Next Organizing Project, Please

Before:



After:


I don't think I've mentioned this before, because I didn't want to embarass Sis, but she struggles a bit with bi-polar disorder as well as OCD. Due to her job situation, she doesn't have insurance, so no Dr - no meds. We just ride the waves as they come. So, when she gets a bug to organize, baby we organize! So, the project today was my living room bookshelves. The before pictures actually look a little better than usual, since we had some baskets left over from the girls' room project and threw some of the junk on the shelves into them.

Funky Bug

I had to catch this one and figure out what it was! It looks so weird, a fly type body with a mantis-type head. Sure enough, it's a mantid fly!

(disclaimer - the picture's not mine, it's from BugGuide.net)

Mememememe

I got this from Carmen. It's all her fault.

What we're supposed to do in this exercise is act like journaling bees pollinating the literary flowers of the Internet. So remove the blog at #1 from the following list and bump every one up one place. Then add your blogs name in the #5 spot and link to each of the other blogs for the desired cross-pollination effect. What it looks like to me is nothing more than a blogging chain letter. However, I will not threaten dire outcomes if you decide not to participate!!!

MOT
Indigo Girl
Jamie
Carmen
Gem (I almost forgot to add me to the bottom!)

These are all new blogs to me, except Carmen. I do so love to find new blogs to read!

Now, to copy Carmen, every single one of you that has a blog is tagged! All 3 of you.

Homeschool Procrastinators

Any of you out there? This is our first year of "real" homeschooling, last year we did kindergarten -- you know, lots of play-doh, playing, learning letters and numbers, early reading, not much structured. I am trying to get ready for our next year (yeah, I know July's a little late for that), and I'm feeling VERY overwhelmed. I want to do Ambleside Online, but the list of books seems very daunting. I want my children to love books the way I do and this curriculum looks to engender that, but wow, that's a lot of reading! Plus, I have to come up with math on my own. There's so many choices, Math-U-See, Saxon, Singapore, and many more. All of the homeschool blogs I read seem to be veteran homeschoolers who are very confident in what they are doing and have it all together. Are there any of you who are a little more like me?

New Post

In order to get the whiney-crabby post off the top (I actually considered deleting it), I am posting my linen closet makeover. Nothing too exciting for most people, but this closet has become the repository for everything that doesn't have a home anywhere else in the house. So the other night, I got bug up my bum (as Sis would say), and went to town on the linen closet. Here's the before-and-after's:

Crappy Day -- Getting Better

UPDATE: I cooled off, Sis accepted my apology, the girls and I had a long discussion about drama and how they needed to stop -- and how I needed to stop. We're working on a new incentive chart for them to keep their stuff picked up. Sis and I spent the afternoon at Wal-Mart while the kids stayed home with Daddy, and I'm feeling so much better!

I don't much like to use this space to vent or complain, but just had to let it out. I feel rotten, have a sore back (threw it out last week and haven't blogged it yet), and am in a bad mood. This morning already, I have yelled at my sister to the point that she wants to move to another state, cursed at my children and told them that from now on I will become the B*tch from H311. I took all their stuff off their floor and put it into a trashbag. My house is messy and we haven't done any homeschooling beyond the caterpillar. I feel like a rotten mom and wife and homemaker and I'm pouting about it. Hopefully I'll get over it soon, I'll blog that transformation as well so you can come back and not have to listen to me whine.

We Have Cocoon

I was really doubtful that the caterpillar would cocoon in captivity, but he's well on his way! I wish I could get a good shot up the end of the cocoon -- it looks like he used his own 'hair' to make the cocoon, he's all smooth and hairless in there! But working with the limitations of an auto-focus camera and the curve of the jar, without flash and in insufficient light, this is what we have:

Yellow Caterpillar

The girls found a caterpillar out on the driveway, and of course had to bring it in! I've been searching online, but don't really have a good method to look it up. It's probably about 2 inches long, yellow, furry, with long black hairy spikes sticking out. Anyone have a clue or a good website to use to check it out?

UPDATE: Found it! I just Googled "caterpillar" and searched around until I found ours. It's the American Dagger Moth, or acronicta americana. The girls are reaaaaly hoping that it will make a cocoon and turn into a moth, but I'm wondering what the odds are of that actually happening in a jar. We did find out that it eats lots of different tree leaves, including maple, which we have in the front yard. We'll see what happens!

What Am I Reading?

Randi at I Have to Say asks the question What are you reading? I'd like to post a disclaimer before I reveal my literary choices. I read for enjoyment more than enlightenment. I read voraciously. I devour books, I savor them, I inhale them, I dream their stories, I live them while lost between their bindings. I would rather read a lousy book than watch a great movie (although I just saw Batman Begins and it ROCKS!). So, the books I am listing are not great literary works. They are not particularly scholarly or insightful or redeeming in any great way. But I enjoyed them. And that's why I read.

So, here's my books for the past week or so. I checked out 5 books from the library around June 30, I've been done with them since July 8. I've got to get back to the library this week, I'm rapidly going through the books on my Palm, and I like to keep those for emergencies.

First in the pile, Pirates of Pensacola by Keith Thomson. Thomson is a screenplay writer, among many other things, and the book reads like one long action sequence. I would describe it as Get Shorty (the book was better than the movie) meets Pirates of Penzance. Crazy, but a great read!

Next, The Emancipator's Wife by Barbara Hambly. I have read or tried to read a couple of Hambly's books before and I have a lot of trouble really getting into them. Although I was very curious about this fictional account of Mary Todd Lincoln's life, particularly the insight into her mental state, I just couldn't stay with it. As with the other Hambly books I've tried and liked, I will have to pick this one up again later and try again. Some books and authors just hit me that way.

The House of Storms by Ian R. MacLeod is an alternate history novel. I was sucked right in to an England that has moved into the Industrial Age with "aether" as important as electricity and other mechanical developments. Elaborage guilds have risen up to control aether and the different disciplines it is used for. England ends up in a civil war over the use of free labor, or slaves, instead of the US, which has not developed beyond colonies. The characters were interesting enough to catch me at the beginning of the book, but their development was lacking. We caught them at the beginning, and then it was 20 years later and we didn't see much of what got them there. I didn't like that. But it was another good read and I would try MacLeod's writing again.

The Myriad, by R.M. Meluch -- Basic Sci-Fi, somewhat Trek-ish. Humans working with a former enemy (a splinter colony from Earth that started as a secret Roman society among Earth's Latin-speaking professions and ended up as the new Roman Empire on another planet) in order to overcome a new enemy. A bit derivative of Star Trek story lines, but very well done. There's a really cool paradox that occurs when they discover the new civilization they come upon has been colonized not only from lightyears away, but from thousands of years in the past! A quick, light read. The subtitle is Tour of the Merrimack #1, so there should be sequels. I'll be looking for them.

The Beach House by James Patterson and Peter DeJonge. Sis turned me on to James Patterson, and I have read every one of his books I can get my hands on! We're waiting right now for 4th of July and Honeymoon to come back to the library, thank goodness for online holds! This one was just as good as his others I've read. Murder mystery, plot twists, unexpected reading -- great summer reading. Loved it.

My literature will become quite elevated this fall, we will be starting our Charlotte Mason curriculum. Loads and loads of great reading -- things I loved as a kid, things I've heard of and wanted to read but have never got around to it. I hope the girls enjoy it as much as I will!!!

New Blog Traffic Site

Get Blog Traffic 

It works basically like Blog Explosion, but they are very vigilant in making sure all the blogs really are blogs -- not advertising pages. If you head over there from here and decide to join, I get credit for the reference.

New Blogger Photo Thingy

Wow, this is cool. How long has this been here? I feel like I've been offline so long -- it was only a few days -- how addicted am I? Anyway, just wanted to try it out.

I'm Baaack!

Whew, it was just a bum power supply. It's fixed, and I also got the CD-Rom drive fixed that's not been working for a couple of years. Yay! Well, everyone has to get their fair share of catch-up time, so I'll be back in a few to post some thoughts from the past week.

Mayday! Mayday! Going down!

The computer is dead. It just won't turn on. I'm at Hubby's office after service this morning, checking mail and getting this post out. Boy, am I computer addicted! I just mope around the house like a little kid, "I'm bored, there's nothing on TV, there's nothing to do!" Well, at least I did for the first couple of days. I'm actually getting a lot more done around the house -- the laundry's almost caught up from camp (they only got back Wednesday!), not sitting in suitcases damp and sandy, the dishes are being done every night, the tub is scrubbed!!! I mean, I am a house cleaning machine! But I hope to get back online soon. The puter is in the shop, and I should be back in business soon.

They're Gone!

Today is my birthday, and I'm all alone! Well, actually, Sis and Baby Boy are here. After an awesome outdoor church service this morning, (I sang on the praise team and Dh was one of the worship leaders), Dh took the girls to mini-week at camp. They can go as young as 5 if accompanied by a parent. So Sis and I are going out to dinner tonight (well, Baby Boy is coming too, I didn't have the foresight to get a sitter). We were thinking about going to a movie, but again, I didn't get a sitter. So, I'll have some quiet time over the next couple of days. Maybe I'll even blog about something besides kids and housekeeping!!!

Update: Yum, Yum! Sis took me out for Mexican, my favorite!!! Baby Boy behaved most of the time and we were blessed to have people sitting around us who appreciate the exuberance of a toddler. There was that couple who asked NOT to be seated next to us. At least they did that and didn't sit there seething because 'that kid' was being too noisy (and throwing cereal and throwing his binky . . . ). We didn't even get arrested when he assaulted the police officers 2 tables away with his bink. All in all, a great birthday meal!!!

Yay, It's Fixed!

Thank you, Stephen, for your helpful post! I read your comment, and went to your site, but it didn't mean anything to me (a little html illiterate here!). But your June 30 update with Blogger's final fix really helped me out, it was plain and simple!

Also, thanks Andrea for your help in tracking down what the problem was!