Pulling the Weeds and Fixing the Stinkies

So many common tasks in life bring out hidden attitudes or problems in my life. I'm not sure if you've ever noticed this phenomenon or not. I'll give you a gardening example and then to close, I'll tell you how I fix the stinkies. Seeing how it's summer and we planted a little garden, I've been tending to it. Tasks like pulling weeds, staking up tomato plants, and thinning lettuce plants have been part of my gardening. As I'm performing these tasks, I often think how much they relate to my own life. Pulling weeds = weeding out bad attitudes and habits, staking plants = asking for help and accountability with problem areas and thinning plants = removing some of the even good things in order for the best things to flourish.

Weeds, I've observed, can be surface roots and evasive ground cover or they can be deep rooted and tall. Either way, they need to be pulled and sometimes dug up. Weeds in my life are the same way. Some are more surface and don't take too much effort to pull them out of my life and get back on track. Others are rooted deep and take much more time and effort to pull/dig out.

Staking the tomato plants helps them to not fall over making the tomatoes all mushy and rotten. My friends who pray for me and lift me up certainly help me not to fall over damaging the hard work I've put into my character and life.

Lastly, thinning plants may seem like a sad thing--pulling up a perfectly good plant--why would someone do that? Well, if the plants are growing too closely together, none of them will grow well. Same with me, I may be doing lots of good things, but if it's too much, none of my activities will be done well. Reminds me of a quote I heard a long time ago: "Say no to the good, so that you can say yes to the best." This lesson is a bit harder to learn than saying no to the bad...that's actually easier for me; it's more cut and dry. Thinning the good is a practice in my life that requires leaning on the Lord for guidance and trusting my hunny's advice and wisdom.

As promised here's how I fixed the stinkies--what stinkies you ask? Well you know how after so many washings and dryings clothes and towels take on a smell of their own? This smell is much different than the Tide you opened and sniffed in the aisle of Wal*mart and it's certainly NOT a smell you want to sniff as you dry off from a shower. After much trial and error, I've started using white vinegar in my rinse cycle and WAALAA! stinkies gone. (insert smile here). Again, not sure about you, but after I found this little trick, then I needed to remember to actually put the vinegar in during the rinse cycle. My solution: fill the handy-dandy Downy ball with the miracle liquid and toss it in the washer after the clothes.

Now if only fixing the stinkies in my heart were as easy...

Go to We are That Family for more Works for Me Wednesday tips and hints.

It is possible

Before we came to my grandma's house this time, I wondered if it was possible for me to come here and not partake in the yummy grandma treats she always has. When I was growing up, we lived right up the lane from my grandparents, so visits to their home was commonplace. In fact, when I was very young, my dad, my older sister and I lived with my grandparents (and aunt) for several years. I consider their home my home and they wouldn't want it any other way.

My grandma is the typical sweet doting grandma. She loves to get food that we love to eat--sweets and otherwise. Ham sandwiches, doritos and pickles were my favorite lunch components...topped off with Chips-A-Hoy cookies for dessert. Seriously, my mouth is watering just writing about it.

So, now that I'm not doing sugar or flour I wondered how in the world I would stay away from all the fun foods. Would it even be possible? Little Hershey candy bars in baskets, M&M's in little bowls, pop in the fridge...hmm...it's not going to be easy. For the sake of my health and well being, I needed to stay true to my goals. The first night went well. I think I was too tired to do anything other than get unpacked and go to bed. The next morning my plan was to not even eat the first bite of cookie or candy. I stuck to my regular routine and I made it through the day (without even feeling deprived!) Yesterday was day 2 and still going strong. I did have one small scoop of ice cream after supper, but that was it. I've also walked every day and tried to stay active. It's not too hard with the weather super nice and the run of the farm!

It is possible; with the 3 weeks of no sugar/flour under my belt, the prayers of faithful friends and God's strength and my self control; it is possible. Yahoo!

Summer Days at the Farm

We are enjoying a week at my grandparent's farm. The kids are riding their bikes up and down the lane with wild laughter. We've been riding my cousin's four wheeler ALL over. Add to that hugs and love from grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins!

I'm so thankful that my kids get to know my grandparents and spend time here at the farm. I spent many a day here when I was growing up. Now that I live 8 hours away, I often get 'homesick' for the farm. The land, the mountains, the peaceful calm of the country...all part of God's marvelous creation.

My kids are having so much fun. My hunny and I are enjoying being here too. Tomorrow, my hunny has 'barn cleaning' duty. I'm going to be running an errand for my aunt, then making some freezer meals for them. It's going to be a good day.

I had a wonderful chat with a good friend of mine from back home. We talked about how God desires our heart and practically what that looks like. He wants us to talk to Him and listen to what He has to say to us. We read His Word which is His way of talking to us...listening and being still to hear what He wants to say to us. I struggle with this...being still. Often I find myself stepping back from activities, busyness and life trying to realign myself with what is most important...Him. "Keep the Main thing, the Main thing" I repeat to myself. Recently I've re-evaluated my activities. I've been able to wrap up some commitments and step away from some others. Ahh, that's been freeing. And when someone asks me if I can do something, I've trained myself to say: "Let me check my calendar and I'll call you on _____ day" or "Let me think about that and get back to you." I received this wise advice years ago (which I need to remind myself of again and again). Pray about each opportunity.

Today was a good day. Looking forward to tomorrow.

Edited to add: I found these good posts that talked about what I tried to write about in my last paragraph.
Finding Everyday Grace: Renewed Sparkle
I have to say: taking back my time

Lapbook Workshop

I had the very fun privilege of presenting a lapbook workshop at CHEO yesterday. At this workshop, the first 30 families in the door received a packet and together we built a lapbook. I ended up with over 50 people at the workshop (the overflow received a handout with hints, websites, etc.) A friend and I worked together to show the folks how to put together a lapbook on lapbooking. :)

I thought I'd post the list of websites that I included on the handout for your purusal. It's quite a long list, however there are lots more sites I could have listed.

http://www.handsofachild.com/shop pre-packaged lapbooks for purchase
http://www.live&learnpress.com products for sale as well as freebies, also video demonstration of different folds
http://www.tobinslab.com
http://www.dinah.com
http://www.notebookingpages.com
http://www.canby.com/hockmanchupp/portfolios.html making lapbooks out of poster board instead of file folders
http://www.homeschoolingonashoestring.com/lapbooks.html
http://www.scrapbookingtolearn.com/folds.htm
http://www.scrapbookingtolearn.com/scrapbookfolder.html
http://cindyrushton.com/pdfs/LTLBOOK8092/LMK3.pdf 25 page resource with websites, diagrams and photos
http://www.eduplace.com/rdg.hme/k_5/shapebook/toc.html lots of shape books with or without lines
http://www.eduplace.com/graphicorganizer/ lots of graphic organizers that can be added to your lapbooks
http://www.thehomeschoolmom.com/teacherslounge/lapbooks.php lots of links to other lapbook sites
http://www.homeschoolhelperonline.com free unit studies, lapbooks, etc.
http://www.homeschoolshare.com free unit studies, lapbooks, lots of free downloadable templates
http://www.knowledgeboxcentral.com lapbooks and unit studies for purchase, as well as freebies
www.squidoo.com/lapbooking explanations, photos and links
www.notebookingnook.com/index.html
http://lapbooking.wordpress.com Lapbooking 101
http://simplest.lapbook.ever.com step by step instructions, videos, photos, great for beginners
http://homeschoolcreations.blogspot.com photos, lists of resources for different studies, notebooking pages
www.filefolderfun.com great free file folder games
http://ourlapbooks.blogspot.com pictures of lapbooks in archived posts
http://www.kinderprintables.com
http://www.e-teacher-discounts.com/carson-dellosa-clip-art.html free Carson Dellosa clip art
http://www.urbanfonts.com free downloadable fonts

Mini Office Resources:

http://www.busyteacherscafe.com/mini_offices.htm
http://www.teachingheart.net/minioffice.html scroll down for resources
http://www.lapbooklessons.com/minioffice
http://shadow-earth.com/archives/9 for older children
http://shadow-earth.com/archives/15
http://www.crosswalk.com/1421272/ explanation of lapbooks, list of supplies, links to other sites
http://www.squidoo.com/minioffice
http://sheilasjourney-sheila.blogspot.com/2008/04/math-lapbook-mini-office.html photos and clear instructions for a math mini office

The workshop went well and I had a great time. I was so nervous before it began, however once I started talking my butterflies went away. The audience was welcoming and kind. They had lots of good questions during and had lots of encouraging things to say at the end. My prayer was that they would leave feeling like they could use lapbooking as another tool in their homeschool, and God answered that in abundance. Praise Him!

Another conference highlight was meeting Steve Demme of Math-U-See. He is a kind, friendly, funny guy. His smile is the best! He loves what he does and it shows. He had words of praise for the kids and I as I shared with him our Math-U-See journey. What a neat man!

My hunny and I enjoyed being together for the day and our kids had a wonderful time with good friends of ours. Thank You God for a great day!

Bike Adventure

Before I tell you about my most recent bike adventure, I need to confess a few things:

1. I have a helmet and a bike...that does not make me a biker.
2. I am working hard to build endurance and get in shape, but people, it's a slow process. My body, especially, my legs are rebelling each step of the way.
3. I grew up in the country--really the sticks--no cars, no traffic, no pedestrians--you get the idea. So, I'm a little nervous driving on the side of the road when cars are whizzing past me.
   
4. I've stopped eating sugar and white flour. Tomorrow will be 3 weeks! As the brain fog is lifting, I think I can do more than I really can. Enter bike adventure........

My Hunny said that he wanted to go to the library to drop off some items and we needed to go to Walmart and pick up some items. I said, "Hey let's ride our bikes!" I do NOT know how many miles it is, but I'm going to figure it up and then you'll know why this was a CRAZY idea! [remember #1, #2, and #3 above!] Off we went with our helmets securely fastened and my tail light brightly flashing. They don't call me "Safety Hannah" for nothing. :) Up and down hills, across highways, into town we went. My legs were calling me bad names the whole time. I tried to quiet them, to no avail. It began to get darker and my night vision isn't all that good (see why it was a crazy idea??) At some point, between panting breaths I said to my Hunny, "Who's hair-brained idea was this anyway??" Wisely, he did not offer an answer. I tried to tell my legs that we were being green, they weren't listening.

We made it to the library and deposited the items into the book drop and continued on and on and on. Up one particularly monstrous hill (take my word for it!) I heard my hunny encouraging me..."You can do it, almost there; pretend our kids are at the top of the hill." I'm sorry kids, as my bike started to roll in reverse, I thought it was time to get off and walk. To my credit, I kept walking even though my legs were still calling me bad names and kept trying to make me sit down.

Finally I saw the luminescence of the Walmart sign, oh happy moment. I staggered off my bike and stalked off into Walmart only to be called back by Hunny to take off my helmet. I'm sure I was a lovely site--who cares at 10 p.m.?? He waited outside with our bikes because we don't have locks for our bikes. Me and jelly legs went in and got the few items we needed. My mind raced to try to think of who I could call at that hour who would come pick me up and end this crazy shananigan. No one. I exited with a box of Cascade (do you know how much that weighs...me neither, Hunny carried it in his back pack!) and the other things and off we went, headed for home. I had to walk up another hill but at least I was moving toward home. The whole time I was riding I kept praying that I wouldn't fall, crash or otherwise harm myself. I'm glad to say, I didn't! And somewhere near home, I realized that my legs weren't talking bad to me anymore; they could have been numb, but at least they were quietly doing what I needed them to do.

This afternoon, my sweet, sweet man called to tell me he loved me and that he loved our bike adventure. It was the most fun he'd had in a while. That made it all worth it. I've tried to convey the love to my legs; they still are miffed and aren't buying it. They will get used to it. I wonder where I'll want to ride to tomorrow.

Summer Routine

I've been working on a summer routine. It's coming along, but still have some to do. I really need it to be easy to implement and enforce.

I decided not to make hard and fast times for things because:

1. it's summer and I want the flexibility to pick up and go to the water park or library, etc. and
   
2. in the past when I have assigned specific times for things, we would get discouraged if we were off schedule.
   

This is more of a routine...an outline of what I'd like to accomplish each day. I don't want the summer to fly by and leave me wondering what we did for 3 months. I have some summer reading I want to do aloud as well as goals for each of the kids for keeping their minds engaged.

Now I'm working on a chore chart with pictures for my two younger ones. I'm still trying to figure out how I want to do it. Chore charts will help my kids to remember what they need to do and will take out the 'nag' factor. :) I'll post a picture of that when I get it done. Hopefully later today.

For more Works for Me Wednesday Ideas, visit We are That Family.

Catch up Links

I'm working on all sorts of projects and haven't had much brain power left over for blogging. On top of that, we've all been fighting off sinus yuckiddy yuck.

Anyway, here's some links you'll want to check out:
The Crafty Classroom is having a giveaway... A gift certificate from Oh So Girly!

I've been checking out all the cool stuff Kate over at Centsational Girl is doing. She is a DIY-er to beat all DIY-ers, in my opinion. I've got to keep my blog/home envy in check when I read her. :)

Another good find, is Book of Virtues unit study...it's big, but it looks good--notebooking sheets, lapbooking pieces and lesson plans. I'm going to do this with my kids. You will receive the link through Homeschoolfreebieoftheday.com (be patient they are on vacation). I occassionally read Pamela's blog (the mom who created this study), but was alerted to the finished study by homeschoolfreebieoftheday and feel obligated to link to it this way.

Lastly, I love writing...the actual process of lettering and I love finding new fonts (free ones, that is). Urban Fonts has a ton of free downloadable fonts for your lettering pleasure.

Alrighty, gotta get moving!