the enemy again at any time and are listening carefully. Perhaps they are reflecting on the battle and how difficult it was – but that they have tasted victory and can now stop to taste the precious water, what little they have left in their red and blue plastic canteens. They are ready for anything. They are brothers, warriors.

I recently changed my computer’s wallpaper. Before, I had pictures of two young men. The older one is wearing desert camo, including one of those floppy desert hats. His bullet-proof vest looks heavy, and it is. He is wearing sunglasses, but his nose is sunburned. He is looking at me this time – and his face is serious. He is obviously prepared for anything – because anything could happen, any minute. His rifle is in his hands. His American flag patch shows proudly on his right sleeve. In the background are palm trees and humvees. Cut and pasted next to him, for these two young men have not been able to actually stand next to each other in many months, is a young Marine. He is immaculately dressed in his class A uniform, standing tall on the parade field where he has just graduated from boot camp. His first stripe is on his right sleeve, his first ribbons above his left pocket. His face is tanned, proud, and determined. This is a serious moment. He is prepared for anything. The Marine, the soldier. Shoulder to shoulder. They are brothers, warriors.

They are my heroes.