Color Me Happy

Before:

After:

Where were these when my kids were smaller?!? I bought some yesterday just to see how they worked and I LOVE them! They glide on smoothly, they don't break, the paper doesn't peel away. And...they come in these cool colors too:

I'm sold.

I still have smallish boys, so to go along with the crayons I bought this giant sized coloring book for them:

Imagine if you will a 2' x 4' Sponge Bob. (help!)

I also broke down and bought these:

I outlawed markers several years ago after finding intricate pictures drawn on the walls, cabinets and carpet, but now that my youngest is 7, I'm feeling brave.

We've spent the better part of the last two days coloring, but we seem to be running out of yellow.

Hmmm, can't figure that one out...

Off the top of my head...

*Don't you hte it when you re typing nd one of your keys is sticky so tht everytime you hit tht key it doesn't work. I find it very nnoying. Cn you guess which one it is? I've been around the blogosphere commenting nd I kept having to go back nd hit that key extr hard. I'm tired of doing it so you will just have to suffer through ll the typos...

*Thnk you for letting me whine yesterdy. I feel much better tody. I ws ctully in the midst of rerrnging my fmily room nd it ws mess for a week. I don't function well in a mess, which is a problem since I am not a tidy person!

*It's shaping up to be an interesting rce for the White House. I like McCain's pick. I liked her speech. I've never relly identified with politician before, but I did with her. She's close to my age, has one less child thn me. I'm looking forward to seeing her face off with Biden.

*I mde it to bed by 10:00 every night this week... a record for me! AND...we had family scripture study every night too! We're trying a new schedule. We clean up the dinner dishes and then immediately sit down at the table for our study. It feels so good to hve it done nd the discussion is much more lively since we are not too tired!

*Did you know that the ncient Romans had flush toilets? I was just watching a show about how they did all the plumbing for it. Very fascinating...except that the bathroom was a very large room with rows of benches with holes...no individual stalls there. It reminded me of some of my weirder dreams where I have to go to the bathroom really bad and I keep looking for a private spot, but all the toilets seemed to be lined up outside...then I finally wake up...whew!

*You really wanted to know that about my dream, huh!

*Did you notice that the "a" is working now? Figures, just as I am about to wind up!

Good night!

Excuse me while I whine.

I'm having an off day. I'm so tired of making decisions about my children's education. I'm so tired of trying to organize my house because I don't have the shelf space I need for all the books that I use for said children's education. I'm so tired of trying to come up with a schedule that I will actually be able to follow for the new school year. I'm so tired of cleaning the house because even if it's clean I still hate it because nothing is my style and the sofas are threadbare and sagging. Besides, it never stays clean with said children home all day.

Waa, waa, waa.

I was complaining to my husband because our lot hasn't sold yet so we haven't been able to build our new home which will sport a library where I can house all my books and school supplies. I'm having serious doubts it will ever get built.

Waa, waa, waa.

My husband said, "Well you know that old saying, 'when life gives you lemons...'"

My answer to that?

I'm all out of sugar.

And the #1 song is...

I found this on Michal's blog so I thought I'd copy her. She's such a trend setter! Well, she did "borrow" it from someone else so I don't feel so bad!

Go to this blog and find out which song was #1 on the day you were born.

For me it was:

"These Boots Are Made For Walkin'" by Nancy Sinatra

Kind of fun! Let me know what you come up with.

Let's face it...

with the invention of texting, the English language is deteriorating.

So... my 13 year old daughter was using my cell phone today and this is what I found in my text messages when I got it back from her. She was having a 'conversation' with my 17 year old daughter.......

Yup.

No. Way.

Your face.

No your face.

Your face doesn't have a freakin kidney.

Well ur face is a dried up racoon with one eye walking down a alley with a flower singing "think of me".

Well your face is a dead snake on a trycicle and the trycicle is in the middle of kuntucky...

Your face has a purple banana growing out the side of it.

And ur face is a dead owl...

Your face has the chicken pox.

Your face has the meesles.

Your face can't spell.

Your face can't sing.

Your face can't dance.


Ah, yes. These is my girls! I actually edited some of the insults as they got to be a little morbid. It was all in good natured fun, and I laughed my head off while I was reading them, but I couldn't help thinking that perhaps they could have done better, after all they have both taken a couple of years of Shakespeare and if your going to insult, you need only look to the master of insults for inspiration. Perhaps the 'conversation' might have gone something like this:

And in thy brain which is as dry as the remainder biscuit after a voyage, thou hath strange places.

Well, you are the must chaff, and you are smelt above the moon.

Ha! I was seeking for a fool when I found you.

Yeah, well, four of thy five wits went halting off, and now is thy whole person governed with one.

Well, you lisp and wear strange suits.

And you are a most pathetical nit.

Watch out, thou art winding the watch of thy wit, by and by it will strike.



Well, "More of [this] conversation would infect my brain" so I think I'll sign off for now. And you might want to "Weed this wormwood from your fruitful brain"!

The Bean Trees

You know that gift from Motherboard I wrote about a couple of posts ago? Well one of the things in there was this book. I started reading it yesterday at 7:00 pm. It's now 1:45 am. I just finished it. I couldn't put it down. It's a very sweet, sad, heartbreaking, touching story. I loved the characters, the friendships, the relationships. The characters were very different from me, but I could identify with them on so many levels. Thanks, Motherboard, for the great read!

I love a story that captivates and takes you away from your life for awhile. But reality calls...it calls at 5:30 am when I have to be up to make breakfast for my 3 cemetary...errr...seminary goers!

Back to School?

So... today was the first day of public school in our area. Since we homeschool we decided that a field trip was in order for our first day...

OK, well, these are not my kids...but you get the idea.

The place is normally so crowded that you have to stand in line for 1/2 hour or more sometimes. But today? We rode the Master Blaster twice in five minutes! It's days like these that I love being a homeschooler!

We'll be taking a teacher break for the next two weeks and then...sigh...back to the daily grind.

A long overdue Thank You!

Guess what I just opened...finally! The bloggy gift I won at Motherboard's site, oh so many weeks ago! We had just "met" and I entered her birthday giveaway and won! (Yes, she gives things away on her birthday...how cool is that! I like the idea so much I just might do it next year.) However, it hadn't come before I left for my vacation, so tonight at dinner all of a sudden it hit me that I hadn't seen the package yet and I asked my husband what he had done with it. He had put it in the sewing room (which was a mess, so I hadn't even looked in there after I got home). I rescued it before it got swallowed up with all the other missing things that have gotten thrown in there over the last few months and quickly tore into it! My kids all crowded around and ooo'd and aaa'd over all the goodies, especially the Swedish Fish! I'm excited about the book, I've been needing a book to get lost in, and my son is extremely excited about the flower seeds. He even offered to keep them in a safe place for me!

Thank you Motherboard! It was a fun treat to come home to after an eventful vacation!

There's No Place Like Home

Yesterday, after being gone nearly 6 weeks, we arrived home! And while I thoroughly enjoyed seeing my family and other kin, I am happy to be home. And let me just interject here that I have the most fabulous Mother-in-law in the whole world? Yes, I came home to a spotless house. The table was set with a pretty white tablecloth and a vase of beautiful flowers on it and she had some tasty croissant sandwiches and fruit awaiting our starving selves with Bostom Cream Pie to finish off the meal...She had even had the carpets cleaned and closet doors and lightswitches that had been broken fixed! Oh, I just don't deserve her!

Today I had every intention of getting busy unpacking and cleaning out the car, but what did I do instead? I sat around in my jammies reading the Fablehaven series that my cute 11 year old daughter (E) has been pestering me to read. I couldn't put it down, and you know what? I only felt a little tinge of guilt that I should be unpacking, but quickly squashed that notion and finished book 3. Now I am anxiously awaiting the 4th book to be released. Who will get to it first, me or E?

I've missed all my bloggy friends. I've been reading your posts, but give me a week to get settled and I'll start start commenting again!



P.S. Thank you for all your prayers and thoughts on behalf of my brother. While he is out of immediate danger and has some complications from the infection that may be life altering, we are all just thankful that he is still with us.

Don't you hate it when...

you forget your eyebrow tweezers when you go on vacation and you're gone for a month...