Before I tell you who the winners of the Bloggy Giveaway prizes are, I want to tell you about another really cool contest happening at Soliloquy. Crissy is celebrating the lives of two women who have been very special in her life - her mother and grandmother - by sponsoring a photo contest for Mother's Day. You can go over there and submit your favorite mother/daughter photo and she has some mondo kewl prizes for you photography buffs.



Go ahead, click on the button. I'll wait. But don't forget to come back. You can get lost looking at Crissy's photography.

Me, I'm not so much of a photographer. But I'll give you a peek at what I'm submitting, because it was an accident that I really love. I was watching Romy play in the mirror and snapped this of her with no intention of capturing myself in the background. But I think it tells such a cool story of a mother, always right behind her little ones as they venture bit by bit into the big wide world.




Okay, okay. You've waited long enough. Here are the lucky winners of the Good Soil Bloggy Giveaways. Congratulations. I hope you winners will stop back here to tell us about how these prizes have worked for you.


For the sling

Comment 104 - there were 104 comments! So don't ever feel like you don't have a chance if you are the first or last comment. That was the number from the random number generator. The winner is Bai!


For the Dave Ramsey, Financial Peace Jr.

Comment 31 - Not Trying For a Boy Guess if her children are girls or boys?


For the Wickles - drumroll please.....

Comment 71 - toystory - she thinks this is a strange prize. Oh, she'll see. She'll see. Toystory - you've gotta come back after you get the Wickles and tell us all about the delight your tongue is feeling.

Congratulations to all the winners, and to everyone else, thanks for playing! I hope you'll come back and visit some more.

Update: Well, fortunately I had a great weekend. We went to a "Green" festival at the local nature museum. My friend is a "green" interior designer, and she had a booth there. I watched her two children while she and her husband handed out business cards. I took the kids up there for most of Saturday afternoon and we covered every inch of nature trail the place has. It was a fun, beautiful day. Saturday night we had dinner with friends looking to take care of us while Bud is gone and stayed up way too late talking.

Sunday we went to church and I watched the neighbor's kids again. I took all five of the kids to Steak n Shake and I'm a hero! It was cool and rainy on Sunday.

Sunday evening we met with the other families of the men in Honduras and had a prayer time together. We got to talk to Bud for about 30 seconds on via internet satellite of some sort before it broke up. He looked good after a plane trip, a 5 hour bus ride, a 5 hour hike and a couple hours of construction work. Handsome as usual. I do hope we'll get to have a real conversation with him before too long. We miss him a lot. But I'm more excited about what he's doing than sad that I miss him, because God is so very good.

So, I made a little progress on my barstools, the paint is pretty. BUT, Bud has the camera in Honduras. So no pictures. How did y'all do? I want to see some photos!



Since Bud is headed to Honduras in the morning, I have to keep my weekend project small, as I am manning the fort alone. Well, with copious neighborhood back-up (and a loaded shotgun). But, I wont' be able to do a big, big project, so I'm opting for this smallish one:



These were in my house, but they were too big and in the way. So I'm going to spray paint them with Rustoleum and fit them with new cushions, find a cheap bar table somewhere and set up the whole thing outside by the pool. You know, a nice place to sit and sip your umbrella-laden drink. Or Diet Coke in a can. Either way.

What's your project? Share your link on Mr. Linky below so we can all see what you're up to this weekend.

For simplicity's sake, please post the permalink to your blog post with your project, and then update that same post so we can all see your fabulous accomplishments more easily. And don't forget to post a link back here in your post!

Don't forget to enter the giveaways below. You have till midnight tonight, then the fat lady sings.

And don't forget about Weekend Warriors this weekend!

It was a good week and we got a lot done on the homeschool front. Bible, math, Latin, grammar, writing, spelling, literature, history. All went well, nothing so outstanding to give a rundown here. We're on track from previous weeks.

But science, now here's a lesson you don't get everyday, unless you are into watching the All Horror All the Time B Movie Channel. I made that up, I don't know if such a channel exists, but it probably does.



Those my friends, are termites. Coming up through the tub drain.

When we plugged up the drain, they started coming out of the drain overflow thingy near the top of the tub. But not just coming out. They were pouring out. In a Pacific Heights sort of way.

So now we know a lot about termites. About how their colonies look and how they swarm and how they can find the skinny space between your plumbing pipes and the foundation and make their way inside. And how the swarming is a Very Good Thing, because otherwise they would be snacking on the framing of the house and we would never know it until we could stick our finger right through the wall.

So it's your call. Science lesson or horror flick?

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The GRP
Almost ten months old and not a tooth in her head!

Labels: Homeschooling, The GRP

It only seemed appropriate that Give It Away should host a Giveaway. So it is.

Head on over there and leave a comment about your favorite charity. I will select three winners and donate $100 to each of their favorite charities. While I am a big believer in Wickles, I do believe this is a better prize.
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Not one to be discouraged, I will be posting another Weekend Warrior Mr. Linky on Friday evening by 10 p.m. I do hope you will join in this weekend. Remember, your project doesn't have to be home improvement. Just look at this one!

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One thing I am really bad at is menu planning. I am notorious for running to the store at 5:47 to find something for us to eat at 7 p.m. This often adds up to an expensive and unhealthy meal.

But what happens is I plan the menu and make the shopping list. Then Bud tells me we are eating at his mother's, or he has a client dinner, and that throws the whole thing off and I have to redo the list. Maybe some of you are better at adjusting than me, but once I make a plan I like to stick with it. If only so I can give the good Lord a good chuckle from time to time.

So last year I found this AMAZING little program that has transformed my menu planning life!

It's called Big Oven. You can download the program for $9.95. There is a more expensive upgraded version, but I haven't needed it so far.

This is how it works. First, you put recipes in it. Your own recipes, one of the many Big Oven recipes, or download them directly into Big Oven from your favorite recipe site like epicurious or allrecipes.

Then you drag and drop the menu items into the menu planning calendar.

Now pay attention here, because this is where it gets GOOD!

Next you tell it to CREATE YOUR SHOPPING LIST for your specified date range. It makes your list based on your menu plan and categorizes all the items for you according to grocery department.

Then, when your husband walks by and says he will be out of town on Wednesday night after all, you just go to the calendar, delete that menu, and it will pull the items from your list. (I don't know about you, but I take the opportunity to not cook when the hubby is gone. Buttered noodles is about as gourmet as it gets when he isn't here.)

Then you can quickly go through the list and delete the items you have on hand and print it out for YOUR BEST SHOPPING EXPERIENCE EVER! I'm so sorry to yell, but this has truly revolutionized my life.

So, go, download, plan, shop, eat and be joyful. Amen.

TIME'S UP! I'LL ANNOUNCE THE WINNER ON SATURDAY AFTERNOON!

My third entry in the Bloggy Giveaway Carnival is the one I am most excite about. Really, really excited. I am going to give away my very favorite condiment of all time.



BUT WAIT! I'm not just giving you a regular old 16 oz. jar of pickles here. I am giving you a 64 oz. jar of Wickles, the Wickedly Delicous Pickle!

And these are wickedly delicious. They are spicy hot, and they make everything from deviled eggs to tuna sandwiches to potato salad taste better. In fact, I personally enjoy eating them right out of the jar. And if I had a 64 oz. jar, I might just eat them all and die right there from happiness. Or drink a big glass of ice water. Because they are really hot.

So anyway, one lucky winner will be the proud owner of a 64 oz. jar of Wickles. Lucky, lucky you! Just leave a comment on this post and the winner will be chosen at random this weekend. And if you have a favorite recipe that calls for pickles, I won't be upset if you decide to share it.

This one is only open to U.S. residents. Because it's 64 ounces!

TIME'S UP! I'LL ANNOUNCE THE WINNER ON SATURDAY AFTERNOON!

Now for the second giveaway for the Bloggy Giveaway Carnival . I can't tell you much about this, because we've never used it. But I know a lot of folks who think it is great.



I like to listen to Dave Ramsey on the radio - "How's that working for ya'?" No wait, that's Dr. Phil.

Anyway, if you want to teach your kids how to manage their money wisely, this is a great product. We already had a system in place when we were given this, so we just never went down the road, but it looks excellent.

To enter, just leave a comment. If you can quote Dave Ramsey, or Dr. Phil, or Montel Williams, then that'll be much more fun, even though it won't help you win the giveaway. I'll choose the winner at random over the weekend.

This giveaway is only open to U.S. residents.

TIMES UP! I'LL ANNOUNCE THE WINNER ON SATURDAY AFTERNOON

It's time for the Bloggy Giveaway Carnival and I've got some really good stuff up for grabs.

First of all, because I have some very generous friends, I ended up with two Hotslings to use with Romy. Seeing as how Romy is only one baby, I am giving away the second sling. I've used it a couple of times, but it is still like new.

It's a Size 2 reversible Kaleidoscope padded Hotsling, and will come in its original packaging with the Wearing Instruction DVD.

Let me just tell you that I really love my Hotsling. I think you will, too.

Here is what the printed side looks like:



And the other side is a very pretty chocolate brown that can be very manly if worn by the right man.

To enter in this giveaway, just leave a comment, and be funny about it, okay? I'll pick a winner at random over the weekend and announce his or her name on Monday.

I will ship this giveaway worldwide!

Labels: Giveaway

Tune in tomorrow, because I'm joining in the Great Bloggy Giveaway, and I am giving away THREE things. THREE things that you will WANT!

In my hurry to edit my Weekend Warrior post yesterday, I added a poorly edited photo of Romy where she looks all ruddy, like she just got a bad spray-on tan. I meant to include this one, not that one!



So here is my sudden interest in photos. Besides Donna's and Ree's wonderful tutorials, which are very inspiring, I recently had a very sad situation. Last year my computer crashed and I lost some pictures. But not just any pictures - pictures of my mission trip to China, of my getaway to San Francisco with Bud, of Luke's 8th birthday and Peyton's 6th birthday, of our trip to New York City, and our trip to Disney World. Basically every picture we took in 2006 - gone.

I was nauseated for about a week. I was so sad. I would still tear up about it if I thought about it.

Well, recently, while transferring files over from the old computer to the Dellow, guess what I found? Yep, all those pictures, tucked away three files deep on my D drive. Let me tell you that I was dancing a jig. I'm so happy! But also very paranoid about losing all my pictures again, but for real this time.

So, besides making about 54 copies of each, which takes a long time by the way, I've decided to get busy and make some Blurb books, so we actually have hard copies in case a giant magnet decides to hover over our house some night while we're sleeping and destroy all our digital images.

So, while I'm no Ansel Adams, and certainly no scrapbooker, I do want to fix up these photos as best I can so the books are halfway decent. Which is why I got Photoshop Elements. I hope to get the photos all organized into books by the summer, and then during summer break edit them in PS Elements and have the books made.

So that's the story.

Did you ever lose any important, irreplaceable photos? Do you have any good tips for organizing and storing your digital images? Please share!

It's time once again to play



Thanks to everyone who has participated so far! We've had the ubiquitous household organization projects to traveling to soccer fields near and far to eyebrow waxing Weekend Warriors participate. Who will have the craziest project this time?

Do you have your project ready? If so, please link to it on the Mr. Linky at the end of this post. To simplify the process, please link directly to the post that contains your Weekend Warrior project, and then when you finish your project, edit in an update to that particular post. That will simplify it for all of us who are trying to find what you did.

And don't to include a link back to this post in your Weekend Warrior post, so your readers can find the fun and inspiring projects that are listed here.

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Updated: Did you ever have a dream where you were giving a public presentation and realized you were naked? That's what it feels like to put up a Mr. Linky and have no one sign up on it.

In case you were wondering.

But don't feel guilty. At all. For leaving me hanging out there all exposed. No worries.

Anyway, I've scattered my updates throughout my WW post so you can get a nice before and after image of my weekend.


As for me, I'm tackling a project that has been hanging over my head since we moved into this house:



This is an "art niche" over our stairway landing. Do you see the size of this thing? It's been sitting there empty for over four years now. But this is the weekend. The stars have aligned and they are pointing at my art niche.

The plan:

1. Get rid of the phone and walkie talkies. We'll have to move command central elsewhere. I don't know why these things are there, so don't ask me. I didn't do it.
2. Paint the niche Mink by Benjamin Moore.
3. Have some things framed that have been sitting around for a while. I have a Michael's coupon ready for just such an occasion.
4. Make a cool letter "R" to hang up there as well.
5. See that really neat mobile hanging there? While I'm on the ladder painting I'm going to dust it. It makes me sneeze just thinking about it.

After: Looks just the same. I forgot about two things. First of all, the coupon for framing didn't become effective till today, and second of all, this was going on in my neighborhood yesterday:




So instead of painting an art niche, I was eating some really spicy crawdads, as well as sausage, red beans and rice, and cornbread. I also had a beer. And a Diet Coke in a can.

Also on the weekend to do list:

Finish setting up the Dellow
*install printer
*install iTunes
*move and organize digital photos (working on it - a very big job!)
*install Microsoft Office
*install Photoshop Elements which I also need to
*buy.





(Clearly I am having to go back and forth between the two computers right now.)

Finish up the incomplete items in the front yard:
*trim hedges No
*replace dead mums. Yes, they did indeed die, even though I kept going out there and looking at them, willing them to live. Not sure why that didn't work. No, but big news! Two of the mums are making a comeback! Procrastination is your friend and don't ever let anyone tell you otherwise.

Have my hair highlighted and paint my toenails.





Next weekend will be the first official pedicure of the season. Can't wait.

Odds that I'll get it all done? Slim, meet None.

Join me in sharing your ridiculously overambitious weekend projects, won't you? Before and after pictures are always a bonus, but certainly not required.

Labels: Crafts, Decorating, Weekend Warriors

Remember to come back this weekend for Weekend Warriors. I'll have the Mr. Linky up Friday night by 8 p.m., but you can join in anytime over the weekend.

It's been a fun and fast week for us. The local public school had Monday earmarked as a bad weather make-up day, and since they didn't need it they were off from school. Which means we were too. It's pretty much impossible to homeschool in this neighborhood when the PS is out. The kids move in a pack from house to house hitting up one mom after another for snacks and to play video games. When they've exhausted all possibilities (we moms are a united front) they go outside and climb trees.

Turns out when you climb trees, you sometimes find one of these:



I called my friend who keeps bees and she wanted to come get it, but before she could get here one of the neighborhood hoodlums boys pulled the branch back as far as he could and catapulted the bees sky high. Bye bye bees. Sniff.

It was good for a little science though.

On the official side of school Luke is finding common denominators to add and subtract fractions, he's learning to diagram adjectival and adverbial prepositional phrases and practicing spelling. He also rewrote the story of King Alfred and the Cakes from Writing Tales 1 this week. Nicely. His writing is coming along very well. Six months ago I was afraid. Very afraid.

Peyton pretty much had a pass on math this week. She's just started Math-U-See Gamma, and is on lesson 2 - multiplication by 0's and 1's. It's a welcome break from multiple digit adding and subtracting with regrouping. And I know from Luke's path, it'll gear up soon enough. I would love for her to get her multiplication facts down before summer. That way she can forget them over the summer and we can start all over again in the fall.

My diastolic blood pressure just went up 8 points.

Peyton also finished First Language Lessons 2 today. So she'll be starting FLL3 on Monday. She thinks she's a big shot doing third grade math and grammar already. I'm happy to let her think she's a big shot. In fact, I'll admit, I encourage the thought. Her ego can use it.

We've started our last unit in Latina Christiana 1, adding in the imperfect tense verb endings.

In history we learned about the Rus attempting to conquer Constantinople. History is well-loved around here. In fact, Luke has now decided to read Usborne's Internet Linked Encyclopedia of World History from cover to cover, in order. He's already gotten a good start.

Still reading the Hobbit. Still like it. My preciousssssss.

We're reading 1 John for our Bible Study, which happens to be what we're studying with our Sunday night group. It's funny how looking at it with their fresh, young eyes, I learn even more from it.

And that's another homeschool week in review. How was your week?

Labels: Homeschooling, My Troubled Children

(I'm having a lot of fun transferring some old photos over to my new computer!)

Labels: Bud, Just for Fun, More Gratuitous Photos

Before we start on my life-changing laundry tips, I want to remind you to get your weekend projects ready and join me here this weekend for another episode of Weekend Warriors. Mr. Linky will be up by 10 p.m. on Friday. Get ready - it's going to be a great weekend, I can feel it!

Today for WFMW, I thought I'd share a little something about how I make the chores that I hate a bit more tolerable. Click on the cute button to see more smart and clever ideas.



If I were a person of stronger character, I would look at the chores I most dislike as opportunities to show love to the family that God has so graciously given me. But my character is a 98 pound weakling. Your character would probably kick sand in my character's face. So look down on me if you must, but I do what I have to to get the job done.

When Bud and I first got married, we each did our own laundry. So the most laundry I ever had to do was for one person and at that point in our lives there was a fair amount of dry-cleaning. Easy enough to keep up. Then, when we had kids, we had, ahem, household help who did the laundry. So for a couple of really sweet years there I never did any laundry. Didn't see my family much either, so there was a pretty big trade off. Then, when I quit working, I had to go from doing NO laundry to doing the laundry of FOUR PEOPLE! I was swimming in dirty underwear, folks.

I started out with a Big Laundry Day. But Big Laundry Day usually lasted about a week, right up to the next Big Laundry Day, because one, I get distracted and two, the laundry, it is never done. Someone is always out there making new dirty clothes.

And since our Homeowner's Association frowns upon nudity, I had to come up with some other approach.

So I embraced the flow of laundry and now I work with it. I like to call it the Zen of Laundry. I am one with the laundry. Too far? Okay, well this is how I do it anyway.


Step One: Put a three compartment laundry sorter in the laundry room.



Step Two: Teach your children to sort their own laundry into the sorter. My kids bring their laundry down every morning and sort it, and they ALWAYS smile when they do it. I sort Bud's, mine and Romy's. Romy is crawling now, so I'm a little behind in teaching her to sort.

Step Three: Every day pick the fullest (most full?)compartment and throw its contents in the wash. At some point, throw it in the dryer.

Step Four: Dump the dry laundry in the living room floor and have your kids sit down with you and race to fold it.



Step Five: Everyone puts their own laundry away and meets back in the kitchen for a handful of M&Ms.



See how nice this is? Now you've spent about 10 minutes or less actually handling the laundry. Since I have a family of five, I can skip laundry on Sunday and not get behind. If you have a larger family, you might need to double up and do two loads on certain weekdays.

Some rules to make it easier for you:

1. However the laundry goes into the hamper is how it gets washed. Your nine year old son will get tired of putting on wet, wadded up socks and figure it out, I promise.

2. I wash everything together. Towels, kitchen towels, etc. I know that some of you have issues with this but I recommend that you get over it. Really.

3. Sheets are a special case. I don't like to fold them, so I hold the dirties until sheet changing day and wash them separately. Then I take them out of the dryer and put them directly on the bed so I don't have to fold them. I don't iron sheets. If you do, you are so at the wrong blog.

4. If you follow my recommendations on the sheets, do have a couple of emergency sets put aside, they can be old and ratty but they must be clean and ready to go. Viruses these days have mutated in such a way that they know when all the sheets in the house are dirty. You are guaranteed to have a vomitfest within 38 minutes of throwing the last set of sheets in the dirty clothes hamper.


So here is my question for you: What is your least favorite chore and how do you make it more tolerable?

Labels: Works for me Wednesday

It was probably about 10 years ago, maybe more, that Oprah had a show where she had various celebrities open their refrigerators for her. I particularly remember Julia Child's refrigerator which was empty except for cold cuts and beer. How cool is that?

Anyway, if you look in my refrigerator you will find condiments. All manner of salsas, mustards, jalapenos, pickles, and asian sauces occupy my refrigerator. Two of my favorites:

Wickles
(I notice they now have Wickles Wicked Pepper Rings. Gonna have to get my hands on some of those.)

Candy Krisp Jalapenos

But the problem is I use some for a particular purpose, then they sit there. I hate to throw them out, for what if they are still good? Well here is the Very Useful Tool:

Periodic Table of Condiments

Truly, there is genius in this world that is beyond comprehension.

Labels: Cooking, Just for Fun

A quick note. I am now officially using technology I do not completely understand. I have a feed for my blog listed over on the left sidebar. You can subscribe to my blog! It's like I'm Better Homes and Gardens, without the Better part.

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I came across a great website today that I am having a great time perusing. It's called The Instructables and is basically a site where people can upload their own how-to instructions.

Want to capture the steam coming from your food in a photograph?

Or crush a can on your head?

Make a fool out of your co-workers?

Well check out The Instructables.

Here are a few of my favorite instructables:
How to Amuse Toddlers
While there isn't anything totally new on here, this is the sort of thing that I draw a blank on when I need it. It's nice to have a great list of distractions, with pictures and off-shoot ideas to refer to, for the times when your toddler is on top of the refrigerator trying to use Saran Wrap and some cooking twine for a parachute. Be sure and look at the picture with the dolls wearing clothes made out of painter's tape!

Make a book into a clock
This I love! How cute for a homeschool room.You could use a copy of The Joy of Cooking for a kitchen clock. Or a copy of The Joy of Sex for your bedroom clock. The possibilities really are endless.

Pimp your kid's ride
This is the sort of thing I would like to do, but my kids would just roll their eyes at me. Sometimes it's lonely being the only extrovert in the family.

How to build a catapult
I seriously want to build a catapult. I bought Bud and the kids "The Art of the Catapult" for Christmas, and to my surprise they didn't jump right on it. Or Bud didn't and the kids kind of follow his cue, knowing that I'd like to do something like pimp their ride. Bud's going to Honduras in a couple of weeks, though, and he'll be leaving all his tools here. I'm thinking a week of catapult school may be called for. Can you imagine? Think of the possibities....

So go check out The Instructables.

And a question for you. If you were going to add an Instructable to their website, what would you teach? Answer in the comments, okay?

Labels: Just for Fun

Today our family visited the big First Baptist Church here in town. Bud will be going on a mission trip to Honduras in a couple of weeks, and it is being sponsored through this church. They asked that everyone going on the trip attend their services today so the congregation could pray for the success of the trip. Which was nice.

The music was worshipful, the sermon was the right combination of convicting and inspiring. But here's the thing.

If you are indeed Baptist, it is nigh unto impossible to beat the Baptists to Dickey's Barbecue after church.

You do not want to wait in that line.

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How about a little recipe today? We have six families in our neighborhood that gather here at our house each Sunday night for fellowship and to study the Word. This week we're having a potluck. Here is the recipe for the brisket I'm making.

Ingredients

Two beers (I prefer Shiner Bock, but your mileage may vary)

One bottle of Stubbs Original BBQ sauce (CB Stubblefield is a genius)

One brisket, about 5 lbs - you can get market trim or untrimmed, but do not get the completely trimmed version. That's for Yankees, and they make their brisket in a completely incorrect different manner.

Notice, that in my efforts to save the planet, I have chosen all Texas-made products. If you don't live in Texas, you have a real dilemma in front of you - destroy the earth, or get the good stuff from Texas. I feel for ya. It's a tough spot to be in.

Anyhoo.

1. Pour the BBQ sauce over the brisket.

2. Open a beer. Taste it. No worries, that one's for you. A second reason I am not Baptist. Open the second beer and pour it over your brisket and BBQ sauce. Be sure to coat the brisket real well.

3. Cover your pan with foil and refrigerate overnight. Go sit down with a good man and finish your beer.

4. In the morning, before you go to church, put the brisket in the oven at 250 degrees. Cook it all day. Nine or ten hours, till it is falling apart. Trim the fat and slice it across the grain.

5. Take some of the drippings from the pan and pour into a fat separator. Pour off the fat, and use the drippings as your sauce. MMMMMMMMMMMmmmmmmmmmm.

6. Serve with Gaylan's cream corn, Lori's super salad and banana pudding, and Cristina's baked beans. Cry just a little.

I like to use a disposable aluminum pan for this recipe, because it's a real mess to clean up the pan. And I'm using local products to offset the environmental damage caused by throwing the pan out, so it all comes out in the end. It's good to be green.

Labels: Bible study, Cooking, mission work, We Love Our Neighborhood

UPDATE

Well, we've done all we can do. (Name that movie reference.)

I didn't get to prune the shrubs, but everything else is improved. Here is what I did:



Weeded and mulched the flower beds
Transplanted mums to better locations, but now I think they won't make it
Potted and hung a petunia on the porch


Planted Lantana, the wonder-plant of Texas. Seriously, in about two months, both beds will be filled with this plant that loves the hot Texas sun and flowers all the way into early fall with it's bright orange-yellow flowers. It's technically an annual, but will often come back for several years before dying off. This plant shoudl be on the cover of Texas Gardening for Dummies.


Planted Phlox. I've never tried phlox before, so we'll see how it does.


Planted a Clematis on a small trellis. Clematis likes shady feet and a sunny face. Don't you love the beautiful flower? I do. I keep walking out onto my front porch to look at it.




Filled in two pots on the porch - quick, easy and cheap.



Next week: replace the dead mums, trim the hedges. All in all a good weekend.

Tune in on Friday for another episode of Weeeeeeeekennnnnnnnnd Waaaariors!
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Welcome to the Weekend Warriors. It works like this: On Friday night or Saturday, you share your project for the weekend on you blog. On Sunday or Monday, you share the results on your blog.

No project is too large or too small - from a household project, to a recipe you've been dying to try, to finding the perfect adjective for the Great American Novel you are writing. Post on your blog, and share your blog link below on Mr. Linky so we can encourage you in your fabulous creativity and organizational skills.

Please be sure and link back to this post on your blog, so everyone can see all the great projects going on.

My weekend project was easy to choose becaues of this:



It's going to be very, very nice here for the weekend. Can I just say that it beats huddling in a bathtub with your family at 4:30 in the morning listening to the weather sirens blaring and wondering when the tornado is going to plow through your den? It beats it.



It's mid-April and the outside of the house is in need of a little spit and polish. The flower beds really need some work. Some potted plants on the porch would be nice. A hair cut for some of the shrubs is in order.







I would love to replace the chairs on the front porch. But I can't. Because the arms are the perfect height for Bud to rest his elbows while he plays the banjo.

We live in a very sophisticated neighborhood.

But we're working on it.

Anyway, I'm sprucing up the front of the house. What about you? Please post a link to your Weekend Warrior project so we can all come take a peek!



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The GRP

Labels: Photography; The GRP, We Love Our Neighborhood, Weekend Warriors

Don't forget to join in with the Weekend Warrriors this weekend! Mr. Linky will be up here at 10 p.m. tonight!



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Big Mama is hosting a Fashion Fiesta this weekend. Just click on this very cute button, to be swept away in a fashion extravaganza!



I have no business participating, as fashion and I are not close friends. I used to be quite the fashionista, or so I like to think. That was back when I couldn't afford it. Now that I could actually spend the money on some nice duds, well, just not so interested. I don't like the mall. I think I've mentioned that a time or two before.

So, I am here to present to you a Mall Free Fashion Fiesta!

We'll start with the bottoms. First, there are my Tommy Hilfiger boyfriend jeans. They are old. Very, very old. The belt loops are starting to tear off, and the hemns are frayed. But I like them - they know my every curve (and there are a lot of curves to know). They are in a short rotation in my weekly wardrobe.




Next is my new favorite pair of pants. I got them from the Sundance catalog sale section. They are comfy and loose and just little bit cool. But not too cool. I'm not going for ridiculous.




Then there are the skirts. I'm a skirt fan. I wear them with tanks and flip flops in the summer - my uniform. Here are a few. From left to right - J. Jill catalog, Steinmart, Ebay. No malls.




Okay, now up top. A brand of clothing I like is Cha Cha Vente. Available at your local Steinmart. A little sassy, a lot comfortable.




I like the Athleta catalog. Because I'm so athletic, it suits me you know. Gotcha!



And then there are my beloved "Life Is Good" t-shirts. I love their worn in softness. Short rotation, these.




As for the kicks, I enjoy a flip flop. But I would not wear them to the White House. No, I would not.




My favorite brand of shoes is Yellow Box. They are available at some of the smaller local shops, so I don't have to go to the mall to get them. I also like my Birks.




So there you have it - the Mall Free Fashion Fiesta. Don't hurt yourself as you run screaming to the mall.

See you this weekend, Weekend Warriors!

It is new and shiny and yellow and I "heart" it. Say hello to the Dellow everyone.



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Boomama hooked me up with some sweet tunes.

Aside: This is why I love blogging. I can say things that should never come out of the mouth of a 41-year-old-suburban-stay-at-home-homeschooling-mother-of-three without anyone rolling their eyes and walking away. Or at least I don't see it when it happens. Because I left the commons at A&M a long time ago, and even then I wasn't cool enough to pull off a phrase with "hooked me up" and "sweet tunes" in it.

But, back to the sweet tunes. Boomama has some musical connections and turned me onto (there I go again) a free CD from Matt Maher. Word. If you've heard Chris Tomlin sing "Your Grace is Enough" then you've heard Matt's writing. But, listen to him sing! Just click below and you can hear him on his new CD, Empty and Beautiful. Pay particular attention to Empty and Beautiful and Lay It Down.



You can get it here for only $8.97, or download it to your iTunes. Enjoy!

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From our Bible reading this morning from Philippians 4:

4Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

8Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. 9Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

Wow! Five little verses sure pack a lot of punch.

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The GRP

Labels: Bible study, Blogging, Music, The GRP

First a little housekeeping, pun intended of course. A handful of us had a good time...okay maybe it wasn't a good time, but we felt accomplished this past weekend after we became Weekend Warriors. We took on the projects we had on our to do lists and shared before pictures on Saturday and afters on Sunday and Monday. It was so good to get my list accomplished that I've decided to do it again. And look...I made a logo! (I have a love affair with Picnik, because I am graphically challenged.)



So decide what projects you'd like to accomplish and join us as a Weekend Warrior! Mr. Linky will go up on Friday night at 10 pm. See you then!

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And have you been to lately? How can I put this without sounding desperate? Nevermind, I am desperate. I need you there. Go say something. Even if you call me a moron. I can take it. (Please don't really call me a moron. I can't take it.)

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Now, the grass is green, the flowers are blooming, the birds are singing and I live smack in the middle of suburbia. This can mean only one thing: At the end of the day there will be 437 plastic cups on my kitchen counter. I know that you know what I'm saying here. Summer + kids = 13cups/child/day. It's a simple, well-known formula in the math world. I think Albert Einstein used it in proving the Theory of Relativity.

Well, here is what Works for Me:


Please pardon my goofy kid and his goofy friend. My budget for models is a bit low, so I have to work with what I've got.

Each morning I set out a nice fresh supply of water and one plastic cup per child on the front porch. The plastic cups have each child's name on them in Sharpie marker. I'm sure one of you more crafty types could come up with something much cuter, but I came up with the idea, you need to run with it, okay? And yes, I have a cup for each child in our neighborhood who is old enough to use one. I'm a little short right now, as we have some new neighbors, but I'll be completing the set this week.

Some important points:

Keeping the colors grouped together is not an indication of my OCD tendencies. It keeps the kids from from pawing all over every cup and scattering them all over the porch. Each kid knows what color his cup is and can find it easily.

If you find a cup in the flower bed, shoved in the neighbor's tailpipe, or being used as a toadhouse, that child will have to go to their own home for water from that point on. This is Very Important Rule One.

The corollary, Very Important Rule Two, is that if a child is found to be doing these things to another child's cup, just to have her banished to drinking her own tapwater, then said child must wash all the cups by hand.

If you are feeling very nice, you might put some lemonade in the cooler once in a while.

It gives me a little June Cleaver-like thrill that my house is usually the gathering point in the neighborhood, because it allows me to eavesdrop on the kids' conversations. But the cups and the screendoor slamming every 7.2 seconds were about to send me over the edge. So this is what works for me!

Labels: Give It Away, My Troubled Children, Weekend Warriors, Works for me Wednesday

Being that I'm a homeschooler and it's an election year, I'm always on the lookout for things to help communicate the importance of our electoral process to my children.

Of course, there's the always reliable Jib Jab, where you can find the latest views of each of the candidates.

And then there's Late Night television, consistently able to reduce the views of each candidate into a single, concise punchline. And since we homeschool we can stay up late enough to watch, or we could if we had a tv. We don't, because we homeschool, you know. Homeschoolers don't have tv's. We're too busy playing Guitar Hero III on our Wii's.

But, this year, my kids are older and I need to bring this election to life! Imagine how thrilled I was to find FoldUSCandidate. We'll hold our own debates, question the candidates directly, and really get up close and personal with their every move.

But I want to know, FoldUSCandidate: Where's Ron Paul?

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And HEY! Have you been over to Give It Away lately? I'm looking for your favorite charities to feature on Fridays. So head on over and leave a comment, okay?

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The GPP (aka, my middle child)

Labels: Homeschooling, Just for Fun, More Gratuitous Photos, Politics

This was a lot of fun. Plus it motivated me to finish. I got the desk done yesterday, but was tempted to forget about the laundry room till next week, only I had to get my after pictures up!

Anyway I hope some of you will come back and play next weekend. Household projects are great since it's spring cleaning time, but any kind of project qualifies, so I hope you'll join the fun. I'll put Mr. Linky up Friday night for you go-getters.

So on to my results. In my laundry room things got cleaned up and I really lightened the load. Some things just needed to be put away where they really belong, but others were completely gotten rid of - like about 20 really ratty towels. Now if I could somehow make this room be about someting besides laundry, I'd really be on a roll.



Everyone but Romy has a basket by the door to the garage. It was almost buried before, but now we can actually see the baskets. To the left on the shelf is sunscreen and bugspray ready for the spring season.



Then there's my desk. I sold about half of my cookbooks at Half Price books yesterday! I got rid of a ton of magazines and old catalogs. I did the mail that was piled up on my desk. I can actually stand to be here now! And later this week I will be able to use my Southern Living casserole holder for a casserole, because my new computer has officially been shipped by Dell! My computer is going to be yellow, by the way. I'm a little too excited about that fact.



If you are interested, the little print on my shelf is Crossroads by Frank Whipple. I adore it.

So, it was fun, and now I feel clean and ready for the week. Thanks to everyone who played along. I hope you'll come back next weekend and more of you will join in!

Labels: Weekend Warriors

I don't know about you, but with homeschooling and all the daily every-dayness that happens around here, projects pile up. And on Saturdays, I like to make nice, neat lists of these projects. On a clean, yellow legal pad. Then I am free to read and eat chips for the rest of the weekend.

Well not this weekend! Can you hear my overenthusiastic voice and see me pump my fist? That's because I have the whole World Wide Web to keep me accountable. Why? Because I'm posting my project here, with before pictures, and then I'm going to come back on Sunday and post the after photos. Nothing like a little pressure from total strangers to make me get to work.

So anyway, here they are:

The Laundry Room.


This is a tough one, because way more stuff needs to be in here than there is really room for. And it also serves as a hallway from house to garage, so half of the room is not usable. And then there's the fact that somewhere in my addled brain I thought that such a small room that consumes so much of my time should be painted a cheery color. Enter the only yellow I've ever encountered that makes me uncomfortable. I may as well have installed a strobe light in that room. So, this weekend I'm going to do something about it. I may not get to paint it, but things are gonna change, baby.

The Desk:



It's really not that bad, it just needs a once over and the papers need to be filed. This is a 2 hour project, which I know means I should budget four.

P.S. Notice the Southern Living Casserole holder that my computer is sitting on. That's because my computer overheats and I need more air circulation under it. If you are a Southern Living salesperson, feel free to use that as a sales tool.


So, I'll be back Sunday with the after pictures. And hey, maybe you'd like to play along. Join me as a Weekend Warrior. No project is too small or too silly. Whatever you need to accomplish, from window-washing to making firestarters out of dryer lint, I'd love to hear about it, and I know other people would to. There is nothing like before-and-afters to stir up a good old-fashioned frenzy.

And really, it all comes to this. I've been wanting to do my very own Mr. Linky for a really long time and I just made my own excuse.





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The GRP

Another project for this weekend. Buy Cheerios.

Labels: The GRP, Weekend Warriors

Another week has gone by at the Academy for Troubled Children.

Big excitement for Peyton as she took the final exam for MUS Beta and aced it. On to Gamma on Monday for her. She's also just about done with FLL 2, and will move right into FLL 3 in about two weeks. Peyton is currently reading The Lumber Camp Library.

Luke is handling fractions in Epsilon quite well, even though I never got around to buying the fraction overlays. The Growing with Grammar/Writing Tales combo is working out quite well. We'll continue that next year with GWG5/WT2. Luke is reading Maniac Magee.

We took a detour from Europe this week and briefly touched on the ancient/medieval history of China, Korea, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. We had sushi and kiwis for dinner last night. I am the model homeschooling mom, I tell you! (Just don't focus on the fact that our grocery store has a sushi bar and I didn't actually have to prepare the stuff.)

In Latin, we've just completed Lesson 20 of LC1. I've mentioned before that we really like Latin here. I was being tempted by Latin Prep because everyone says it's So Much Fun. Well, I've decided we're going to do another year with LC2, then move into Latin Prep or whatever, because I really want to keep Luke and Peyton together on this.

We started reading The Hobbit for literature this week, using the VP Literature Guide for it. This involved making a diorama of Bilbo Baggins hobbit hole. I would rather be covered with honey and tied to a bed of ants listening to a mixtape of fingernails on chalkboards. I have discovered that I do indeed enjoy certain crafty things, just not the useless ones. Now I have two shoes boxes that will be floating around the house for a few weeks until I just throw them out. I will grudgingly admit that we did have a good discussion about what the hobbit hole was like, and the kids definitely have a strong impression of it now.

We're studying Philippians, which is both encouraging and humbling. If you haven't read it lately, you should.

We will finish off our week by writing to the Compassion International and World Vision children we sponsor. Then we will pick up our spring berry order from Bithell Farms. You really can't get better blueberries!

Labels: Homeschooling

You know how, when you make a spelling or grammar mistake, you have to decide whether to correct yourself so that everyone will know that you do indeed know the proper usage of lose and loose? It's a tough call. Maybe if you ignore it no one will notice. Well, that's what this is like. Only more humiliating. By far.

And it happened TWICE!

Now, even I can excuse my first faux pas, because I was about 37 seconds post-partum and we all know how our judgment can be skewed in such a situation. But, I can't excuse actually digging up that post and REPOSTING it without noticing.

And you. I thought you were my friends. But no, I'm sure you just snickered and moved onto the next blog, thanking the good Lord in Heaven that there is someone on earth to make you feel better about yourself. It's like I walked out of the bathroom with my skirt in my pantyhose and no one said a word. Thanks, y'all.

It could be worse I guess. If I were Janet Jackson. Just consider yourself lucky that I actually do use nursing pads!

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The GLP

You're probably surprised to find this out, but I actually have three children!

Labels: Humiliation, More Gratuitous Photos

Thanks to Randi for hosting the recipe box swap. I've got a family favorite I'm sharing today.

This is such an easy dish, and so, so delicous. You'll notice I don't give you an amount of fruit. That's because I eyeball it. My mom gave me the basic recipe over the phone once, and I didn't write down the fruit amount. Just use your judgment and adjust according to your family's personal Crust to Fruit Appreciation Ratio.

I think this works best with peaches, but I'm using blackberries, because we have a lot from the last coop order and I need to use them up.


THE BEST COBBLER EVER:

First, in the casserole dish you will be cooking the cobbler in, melt one stick of butter. Please use real butter, or else don't make this. It wouldn't be fair to the fruit.

Next, in a small bowl combine
1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 cup milk
Pour this mixture over the melted butter.
DON'T STIR!

Now spread your fruit over the batter/butter mixture. Or skip the fruit and eat the batter/butter with a spoon.
DON'T STIR!

Next pour 3/4 cup water mixed with the juice of one lemon over your fruit/batter/butter mixture.
DON'T STIR

Finally, sprinkle 3/4 cup sugar over the top of the whole outfit. You can sprinkle cinnamon on top if you want.
DON'T STIR

This is what it will look like when you put it in the oven after you DID NOT STIR IT! Except in real life the cobbler isn't blurry, unless you're the sort of cook who likes to sip the sherry.



Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

This is what it will look like when you take it out of the oven. Well, actually about 30 seconds after you take it out of the oven.



You may eat it with ice cream if you like. I like to eat it with just a bit of heavy cream poured over it, because I enjoy a good, joyful cry once in a while.

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The GRP

Labels: Cooking, Recipe Box Swap, The GRP

Shannon is hosting a "Best of" Works for me Wednesday this week. I think it is timely because I can update you with the fact that we are still happily using gDiapers. They work great and look ever so cute. Plus I can show you some old new-baby-Romy pictures, which is always a bonus. For me.

P.S. Romy's umbilical hernia is all healed up and she has a cute little belly button now. I'm sure you are relieved.

And don't forget to go visit Give It Away. Leave a comment about the topics there or about your favorite charities. We'd love to hear from you.

So, on to Works for me Wednesday:



Bud just got up to head to an early meeting and now I'm awake. So I will blog about my diapers. Because isn't that what everyone thinks about when they wake up at 5 in the morning?

See, I'm pretty sure that there is a landfill in Maryland named for my two older kids. I used disposable diapers with them, and have since been horrified to learn that those things take 500 years to degrade. So not only do I need to feel guilty about damaging my children as their mother, in various escapades such as the Tower of Terror, but now I've got environmental guilt to pile on top of that.

And from a purely selfish standpoint, I hate having any kind of diaper pail or, heaven forbid, Diaper Genie. I don't care what anyone says, they smell bad. Maybe not at Romy's stage of the game when all I have to deal with is breastmilk diapers, but when a baby is eating all manner of fruit, veggies, and dehydrated meat she stole from Uncle Jim Bob's shirt pocket then, people, it stinks. And I am wayyyy too lazy to take the offending diaper right out to the garbage, so don't even suggest that.

Enter gDiapers. These are the coolest diapers that have made their way over from Tasmania!! to U.S. hineys. Basically it works like this:

You have a cloth cover, a waterproof liner that snaps into the cover and a flushable insert that fits into the liner. When the baby has a wet or dirty diaper, you remove the insert and flush it down the toilet. Simple as that. Rather than filling the landfill, the offending waste is being treated at a water treatment facility and the biosolids are handled appropriately, depending on your treatment facility - could be fertilizer, could go to the landfill, but as something that will biodegrade.

Random bits of information:

I save the pee pee only diapers to flush when I use the bathroom, to minimize additonal flushing.





The covers are soft and cute, they come in multiple colors for all your baby's fashion needs, and the velcro closures are in the back to make it more difficult for your little one to open up and use the contents as fingerpaint.



If you compost, the pee pee diapers are compostable, and provide a good source of nitrogen for your soil. Don't compost poo diapers, though! And if you do find yourself in a situation where you need to throw away the inserts, like in a house with messed up plumbing, you can at least feel good knowing it will decompose in a month or two versus 500 years. Cool.



I was concerned about flushing these babies because our toilets aren't really up for any kind of challenge, though I'll save you from the details of how I know that. But the g's have flushed beautifully with no problems.

So that's the story on gDiapers. They work for me. I'm very excited about them, as you can tell, and just so you know, the link in my sidebar is an affiliate link. I will make money if you buy from gDiapers through that link. With my readership that could easily add up to, I don't know, a dollar a year. Clearly I'm not in this for the money, but I wanted to give full disclosure and all that.

Labels: gDiapers, Works for me Wednesday