Homeschool - Back to School

Recently a new article about the supplies for homeschooling was written. This is a great article with reminders that homeschool students need a lot of the same supplies if not more than public or private school students.

This same site has another article this week about getting started on homeschooling. Great organizational tips and other helpful hints.

Whether you homeschool or send your child to a bricks and mortar school you will find that being organized and prepared are essential to a good schooling experience. There are so many great products to help us all stay organized. We are lucky that some retailers offer great prices on such things so that each of us can really enjoy them.

Jon & Kate Plus 8

Ya, I know. It's everywhere and a lot of people are sick of it! I am tired of the media spin as well but today I read something that made me ponder the whole scope of this poor families situation and about life in general.

My heart goes out to this family. The media has put them under a microscope that most of us would die under. Can you imagine having everything you do scrutinized? I know that I would not come out looking nearly as fine as this family does! I think that Kate is very critical and bossy and yet, I think I am a lot like her in that way. I just wish I were as organized and energetic as well! I think that Jon is a nice guy in general but as a wife I can see how he would drive me crazy so I think I relate to her better. Most of all, I am married with children and know all too well that there are two sides to every story and to place blame on just one person would be disasterous!

Isn't it odd how people change? Kate Gosselin makes the point of swiftly the two went in different directions. I am sure that a lot of people want to blame their financial success or the media exposure for this but I think that it is a common thread among a lot of couples. Most of us choose our spouse when we are very young. We think that we are marrying the person right for us and at that very time we may be. Then each person begins to grow, not always at the same time and definitely not always in the same direction. This is the hard part. You never know where your roads will lead you but hopefully you can try your best to grow and change together and somehow stay in love with each other.

Bottom line, I hope that this couple can continue doing what is second best for the children. Naturally the best thing is to stay in love and married. I do not think that it is best for children to grow up with the example of two people who stay married because "it's the right thing to do" if there is not love behind it. I think there needs to be the glue behind the scenes to hold the couple together. I also know that children are the ones who end up the losers in divorce no matter what. I think that the younger they are the more resilient so hopefully the Gosselin children will be accepting of the situation as best as possible. My main concern is that this couple has never been overly friendly to each other. I hope that in whatever ways they pass by each other and interact that they can be friends and be unified in what needs to happen for the children. Those kids as well as us viewers have seen too much contention in their household already. The couple bickers and they are in general unkind to one another. Maybe with all of the emotional issues set aside they can be civil and even friendly.

For any readers going through marital hardships my heart goes out to you and I wish the best for you. Being married is the greatest thing when it is going well. It is also the hardest thing most of us will ever do. I do believe that a good marriage is a wonderful thing!

Memorial Day Vacation!

So I had the great fortune of being in the Washington D.C. area for Memorial Day! I went to visit my brother and his wife at their home in Fort Belvoir, Virginia. It is absolutely gorgeous there and the weather was perfect. Lucky me!

We saw Arlington, Mount Vernon, all of downtown D.C. and I got to spend my last day in Baltimore with great old friends. Inner Harbor is fantastic. I will say that my brother and his wife took me there for dinner right after picking me up from the airport and it was fabulous. On my last day there the harbor was really smelly but still beautiful. It had just decided to rain in the form of a blanket of mist. It was still a blast. The water taxi is fun and I have to go back because the two times I was there I missed doing the paddle boats. :)

I also got to go to the National Aquarium and see the dolphin show. It was amazing. Dolphins are my favorite. Nothing could have made my trip better except maybe some extra time. It went by very quickly for me. I missed my children but it was hard to come back to the everyday living and get my head in the game. I loved my vacation of six days! Next time I go though, I hope to have my children with me to share all of the wonders with them. I would also like to take them to Williamsburg.

Thanks to my whole family on both sides of the country for making the trip possible. It was the best!

Pandora Radio & Other Random Thoughts

First off I must pay tribute to Dave Matthews Band and Jason Mraz for the best Saturday night that a girl could have. Wow!!! What a conert. Very awesome!

Second, let's here it to the Las Vegas Hilton for cheap rooms that are actually decent!!!

Third, but never least is Pandora Radio online. I am an addict. I abosolutely love creating my own stations to fit whatever mood I am in. What a wonderfult thing for someone to come up with. I am hooked!

Wii Fit and Nintendo Wii, I'm a BIG Fan!!!

So, my children all saved up all their money for most of the year and then pooled it all together (despite the fact that some had more than others) and together they bought a Nintendo Wii, Wii Fit, and Wii Play. They were also able to buy three extra controllers so that everyone can play together.

I am in love with this machine! The fact that we have all been so active for hours each day is astounding to me and we are doing it together so that is icing on the cake.

I am proud of my children for working together and not having any attitude about it. They have allowed my husband, my brother and I to play for hours each day with no whining!

Despite the fact that every muscle in my pathetic body hurts from head to toe, I love that too. It means that something is working for good! YEAH! It's about time.

Christmas was a hard time around here and we told the kids that there would not be much. Our total Christmas budget for our little immediate family (of six, so not so little) was $200. My DH and I did not do a thing for each other, not even a card. It was our gift to each other. The kids were told that they had to get gifts for each other ($5 on each gift limit) and then they couldn't spend any other money until after Christmas.

Despite the fact that most of what they got were necessities, they acted thrilled and so grateful. So, when my DH and I hinted that they could probably get the Wii for themselves they were out of their minds and we were thrilled for them.

We pay the older children $5 per week allowance and the smaller (5 years old) $3 per week. Unless it is a birthday or Christmas we literally buy them nothing that isn't clothing or toiletries. They are all on their own for extras in life. Through allowance they have learned the value of a dollar, how to work hard, that money doesn't come easy, how to save and the satisfaction of saving for something. I know that with the Wii, they will treasure it and use it properly because they know how long and hard it took to get it, it didn't just fall into their laps.

As for allowance I will say that I expect the moon out of my children and if they do not do what is expected they pay us. For us allowance is not just for breathing, you really work and you would die before thinking about complaining about doing what you are asked to do. Cheerful attitudes all around are factored into whether they get a dime. They are also expected to put 10% in savings and 10% to tithing for our church before anything else gets spent.

The older they get, the more they want to save. Every trip to the store or online shopping they are amazed at the cost of things. They are aware of price reductions and inflation. I cannot say that at 12, 10 or 5 I was aware of such things but they are getting it. Hopefully they will be better at managing money than I have ever been.

Bottom line, I love allowance (not just because it got me a Wii too) and I do love the Wii because of the fun we have had together. Truly worth waiting for since we have wanted one since they came out. We all feel so blessed that we could have this for our family. It was going to be our Christmas until money got tight so it is an extra special family treat!

This got way too long so for any poor person reading, I do apologize!

GE Microwave Oven JES738WJ

Here is the second microwave oven in four months from Wal-Mart that completely died. One minute it was fine, the next it completely died.

I realize that we are down on our luck in the microwave category but this is ridiculous! Maybe it's Wal-Mart, maybe it is because I don't want to spend over $100 for a counter top microwave. Who knows?

What I do know is that I bought another microwave today and I got it at Home Depot. Thought I may have better luck at a different retailer. Wal-Mart drives me crazy! Not only do I have to return yet another microwave but you know I'm going to have to stand in line with it for an hour just to get it done! Has anyone ever gone there for any reason and not had to stand in line forever? Oy!

Rekindling friendships and keeping them as friendships, nothing more.

Recently I have had the chance to reaquaint myself with some friends from high school and college through the wonders of the internet. While I think that this has been fun it also causes me alarm. I think that when a person is in a committed relationship (like my marriage) that you don't go messing with things that could even maybe cause a problem down the road. So, I'm a bit skeptical.

I have found it hard to be my current age while dealing with people that take me back to being 17. I instantly want to flirt the way that we used to or to say things that I would have said 17 years ago. It takes everything in me to not say what I want or to flirt when I would like. But it is worth it. I have all that I could ever wish for and the grass is seldom if ever greener on the other side.

One guy that I have gotten back into contact with was someone that I was very close to. We were great friends and then that became more, even carrying over into college. Somewhere along the line we dropped the thought of "us". I don't remember the day that it happened but I do remember the feeling of "this is going nowhere and why would I want it to, we are too different, it will lead to divorce". Divorce was never in my cards.

So we get chatting the other night and some things from the past came up. I had broken off contact with this person because after I married (he came to my wedding) it seemed that he did not have the ability to be happy for me and it let me know loud and clear just what kind of friend he really was. Not the kind I needed! So, we lost touch for about 12 years. It was needless but we weren't mature enough to talk things through. But by some miraculous wonder we were able to chat (IM) for a while and in just a few paragraphs a whole ton of bricks was lifted off of me. I found out that he really did care about me (he could be lying but it worked) and I cared about him. The problem was timing and priorities and immaturity. We were in way over our heads at the time. We both agreed that things while we would go back and do things differently we would want the same outcome that led us to our lives today. It was a very healing (sounds cheesy) conversation. He has been married 9 years to a cute girl and I have been married almost 14 years.

All these years of wondering and now there is piece in that one small compartment of my heart. It made me feel so at ease. It also made me love my husband so much more. Whenever I have an online conversation or text (especially with someone of the opposite sex) I always fill my husband in on every detail because I don't want him to feel threatened or to ever think that I am seeking out something else to fill a void in my life.

Now everything is out in the open and I am happier than I thought I would be. I don't think that I fully realized the impact of that unfinished business on my life. Yes, I'm mental and proud of it. I have feelings. I am normal.

Most of all, I am grateful to a husband that hears me out and lets me talk it through. He validates all of my feelings and takes my side or at least helps me see the other side of things. He is my #1 fan and cheerleader. I married so right! I am so blessed!