Surviving and Shopping

I'm still here. I have survived a double illness (stomach virus on top of allergies), driving Gabriel far and yon to the drama performances and 3 solid days of teaching in the same kindergarten class. My house needs some serious attention tomorrow and my brain needs a rest. I must make time to read a good book. I happened to get 3 in the mail. I actually won a contest! Thanks Marsha! I can't wait to sit down and relax a bit with these.

Last Friday night, Hannah, Holly and I stayed on the other side of town while waiting for Gabriel. I had a $10 off coupon for JC Penny so we decided to check it out. We happened upon a great deal. Most everything was 40% off and I was in desperate need of some new clothes. It was actually fun to shop with Holly as she hurried around all the racks, picking out things that she thought would look good on me. "Oh Mom, you have to get this one!" was repeated over and over again. I was glad to have Hannah along to, to help me decide what looked the best. We had a great girls' night out.

I have some more blog entries in my head. A bit deeper and hopefully not as boring as things have been lately. Please stay and chat a while. I've missed my bloggy friends.

Allergies

Thanks for all of your votes. Hannah came in 3rd place. There's supposed to be another contest later this month so I'm sure I'll be by shamelessly begging for your help again.

In other news, I'm drowning in what appears to be allergies. Seems to be an annual event here in the states. I had the same thing last year a month earlier in Alabama. Anyone have any allergy relief/prevention ideas?

Vote for Hannah!

UPDATE!! Hannah is ONE vote shy of being tied for first place. Please vote now!

Hannah has entered a photography contest. You can see her entry here. Voting takes place TODAY ONLY over at Are We There Yet. In the little poll box, scroll down until you find An American Girl. Thanks so much!

News

The weather here in Virginia can be so fickle. One day it's summer and the next you need a winter coat. Friday was nice and I decided to wear my sandals to school. It didn't take me too long to remember why I never wore them to school before. I was in a kindergarten class and had my toes stepped on at least a dozen times. Today and yesterday have been filled with April showers.

The more exciting news of the week is that my daughter Hannah got her learner's permit today. I now have 2 teenagers with their learner's permit. Oh help! Gabriel will be getting his license soon and Holly has another 5 1/2 years before she'll be old enough to drive. Maybe they'll raise the driving age by then!

In the cyber world, there's a great birthday party going on. Marsha is having a bloggy birthday bash and giving away gifts. So click on over there and wish her a happy birthday.

I've got to finish up lesson plans for tomorrow and run Gabe and Hannah to their final drama class for the year. Their performance was last Thursday and they did an awesome job. Tonight's class is the end of the year celebration. That's about it for my busy day. How's your day been?

Catching Up

I think I'm in a blogging slump. I don't have time to blog and when I do manage to squeeze some in, I cannot think of anything exciting to say. Here are a few things that have happened in the past few weeks:

• Gabriel turned 17 - He is the most awesome young man in the whole entire world. I am blessed.
• Holly turned 10 - She is turning into a young lady right before my very eyes.
• My parents came up for a visit. They'll be here until Friday.
• Holly had a "Grandma and Me" dinner with her Girl Scout troop. Her leader was kind enough to schedule it when my parents were here.
• They decided to do a 50's theme. Holly wore a dress and sweater that we already had and I spent $1.00 on some ribbon for her hair. She looked really cute.

• She read a poem that we wrote together.
  
• We went shopping in Williamsburg. I found some dishes that I like at the Pfaltzgraph outlet. I bought some shoes.
• I took Hannah to the DMV to get a driving manual. She will be old enough for her learner's permit in only a few days.
  
• My dad and John took the kids on a field trip to the Navy Museum in Washington DC.
  
• My mom and I looked for some more deals at Walgreens and CVS. We found some.
• I'm hoping to mostly stay home tomorrow.
  

Welcome to my Party!

(This is a sticky post. Please scroll down for more recent additions. Thanks!)

Hi! Welcome to my blog. I am Karen and I'm so glad you have come to my blog party. It's going to be an exciting week. Last year's Blog Party happened to occur during an exciting yet sorrowful time in our lives. We were packing to leave Romania, a country that became home to us and friends that we love with all of our hearts. After more than 10 years in the ministry and 7 years on Romanian soil, God called us back to the states. Now we find ourselves in Virginia, watching in awe as God unfolds His plan for us. My husband John and I will celebrate our 21st wedding anniversary next month. We have three children:

Gabriel - days away from 17, happily employed at Chick-fil-A and recently promoted to trainer. He was an avid lego collector/builder but now they mostly sit dusty on his shelf or dormant in boxes. He has dreams of bigger, more expensive toys these days.


Hannah - 15 and hoping to soon be employed at Chick-fil-A. One of her immediate goals is to learn more about digital photography. Here is her photo blog.

Holly - weeks away from 10 and a wanna be teen. She is a girly girl and loves anything pink and sparkly. One minute she's playing with baby dolls and Barbies, the next she's trying hard to grow up.

There's lot's of prizes being given away at the Ultimate Blog Party. I am donating a beautiful hand painted porcelain Easter Egg (#33) painted by my mom. I posted a picture of it in the entry below. Check it out- it's gorgeous!

The top 3 prizes that I would like to win are:

59 — $25 Cash Provided by: Lori
60 — $25 Gift Certificate Provided by: Judy
67 — Blog Makeover Provided by: Shauna

Other great prizes include:

117, 55, 140, 129, 39, 82, 49, 70, 102, 24 & 21

Pull up a chair and make yourself at home. We'll have some fun and games and hopefully make some new friends! Introduce yourself and tell me something about your family.

My Famous Kids

Check out my famous kids!

Actually, I found this site over on Julie's blog. How fun!

Early Birds and Night Owls

Shhh! My girls are still asleep, here in my room. We stayed up late last night and so I'm letting them sleep in. But I thought I would try to blog while I have a quiet moment.

Monday was a busy, on-the-run kind of a day. I was up before the sun in order to get ready to take John and Gabe to the airport. I sat in the back and wasn't paying attention to the way to the airport and nearly panicked that I wouldn't be able to find my way home. (I am terrible with directions!) Thankfully it was as simple as going straight and taking the interstate entrance. Three or more turns and I would have been lost. After the airport we had time to run home. Hannah wanted to take a quick shower and I read my Bible. While home, I found out the phone was not working. Something always has to happen when John goes away. Well, at least I still had my cell phone. Hannah had archery lessons and then the three of us went to lunch at Cracker Barrel - one of my favorites- and then shopping for groceries. We didn't get a lot because I had left my coupons at home. I can't stand to buy something when I know I have a coupon for it sitting at home. When we returned home, Hannah put the groceries away while Holly and I cleaned out the car. Then we had a bit of time to relax before we had to leave for drama. Drama is still in the same county that we live in but it takes 25 minutes to get there. So Holly and I have to figure out what to do on that side of town. Thankfully there is library just 5 minutes away. Time goes by rapidly at the library! Finally we went home for a late dinner and relaxation while watching something useless on TV. I can't even remember what it was now.

Tuesday was a much slower paced day. Not only did I get my dining room table decluttered, but we managed to get some school work done. Gabe is technically on spring break while in Romania. So I told the girls that we would take it easy but I did want to catch up on some math. So we did several math lessons yesterday afternoon. We managed to spend the entire day at home until time for my ladies Bible study. Hannah and Holly go to a single mom's home to babysit for her during the Bible study. Afterwards, I spent some time on Instant Messenger with John trying to figure out what was wrong with the phone. I did not want to call the company and be charged with a customer service bill if it turned out to be a problem in the apartment and not with the company. Well, if you think I am bad with directions, you ought to see me around mechanical/technological devices. It's not a pretty picture. Thankfully, John was able to talk me through the procedure and now we have phone service once again!

Today I am planning on another easy day at home with a little more decluttering/cleaning and a couple of lessons in math. Hopefully, we won't have to go anywhere until church tonight. We very well may stay up late again (hey, we are "night owls" and my very early "early bird" men are not here) but I plan on having a reading/writing time instead of vegetating in front of the TV. That's the plan. We'll see what actually happens!

The girls are still sleeping and I'm off to start my day - shower and Bible reading. Are you a night owl or an early bird?

Tag

It's Friday evening and I cannot think of a single blog-worthy thing. So I thought I would do a tag that Hannah has on her blog.

2 things you like: reading and singing

2 things you hate: tardiness and mushrooms

2 things you want right now: pizza and chocolate

2 things you want in life: God's favor and grace

2 things you are doing right now: blogging and thinking about going to Michael's to exchange something.

2 things you'd rather be doing: something other than blogging? Wow, that's tough! Reading and . . . sun bathing in Hawaaii

2 things you hear right now: The quiet hum of my computer and the sweet chatter of my girls

2 things you smell right now: Nothing yet because I haven't put the pizza in the oven yet.

2 things that are right in front of you: My gloves and Holly's blush brush (why are those things on my desk??)

2 things that are behind you: my cedar chest and a bunch of clutter that needs to be cleaned up

2 things that make you happy: singing and being with my family

2 things that make you sad: people rejecting Christ and people being cruel to others

2 things you think will happen tomorrow: sleeping in late (say 7:30-8:00 am) and cleaning house

2 things you know will happen tomorrow: Sorry, can't answer that one -

Boast not thyself of to morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth. Proverbs 27:1

2 people you will tag: You and Everyone else!

So what's going on around your house tonight?

Making Adjustments

Many people have asked me how am I adjusting to life in the States after so many years in a foreign country. Probably the hardest thing for me is the busyness of life here. Sunday morning is church. We don't have service on Sunday nights but the youth group meets so I have to drive Gabe and Hannah. Monday night is drama. Holly has Girl Scouts every other Tuesday afternoon and I just started doing a ladies Bible study - Beth Moore's Stepping Up. It is twice a month on Tuesdays and I think that sometimes it will be the same day as Girl Scouts and sometimes not. Wednesday night is church and Thursday night we have music practice. It's usually an hour or less but it's still a night out. Add to that grocery shopping, errands and picking up Gabe from work when it's dark and life gets busy! Now I realize that you are probably just as busy and maybe more so. But this is a drastic change for me.

In Romania we not only did homeschool but we had church at home too. Most of our church activities were at our house. I did not drive there so John did most of the grocery shopping. I would walk to the nearby stores when the weather was nice. But in the winter time, I could stay in the house for two weeks without going anywhere. When I felt like I was getting cabin fever, John would take me out somewhere but I would have to figure out where my purse was first.

With two teens and an almost 10 year old, I doubt that life will slow down anytime soon. I can already tell that this year is going to go by at a rapid pace. I had great plans of blogging much more frequently now that I am not teaching full time (for pay that is) and suddenly I discover that it's Friday again and I haven't written a word. Before I know it, it will be the Fourth of July and Christmas.

My Day

I didn't get as much accomplished today as I hoped. I worked on lesson plans for homeschool next week. I'm nowhere near done with that.

I spent some time just enjoying my children. Holly and I played Hail to the Chief this morning. A great game for an election year. Hannah had some Christmas money burning a hole in her pocket and begged me to take her to the mall. I have never been a shopper. I don't really like shopping. If I happen to have some money, I can't find anything I want. When I don't have the extra cash to spend, I find plenty of things that I wouldn't mind having. I'd rather not shop. I'd rather stay home. I can find plenty to do here and I have enough stuff. Hannah did not inherit my anti-shopping attitude. So we went out for a while this afternoon. She found some cute clothes on sale. Gabe entertained me with his movie quotes and impersonations. I am blessed with amazing kids! They all three have a blog but Hannah is the only one who frequently updates hers. She actually has 3 blogs. I love this picture on her photography blog.

What else did I do today? I made tacos for dinner and read for a while. Reading - both out loud and silently - has been sadly neglected around here and I'm glad to be starting the year off right. It's late but I have one more mission before bedtime - change the sheets and put our heated mattress pad on the bed. Warm and snuggly! How was your day?

Around the House

The weather has turned wintery with temperatures below freezing yet we still haven't felt the need to turn the heat on. We did have to don sweaters and warm slippers and curling up under a warm blanket now seems like a good idea. The indoor thermometer says 68 which is actually warmer than we were accustomed to in Romania.

Yesterday, I was able to get some work done in the girls' room. They had one small dresser to share with drawers deep enough to hold a couple of tee shirts. I had them use it for PJ's, socks and underclothes. Tee shirts, blue jeans and other articles of clothing all had to be hung in their closet. It was one crowded closet. Add to that the toys, purses and an entire array of paraphernalia that they "need" and the closet was one colossal mess. Well, we were able to get the girls their own chest of drawers. I moved the small dresser into the hallway where it still holds the PJ's and etc. I filled up Holly's chest of drawers and went to work on the closet. The room now looks terrific and heaven help the person who messes it up! I am working diligently with Holly on putting back what she gets out. Something I obviously failed to do somewhere along the way. Now if I could only figure out how to get her to do a decent job on making up her bed, which is the top bunk.

An Accomplished Goal

Hannah and I went out shopping yesterday in the very warm, spring-like weather. It was nearly 80 degrees. Being on the second floor of an apartment building, we haven't even turned on our heat, not even when the temperatures have dipped into the 20's. Yesterday and today I have had to open windows. I won't complain and neither will my electric bill!

Today I was able to accomplish my goal of not going anywhere. Life has been busy lately and I have been out every day and evening for too many nights in a row. Today, I slept late, stayed at home, worked on a project with Holly and basically relaxed. I am ready to get back to real life now - I think. How was your day?

More Homework for Mom

Holly came home again with another assignment for me - two more forms to sign and three text books to cover. She said that we could buy some covers at the store or use paper bags and decorate them. Being the frugal person that I am we went with the paper bags. I have done this before with both Gabe and Hannah and figured this would be a quick and easy project. We cut, measured, cut some more, re-measured, re-cut and tried taping. It wasn't working. I decided Holly should go do something else and just let Hannah and I work on the covering part. She could decorate them when we finished. I do not know if it was the cheap Romanian tape that we still have or the quality paper bags but after more than 30 minutes, I gave up.

We are blessed to live near a huge variety of stores and I figured it was worth the money to purchase book covers. Buying school supplies at this time of the year usually has two results: totally sold out or a great sale. Thankfully we happened upon the latter scenario and found a good selection of stretchy book covers for .75 cents!

This morning, Hannah and I went to a homeschool picnic. We were hoping to meet some families with teenagers but almost everyone there had elementary age children. There was one girl there that was Hannah's age and we also were given some good advice on where to find groups with teens. We had a good time and met some nice people. Settling in takes time and finding friends is part of the adjustment.

Lesson Planning

I'm still here! Just busy and I am afraid life is about to get busier. Right now I am working on lesson plans for Gabriel and Hannah. They will be doing a lot of independent study this year but still need a guide line. They will be doing American History and American Literature. I'm not using any curriculum for American Literature. I figure the best thing is to have them read something that lines up with the time period they are studying in American History. What do you think about Edgar Allen Poe? Is he a "must" or do we skip him like Stephen King? Your opinions are appreciated and I need to get back to my lesson plans! What are your kids studying this year?

Ragtime Close Up and Instructions

Mary aka Canadagirl asked to see a closeup of Hannah's quilt. The instructions say to wash the finished quilt several times to give it a more raggedy effect. Hannah only wanted to wash it once. If you look closely, all the corners do not match perfectly but that is one of the things I liked about this quilt. Perfection wasn't a necessity.
And if she ever gets tired of the raggedy look, the back looks great too!
The instructions are for a 63 x 49 inch throw or a crib sized quilt. We added to that to make a twin sized comforter. Let me know if you make one!

Show and Tell Friday - Hannah

Last time for show and tell Friday, I showed off Gabe's talents. I thought I'd share Hannah's today. My mom received a rag time quilt from a friend for Christmas and Hannah decided that she wanted to make one for herself. She didn't want it to be just a throw but she wanted it to be large enough to fit a twin sized bed. We bought the fabric and started on it before Christmas. Then we returned to Romania and it was set aside for a while. Hannah worked on it here and there when we came back to the states and finished it while John and I were in Virginia in June. She knew she had to get it done while we were at my mom's because my sewing machine doesn't work. A huge thanks to my mom for all the guidance, assistance and instruction! Not to mention the use of her machine! Thanks mom!!

Can you tell that Hannah likes bright colors?

The bedspread and curtains in this room were made by my mom for me way back in the 70's.

Here is the finished product on her bed here in our apartment.

Click here for more Show and Tell Friday!

A Difficult Decision

This has been a year of difficult decisions and today another one was made. Like the others, leaving Romania and moving to Virginia, it was not done without a lot of prayer. In order to make ends meet, I am going to have to go back to work for the first time in 17 years. I turned in my application for substitute teaching and I am hoping to work two or three days a week beginning this fall. I will continue to homeschool Gabriel and Hannah who are able to do much of their work independently. Holly will be going to public school. This makes me about 12 different kinds of nervous. It’s temporary. Hopefully just for this school year. My gregarious little nine year old is beside herself with joy. We shall see just how long her enthusiasm lasts with the early bedtimes, early morning routine and the inevitable homework.

The ABC's of Summer School

Growing up, I learned that there are rules to learning. Math has its 1 2 3’s and for Reading one must know the ABC’s. However, in the past eleven years or so I have discovered that is not true with homeschooling. There are as many varieties of homeschooling methods as there are families. I am a firm believer in doing what is right for our family. That may change in any given year, month or moment.

This summer, we are doing what I would call semi-relaxed, very eclectic homeschooling. Some days will look like unschooling and others may resemble more traditional methods. My main goal for Gabriel and Hannah is to finish Geography and Physical Science. With Holly, we are just working on reading and spelling.

Listed here are just a few of the ABC’s of our homeschooling program for this summer, at least for now. What’s on your schedule?

A. Art, Apples to Apples Game

B. Blogging, Bicycling. Book reviews

C. Croquet, Computer games, Chick-Fil-A

D. Devotions, Driving

E. Educational DVD’s

F. Free time

G. Geography

H. Hopscotch

I. In a Pickle Game, Internet research, Instant Message with friends

J. Journaling, Jump rope, Jacks

L. Library

M. Maps, Move – hopefully!

N. Newspaper reading for current events

O. Ongoing organization attempts, Outside free play

P. Physical Science, Pictionary game, Piano

Q. Quilting

R. Reading, Read alouds, Recipe book making

S. Spelling, Sewing, Scrapbooking

T. Timelines

U. Unplanned learning opportunities

V. Vacation Bible School

W. Writing, Walks, Water fights

X. X- box (It is summer and what else could I put here?)

Y. Yarn painting

Z. Zealously sleep late!

Scrap Happy Week 7

I am loving the idea of Julie's Scrap Happy Scrapbooking meme. I have all of my pictures here and I am seriously behind in my personal scrapbooking. I should get a clue and dig into my pictures. My biggest hangup is that while I have my photos here, all of my scrapbooking supplies are burried deeply in our storage room. I wish I would have thought to set the box aside when we were unloading the container.

Here is a page of Hannah's recipe book that I helped her to make. I can't seem to post a clear scrapbook page. This is the Table of Contents page with all the categories listed: breakfasts, snacks, lunches, drinks, appetizers, dinners, side dishes and desserts.



My goal for next week, providing our labyrinth life doesn't take a major turn, is to do some of my own scrapping with pictures!

Scrap Happy Meme

Still busy here! I barely have time to blog, much less to scrapbook but I wanted to tell you about Julie's drawing for a gift certificate at her Scrap-Happy meme. Post a layout and you'll automatically be entered. I posted a layout a couple of weeks ago of Hannah's recipe scrapbook that she is working on. I really need to drag out my photos and scrap along with her since she usually wants my company but doesn't need my help.

Stay tuned! I will have some updates about our lives soon.

Scrap Happy

My daughter Hannah is making a recipe scrapbook. She decided to entitle it " A Recipe to Remember" after her favorite movie, "A Walk to Remember." Here is a page that I helped her with. You can check out her blog to see some more pages.


LEARN MORE ABOUT SCRAP HAPPY HERE!
JOIN IN THIS WEEK'S SCRAP HAPPY MEME!

Arts and Crafts Photos

Thought I would share a couple of things that we did this week in the arts and crafts area of our lives. Holly is taking an art class and this week the teacher had wooden blocks for them to create and paint. We have been studying birds in school and Holly made a cardinal.

Hannah is making a recipe book for her Home Economics studies. Here she is with a couple of pages that she made.

Tripple Tagged

For this tag I am supposed to list random things about me. I was tagged by THREE people! Two said to list 7 things and one said to list 10.

1. I have a phobia of frogs which is almost as intense as my phobia of snakes but not quite.
2. One year when I was a preteen and home alone, I opened all my Christmas presents and wrapped them back up. No one ever found out (I did admit the truth when I was grown) but it spoiled my Christmas and to this day, I don’t like to know what I am getting until Christmas morning.
3. Pamela Anderson is my sister-in-law. No, not THE Pamela Anderson but that is her name.
4. I like doing tags but I dislike tagging people.
5. One of my nicknames in college was Meryl because people thought that I looked like Meryl Streep.
6. My freshman year of college I was a drama major.
7. I can usually finish a book in just a few days, maybe a week or so if it’s long. The current book I am reading is an easy book and I’ve had to renew it twice. It is interesting enough but I just have so much else going on.
8. I am not a salesperson. I have tried to sell jewelry, makeup and Tupperware and was a complete failure. My mom has always said that my dad can sell ice cubes to Eskimos. I did not inherit his talent. I cannot sell hacksaws in a jail cell. It probably has something to do with my not liking to tag people.
9. I was tagged by three different people for this tag; 2 for 7 random things and 1 for 10 random things. I have stressed out, for about 10 seconds, about whether to do 7 or 10 things on this tag but since I can still think of things to say, I will do one more.
10. I am going shopping this morning with my daughter for scrapbooking supplies. I generally don’t like shopping, especially for clothes but I love buying things for scrapbooking.

Because of #4, I am not going to tag any specific person. But if you have ended up here and like to do tags, consider yourself tagged and have fun! Thanks to Karen, De and Sheryl for tagging me!

Just Another Busy Day

Today has been a very busy day!

• Homeschool
• Library
• Laundry
• The Ultimate Homeschool Expo (Hannah and I made it the 1 PM session and I’m hoping to catch a bit of tonight’s)
• Gabe’s orthodontist appointment
• tons of ironing – John is leaving first thing in the morning. Stay tuned and I will tell you where he’s headed!

This is not my most creative post. My brain is too tired to think of much more. I think it all started with our grammar lesson today and trying to figure out why in the world my son really needs to know what predicate adjectives and predicate nominatives are. Is it on the SAT’s? Will he be able to handle college without this information? Is it simply a brain exercise and that’s why my brain is so tired tonight? If anyone has some answers to my questions, please let me know!

Culture Adjustments

Like Gabriel, we are all having to adjust to life in the States. Gabe is choleric like his dad and melancholy like me. It’s a tough combination but we usually know what he is thinking. Holly is our sanguine child. She walks into a room full of strangers and seeks out a friend. In Romania, she played outside on the street every chance she had which was daily if the weather allowed. Friends were abundant. Twenty- first century American culture has her frustrated; not being settled aggravates her frustration. She wants to invite someone over every single day and the few people we know have strenuous schedules. Hannah wants to shop at every available opportunity. Not that she has much to spend but in Romania there wasn’t much to buy. Most everything there was usually out of our budget and sized for super models. John has been busy with a multitude of details involved in moving and ministry. And as for me, besides trying to hold the fort together, I am just trying to figure out where things are located at the grocery store.

Tomorrow we are going to visit friends in South Carolina for a few days. Your continued prayers are appreciated.