Apologies

I am dreadfully sorry that I have neglected you this week, my dear blog. However, I find myself overwhelmed with both teaching school and helping prepare for Vacation Bible School. Hopefully, I can resume our little chats next week, when the preparation is over, and the teaching begins.

Until then...

Hugs,

Melinda

Pictures

I have some new pictures. These are from the RLDS/Community of Christ area of town. They are at the Temple, the Auditorium, the U.N. Peace Plaza, and a little collection of historical buildings.

This little building looks like an English garden cottage.

This one is my favorite, I think.
I like this one too. :)
This is an interesting picture to me, but I'd have a bit of a hard time explaining it over the internet.
I like the different angle of this window.

What do you think?

Hugs,

Melinda

Blog design

Well, I got a notice that my blog design was going to "disappear" tomorrow. I've been using designs from The Cutest Blog on the Block for over a year, and I had just picked a new design probably a week ago. I was all set to head over and pick a new design. But for some reason, I can't get their site to load today.

So I thought to myself, "Why not use the Blogger Template Designer? It appears to have been redone since the last time you tried to use it."

Boy, that sucker is slicker than a greased pig! It seems like the themes have been slimmed down in to more contemporary designs, BUT the background opportunities are A-MA-ZING! It's really slick.

In other words, if you don't like this design, let me know. I'll change it. :D

Hugs,
Melinda

Caffeine Withdrawal

I've been trying to make strides towards being healthier. A big step for me is to stop drinking sodas. About a month ago, I stopped drinking Coca-Cola and started drinking Diet Dr. Pepper. For me, it's the one diet drink that is the closest to the real thing. So, I've been drinking this for about a month, now right? Sunday, I had my very last can.

At least I thought I did. The horrible horrible caffeine withdrawal headache convinced me I needed to not go cold turkey. I had 2 sodas today. Needless to say, it's 9:30, and I'm wired. ((O_O))

But I will be trying to wean myself slowly off of Diet Dr. Pepper. Please pray for me while I go through this.

Hugs,

Melinda

People Watching at Farmer's Market

So, half the fun of being a vendor at the craft market is people watching. So this week, I decided to try and sneak pictures of some of the people that came through the market.

How about this guy? He almost looks like a strongman from this angle.

But from this angle, not so much. Sorry it's a bit blurry.

I like the little old ladies that come by. They are so cute. :D

This guy reminds me of one of my uncles. :D
We had a gorgeous sunrise. This cloud had me a bit worried, but it was still pretty.
This little boy and his grandpa were absolutely cute. The little boy just stole my heart.
Some of the fashions were .... interesting.
This farmer is one of the nicest people. He always has a smile, even at 5:00 am in the morning.
This guy had such an interesting face. I couldn't resist snapping a picture of him.
Again ... interesting.
And then there was this lady. It had to be Dolly Parton's grandmother.
This dog was a cutie pie. She only had 3 legs. She wasn't supposed to be there, so we dog sat her while her owners shopped.
This couple was so sweet and so in love.
And then there was this Mr. Tough Guy.
And there you have it. A small sample of people watching at the Farmer's Market.

Hugs,

Melinda

School

We're starting school today. I am both more confident than last year and less confident. This year we are using Switched on Schoolhouse for Sweet Pea (more confident). This year, Little Bit is starting school. I have to try to teach her to read (less confident).

Our reasons for homeschooling stay strong. I don't agree with the public school system, with their curriculum, with their discipline policies, with the lack of music and art. And I want my children to learn more about God, more about how to live with God in their day to day lives. They won't get that in public school. They will only get that from Dale and I.

So, today we start our homeschool adventure -- year 2. Pray for us.

Hugs,

Melinda

To Sweet Pea

Oh my darling oldest child. I am sitting here watching you. You are growing up into such a beautiful young lady. You are growing taller every day, and your heart has blessed me in more ways than one. I love you my darling.

Your new glasses are beautiful and they fit your personality wonderfully. It's possible that some will say horrible mean things about you and your glasses. Don't listen to them. Don't let them hurt you. You and I know how beautiful and smart you are.

I love you my darling girl. I pray for you now, and always. I hope and pray that you will lean on God and God's word throughout your life. May you learn His truth, and keep your faith in Him.

I love you dear.

Love,

Mommy

Visitor Stats

Hmm... I've been looking over my visitor stats today. Whoever is in Annapolis, Maryland, would you please introduce yourself? I'm pretty sure I know who Georgetown, Ontario and Lewisburg, Pennsylvania are. But you, Annapolis... You have me stumped. Say hello. I promise I don't bite. :D

Hugs,

Melinda

Nothing of interest today

I know.... I'm boring. But I want to maintain my promise to myself to try to write everyday. (I forgot yesterday, but that's another story.)

Tomorrow, we are going shopping for Little Bit's first backpack and lunch box. I figure that even if we're homeschooling, she still needs that experience. That and a few more books, and we'll be ready to start! :D Next Monday! :O

Hugs,

Melinda

Lady Talks-A-Lot

Little Bit sure does Talk A Lot. I think she goes non-stop all day long. I've tried talking to her about not talking for no-good reason, but I don't think she gets it yet. I know she'll stop. Sweet Pea is proof, but man..... I think my ears are ringing. LOL

Hugs,

Melinda

Saturday Farmers Market

Just a few pictures from the Farmers Market on Saturday. They are actually posted back to front. The last pictures were taken first thing in the morning. The sun was beautiful coming up.

This is from the booth next to me. She does wire wrapped jewelry. This is just two of her rings, but she also has pendants, earrings, and wine glass charms.

Carrots from the stand closest to me.
Beautiful onions.
Really pretty in the morning sun.
Yummy yummy fresh corn.
I may have to change this picture, because the tomatoes were SO red. I was trying for a more vintage feel, but it just looks like the tomatoes are ...... bland.
This is the beautiful color of the tomatoes. :D Aren't they pretty?
Hmm... again, I may need to fix this one.
These potatoes were so yummy looking that I had to purchase some. :D I can't wait to eat them.
More carrots. This picture was closer to 6 rather than 8 like the previous picture. Pretty pretty.
First picture of the day. 'round 5:45 - crunchy yummyness waiting for me to devour. :p
Well, that's sort of my day at the local Farmer's Market. I hope to be able to print some of these off and use them on the note cards. Maybe the farmers would buy them?

Hugs,

Melinda

Whoops...

Okay, apparently I forgot to write Friday AND Saturday. But that's okay, because I'm really only doing this for me.

I've been selling my daddy's cards at the Farmer's Market on Saturdays. Well.... this past Saturday was only my second time up there. I made enough to cover rent this week and hopefully next week. It's hot, and I don't have a tent. But it's also interesting. If you're a people watcher, it's THE spot to be.

Speaking of pictures, I took some of the local produce. Except I haven't downloaded them yet.

(To follow my "illogical" line of thinking there, I was thinking that I should try to get some pictures of the interesting people I see. Then I was thinking of the pictures I did take. Dale says I randomly jump from topic to topic, but I didn't do that this time.)

Anyway, I'm off to download pictures. See you tomorrow. :D

Hugs,

Melinda

Mary....

So, I'm sitting at the computer working on Bible lessons for the pantry, and I hear Little Bit in the living room. I can tell she's tearing paper out of the notebook I gave her this afternoon. I'm thinking I'm going to turn around and find this HUGE mess that I'm going to have to fight to get her to pick up. I turn around and find this on the floor.....

Me: "Who's this?"

Little Bit: "This is Mary."

Me: "Mary?"

Little Bit: "Yeah. Mary had a Little Lamb."

We hung "Mary" on the wall. And then her best friend from next door came over to play.

Hugs,

Melinda

More Little Bit....

Scene: Target, book aisle

Little Bit: "Mommy, do you think God wants you to have another baby?"

Me: "I don't know. That would be up to God. (pause) Why, do you want me to have another baby?"

Little Bit: "Yes."

Me: "Why?"

Little Bit: "Because then I can be the big sister!"

*GROAN*

Hugs,

Melinda

Little Bit, Disobedience, and Consequences

Oh my. I have to write this down before I forget it. We've been having some "character" issues this past week, mainly in the area of disobedience, and mainly with Little Bit.

Tonight, I sent them outside to play. I told Little Bit to stay out of the dirt (because it had rained this morning), and told both of them to stay where I could see them. I literally walked from the front door to the kitchen and back and realized I couldn't see either of them. They had gone over to the neighbor's house and were getting the neighbor kids to come out and play.

I explained to them that this wasn't okay and that we would be talking about it later tonight.

Half an hour later, Little Bit came in and needed to wash her hands.

Fast forward to after dinner. We're sitting there, starting a discussion about this. Dale tells the story about "someone" disobeying Mommy, and then asks, "who has a problem with this?" I raise my hand, Dale raises his hand, Sweet Pea raises her hand and hides her face. Little Bit doesn't. And when Dale asks her if she has a problem with this, she says, "that's right. No."

He sent her out of the room, while we dealt with Sweet Pea's consequences. (Don't worry. It's Bible study and extra chores and a consequence of her choice.)

So then Little Bit comes back in. We're talking to her about disobeying and how that was wrong, and then we ask, "what should your consequence be?" First she says, "A spanking," but I said I didn't want to spank her. Then she says, "Forgive me and love me."

ROFLOL -- I admit it here and now. This is one of those times you DON'T want to laugh. Discipline just flies out the window when you do that. And guess what I did? I couldn't help it. It was adorable.

So we all chuckled. Then Dale asks her to choose her consequence. She says, "A timeout." OH MY WORD! I had to leave the room. LOL

Anyway.... Really cute, really funny. My five year old cracks me up. My friend who said that I should have made her middle name Joy was right. :)

Hugs,

Melinda

Boring day.

Hmm... What to write. What to write. I don't have any clue as to what to write about today. I'm sitting here watching "The Pretender." What an interesting tv show. I watch alot of tv off of Hulu. It's free (for now) and has a lot of interesting tv shows, particularly older shows. It's a really interesting resource. If you haven't checked it out already, you really should.

Here's an interesting question I have. Maybe this is some great laundry secret that I was never taught, but I really want to know. So you have your dirty laundry in a hamper right? You take the hamper downstairs to wash, and when you have clean laundry, you put your clothes in... the hamper, right? Seems to be a bit of disconnect for me. Why do we not have hampers for clean clothes and hampers for dirty clothes? But then, maybe that's just redundant.

I think I really want a laundry chute. Just a big old hole in my house, so that I don't have to use hampers at all. But I'd probably have to have more than one. One in the girls' upstairs bedroom. One in the bathroom. One right beside Dale's side of the bed. And again with the redundancy issue. Oh well.

Well, that's all I have for today. I'm really boring today. Do you have anything you want to talk about?

Heading back to the land of laundry and hampers.

Hugs,

Melinda

July 5th

Uh.... Oops, I forgot to write yesterday. Yesterday was pretty busy, with church, grocery shopping, a nap, house cleaning, and a "fireworks party." It was fun, but busy.

Today, man today has been lazy lazy lazy. All I've done is read books and take a nap. The girls are enjoying their summer "vacation," and playing with the neighbor kids.

Let me tell ya, good neighbors make all the difference in the world. The previous neighbors were okay, but the people that have moved in, they are GOOD neighbors. The kind you don't mind asking if they can watch your cat while you're on vacation or letting your kids play at their house, or letting their kids play in yours. It's good to have a good neighbors.

Hugs,

Melinda

I'm still here

I'm still here. I made a promise to myself to write everyday, so here I am. I don't really have very much to say today.

Dale is taking me to the movie. Not just any movie, though. He's actually taking me to see Eclipse. I don't know why it's touched me so. He even watched Twilight and New Moon with me in order to see this movie today. I'm happy that he's spending the time with me and actually seeming to be somewhat interested in the story.

I can't complain though. I married a wonderful guy. I love him so very much. (And yes, he's sitting right beside me.) lol

Okay, I think we're through with our budget, and I want to go to Michelle's garage sale before the babysitter gets here.

Have a good day my friends.

Hugs,

Melinda

Science Lesson

So we made ice cream at Discovery Club on Wednesday. (LOL -- I almost said "snow" ice cream. That would have been really spectacular!) And I started thinking about ALL the science involved with making ice cream.

Particularly with rock salt, ice, and freezing temperatures.

The following pictures are of our science experiment today.

Picture one is a bowl full of plain ice. Right at 2 degrees Celsius.

Picture two is a bowl full of ice sprinkled with kosher salt. It's a bit coarser than table salt, but

could be used in place of table salt.

The thermometer is right around -6 below Celsius.

The last picture is my favorite. Picture #3 is a bowl full of ice sprinkled with rock salt.

The thermometer measured -14 degrees below Celsius. WOW! What a difference.

I love Science, and I'm learning to love homeschooling. Finding those everyday opportunities to teach my children just one more part of God's great big beautiful exciting world is what makes it fun for me. Some days, I think I may be getting more out of it than they are. But I rest assured in the fact that their time will come. Then they will be the excited teacher. And then they will understand.

Until then, I'll have fun. :D

Hugs,

Melinda

P.S. Discovery Club is more or less "story time" at the library, but for all ages of homeschool kids, and more class oriented rather than a story.

First Daily Blog

Okay, so I've sat here and wasted half the day and just now realized I haven't made good on my commitment to blog once a day. In all honesty, it's not my fault. lol

The Old Schoolhouse magazine is offering a fantastic deal today and today only. I'm renewing my subscription for 2 years and I get a free tote bag and 5 free e-books, for just $17.76. Considering this is one of the thickest magazines I've ever seen, and that I get so much information on homeschooling from each issue, I couldn't resist.

And there comes the problem. I get 5 e-books. One of the books was broken up into 8 segments. You click download which opens the Adobe Acrobat Reader program. Then you click save to computer once the file has opened. I now have 10 of the twelve parts of my e-books. These two books just will not open in Adobe Acrobat. Or if they open, they won't save to my computer. I have worked all morning trying to get these two books saved to my computer, to no avail.

Ah well.... I guess I'll wait and hope tomorrow is a better computer day.

So here's a fun question for everyone. Who do you think is a great actor? Not just your favorite actor, but the one that can lose himself in any role. My personal pick is Gary Oldham. He's been so many characters that you don't even realize it's him until after you see the credits roll. What's your pick?

Until tomorrow.

Hugs,

Melinda