Ringing in 2013

All day I’ve been thinking about writing a post for my blog.  After all, I did last year.  At that time, I was in the midst of a LOT of changes.  And, as a result of those changes, just a week later I was in the hospital with stress-induced amnesia.  Needless to say, I’m hoping that 2013 starts off on a better note than 2012 did. 

But, the good news is that, all in all, 2012 was a pretty good year for me.  Here are some of the highlights:

By the end of January, I was feeling better and very ready for our family trip to Walt Disney World.

In February, I “graduated” from the College of Disney Knowledge and became a travel agent specializing in Disney vacations. 

In March, I celebrated my 42nd birthday.  I spent a day in Hershey with my mom – ate breakfast at the Hershey Pantry and shopped at the outlets (yay for the Disney Outlet!) 

In April, we celebrated Ian’s 6th birthday.  We also had Gracie’s orchestra performances to attend.  And, the last weekend in April found me in Washington, DC at the 2:1 Conference.  It was a great time of refreshment for me, connecting with some old friends and making some new ones. 

April was also an exciting month, because we kicked off our new website – Homeschool Mosaics!

In May, we had more orchestra performances, a violin recital, Tim Hawkins concert, and the CHAP convention. 

June found us spending a week at the Jersey shore – always a relaxing and refreshing vacation.

In July, we enjoyed having Ashley’s friend Sam come and visit with us for a week.  We did a lot of local day trips during that visit and had lots of fun.

We were excited to be a part of my friend Vonna’s wedding in August.

Soon after the wedding, the kids and I boarded a plane for a 2nd Walt Disney World trip – for the Ultimate Field Trip in September.

October found us at a lot of soccer games.

In November, Ashley and I went to Lancaster to celebrate her birthday – we spent the night, shopped, and saw Jonah at Sight & Sound. 

And December was full of Christmas festivities.  This was the first Christmas since my friend Sue passed away that I actually felt like celebrating – so it’s all good.

Now we’re heading into the new year and I’m excited about another website:

We’ve got lots of great things planned for 2013, which I’ll be  blogging about as they come!  Hope you’ll be here to join me for all the fun!

Mother Knows Best

I’ve met so many Disney-lovin’ friends since becoming a part of the Magical Blogorail earlier this year.  It’s always fun to meet people who share your interests and passions – I love meeting up with fellow homeschool families at conventions, or bumping into other families who have adopted children.  Disney lovers are much the same.  No matter what you are passionate about, I’m sure you know what I mean – finding someone who shares that passion creates a connection.

Through the Magical Blogorail, I got to know Randy from Your Highway in the Sky.  Randy’s a major Disney aficionado, who visits WDW on a regular basis (lucky guy!)  He asked me a while back if I’d be interested in doing some writing for his website.  He wanted someone who could write from the perspective of a mother.

It took me awhile to get up the courage to write my first post.  I don’t know why because I have no problem writing for my own blog.  But the pressure of writing for a group website kinda got to me, I guess.  Anyway, my first post finally went live today.  I hope you’ll take the time to go and check it out.  My column is called Mother Knows Best.  I even have a nifty little button:

While you’re visiting, be sure to check out all the other great posts – there are some amazing writers over there!  Also, they’re running a fabulous contest right now.  There’s still time to enter (August 1st is the deadline) and the prizes are awesome (I wish I could enter!) 

Please go read my post and leave me a comment over there! 

Guess where I am . . .

Poor Brian had to stay home and work this week, but the kids and I are off on yet ANOTHER vacation.  Wonder where we are this time?  Here are a few hints . . .

• It's sunny here but there's a constant breeze
• It's a great place to go barefoot
• I got a sunburn yesterday
• I love reading here!
• It just seemed like the perfect place to get a pedicure (with a lovely, summery shade of pink)
  

Any guesses?  If you're a FB friend, your guesses  don't count. LOL

Introducing ME

Welcome to my blog! An extra special welcome to those of you who are visiting via the Ultimate Blog Party hosted by 5 Minutes for Mom.  The UBP is a great way to meet new bloggy friends!  I hope you’ll find something of interest here on my blog – maybe enough so that you’ll want to follow and visit more often!  If you do decide to follow, please leave me a comment letting me know, so that I can come and visit your blog too.

Now, a bit about me – Heidi – the face behind Reviews & Reflections:

I’m a stay-at-home homeschooling mom to 3 great kids.  Ashley is 17, Gracie is 10, and Ian is 4 (with a 5th birthday fast approaching!) I love these kids and am thankful that God had homeschooling in the plans for my family – I can’t imagine not spending each and every day with them!

My husband Brian and I will celebrate 20 years of marriage in February of 2011.  Wow – times flies!  He works as a bookkeeper/accountant for a local trucking company, where he’s been employed for the past 21 years.  He also enjoys reffing  basketball games (which takes up most of his “spare” time in the winter months).

Our family also consists of 2 very crazy Pug dogs. Their names are Sallie & Lizzie.  At any given time I can either love them like crazy or want to throw them out a 3-story window!  Mostly it’s love though. :)

In addition to homeschooling my kids, I also work part-time, from home, for a national homeschooling magazine called The Old Schoolhouse®.  If you’re a homeschooler, and you’re not familiar with this great resource, you NEED to check it out!  My title is Special Projects Manager and some of my “special projects” include creating the Schoolhouse Planner (a full line of interactive .pdf planners for all your homeschool & household needs), project managing the production of The Curiosity Files unit studies, and heading up the Homeschool Crew (a team of 200+ homeschool parents who review curriculum and other fun products).  Yes, I love my job!

I love to read (as you can probably tell by my reviews) and I love to plan – anything from our homeschooling to work-related things, to parties and vacations.  I also love anything that can be classified as Italian food, ice cream, and coffee. 

Some of my DISlikes would be peas, seafood (for reasons I won’t get into in this post, but suffice it to say, it’s not pretty!), two-faced and fake people, and cleaning my house (because I’ve got much better things to do!)

My all-time favorite vacation destination is Walt Disney World!  In fact, people might even accuse me of being obsessed with it.  Here on my blog, I host a weekly meme relating to Disney – each Friday I post a new topic and participants blog about the topic and link up.  It’s quite fun!  If you’re a Disney lover, please plan to participate with us (it’s always fun to make new Disney-lovin’ friends!)  On Thursdays, I post a Disney-themed review – sometimes they are books, either planning or just for fun, sometimes other things – you just never know what you might find!  I also have a list of MY Recommended Disney Resources (and this list is always growing!)

You can also find Reviews & Reflections on Facebook or follow me on Twitter (though I’m pretty much a Twitter failure – so far – I’ve got MUCH to learn!)

Did I cover it all?  If you’re left with questions, please feel free to ask them in the comments section and I’ll get back to you!  If not, enjoy your time at the UBP – I hope you make lots of new friends! Happy Blogging!

My First Trip to WDW ~ January 1988

I’m behind!  This week’s DD topic is Hidden Mickeys.  But, I’m still working on last week’s topic – which was to share about our first trip to Walt Disney World.  Yes, there’s a reason why I leave the linky open for TWO weeks instead of just one!  I want to make sure EVERYONE has time to play along – and that includes ME!  I had to raid my mom’s old photo albums to find some pictures to share.  So, here goes - - -

I was a senior in high school when we made our first trip to WDW.  It’s funny, I can never remember if it was 1987 or 1988 – the album confirmed that it was, indeed, 1988.  I spent WEEKS pouring over a Birnbaum’s Guide that someone had loaned to my mom – and I had our trip planned to a tee.  LOL  (Some things never change!)

Here are some random pics from that first trip.  Please be forgiving – remember, it WAS the 80’s and big hair was in . . .

This is me with my brother David and my Dad

I love this picture of my brothers with Mickey
at American Adventure – weren’t they adorable?!

My rather shy dad schmoozing it up with Suzie & Perla!

Big hair, yes; frizzy hair, no!  I’m not sure what’s up with my hair!
But, I thought this picture of the now-extinct Skyway ride was neat.

And another ride that’s no longer in existence -
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea

My family loved this trip so much that we made plans to go back again 2 years later.  And, I knew that I would want to take my own family back again.  In 1999, we did just that.  Here are a few pictures of Brian’s & Ashley’s first trip to WDW (she was 5) . . .

Excuse the rounded edges – this pic was scanned from my scrapbook.
This girl always knew how to work a camera!

One of the family pics that we sent to Vietnam with our adoption paperwork!

In 2005, we made our next trip to WDW.  This was Gracie’s first trip.  She was 4 1/2 . . .

  Meeting Snow White in Toontown

Meeting Alice & the Mad Hatter
(Ashley was 11)

A family shot – my parents joined us on that trip

January of 2009 was our next trip to WDW and Ian’s first trip.  He was only 2 (we planned that trip to happen before he turned 3, so he’d still be free) . . .

with Buzz Lightyear in Downtown Disney

  
our family in front of the castle

 
with our precious friends – Abe, Gabby & baby Adelie 
(FYI – it was their first trip also)

This was a fun topic!  I hope YOU will dig out YOUR old pictures and take the time to participate – I’d love to see more First Trip Memories. 

The Homeschool Mother’s Journal - 1

I’ve had so many homeschool-related blog posts running around in my head and no time to sit down and post them. :(  Here I am, a homeschool mom whose job is homeschool-related and I can’t find the time to write about it on my blog. 

So, this morning, when I saw the Homeschool Mother’s Journal pop up on a blog in my Google Reader, I checked it out.  It seems like Sue, over at The Homeschool Chick, started this for herself – but lots of other homeschool moms wanted to join the fun, so it’s going to become a meme.  How perfect is that?  And I’m even getting it on the first week!  So, here goes - - -

In my life this week...

Well, if you follow my blog at all, you know I’ve been dreaming of Disney.  So much so, that I even decided that it’s time to resurrect the Destination Disney meme.  I’m praying and hoping for more participants this time around – it’s so much fun and I just want others to enjoy it with me.  But, then again, it’s MY obsession, so even if I have to go it alone, so be it.

We didn’t know we were heading  back to the Orlando area this year.  Ian has been watching Disney documentaries via Netflix instant streaming, and I found myself rather interested in the Disney Cruises.  I’ve never even had a desire to go on a cruise  before.  So, we started tossing the idea of doing one NEXT year (2012).  Then, I found out that I’m getting to go to FPEA again for TOS – so that means we get some Disney time in this year too. :)  Oh, the joys!

It’s been cold and snowy here this past week – not a lot of snow, but a lot of cold.  Enough to keep us mostly indoors.  Brian has been busy reffing basketball games, which means he has been gone almost every weeknight (with the exception of a few games that have been cancelled due to weather).  Yesterday, I decided that we needed some family time, so we stayed home from church (heathens!) then got ready and went for a nice lunch and to BJ’s.  It was just nice to get out of the house and away together as a family.

In our homeschool this week...

We’ve been doubling up this past week, doing 2 days in 1.  The reason?  Well, we counted how many weekdays were left between now and the day we leave for Florida and we have more school days to do than days of the week.  We want to be done before we go, so we don’t have to worry about school when we get home.  Hence, doubling up. 

Since it’s so cold and we’re content in the house anyway, I think we’ll continue with the double-up schedule for the next few weeks, at least. 

Places we're going & people we're seeing...

Aside from having to run Gracie to violin and piano lessons, we’re hanging out at home in this weather!  Gracie did have a playdate with a friend on Saturday, which was fun for her.  And we’re hoping to plan a field trip soon – once my friend Jodi and her kids are all settled in back in NJ. 

My favorite thing this week was...

Finishing up Pride & Prejudice with Ashley.  I read that entire book OUT LOUD to her.  Jane Austen didn’t write her books to be read-alouds, I’m quite certain.  We would up that study by watching the movie last night.

What's working/not working for us...

Most of what we chose to use this year has been working quite well and I’m quite pleased.  We’ve also received some middle-of-the-year pleasant surprises – both via the Homeschool Crew and New Leaf Publishing Group.  I’ll post more about these great products soon! 

Homeschool questions/thoughts I have...

I’m thinking about the upcoming homeschool convention season, and I’m excited at the prospect of attending CHAP as a CUSTOMER (rather than a vendor = TOS) this year.  I need to sit down and make up our list of  things we’ll need for next school year.  It will be nice to be able to take our time, browse the vendors’ booths, and listen to some of the speakers this year. 

I can’t believe that next school year I’ll have a senior (yikes!), a 7th grader, and a kindergartner!  My kids are  growing up so very fast, and the opportunity to spend each day with them, at home, is a treasure. 

A photo to share...

While the kids were outside playing in the snow last week, I took the opportunity to snap some photos.  I especially like this one of a nearby farm in winter.  (It’s not really this close to us – I zoomed in!)

If you want to join in this new meme, simply click on the button above. :) 

30 Day Blog Challenge: Day 21

Today’s Topic = Picture of Me

I’m really not one for having my picture taken.  Especially ONLY me.  Me and my kids are fine, and I don’t mind having a picture taken with Brian or a friend (even more so now that Sue is gone – I wish I had lots more pictures of the two of us together).  But, just me --- not so much.  I am trying to get better about it, because I know someday my kids will appreciate having those pictures.

Anyway, we went for a photo session to get some “school” photos of the kids the other day.  Ashley took this picture of me, so it’s the most recent “picture of me” that I have ===>

Kinda crazy, but it is what it is, right?! 

30 Day Blog Challenge: Day 10

Today’s Topic = Something You’re Afraid Of

Snakes, mice, and rats immediately come to mind here. 

I’m also afraid of cancer.

I’m afraid of dying and leaving my children behind without a mother.

And I’m afraid of car accidents.

Tomorrow’s topic is a bit more lighthearted. . .
so stick around!

30 Day Blog Challenge: Day 9

Yes, I’m posting this a day late.  Honestly, I was trying to think of a way to just kinda ease past this post without doing it.  Because the topic is

A Picture of Your Friends

And when I think of the word friend, Sue immediately pops into my mind.  The passing of time since March 5th has been almost surreal.  Life without Sue in it is . . . different.  Not a day goes by that I don’t miss her. 

BUT  . . . God has been gracious.  Over and over again this year, I’ve had opportunities to meet with people that I never would have dreamed it would be possible for me to meet.  I’m almost afraid I’m going to let someone out, so I’m not even going to try to include everyone.  If your picture isn’t here, that doesn’t mean I don’t love you, ok?! 

Right now, I’m just mainly thinking about my job and what a blessing it has been as it has allowed my family the chance to travel to various places throughout this year that we might not have had opportunity to go to otherwise.  In April, we went to Cincinnati to represent The Old Schoolhouse Magazine at the Midwest Convention.  In addition to meeting many of my Crew mates, I finally got to meet my amazing assistant, Brenda!  Many days, I wonder what I’d ever do without this special lady in my life.  When it comes to our jobs, we definitely complete each other, that’s for sure! 

  In May, we traveled to Florida under the guise of attending their homeschool convention as well.  However, a trip to Florida is never complete without a visit with Mickey!  On our very first day in the parks, we ran into my friend Wendy’s family.  I had never met them in person, but I knew they were vacationing at Disney the same week as we were, so I was watching.  I met Wendy through my work with the Crew and have been blessed over and over again by her friendship.  Wendy and two of her children are actually coming to visit us in a few weeks – for a whole week! 

Another Florida blessing was meeting Becky.  Becky is another great lady that I met through the Crew.  The neat thing about Becky is that she knew (of) me long before I knew of her.  She had seen my name, photo, and articles in various issues of TOS and she felt a connection with me.  She had been praying that we would someday meet and be friends.  Her prayers were answered.  This lady is such a source of encouragement to me.  My only wish is that she didn’t live so far away (but, truth be told, I’m just jealous that she is in Florida, and I am not!)

This summer, the kids and I met up with another Crew mate and my new TOS assistant, Jodi.  Our kids hit it off, and so did we.  Truthfully, it’s a little bit scary how much Jodi and I have in common.  I swear she leaves a comment on my blog almost daily that says something along the lines of “me too!”  LOL  When I was looking for another assistant, I remember telling Gena that I really wanted to have Jodi because “she  gets me”. :)  We’ll be hooking up with them again in a few days for a fall field trip – yeah!

I talk to each of these ladies on a daily basis – usually through e-mail (but sometimes I get to hear their voices on the phone too).  In God this year, I have seen such a picture of parenting.  My parents were always so good at making sure that I was surrounded by friends when I was an only child.  God, now, is doing that same thing in my life. :) 

Taking some time for me!

I started this blog at the beginning of this year because I was in need of a change.  Back at HSB, I enjoyed playing around with my template and designing my own page elements, etc.; but since moving over to blogger, I didn’t have enough time to figure out how to do all of that.  So, I ended up treating myself for my birthday – and getting a custom-made template (which I really liked).

But, much like the living room in my home, I was in need of a change and rearrange!  So ---

I recently spent the money to upgrade to Scrapbook Factory Deluxe (version 5).  It arrived last week and I immediately installed it on my computer.  Finally, this week, I made some time to play around with it and created my new blog header and buttons.  I used a digital scrapbook kit that I had purchased on clearance at Designs by Krista. 

Then, my friend Jolanthe, from Homeschool Creations and No Ordinary Moments, graciously took the time to help me change the font colors to match! 

Now, I’m finally feeling at home (again) in my own blog!  I hope you feel at home here too! 

What’s New at Your House?

Here’s what’s new at mine - - -

Notice there are 2 dogs sleeping on Brian’s lap – not just 1.  The people that we got Sallie from last year were getting rid of all their pugs (2 parents, a 9-month old pup, and 3 10-week old pups).  We decided to give the 9-month old a try.  I read that pugs are very social animals and prefer to have a companion.  So, Sallie’s little sister Lizzie is here and, so far, it’s going well. 

We’ve been told that Sallie is a small pug.  Well, Lizzie is much smaller.  I don’t know if she was the runt of her litter, or what, but she’s TINY! 

What’s that on my foot?  Could it be a sneaker?!  I haven’t had a sneaker on my foot since I discovered Crocs several years ago.

But, when we took Gracie for new sneakers last week, my mom encouraged me to get a pair too.  And I have to confess – I kinda like them.

Oh, and one more thing . . . we found a really cute book for Ian at Wal-mart the other day.   It’s part of a workbook series by Mead called Writing Fundamentals and is called Snip It! 

So far, Ian’s only done one activity from the book, but I think it’s really cute.  The rainbow picture you see him working on above --- I had him color the sun and the cloud – then you peel back the sections of the rainbow and they are sticky underneath.  You snip colored strips of paper (included) and adhere it to the sticky sections to create the rainbow.  The workbook contains 6 activities like that – then it moves on to pieces that you cut out and put into pictures.  Then, the last section is to cut out pictures and put them together to match an illustration.  I think it’ll be great fun!

Sometimes you just need to add some new things to your life, right?  So tell me, what’s new with YOU?

Decluttering

The other day (in my post about curriculum and resources that I have for sale), I mentioned that I was in a decluttering mood.  I have this book to thank for that ===>

I won this book, totally unexpected, from The Homeschool Village.  I didn’t even know I was entered to win, so it was a huge surprised when I received a note saying that I had won! 

I had NO IDEA that I needed this book.  It wasn’t on my list of “books to buy”.  I get a lot of books to review and don’t often find time to read books “just because” anymore.  But, I didn’t select any review books for the month of July and have  been trying to read through the Chronicles of Narnia and the Bible in 90 Days.  I picked up this book and started browsing through it – then I started reading more diligently.  I’m only through the first few chapters, but I truly did NEED this  book!  Isn’t it neat how God always knows just what we need?  I wish we could all (especially me) learn to trust Him more to meet my needs.

Anyway, way back at the beginning of the year, I chose a word for the year => SIMPLIFY.  I even bought a little plaque to hang in my kitchen to remind me throughout the year.  But, that’s as far as it got.  In HomeSchooling at the Speed of Life, Marilyn Rockett tells us that we can’t do it all.  But one thing that we can do to make our lives simpler and more efficient is to reduce clutter (doesn’t that equal simplifying?) 

So, earlier this week, I made a list of various zones in our house that we need to work on simplifying/decluttering.  We started with the coat closet in our living room.  Now, you need to understand that we live in an old house (circa 1929) – so think “little closet space”.  This closet is the only closet we have on our main floor and it’s built on a corner of our living room (so it’s triangular in shape).  There’s a shelf up top and hooks around the edges to hang coats on (no bar). 

We did as the book suggested and totally emptied the closet and started from scratch.  We only put back in what we absolutely need.  We have a full garbage bag full of coats and jackets to take to the thrift shop, along with another large bag of hats and gloves.  Plus, I have some coats laid aside to take to church to offer to some people there who can probably use them this winter.  When I look at the pile, I seriously can’t believe all that stuff was squeezed into our tiny closet!  The floor space houses our vacuum cleaner and the shelf above now contains 3 bags – 1 for hats, 1 for gloves, and 1 for scarves.  I’d like to try to find some bins for these things, but the space isn’t very high, so they’d need to be low ones to get through the opening. 

I wish I had taken BEFORE and AFTER pictures, but I didn’t even think.  Anyway, here is the pile off goodies to give away =>

And here you can see what the closet looks like now:

Try to imagine it with those garbage bags full of stuff in there yet too.  LOL  I didn’t realize it was quite that bad.

Yesterday’s project was to declutter the 3 junk drawers in the kitchen.  Yes, you read that right – I said 3 (three) junk drawers.  Disgraceful, I know.  I know everyone is allowed or supposed to have one junk drawer, but 3?! 

Anyway, I just grabbed a bag for garbage and set to work (I enlisted the help of Brian, Gracie, and Ian too!)  The first drawer is to the left of my stove and contained a hodgepodge assortment of things such as old Weight Watchers paperwork for about 10 years ago, recipes printed out on sheets of paper, old knobs for our drawers and cupboards, toothpicks and salt (from Vietnam), lotion samples, etc.  I emptied it all out; and since it’s right beside the stove, I filled it with utensils that won’t fit in my spoon jar (previously these items were in the silverware drawer). 

The second drawer is to the right of the sink, and was just full of so much junk that I can’t even begin to describe it.  Let’s suffice it to say that there were about 3 million twist-ties, pens, pencils, screwdrivers and tons of nails of various sizes – just imagine the worst-looking junk drawer you’ve ever seen and that’s it!  Anyway, we totally emptied it and now it holds dish clothes (makes perfect sense, right?)

Drawer #3 had our phone books, local restaurant menus, birthday candles, etc.  It really wasn’t all that bad – just needed some attention.  It’s much better now.  I’d like to pick up some drawer organizers to create sections in that drawer; and I need a new tray for my silverware. 

Hmmm . . . .wonder what’s on the declutter list for today?!

Homeschool Village ~ Self-Evaluation

This week’s Homeschool Village topic is Self-Evaluation.  Personally, I’d like to shy away from this one!  But, I’m going to try to answer the prompt questions shared this week ---

1. If you were to "grade" yourself on homeschooling this past year ... what "grade" would you have earned? What if your children were grading you? Take time this week to sit down and ask them what grade they think you deserve! You might be surprised ~ sometimes we are harder on ourselves than necessary!

I would definitely give myself a rather low grade for this past year.  My oldest daughter is away this week, and I think Gracie would be too kind to give me a bad grade, but I do feel like I deserve it.  I came out of this year feeling like a bit of a failure.  However, my kids learned!  Gracie had to be tested this past year (PA law) and she passed with high scores.  So, if that is any indication, I must not have done quite as badly as I think, right?

I spent a lot of time with my friend Sue this past year.  I don’t regret that time in the least.  Ashley did comment to me a few  times that they (my kids) were missing out on school while Sue’s kids were not (they attend public school).  I wonder, though, if my kids weren’t actually learning more during those days when I was with Sue and they needed to fend for themselves.  I know a lot of life lessons were learned this year – things that can’t be taught with textbooks.

I do feel, though, that I spent too much time working and not enough time actually focusing on my kids (even though I may have been in the same room, sitting at the same table).  So, that’s something I need to work on for this next year.

2. What have you learned about yourself because of homeschooling? Did you realize you have a special gift, talent, or passion you hadn't realized before?

I’ve learned that I love homeschooling!  I love learning (but I already knew that!)  I’ve learned that it is a blessing to have this opportunity to be home with my kids, learning alongside them and/or facilitating their learning on a daily basis.  I know so much about my kids – their learning styles, personalities, hopes and dreams) that I feel I probably wouldn’t know if they were separated from me each day. 

3. What area(s) do you feel you need the most improvement for the upcoming school year? What steps will you take to make those improvements?

I touched on this at the end of my answer to question #1 – but mainly it’s an issue of better organizing my time.  I know what I need to do – it’s just a matter of doing it.  So, for this year, the plan will be to get up early enough to do my Bible reading and a few hours of work before the kids even get out of bed.  Then, we’ll spend the later morning and early afternoon on schoolwork.  If I have more work to do that day, it’ll have to wait until school is completed for the day.  I need to discipline myself to turn off the computer!

See, I know I have a problem with nosiness – I’m afraid if I turn off my computer I might miss a work-related e-mail that comes through.  But, I’m also learning that those things can usually wait a few hours until  I have time to deal with them.  And I think that if my attention is focused on one thing at a time, that we might actually complete things more quickly anyway. 

Something I learned back in my days with Home & Garden Party was the motto - “God first, family second, work third” – it’s a good one and I need to put it back into practice around here. 

4. What are your goals? What are your children's goals - do they have any?

My short-range goals:

• To get started on this next school year sometime in the next few weeks
• To get settled into a routine that works for all of us
• To take more field trips throughout the year and do more hands-on activities and read-alouds
• To find something more structured to do with Ian and actually do it, but not be tied down to it

My longer-range goals:

• To graduate Ashley (only 2 years to go)
• To help her decide where her strengths lie and what she might want to do with her future
• To choose curriculum that meets the needs of my kids in the years to come (this isn’t always easy when you have 3 kids with three very distinct and different personality, strengths, and weaknesses)

5. How will you reward yourself for accomplishing your goals?

Hmmm . . . a trip to Disney World?!  Truthfully, I don’t know.  I’ll have to think on this one.

If you would like to read what others have to say about how they make the grade, click here.

Blast From the Past – Christmas in July

Wonder why I’m wearing shorts and  visiting with Santa?  It’s because it’s summer!  My mom has this picture marked “1978” on the back.  That summer, we visited North Pole, NY.  Unfortunately, I don’t remember much about it.  Guess that’s what pictures are for. :)

My t-shirt says Little Buffalo State Park.  I think I had a never-ending supply of these shirts because my aunt & uncle had the contract for the concession stand by the pool for 5 years.  My uncle drew the “little buffalo” and designed the shirts.  Funny thing is, there are still some of these t-shirts floating around in our family!  LOL


If you’d like to see more Blast from the Past pictures, click on the button to go to Debbie’s blog. 

Flashback Friday Medical Memories

Were you prone to accidents and injuries when you were growing up? Did you ever break a bone? Knock out any teeth? Get stitches? Have you ever ridden in the back of an ambulance? Did you ever have surgery or spend any time in a hospital? How did your folks treat injuries and illnesses? With lots of TLC or by telling you to get a stiff upper lip? Was there a particular home remedy that your mom (or dad or whoever!) used or any "traditions" involving injuries or illnesses? What's the worst injury (or illness) you had when you were growing up?

I was not an accident-prone kid.  For the first 15 years of my life, I was an only child.  I was more content indoors with a good book!

I remember minor little accidents when I was little – always treated with some Bactine and/or a band-aid. (I was surprised when I looked up Bactine for a picture that it’s still very much available.  Not sure how I miss it in the stores.  We’re more into Neosporin around here these days.)

Once, when I was in the 5th  grade, we were doing a project in art class that required us to cut shapes out of cardboard boxes using razor knives.  Looking back on that experience, I can’t imagine supplying 5th grade students with razor knives – I’m sure they’re not even allowed in schools these days.  I’d never give one to Gracie to use, that’s for sure.  Anyway, being the leftie that I am, I was apparently cutting toward myself, rather than away; and I sliced right through my right wrist.  I was immediately rushed to the boys’ bathroom (the closest) for cleansing, and was taken downstairs to the janitor (talk about small town USA!) who called my grandparents. I remember sitting there waiting, trying not to panic at the amount of blood.  I begged my Pap to take me to my mom (who was at work in a nursing home about 1/2 an hour away). 

I should have had stitches, but I cried and begged my mom not to – so she fixed me up with some “butterfly” bandages.  I still have a scar.  Oh well. 

I’ve never had stitches (except for after giving birth to Ashley and after my tubal pregnancy surgery – both were the kind that dissolve on their own – thank God!)  I’ve never had a broken bone.  Good thing too because, truth be told, I’m rather a wimp!