just hanging out

Yesterday Dave and I went out for Denise birthday, Candee was down seeing Denise so we got to catch up with her.  It was a blast even though they took us on a marathon shopping spree.  Denise is pregnant!  She was shopping for some clothes, she is 12 weeks, but kept it quiet because she had a miscarriage the first time.  Praying for her that it all goes well this time around.  She seems to be doing well though.  It will be fun to have a little one coming. 

MDK was sick yesterday had to call into work.  She has a sinus infection she is going to work today she has Sat. and Sunday off so that is good.  Well better get around.

up early

Well yesterday I shoot chickens, that is my way of saying I just chased after stuff and seemed to get nothing done.  I spent a few hours chasing down info for MLK for medical records then calling about insurance and going by three different times.  We bought a used car yesterday as Daves blue car has hit the unreliable part.  Seems like we get one vehicle paid for and then we end up in another payment.  We got it for 5000 and it only has 58 thousand miles on it so a good deal.  Hope Dave enjoys it and it is a smoother ride than the old Lemans.  I am glad to be back in the van.  We had to go sign paperwork for that and then off to Walmart to pick up stuff.   Finally got all the tech stuff done for interpreting stuff and then worked with MDK in the morning on school stuff.   She had been being a little bit of a slacker the past two weeks, so we gave her this week to show us what she wants, Dave will talk to her boss come Monday and cut her hours back to 25 hours if she doesnt get all her stuff done.  She came home directly after work and finished off the reminder of it.  She wants to have the freedom to lounge around as before but she doesnt have that luxury to do that and work that many hours and get her school work done. 

MLK sounded tired when I called her as she had put in a full day of school and then quite a few hours at work study.  She was hoping to pick up a few more hours of work study but I think she isnt going to be so lucky.  Encouraged to get out and pound the pavement some more. 

I still have a bunch more chickens to chase, seems like I do a whole bunch of piddly things and then alas more pops up.  Well better get off here and start chasing.

a good time with the big girl

I had a great time with MLK over the weekend, it was an awesome weekend.  I hope she had as great of time as I did.  We went to visit the church in Moravia, it was a great place.  I also went to Lukas party it was really low key and relaxing.

I have a million little projects today.  Hope I can get them all done. Well gotta get MDK up and start school.

a nice but busy day with the hubby

Well yesterday both Dave and I have off, this doesnt happen very regularly so it was nice to have some time together. I swear this week was dedicated to little things.  You know we all have that list of little things that need to get done.  It is amazing how much I did get done and how much more I need to finish. 

So yesterday we went out to the garden and noticed any tomatoes that were actually turning red had huge cracks in them, due to temp. we assumed so we pulled the tomatoes and took off all the green tomatoes, We had three buckets full!  So we decided to do green tomato salsa, we peeled and diced one bucket and we are going to see if we like the salsa before I decide to do more.  It was a ton of work.  I also made homemade laundry soap, and also  froze zuchini and apples.  I have peppers and zukes left in the garden thinking end of next week will be it.  I went ahead and planted daffadoils and have some tulips to plant.  The lawn was mowed for the last time.  The place looks nice. After the first frost I am going to get horse manure and have my garden plots plowed under. 

Enjoying a new series of books called Little Britches, kinda little house for boys series, it is just good wholesome writing.  Courageous the new movie by the church that did Fireproof will be coming out next week or two hope to take MDK to a mantee.  Well better get around headed to Iowa!

when the light comes on

I love those moments when we homeschool and the light comes on in the brain.  That moment when the thing they have struggled and struggled with just has an aha moment.  MDK has always had a struggle with reading, spelling, english and all of that.  We are doing a race to the finish line with English and writing as they are the last two spots to do.  We are doing English grammer workbooks 9 and 10 this year and 11 and 12 next year.  We were struggling with making sure what that is in a sentence and getting extremely confused.  We fought and fought with this over the years.  Finally in desperation I tried diagramming with her, and wow the light shown like a floodlight.  It just made sense to her, now mind you she doesnt much care for it, but wow it was awesome.  We had a uh huh moment with slope intercept last week.  I think it is those moments that keep me keeping on.  Also those moments when they connect studies with the real world, that is such a nice feeling.

Yesterday was enrichment class days, and MDK was upset about Bible quizzing she is trying hard to balance work and school and for the most part does well with that, but then Bible quiz is tipping the scale somewhat.  She wants to do it but doesnt want to put the effort in when she is tired, it is all a matter of maturing and getting it all together. 

Today I do my mentoring looking forward to that.  Well need to work with MDK some more.

i made apple pie

I made apple pie for the hubby and MDK.  It was yummy according to them, the recipie called for the pie filling to not be cooked seperately, so the MDK said that a few of the apples were just a little crunchy but that she really liked it.  Dave had it with milk on it and enjoyed it also.  They both said breakfast and apple pie sounded good. 

MLK had a bit of good news today, she got on at the college she has eight hours a week, not much but a start, and is hoping she can get more.  She actually had her college prof. request her. So she has her foot in the door there.  I told her to keep searching though as she will need more money than that.  It was a great boost for her. 

Yesterday was get a bunch of piddle crap done day.  So hopefully today will be more productive.  Well gotta get in the shower.

Monday morning

It is quiet at the house, I woke up about 5:30 this morning and sat and read a book called Little Britches it is like Little House on the Prarie for boys, it is a fun read.  It is very foggy this morning as I have the door open next to my chair.  I dont have any jobs today but have dentist and a urine drug test and TB test I need to get done today.  The house is fairly clean and I finished sewing all but the trim piece on my quilt. I have hours of cutting seams so they will fray and cutting strings but the big part is done. 

MLK was down for the weekend even though we saw very little of her, she spent most of her time catching up with her friend Laura.  Viv and Dave came down for a short visit, mostly so he could see his grandsons in St. Joe, but had a nice visit with her.  Denise came over and we BBQed.  It was a rather chilly day so stayed in garage in blankies.  MDK had Saturday off and stayed home so that was nice, she finished up a mound of homework she had procasinated on.  She got her first big paycheck which she was so exicitied about.  MLK is still looking for a job, making that a big matter of prayer.

Dave preached in Stanberry, I started feeling sick towards the end of the sermon, so I didnt go back that night.  Next week he preaches in Whitesville but I am headed home for L. bday party.  Been trying to study for my sign language test.  Felt my interview at Soresnon went okay but wont hear for about a month. 

Plan to mow hopefully for the last time this week.  The cucumbers are done producing, the potatoes were a dissapointment.  Lots of green tomatoes and my zuchini are finally producing and doing alot of it .  Soon I will cover my strawberries and put straw around my bushes and haul it in for the winter.  I dried some oreagano and basil, and I am strongly considering growing some herb plants over the winter inside.  The oreagano smells heavenly.  Well better get off here for now.

busy

Well it has been a few days since I posted so got a little catch up to do.  Dave and I went garage saling last Saturday and Dave was the winner, he found a hand auger and old tools a car floor jack.  However we also got two nice reclainers which we are really enjoying.  Sunday we went to church and just contemplated what we did and how we still felt about 9/11.  I was suprised at how raw my emotion about it was still ten years later.  Monday I went and did my interview with Sorenson felt pretty good about it.  I will hear back from them in a month and if it works out I can bid for jobs in Jan.  It was a little nerve wracking.  I felt okay with it all though.  I am in hopes that I can at least get my foot in the door.  Yesterday was a full day with an interpreting job and enrichment classes.  Then Thursday and Friday have alot more work again so it is good to stay busy.  Well I had better get off here me and the bathroom have been very close friends all last night and now again this morning.

the comment ticked me off

Tuesday afternoon is usually a great time for me, while MDK is doing her classes and hanging with friends, I get four hours of just hanging with a bunch of other moms, which is such a treat, for any woman of any age.  When you are not worried about doing dishes, doing your job, teaching your kid, taking care of the pets etc. All those things that nag you when  you take a "time out".  We were talking about all the different churches we attend, we have a wide variety in our homeschool group, Catholic, Orthodox Jew, "home" churches, nondenominational, Baptist, Presberytian, etc.  We were sitting around talking about our churches and the topic of music came up, one of my fellow moms her husband is part of the praise band, and was appealed at how rude people can  be about criticizing her husband, I told her about Fairport struggle with music and how we all had learned to tolerate each others style and preferences because that is what Christian love is about, not majoring on the stupid stuff and following after the important.  One of the mothers perked up and said I use to like contempary music until I was convicted . . .   Okay that just set wrong with me, you were convicted why, when people say stuff like that it makes them feel morally superior, maybe I am not sure where that all comes from, it just kinda ticked me off.  If I am convicted of something it is personal, I dont make declarations of it I use to it, but I think that was spirtual immaturity not maturity.  Then I was sitting in there and there was a twenty five year old sister of one of the kids, she still lives at home and runs a cleaning business has never pursued any higher education, that to me is a shame.  I am afraid she is one of those people that feel that daughters should never leave home untill they are married.  These are just a few minorities in our homeschool group. 

So why did we start this journey towards homeschooling, the simple straightforward answer was MDK couldnt read, I had worked in public school and knew what her outcome would be if something didnt radically change.  She would be a very angry frustrated feeling stupid girl by the time she was in seventh grade and pretty much would have shut down educationally, as it was too risky to try anymore and by 16 she would want to drop out, she would be stunted educational and therefore never have alot of good abilities to get a good job in the world and she would feel horrible about her intelligence.  I had seen this "type" of kid many times before.  We tried everything, two hours every night doing homework with tears a frustration, chapter 1 reading, tutoring, etc.  I triend to get help and when she didnt qualify with special ed, I was done.  They were not going to help and she was not going to grow up not being able to read.  I had to go outside of the "system".  I would say well over 60 percent of our families have had one of their kids that didnt do well, learning disablities and medical conditions.  Have I enjoyed the journey yes yes yes!  So do I think all kids should be homeschooled, no but do I think our educational system as a whole should be reworked, yes!  I like the idea of school vouchers, or open school enrollement (iowa is one of the few states that have this), I think if it is a lousy school you should have other options, I think the parents should be able to be a bigger part of making decisions.  We had one option Maysville, that is it, or you pay eight thousand in tutuion to go to a different public school.  Our inner city schools in Kansas City our horrible, as I see the college freshman that go to MOWest coming in struggling with simple compostions not because they have a learning disability but because they have not been taught, their level of education is about junior high level or freshman level when they graduate.  Then they spent alot of money on pre college level classes, struggle and alot drop out.  That is a disservice to people.  We need to rework the system, it is not working esp. at the middle school high school level it needs revamped, but yet we just throw money at it.  Get rid of teachers unions, do some charter schools, set up schools with different ideaologies than what we are doing now.  I think elementary school works, but high school not so much.  The rate of cheating is astronicmical, and now we are graduating teachers that cheated their way through all their math courses(just one example of a teacher that I the interpreter had to teach to do fractions (dividing and subtraction), she holds a masters, scary huh?  Just soapboxing a little, I think that a free education is a privelege, if you are dangerous, and are costing another person their education with a whole class period used up on discpling you then you should be gone, too bad you screwed the pooch. I have alot more thoughts on education reform but I might bore you with it.  I am even a tad radical thinking public schools should be alot like public libraries, free and non restrictive, that sounds a little hippish it I know but wouldnt it be cool if you could pursue what really interests you and that classes would be free to anyone at any age and classes could be more like college classes where you meet all different sorts of people and you throw yourself into it because you love it.  Quess I live in a dreamy world sometime.
Well enough rattling for one day.

ugh the b word

Yes I am old, I went to the eye doctor yesterday and I am getting bifocals, how sad is that.  Dave was really rubbing it in, gray hair and bifocals, what next?  I proably dont want to know.  Well getting around in a hurry this morning so I will go hurry along with my walker and cane :)

another day

Well today I am glad for a routine, I have jobs now and it feel good to be able to contribute again.  I didnt realize how wierd I would feel without work.  Our school year is going pretty well, we took yesterday off since we had company.  MDK had to work, this week she has today and Thursday off so that is good.  They wont be able to call her in cause I am borrowing her car this morning, little blue is in the shop with a window problem. 

Dave is such an awesome husband, and I so enjoyed our long weekend together with all the friends and family.  It was nice to have MLK down too.  I was driving her a little nuts before it was all said and done.  I cant help it the mothering instinct is very strong and I have to get it all in in short bursts.  Well the clock is tickin so I better get around for work.

This that and the next

Well today we take a day off school, due to company and labor day, it is a rare thing that I actually dont just plow ahead and ignore the holiday, but MDK has just had a brutual full (40 hours) work week, due to alot of irresponsible co workers calling in.  She picked up alot of hours due to that, and they had scheduled her for 32 hours due to alot of high school students leaving and not much new hires yet.  They love her at work, she is  a quick learn, responsible and such.  I told her she had a few more weeks to get her hours down or I would have to step in and tell them she cant work that much with school.  She is only scheduled for 25 this week so we are headed in the right direction.  She did however get all put a few voc words and questions for Lit. done this week, so she is working hard at it. 

MLK came back with Steve to save herself the gas money and will leave today.  She was showing off clothes that she bought, nothing too over the top but not what we would have bought for her.  You know the little bit of stuff you do to assert yourself when you move out on your own.  Mine was leaving all the lights on in the house if I darn well felt like it.  We were last then enthusatic (mind you they arent bad just a little skimpier then we would choose), and she was dont you like them.  We were like you knew we wouldnt be thrilled over them so why ask.  It is interesting to watch her emerge as her own person.  She has decided that this adult thing is not quite as much fun as it is cracked up to be.  She said Mom do you feel stressed out all the time.  I said no, she said well how can you not be, there are so many things you have to do for yourself and etc.  I said MLK it will hit a rhythm, you are just now worrying about things I have dealt with for years, you will be okay.  She said Mom this whole adult thing is not as much fun as I thought. 

Today I am going into town with Melissa to get her a few supplies for her art class and some things around the house and then they are taking off early afternoon.  Yesterday was such nice weather that we all sat out in the front yard and shoot the breeze all afternoon it was so nice.  Oh I have an interview on the 12th at Sorenson Video Relay.

Labor day weekend

Well Steve came down and MLK caught a ride with him down here They got her about 7 last night and then Dave's Dad and Karla came.  We all had BLT's and then crashed MDK at work and had ice cream.  She has put in a big bunch of work this week as they were short handed, she is scheduled for less this week.  She works after church today and I think also Monday.  She will like the paycheck. 

I cut up a whole lot of denim and worked on my quilt hoping that maybe this week I will get it all sewn together, hoping I have enough material to finish it.  It seems like I have been working on it forever and ever. 

I have an interview Monday the 12th at Sorenson Video Relay very very nervous about that.  Oh well this too will pass, hopefully in a good manner.  Dave preaches this morning.  Well gotta get around.

she passed it!

Well MLK finally passed her driving test, and then they said she had to pass the written.  What a crazy ride she has, she missed two too many but I am very sure that she will conquer it in the morning.  I am so happy for her, it was such a big thing for her and it will open up alot of doors. 

I will be going for an interview in the next two weeks for Sorenson Video Relay if it goes well I could be doing jobs in October, you bid for the jobs, also the rate pay for MERIL went up a little bit so that is good.  I have also had a few more jobs so that is good.  I am so glad that this has changed.

Got the lawn mowed, tomatoes picked, worked on the house, took a nap and then I worked on the denim quilt, it seems this quilt is going to take me forever.  Well better go!