Don't worry 'bout me...

This morning as I made my treadmill walk, I turned on GAC (Great American Country), and this song was just coming on. I love it. It reminds me of Beth. " And I won't cry cause she flew up to heaven on the wings of angels....and she walks with Jesus....and I know she's smiling saying, 'Don't worry 'bout me.'"

YouTube - alanjackson's Channel (should immediately bring up "Sissy's Song")

Two short, too short weeks...

I cannot believe how quickly this summer passed by. It seems like I wrote this post only yesterday. Now, I have lamented and thought and lamented and thought, and I have down our choices for this years curriculum. And for those who don't homeschool, you might not understand lamenting over curriculum, but I'm tellin' ya, we homeschoolers lament. We lament often...

Fep will be entering 6th grade using:
Bob Jones for reading and history, Rod & Staff for English, A Reason for Spelling, copy work for penmanship, Teaching Textbooks for math, and A Beka for science and health. How's that for a smorgasbord?

Moose will be entering 3rd grade using
McRuffy Press for phonics, reading, English, and writing. Rod & Staff for Math. Bob Jones for history. A Beka for science.

I've bought and ordered our curriculum, and I'm waiting for August 10th our anticipated start date. Let the fun begin!

Coming to a close...

My goodness gracious have we been busy. We celebrated Fep's 11th birthday camping. We had such a pretty spot this time. That's Fep, Moose, and Dixie at our spot at sunset. We were right on the lake, and it was wonderful. Absolutely wonderful.

I find that all the summer projects I wanted to get done have not gotten done. We started the window cleaning...not finished. Clean out closets...not done. Get horse trailer listed for sale...not done. Go through homeschool stuff and make way for new stuff...not finished. Repaint bathroom....not done. All this stuff got left behind in the busyness of other stuff. And now summer is coming to a close, and I only hope we can finish the windows and get the horse trailer up for sale....and sold! But in the midst of my Summer To Do's not getting done, we did find time for friends....

And we found time for much needed rest...

And we found time for fun...

My summer is coming to a close as it looks like I'll start up with homeschooling in two short weeks. And yes, we'll finish the windows and sell the trailer (hopefully), but the other stuff, it'll still be there. And we'll be grateful that we left it for camping, family, swimming, friends, and the memories made....

{ And memories are made for unwrappingwith
Emily:) }

Working through the piles....

My fascination with Facebook about over, I'm wanting desperately to catch up on all my fav-o-rite blogs. Right now, I'm pretty much just reading my fav-o-rite homeschool blogs, because I'm in that frame of mind. School starts a a few short...very short...too short...weeks, and I've been getting my curriculum choices together and looking at what I need. Also, we are leaving this evening to go camping for Fep's 11th birthday (Yay Fep!), and I've got lots of office work to finish before we leave. Our employees expect a paycheck tomorrow, and well, so do I :) So what am I doing? Blogging. Priorities. I have them. But before we leave, I have sorted through my piles. I have them e-v-e-r-y-w-h-e-r-e. I took this at a distance picture thinking I'd say it looked pretty good. I'm not sure what I was thinking. It looks pretty, ummmm....bad....

I have piles on the top of the desk...

Piles on the printer....

Piles in the floor....blue rubber ball not mine - that would belong to Moose....

I have more paper piles, but I won't bore you any longer with pictures of them. I like to think of my piles as organized chaos ;) I even have piles on my couch. But not the paperwork kind. The kind that everyone has....

You do have laundry piles, don't you? Or is it just me?

Finding my way back

I'm still overcoming the newness of Facebook. It still has me in it's grips. Heather says the newness will wear off. Dawn says she hasn't looked at her Facebook page in months and hasn't missed it. But I am still stuck in it's grasp, finding "new" old people and family. Seeing pictures of family and friends and their children that I haven't seen in years and years and years. And then I check in on blogs and I find this post by Emily or a visit to Ann at Holy Experience. And I am captivated and touched by their words. Words that aren't random. Well, sometimes the words are random...but sometimes, the words stir our hearts. And sometimes there are words that have the ability to change us and impact us forever. I'll never ever forget this post from Ann, and I have the words "It is enough" taped on my kitchen window because of it. Life changing.

My words are not fancy or thought provoking or life changing, so I cling to the heels of those that have that ability. And I find my way back from the pictures of faces to words. Words that are worth Unwrapping with Emily. Words that are cleansing, sweet, and filling.

Still struggling...

I've put this post off long enough. As I told Heather the other day, I'm just going to have to take a big gulp and swallow my pride. No sense in dodging it and trying to ignore it forever. I think doing that would probably be just failure added to failure. You know that little weight tracker on the right side bar? The one under our family pictures. Well, had I used it as I said that I would, it would show numbers going down instead of the numbers going up. That's why I just haven't been putting anything there at all. Just dodging and skirting. So, I've seen that I can't be left to my own devices, and once again I'm visiting The Lady at the Scale at Weight Watchers. It is helping and this past week I was down 2 lbs. So, I'm back on track. I think....I hope...we will see Friday when I visit The Lady at the Scale again.

It's only 10 lbs that need to come off, so why is it so hard?

Torn between two time killers....

So, what does a person do that already has an issue with spending too much time in blogworld? They join Facebook. Real smart of me. That's where I've been, and that's why I've not posted on my blog or commented much over the last several days. Facebook. Bad idea. It seemed so simple ~ "Oooooohhhhhh, let's do this and find people we haven't talked to in forever." Well, that's all well and good, but I think it's more of a time killer than blogging. And at least when I visit blogs, I can find some hidden treasures or words of wisdom from people like Daisy, Dawn, or Emily. Facebook, and I do not want to offend anyone on Facebook, is just random nothingness...for the most part. Again, no offense. Really, no offense, please. Remember, I'm a Facebooker. But again, it's so random. And I'm constantly convicted about using my time wisely, so I'm really going to have to start keeping myself in check with it all. I lean on this verse all. the. time. And I need it now.....

"She watches over the ways of her household, and does not eat the bread of idleness."
Proverbs 31:27

Okay. I'm off to do something for my household. For my children. For Him......


Edited to add: Feeling a little guilty for the above. Really, there is something to be said for catching up with old friends. There's nothing like good friends. I'm just finding it to be another time killer is all......

Mowing along....

I'm not sure where the time goes? I'm quite certain that just yesterday he was scooting around on a plastic toy tractor? Or wasn't it just yesterday that he got a bike? And was it yesterday that he got to take the training wheels off his bike? I thought it was.....so now here we are. I'm certain it must be a definite passage into manhood when you get to drive....even if it is the lawn mower ;)

And when you have almost 10 acres to mow, you'll let anybody get on the lawn mower....and often you have two mowers going at the same time......

"Hey Dad. Beep. Beep."

Camping Memories

Our first camping trip is under our belt. It started with a few mishaps, but we recovered and regrouped quickly. We forgot the key to the camper, our dog ran off, and the water heater on the camper was leaking. However, The Bob in his wisdom said, "Let's camp somewhere close for the first time." Our campground was only 20 minutes from home. So, we came back home and got the key, found our dog and brought her back home, and he fixed the water heater.


And what did we do for the past three days? We about rode the tires off our bikes. I have not ridden my bike like that since I was 11 years old. Memories of summers spent peddling my bike flooded my memory. I loved it. I loved every single minute of it, and I can't even express how much. Also, our kids swam in a lake for the first time ever. We played basketball. Played at a playground. Made new friends....my particular favorite was was another camper's dog...Buster the Basset Hound. Watched a raccoon as he contemplated what a fellow camper might leave him for a tasty snack. And we ate....I ate the most....lots of cake....and the scale showed it this morning. Don't even ask. We left cup cakes out at night to see if the raccoons would see them as tasty....and they did. I ate a lot of cake, but I did share it with nature, too. I'm nice that way.



I am sad that I don't have any pictures to share. I was so caught up in the fun of nothing to do that I didn't take any pictures. But I remember. The images are etched in my mind. I remember the smell of the trees as I peddled my bike through them in the morning...and afternoon. I remember the only sounds to be heard at night were the locusts singing. And I remember the joy of my children when we arrived at the campground and their dismay when it was time to go. But we'll go back, and we are already thinking of how soon that will be........


This post is linked at Tuesdays Unwrapped:

A Camping We Will Go....

Tonight, we are leaving to go on a 3 day camping trip. It will be our first camping outing, and we are super excited. I will mention that I am NOT a tent camper. Nope. No Siree. There's something to be said for air conditioning (particularly when you live in the South!), your own shower, and your own toilet even in the Great Outdoors. Not to mention the use of such amenities as a blow dryer and curling iron. We bought a used camper last year, and we are just finally getting to use it. Finally.

I hope to unplug while we are gone. Unplug from the stress of owning a business. Unplug from the demands and frustrations of daily life. Unplug from the distractions I let creep in my daily life....the computer, the TV, the phone. All distractions. I look forward to plugging into a good book, time with The Bob, time with Fep and Moose, bike rides, nature trails, walks by the lake, and a tasty steak on the grill. I think that I may not want to come back......