Beautiful Blogger Award

I found this in my drafts when I was looking at what I have yet to do. It is a couple months old but I wanted to get this posted. I was given this lovely award by my friend Laura at Day by Day in Our World. I met Laura through the Internet and then met her in person when she was moved to Maryland. She was a fellow homeschooler and TOS Crew member too. She has 4 boys from 8th grade to rug rat. We were in the same homeschool support group for a while. She is now living in the Faaaaar north, Alaska. She has had moose in her back yard and it is light most of the time there now. I don't know how they get any sleep... I guess they will catch up in the winter when it is dark most of the time and there are only a few hours of daylight.

As a recipient of the Beautiful Blogger award, one must:
1) Add a link and note of thanks to the person giving the award
2) Pass the award on to the bloggers whose blogs you love (15 tops)
3) Share 7 things about yourself

1) I love the old version of Battlestar Galactica. When I was in college it was on t.v. My roommate and I would reserve the television in order to watch it. We had one t.v. per floor in our dorm, that was 48 girls. We could reserve the t.v for favorite programs on a first come first served basis. We looked forward to every week. My hubby bought me the whole series on DVD when it came out and I watch it at least once a year. My boys like it too and I only have to skip a couple of scenes when watching it with them. I hate, and did not follow, the new version. Don't like the Starbuck character being a girls and it has a lot more romancy stuff in it, too. Don't even know how long it was on or if it still is.

2) I also love Star Wars. The original 4, 5, and 6 more than 1, 2, and 3. Yoda is my favorite character. I have original bubble gum cards that I collected in High School and some other collectibles that I previously showed on my blog. I do not have the complete set but I love what I do have. I have them in a cool Star Wars Binder with a zipper and card holder pages inside.

3) I don't like shellfish. I don't eat shrimp, lobster, crab, etc. Yuck! I do eat fish on occasion but that is not a favorite either.

4) I love to play computer games. I have a lot of favorites and play a bunch of games from Most Fun because you can download them for free and play for free with only occasional ad's coming up. (some of the ads recently have disturbed me and you have to turn off the volume for them. Some of them you can actually pause the ad and not watch it and that is nice for the more nasty commercials. The ad's time passes and the game comes back on. I mostly play the ones in the action, puzzle and strategy sections. I usually play a little each day. Probably too much time wasted doing it. It is one of my stress releases and pleasures.

5)I am cooped up in this house to much. I have been inside this house since last Sunday and have not stepped foot outside until this morning. I went out to take a picture of the rose that is blooming in my front yard and then came back in. Probably the reason for the playing of to many computer games.

6) I love making spreadsheets to organize our homeschool and make it work for us rather than use pages from a planner that fit other people. I like adding in the names of the books we use on a regular basis and then I only have to write the pages in as we do them each day. Makes keeping track of school so much easier than writing stuff in each day. I do use some of the TOS planner pages, too. I especially like the Curriculum Key Chart because that allows me to use abbreviations as well and keep track of them easily.

7) I trained my girls to cook and now they are helping their brothers learn to cook. I took all of last year off from cooking completely. My daughter Rachel took over my cooking jobs. Now I am back to cooking, but only one day a week. This is what training your children can bring you.

We reworked the schedule this year and now we each cook one day (except Rachel and my hubby - Rachel wanted more than one day and hubby does not get a day. We each are a cooks helper one day, also.

Here is our schedule: Main Cook (also chooses the menu)/Helper
Sunday - Rachel/Mom (usually something pre-made or in the crockpot so we can relax when we get home from church and not have to wait a long time for dinner)
Monday - Rachel/Jessica
Tuesday - Christopher (14yrs old)/ Rachel  (he is in training)
Wednesday - Jessica/Nate
Thursday - Mom/Christopher
Friday - Nathan/Dad
Saturday - Rachel

Anyone who reads my blog and does not have this award yet is welcome to take it and share 7 things about yourself. Leave me a comment so I can come and comment on your post.


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Thankful... Day 30

It is the last day of the daily Thankful challenges. I want to remember that I have much to be thankful for all year long and not just in November. Today, I am thankful that I have a lot to be thankful for. I am thankful that I had the opportunity to write daily for the month of November about things I am thankful for. I hope you don't mind if I rehearse all that I was thankful for this month.

I am thankful for my God who supplies all my needs and some of my wants. I am a blessed woman and doing these challenges this month has impressed upon me how truly blessed I am. I have a wonderful husband and wonderful healthy (for the most part) children, godly women who have been a great influence over me, a great church, wonderful music to listen to and sing to my God, goals that I can set and hopefully accomplish, and a creative creator and his creation that I can enjoy and photograph and the gardens we have memberships to that we can walk through. I have the flexibility of homeschooling, many books to read, friends: near, far, and online; a wonderful church to go to and serve at, markers and colored pencils for all kinds of projects, and chocolate to enjoy more than I should. So far my husband's tests have been negative, they have found nothing serious that he needs to take care of, I pray that continues to be the case with the tests he has done later this week and next week. I have a home, which was clean when my friends came to visit but is cluttered right now, I need to finish Christmas decorating so we can get the tubs back into the attic until we take it all down after New Years. I have loving children, most of the time, and I am thankful for the family times we spend/spent together and the memories we make/made. I am thankful for the privilege of being able to go to Ladies Bible Study now that my children are older, and for all that I am learning/being reminded of through the book we are studying. I am thankful for our Wii, cookies and tea, board games; my scanner, printer, and laminator; our public library system and my computer. I am thankful I can be there to support my husband through his trip to the E.R.and through all these tests he is having, he did so much for me the years I was having children and through my gall bladder surgery. I am thankful for our home in which many of the things I am thankful for take place. I am thankful for being able to sing 4 part harmony with my husband and children for church and I am thankful for the Bible, God's Word, the light to show me the path to God.

So you see, there is so much to be thankful for and I am thankful for all of it and that I had the opportunity to share with my readers the many things God has done/is doing to bless me.


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Thankful... Day 29

I don't have a lot of time tonight. We are at the end of the month and for the first time ever we are low on bandwidth for the Internet. I did not want to just skip the last 2 day though... so short and sweet it will be.

Today I am thankful for the Bible. It is a light and a guide. It tells it how it was and how it is. I reveals sin that is in my heart, piercing me. It encourages me. It tells the stories of others who walked on this earth and served God, some of them even failed and sinned and it is comforting to know they know what it is like to be grieved over things you have done wrong.

It is the true record of creation. I thank God for that.

It is also the revelation of the life of Jesus Christ, come down from heaven to live with sinful man and die for us to reconcile us to God. It tells us that if we confess our sins God will forgive us and cleanse us. It tells us that Christ was tempted to sin and understands all that it means to be human. Yet he was God. It tells of God's Love for us, his mercy, his kindness, his understanding, his power, and much more.

I am thankful that I have a guide I can follow for all of life. Something that I know is always true and will give me the answers I need for all of life.

Thank you God that you inspired the writers and protected your word through all these years.

So, read your Bible it is your...

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Goal Planning Monday ~ Week 44

 Time to write some goals and strive to accomplish them this coming week??

Join us by clicking on the button above...
after you read my goals.

This was a pretty good week. I did well in everything except exercise and healthy eating. I started my goal update but my sleepless night Sunday night and my computer not linking to the Internet kept me from posting.

My Goals from last week and how I did:

Spiritual Goals 

1. Keep up with reading the Bible in a Year. Done
2. Read Power of a Praying Wife and leave hubby a note for each chapter I read. He needs the extra prayers and encouragement. Homeschool Goals. Done
3. Read as much as possible of the new books I got for our Sunday School study. How People Change and How People Change Study Guide: How Christ Changes Us by His Grace I am behind because I got my book late. I want to keep up with the current chapters and catch up as much as possible when I am able to do extra work. Done

Homeschool Goals

1. Homeschool today and tomorrow. Taking Wed. - Fri. off for Thanksgiving break. Done
2. Plan next week's homeschool. Done

Blog Goals   

1. I want to work on all the Blast From The Past posts for Nov. and have them all ready to go way ahead so it is a pleasure to do them and not so much of a chore. Once Nov. is done I want to do Dec. too. Not Done
2. Work on, and get posted, a post that is not a meme. I am especially trying to work on posts about games we use(d) for school. I wanted to get them up in time for my readers to use them for ideas for Christmas gifts. Done
3. Post daily for the 30 Days of Thanksgiving / Gratitude Challenge. Done

Personal/Other Goals

1. Comment on all the other GPM ladies posts. Keep track of their names with links here so I know whose I have done. Not Done
2. Read, Read, Read! I am making progress on my read 100 books in a year goal but I still need to read a bunch more. I am now reading Home for the Holidays: Tales from Grace Chapel Inn series. I don't think I will make 100 books but I will not quit. I have more Chapel Hill Inn series library books to read after that. I just love these books. Thanks again to the Holman family for buying me my first copy and introducing me to the series. Done
3. Spend time as a family doing the following things: Prepping for Thanksgiving Done
4. Watching movies. Done
5. Playing on the Wii. Done
6. Eating Thanksgiving dinner. Done
7. Putting up the Christmas Tree and other Christmas decorations on Black Friday. Done
8. Choose a Christmas decoration for this year for the family. I make an ornament each year for each child, my husband and I. I need to choose what to do for this year. Not Done

For this week that is 13 Done, 0 Partly Done, and 3 Not Done.

My goals for this coming week:

Spiritual Goals 

1. Keep up with reading the Bible in a Year.
2. Read Power of a Praying Wife and leave hubby a note for each chapter I read. He needs the extra prayers and encouragement.
3. Read Chapter 6 of God's Priorities for Today's Woman for Ladies Bible Study on Friday.
4. Read as much as possible of the new books I got for our Sunday School study. How People Change and How People Change Study Guide: How Christ Changes Us by His Grace I am behind because I got my book late. I want to keep up with the current chapters and catch up as much as possible when I am able to do extra work. 

Homeschool Goals

1. Homeschool all week and get the boys back to doing all 12 workboxes.
2. Watch Emma for Movies as Literature.
3. Keep up with grading and recording the homeschool stuff this week.

Blog Goals   

1. I want to work on all the Blast From The Past posts for Dec. and have them all ready to go way ahead so it is a pleasure to do them and not so much of a chore.
2. Work on, and get posted, a post that is not a meme. I am especially trying to work on posts about games we use(d) for school. I wanted to get them up in time for my readers to use them for ideas for Christmas gifts.
3. Post the last 2 days of the 30 Days of Thanksgiving / Gratitude Challenge.

Personal/Other Goals

1. Comment on all the other GPM ladies posts. Keep track of their names with links here so I know whose I have done.
2. Read, Read, Read! I am making progress on my read 100 books in a year goal but I still need to read a bunch more. I am now reading Slices of Life (The Tales from Grace Chapel Inn Series #13). I don't think I will make 100 books but I will not quit. I have more Chapel Hill Inn series library books to read after that. I just love these books. Thanks again to the Holman family for buying me my first copy and introducing me to the series.
3. Choose a Christmas decoration for this year for the family. I make an ornament each year for each child, my husband and I. I need to choose what to do for this year.
4. Take Hubby to have 2 medical tests done on 2 different days.
5. Work on new Advent calendar with dd Rachel.

I tried really hard to accomplish all my goals this week. I almost made it! How about you? Do you have any goals for the week? Post your goals and link up. The button at the top will take you to the meme and you can join up with us.


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Thankful... Day 28

Today I am thankful for my computers. Yes, I have 2.
I have a desktop computer and a laptop . My hubby got me the laptop computer so I could use it in the dining room while the boys were doing school. I use it at other times also. Without my computers I would not be able to blog, be on Facebook , Tweet, do e-mail, play games, search for printables for school, download freebies, make my own spreadsheets for our school logs and print them, scan, correct and save photos, play movies or watch t.v. stuff on Hulu while I work, or chat with my hubby over Pidgin while sitting next to him on the couch. Do any of you chat over your computer with people in the same room?? It is lots of fun. We especially like sending each other messages with the emoticons in them. For instance, today he was in our bedroom and I was down in the dining room. He asked how school was going and I just put the snail emoticon in the message. He got it. School was going soooooo sloooooow.

Most days I don't need this...   when working on the computers, and only once in a great while do I want to do this but when I do I am glad I have my talented hubby to fix things and make my computer run great again.

I am also thankful that I found  http://zaazu.com  so I could have so many cool smileys to add to my blog posts


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Thankful... Day 27

I was already thankful for music once this month but I just have to thank the Lord for bringing together our singing this morning. My family sang "Count Your Blessings" this morning in church for special music.We sing 4 part harmony A Capella. My husband sang the melody/lead, my daughters Rachel and Jessica sang alto, I sang tenor, Christopher and Nathan sang bass. All week long we have felt antagonistic when trying to practice singing. Yesterday my husband and I were really struggling with facing Christmas with him being unemployed for 20 months now. Then this morning my sons had an argument to start off the day. Once we got to church, however, the Lord seemed to smooth things out. Each of us was touched by the scripture reading and songs chosen by our Pastor and praise team. I am thankful we were able to have time to praise the Lord before we had to do our special music. This song especially touched me and my son Christopher...

I thank the Lord for music. I thank him that his word and music bring such peace to us. I thank him that he answered the prayers I prayed about our singing and how the family was getting along. I am thankful that he allowed us to feel thankful again before we had to sing.


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Thankful... Day 26

 

Today I am thankful for our library. We have a wonderful library system. It used to be county wide now it is state wide. I can get books and videos from all over my state. 

Recently, my boys and I read The Printer's Apprentice by Stephen Krensky. We enjoyed the book very much. We even learned a few fun facts. On page 11-12 the books says:

"Gus got busy sorting some used type into the proper cases. Capital letters went into the upper case. The other letters went into the lower case."

Did you know that is how upper case and lower case letters were named? I sure didn't.

Here is another cool fact that we found from pages 35-36: 

"The weather affected Master Bradford as much as anyone. He became impatient at any delays. He was especially gruff when missing a sort - a letter in the particular type style he was using - while setting type. Being out of sorts often ruined his mood for hours."

Did you know that was were the saying "out of sorts" came from. 

You can learn a lot from books and I love my library. I borrow a lot of things from our library and a couple local libraries know us by name. If you have not been to your local library lately the go, check out some books.

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Thankful... Day 25

Today I want to say that I am thankful for my scanner, printer and laminator.

This is my scanner. I use it almost daily. Mostly, I use it for school, but I have used it to scan old photos that were taken before I had a digital camera. If I did not have my scanner I would be running to a copy place weekly. I am so thankful for it. I also would not be able to do Blast From The Past because I would not have all my photos scanned into my computer and ready to publish.

Next I am thankful for my printer
It is my most used piece of homeschool equipment, not counting books.
I print things for the boys weekly, and some times daily. I make my own pages for recording what we do daily for school and print them. I print notebooking and lapbooking pages. I print stuff for myself, like the complete book list for the Grace Chapel Inn series so I know what books to order next. My hubby prints stuff for his unemployment, I print stuff for my daughters.

I like that it is a laser printer. That way, if I am just printing black, the color does not get used up also, like in an inkjet printer. The ink costs more but it lasts a really long time. I really love my printer.


I also love my laminator. I mostly got it and use it for our workboxes but I also use it for other things. 

 For instance, I laminated my yearly goals for 2011 last Jan. and keep it posted so I can review them and accomplish more this year. I also laminated 2 copies of our grading scale for school so I would have one downstairs and one upstairs.

AND, totally unrelated....
I am also thankful for leftovers.
We don't have to cook anything today.
I will enjoy the food more today than last night. We did not get our Thanksgiving meal done until 6 pm. By then I was so tired that I didn't even eat much, I even skipped having any pie.
Today we will put up our Christmas decorations and eat leftovers and relax.
We do not go out and shop on Black Friday.
We do most of our shopping online.

So, that is what I am thankful for on this day after Thanksgiving.
How about you?
Only 5 days left, not counting today, for the thankful challenges...
though we can and should be thankful all year long.

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