Interesting Music (off topic)

I wanted to post this for a couple of reasons. One, obviously is just to share and two, so that I could remember the names for future use. :)
I caught the very end of the Grammy's this year and decided to search through some pics to see what I might have missed. I discovered three women that I had never heard of before and so off I headed to youtube. I love these three women's styles. They are each unique and different. The first is Adele, I kind of like how she sounds like Bjiorke (Know I didn't spell that right) mixed with Fiona Apple. It's interesting.
The second was a woman named Chrisette Michele. She reminds me of an old cafe singer or something from the Harlem Renaissance. I love the style there. And finally is Duffy. Now, of the three I would rank her third. She looks and sounds like a singer from the 50's (which is my favorite decade). She seems to be a cleaned up and blonde version of Amy Winehouse (who I do not like).
I know this is totally off the topic of homeschooling but I love finding new music and I like this shift that popular music seems to be taking towards these modest/ stylized singers.
I probably have the oddest taste in music, especially considering that I love everything. I can go from this music to pop to rock to rap. It's definitely interesting I'm sure. :)
Also, Go plus sized ladies! It's always nice to see plus sized ladies becoming more popular. We're making a come back, slowly but surely.

I LOVE THIS TIME OF YEAR!

Okay, I am sick as a dog, but I have to say that this is one of my favorite times of year! Why? Because I buy next years school now. I just purchased for the upcoming year and I'm so excited. We are sticking with Saxon math. I really like it. I had purchased next years spelling before so we were already set with that.

I found a place that sells cheap textbooks and I LOVE TEXTBOOKS so I purchased an art and music one (yes, I know, I don't need a text for these but hey, they were $7 and $10, so I couldn't pass it up). I got an English textbook also. I don't know exactly how Five in a Row (FIAR) is going to go for us, (probably really well) but I think I'd supplement with an english text anyway in addition to math.

I also bought a science text that is pretty much the following grade to this one. And the place I buy from had a 3-5th grade VA History text! Could NOT pass on that one! Even if we don't use it this year coming up, we'll need it soon.

I don't know if I'm going to buy the next year of Story of the World. I'm still undecided on that one. I'm going to finish out the rest of this year and see. I love the chronological approach. FIAR also covers history so I might just go with that. I'll have to see.

But I LOVE BUYING CURRICULUM! I have to admit that I'm very quick to buy something new...then find something else to catch my eye and buy it, etc etc. I need to stop that! But I am sticking with some that are working really well.

Funny Discovery...

I am in a bad winter rut right now. We had some personal things come up which we had to take a few days. Things finally start getting settled down a little and then we get sick. But thankfully the public schools are having snow days (which I typically use as 'make up' days for what we've missed before) but we're taking them off. I just hope everything settles down soon or we'll be schooling through summer! haha!

Anyway, in the midst of this rut I have been re-evaluating our curriculum. I'm trying to find a quicker way to do everything. I'm trying to see what we can get rid of, what we can do differently, etc. I even ordered new curriculum. I'll have to see how Five in a Row works for us (although I am so anxiously awaiting it's arrival!). I even ordered 2nd grade workbooks for Sis, she's now going to be on the same math as her brother. It will save a lot of time. I think it'll work for us because from teaching both each day I've noticed that they are both so durn similar. The work from grade 1 to grade 2 isn't that much more. I think she'll be able to pick it up fairly easy.

Well, onto my funny discovery....

I was looking through websites of 2nd and 3rd grade classroom schedules and just taking a look at how/when they handle all of the subject, what type of subjects they do, etc.

I came across a few different forums of teachers saying that they were still trying to fit this in or can't find time for this....It was so cool. It reminded me of all of my previous schedule posts. It was just a weight off my shoulders to hear teachers saying the same thing. :) So even though I feel awful and want to stay in bed all day (thank goodness for laptops on the couch, lol), I feel somewhat happier.

Celebrities and Presidents...

I was sitting here this morning looking through celebrity pictures at the Inauguration and many of the Inaugural Balls. I really have a weakness for celebrity photos, I don't know why, but I could spend hours clicking through things like this. Hmm, maybe I should work on that. A few funny things struck me though.

1) Did this many celebrities show up to any of the Inaugural happenings for either of Bush's parties? I am very curious now and will have to do some research, which will inevitably leave me clicking through many more celebrity photos....or just the 3 Republican celebrities alive....not sure which it will be yet. Which brings me to my second point...

2) Why are a VAST MAJORITY of Celebrities Democrats? It's odd isn't it. It doesn't even represent the mix of America...it's like if Americans were split 1/2 and 1/2 (as it appears we are very very close to) then the celebrity vote would be 95% Democrat and 5% Republican. Doesn't that seem strange to you?

But you know a majority of celebrities do live in big cities which I have a working theory about smog and polluted city water and air affecting citizen's brains and causing irrational thought and in exchange....the Democratic party....rofl..okay, my Mom will kill me for that one. :) I'm kidding. But moving along..

3) Why do celebrities feel a huge need to tell us what their political affiliation is...it's not a big deal. The moment I start looking for political advice from an actor, a singer, a rapper, a model...is the day I need to not be allowed to vote anymore! The only positive thing I can even get out of it is that MAYBE they can get the younger generation to start voting, which is very important. At least do your part.

You cannot complain about anything political if you do not do your part to fix it.

But now I'm rambling. I just was curious of those things. I know it's not a new thing because, while I wasn't around then, I have seen footage of musicians protesting wars of the past and throwing their political advice into their songs.
(which would start me on the reason I hate System of a Down....well, the 2nd reason, the first is that I just don't like the guys singing style; But I used to like the "Grandma wont you put on a little makeup" song; before he started getting all political) If I want to hear politics I will turn to reliable sources, not my rock or pop music, thank you very much!

I think I'm finished now...did I mention this is a 6a.m. ramble? :)

Pedi-Paw.....SUCH SCAMMERS!

A few months ago I bought the Pedi Paw from television. It was the cheaper of the two versions (or the Peti-cure) but thought I'd give it a shot. Before I actually got the package in the mail I got a phone call from the company. I answered thinking it might be a problem with my order, maybe it was back ordered, etc....

They wanted to sign me up in some jewelry of the month club...what? No thank you! The woman totally pitched me like a telemarketer. No thank you, just send my pedi paw.

I got my product and I love it, haven't had any problems. My only problem is that my dog's front paws are ticklish so she won't let me hold them long to work....and she's a 70lb dog, so it takes a while to file them down. But overall, no problems or complaints regarding the product.

About a week or two ago I got a check in the mail from Pedi Paw. It was for $8, I thought that maybe somehow they were giving discounts to customers for replacement bands, or maybe they had just overcharged me (yes wishful thinking, lol). But I am no dummy (most of the time....or some of the time anyway) so I inspected the check and found fine print stating that "Cashing this check means that you are enrolling in" some sort of safety program.

WHAT? This is total shenanigans! I have seen these checks from complete rip off companies before but DID NOT think that I would see it come from the Pedi Paw!!! What in the world are they doing? Are they not making enough money off of this product that they have to scam people (as I'm sure there are many people who do not read the fine print and cash this thing, then have to get into the lengthy process of trying to cancel the program BEFORE it racks up money)!

I've bought items from t.v. before without problems. I am the magic bullets biggest fan. No it doesn't do everything like it says (turned my peppers into soup....not neatly chopped like they show) But that is my only complaint. Having it for 5 years now, it's still going strong. It stopped on me for a minute the other day after grinding through frozen strawberries and ice chunks, I almost cried thinking it was dead, but yesterday it started right back up.

Now I'm rambling, but my point is that they never did any of this junk! I would not mind if a company tried to up sell me (do you want to throw in some extra bands for $2? How about this replacement battery set for $8).

My final thought...I wish I would have spent more money and went with the peti-cure. It looks like a sturdier product and I read reviews from people saying that it worked better on bigger dogs. And I bet they wouldn't try to send me phony checks!

New Curriculum!

Okay, someone recommended some new curriculum to me after hearing that we spend over 6 hours per day. I checked out the Five In A Row (FIAR) homepage and was impressed. I had glanced at it before but for some reason it wasn't what I was looking for at the time. But I like the way it is related to books (you know, I am very fond of literature!) and it's learning based on classic books. So I bought it just now and can't wait to get it in and give it a try.

I was a little afraid that the library wouldn't have the books that go along with it, but I did a quick search on a few titles and they did, so that will not be a road block.

Maybe it will have good effects on the kids too, put a little bit more enjoyment into school. :) If it works out, I will sell our other curriculum or put it back for later (since a lot of what we use isn't really grade specific).

I'll keep you posted on how it goes....I wish they had speedy shipping! :D

ps....about our day: we had p.e. group and chess club today. It still baffles me that the kids can just jump in like they've known these people their whole lives. I am so shy and such a complete opposite of that. That's why so many people have told me later they thought I was stuck up, but I was really just too shy to talk. I try to make myself talk a little more now. :) But I love these groups! There are so many nice homeschool families! It's our 2 year anniversary and I'm so happy to have FINALLY met people who do what we do. It's good to finally feel connected to a community.

Inauguration day...

We had a snow day today, but I counted it as a make up day for us. We spent time doing different school things but only lightly.

Instead, we have watched the Inaugural info all day. I have to say that watching all of the former presidents from my lifetime (with the exception of our dear Reagan) together at one place was so exciting.

My favorite part was when Obama kind of messed up his swearing in. He didn't really mess it up, but he paused because he forgot what he was supposed to repeat. I enjoyed it not because it was a mistake but because it was probably the first glimpse of humility of Obama for me. It was the first time I could look at him and see that he was in fact just like the rest of us. He was nervous and I liked seeing that.

I pointed out the history of the day to the kids. I hope that when they are old with their own grandkids they can say "yeah, I watched the Inauguration of the first African American president".

Now, lets all sit back and just see what happens. I'm totally willing to give Obama a chance and keep my fingers crossed as well!

**Added note**
I read a report just now that said that Obama was pausing so that the man giving the Oath could word it properly, but that isn't he look that I saw on his face. It was more the look of a man saying "what exactly was it again" because he didn't want to mess it up. Also because he jumped in on the name part before he had finished...and especially because Obama repeated it exactly as he had said.

I stick by my initial feelings. I saw a man who was nervous, just as any man would be, to be doing something so important in front of so many people. It still touched me.

Diet change update...

I don't like the word diet because it makes people think of those crazy schemes that people (and yes, myself included) go on to try to quickly drop pounds but never end up working.

When I refer to diet, I mean the way that we eat. So when I'm speaking about changing our diet, I am talking about changing actual eating habits in our family.

We're changing to whole wheat bread products and so far that's going over very well. We even made our first ww homemade bread. It turned out perfectly, yay. :) And it was so much fun to make it!

Our first week of dietary change was to fix our breakfasts. It's really been pretty fun and it's tackled a problem i had before of trying to make breakfast more diverse (I hate hearing "I want a pop tart" or "I want cereal" each morning) and I wanted to move towards more hot and homemade breakfasts.... Very good so far!

This week we're working on changing lunch. I'll tell you later how that goes. I think they will probably be the two easiest changes to the diet.

It's funny but just changing to eating breakfast is making me want to eat less. My hubby and I had a bad habit of eating a big thing after dinner, either a huge dessert or another huge helping of dinner or a different thing that would equal dinner portions. I think it was because our body was thinking of dinner as lunch since it was it's 2nd meal and wanted a 3rd meal. But I'm wanting less after dinner. :) I'm feeling fuller.

On vacation....okay, not really but almost!

Do you know how long it's been since I went on vacation? Okay, neither do I but I'm sure it's been a while. With my own college work, it made it impossible because I was always doing some work even on "off" times. With my own school being on hold for a while, I have some free time on my hands. I've been using that free time to get back to what I love...home type stuff such as baking bread with the kids. They are such good little chefs. :)

We've been on 'vacation' since Wednesday of last week. It's not really been a vacation but very close. A combination of an iffy heater and temps that were in the single digits led us to stay at my Father in Law's house this past week since he's been out of town. It's been heaven. It's like being in one of those cabin rentals. The only difference is that it's full of papaw's stuff already and we're within short walking distance to get something from our house that we may have forgotten.

For school the kids did computer game work instead. It's still school work but it's a lighter version. This week though we're getting back to our books. Today we are 'snowed out'. School has been officially canceled so I am thinking about doing a light day; just math, reading and computer games to consider it a 'make up day' for the ones that we've got to catch up on.

I'm just really enjoying this little 'vacation' because we've got room to spread out and it's been somewhat relaxing. :)

Best week EVER!

Well, It finally happened, I have officially had the best week ever since we started homeschooling nearly 2 years ago.

Our schedule went almost perfectly for Monday through Wednesday. I threw out some things to try to clear the schedule a bit. Then Thursday was perfect. P.E. group was back and the kids fell right in just like they were old friends. Afterwards we went to our first Chess Club meeting. All went pretty good there (except my son was so hungry he was more focused on the popcorn than the games, lol...to remedy this, I believe I'll start giving him a snack between the p.e. and chess times). The kids loved it though. The people were wonderful and the kids have asked to play chess ever since we've been back.

To finish up my wonderful week we had a wonderful Friday. It had school as usual, a little late, but not bad. to finish it up though, we made homemade bread and ham soup. It was so wonderful and everyone loved the bread. It just ended so nicely. A perfect week ended by a nice home ec lesson. :)

We've started yesterday with our Change One diet, fixing our breakfasts and I went ahead and made a switch to wheat bread. No complaints so far. :) Everyone is enjoying everything. I like the subtlety of the Change One diet, since we're only changing breakfasts this week, its much easier to follow.

I am just so excited. It's only 1 and we're on lunch break (about to end) and we've only got quiet reading time and history left. So we should be completely finished by 2 at the latest. We also made up a chore list and yesterday we drew cards until we each had equal amounts. Then we completed the chores. It took all evening just because I had to stop my chore to show my son how to do this while my daughter waited to learn how to do that....once they get the hang of what they're supposed to be doing, it'll go easier.