Princess Perky's Page

Go is a very old game that my father taught me when I was very young. I never mastered even the simplest level, but I did recall fun times with my father.

Now my dad is a Grandpa, and he is trying to teach the new generation better. GMC received a set of stones and board and book last month and promptly learned to beat his momma. My skills have not improved much over the years.

So far I seem to hold my own if he has no handicap, but something about being 5 leads him to think he aught to have one.

Grandpa directed us to

IGoWin a free download mini game of Go. So long as I have a 5 stone handicap I can win, once I start losing that the computer soundly thrashes me (GMC too, so it isn't just my pathetic skills)

Though the computer game is nice (and smarter than I) the board and stones are a bit more fun, something about having cool black and white 'stones' to shuffle thru your fingers as you await your next turn beats watching a computer beep at you any day.

JC and UE quickly discovered the fun and now UE knows the colors black and white and sorts beautifully. JC plays a simple 'capture the stone game' which she still has never won against me (though she beat her big bro once)

So what is so educational about taking turns plunking stones on a board?

- Keeping score, score is the total of empty area surrounded, which is either a counting skill, or a multiplying skill (if you have a rectangle of 3 points high by 4 across you get 12 points, 3*12) or adding (if you have an irregular shape, 9 from a square plus 3 odd balls)

Scoring also involves simple geometry principles...at the end game you can rearrange a messy looking territory into a nice neat rectangle for counting so long as you keep the area the same.

Not to mention negative numbers. Each stone of your own that gets captured is used to fill in your final territory, making it essentially a negative point. ( 'dead stones' are also negative points)

- Logic, and thinking ahead, and all that other stuff, the same reasons why people like to teach kids chess. Only go can be taught in under 5 minutes, no need to remember a bunch of different piece rules. (not that it is easier to master, just quicker to know the rules of). Not to mention a go board and set of stones can take up less space.

- Sportsmanship...there isn't much luck involved, a good player will win over a less experienced player every time. Bit frustrating if you are used to being 'let win' but good for you. Handicaps are the 'leveler' a good player gives free spots on the board to the weaker player before the start of the game. Which brings up a hidden point of knowing your own weaknesses...and not letting them stop you.

A Go board and stones have many other uses besides playing Go.

- Geometry is fun to explore by letting a kid make shapes on the board with several stones...How many different shapes can you make with 20 stones? Or patterns, black white black white is basic, how about BL,WH, BL,BL,WH,WH, BL,BL,...?

- Division and multiplication, addition and subtraction with stones is simple to see on the grid board. (of course area, you don't have to play a game to practice area)

- If your bowls are opaque (as in you can't see thru them) you can practice the principle of one more/one less. Show your child 5 and count them. place 5 in/under the bowl, then remove one, and ask how many are left. for a younger child they will most likely want to count (use your hand if your bowls are clear) Continue removing one down to zero, then work you way back up.

- Or use the stones to make letters, with or without the grid (a grid will help children recognize that letters need uniform proportion)

- Binary/ use the two colors and try to write the date with stones (eg today is the bl,bl,bl/bl,wh,bl,bl), using the stones instead of 1's and 0's makes the whole number for number a bit less confusing (just keep the system constant, black is always 1 for example) Or you could write your age, or years of scouting, schooling, or favorite number.

My cousins wedding was this weekend, it was very nice, and the kids had a wonderful time at the reception.

My daughter loves to dance, but will not let me help her for any of the dances with 'steps' like the hoky-poky, or whatever (not that it is hard, but for a 3 year old....) So she spent the time finding other people to dance with, and was ADORABLE! I hope to have pictures to share soon, we took a ton.

Then we took all the pictures off the camera and burned them to CD to give to the bride and her mom right then and there at the reception...I think this would be a way cool take home gift...so long as the photographer is using a digital camera we can put some 'staged photos' on a disk ASAP.....a sticker with the 'thank you for coming' on the case and you have a gift, one that most close family/friends will actually use and enjoy.

Add that to my theory on staged photos being done before the ceremony of all the girls (to get the wedding party to the reception sooner) and you have an easy start.

I have been compiling a list of 'stuff' for my kids wedding ever since my own.

One new rule is for the bride and groom to decide in advance if they want to allow children to catch the garter and flowers....At this wedding an 8 year old girl caught the flowers and it took 10 minutes to convince three guys to go up, so we sent our son (5yo) and he was ordered to pick it up off the floor so he could put it on her wrist......I am thinking 16 and up, if not 18 and up....unless you don't mind kids, but ...eh. Up to the bride and groom, just so long as they think about it. Though GMC was adorable .

Another rule is to make sure there are appetizers or at least fruit and veggies out for snacking while you wait for the dinner...which has to be in charge of a specific person...not the bride on the way to dinner going, 'oh food still in kitchen...oops'....not that it wasn't solved quickly by many willing hands, just something to try and remember if you are 'self catering'. Also there is a reason caterers have multiple trays ready to place out...unlike a small party refilling trays takes to long...I put out veggies, then moved on to fruit, and by that time I had to restock the veggie tray! having a sub would be better, and leave me less looking like an idiot standing around with ziplocks full of food...

Another thing to bring home from this wedding was a 'married couple dance'....they started with all married couples, then had us sit down year by year till the longest married couple was left, and asked them to give a word of advice to the newlyweds...I thought it was cute and a way to celebrate long running marriages (38 years was the winner)

I really want a photo someone took of us, the kids were a bit whiny so we danced with all three of them.....(kids were all sick, fever boy GMC just got rid of it that night, the other two had snots)


the cake made by my aunt, VERY good, pretty and tasted great...much better than at my wedding (though mine was a cool castle)


JC and all the toys, another thing I want at the future weddings, great to have something for the kids to do


UE...picking up pieces of balloons, he was the balloon guy, very insistent on finding all pieces to throw int he garbage soon as they popped...and they popped a LOT, not sure why.

When I first heard of the idea of a kid (grown) being expected to take care of a parent, I was horrified at the implication that people starting a life and raising kids would have one more burden on them (mom and pop).

But the more I think of it, the more I see how older folk are relegated to nursing homes and added to a chore list of 'people you aught to go see' but prolly never do. This is an upside down way to treat people. The two opposite ends of the age spectrum should be brought together not separated for time with 'peers' My kids would benefit so much more from a quiet talk with great-grandma than an hour with another short kid.

Notice I said 'great grandma' grandma (both of em) is still able enough to support herself, and spoil my kid. Not that time with grandma isn't valuable in its own right, it just has to be restricted to keep the spoiling a treat not an everyday habit (though not as restricted as the miles apart make it for us .)

Great grandma on the other hand is a bit slower, a bit more philosophical on kids (read likely to laugh when they tantrum, not rail against my parenting ability, inward or outward), and a bit less financially likely to whisk them off for ice cream or yet another toy.

Unfortunately those miles separate great grandma as well, fortunately she has quite a few years before she can't support herself...and when that happens...well I would prefer to have her (and pappap) here, but I doubt they want to move that far.

Anyway I was just thinking there is more than money going into the decision of what to do with 'old folk'. There is the need to keep em around the 'young folk'. Moms and Dads need reminded they weren't perfect as kids. Kids need to know that mom and dad learned from their mistakes. Kids need to hear about how the world has changed. Grown ups need to hear the enthusiasm of learning in a child.

And the number one thing...two adults isn't enough for kids..they need more adults to guide them...love them....support them...and hopefully enough that you have options in finding a mentor.

I joined the summer reading program at our library (check yours, some have em for adults!) And the book log is busted, so rather than wait a day and rewrite, I shall cut and paste the note for you, not that it is useful, or a good review, just happens to need stored online, and Jeffrey and Nate have made this site so easy to access...I can't help using it!

The method of recording includes a list of author name and title, so this is just notes...to remind myself that I read the book, not a formal report or review.

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The Wizard of London is a wonderfully light story of children rescued and coming into power of their own, plus love (or at least friendship) conquering all.

Not at all what I expected when I picked up the book, more romance novel than fantasy, but pulled off well. Rather like a fairy tale, it would be perfect for reading to children at bedtime.

It runs in my mind (which is built like a sieve) that Lackey is fond of rewriting fairy tales. Something about a phoenix bird from an old Russian tale in a previous book.

This particular book is a loose telling of the 'snow queen', though of the two I would rather read Mercedes version.

I do think I shall take a way a useful tidbit from the book. At one point one of the girls offers some advice regarding forgiveness. 'not forgiving someone is like not pulling a thorn out of your foot because you didn't put it there'.

He did it! he said two words! a couple times, Last night we went to the potty and I said we had to take his shoes off before we could be and he said "shoe....offff"

So cute!

Also, we are heading out tomorrow night for PA, I really aught to be packing preparing, but...I am not.

If you have a teen, or are female, or know a female teen you have heard the phrase "I have nothing to wear' Common admit you said it at least once gals. I wear holey jeans (among other things) and even I have said it.

The thing is it isn't about not having clothes, most Americans have more clothes than will fit in the McMansions we favor. Instead it is about the right clothes for for XYZ ceremony/date/conference/meeting/whatever. So we at least internally think 'I have nothing to wear'. If we like shopping we go find something, if not, we prolly just suffer reminding ourselves it might not be 'perfect' but at least it didn't entail hours of shopping to find.

I think food is often the same way, many people look in an over stuffed pantry and say 'there is nothing to eat'. Not because the cupboards are bare, but because nothing is quite right for dinner/lunch/breakfast/snack/whatever.

Part of this might be due to lack of cooking skills (just because flour eggs, butter and milk make pancakes doesn't mean everyone can do that.)

But I think a larger part is that people don't like branching out. Suppose you can make pancakes...if you don't have maple syrup you might pass, or you might realize strawberries makes a great topping, or peanut butter, or try em with just butter, or a brush of powdered sugar. If you think of it, pancakes are just sweet bread, eat them however you like.

Whatever the food, you can prolly eat it, you just have to branch out.

Another common failure to serve up a meal, is the wrong time of day. Eggs for dinner is food, and even nutritionally sound, but most turn their nose up at it. What about the bad mix....apples with steak? Hey it is a fruit and a protein, add those pancakes and you have a complete meal!

Just like clothes can be found in that 'closet full of nothing to wear' a meal can often be found in a 'cupboard full of nothing to eat'.

This is useless advice as I doubt any of my three readers are planning to make a movie (well ok my husband would like to..)

But after watching "Ghost rider" last night I can say definitively that movies are NOT graphic novels, nor comic books, for a good reason.

I like a good comic story, I just can't handle having to read 10 mini picture books to get one story, so a good comic needs to be made into a graphic novel.

What they did with Ghoast rider is take all the great one liners with goofy pictures and line em up..which misses the flow of a movie, I don't have to turn the page in a movie and imagine the middle between pictures, you are supposed to fill it in with something good. If I have to waste 2 hours (when I could read the graphic novel in say 20 minutes) There aught to be some fleshing out of the story, some new interesting tidbits..something.

Coure I never read the original, maybe the movie did add stuff to a very sparse comic book.

On a side (and financial) note, the movie was borrowed from the free library of the brother in law, great to have a movie addict in the family , almost makes up for the cost of family....

Debt owns you, yeah sure lots of big businesses and rich people talk about how they use debt to succeed, and I am happy for them (well not for the big business, but that is a whole 'nother story)

Truthfully for the average Joe, if something happens to the income we are screwed if in debt. On the other hand, simple bills (electricity, water) can be reduced or even removed. The debt I owe cannot.

Debt owns me, my husband has to keep working at least enough to pay off the debt we have (house and car) yet if he had the itch to stop working to be a writer and we had no debt, we could do it on what I could make. He could be home writing at nap time and/or while watching kids play instead of me (and he would be a lot better at it) But because we have a house to pay off and a car to pay for he is stuck working no matter how willing he is to sacrifice steak or two cell phones.

While I know paying of my house early earns me no extra cash on the bottom line, I am not looking at the bottom line, I am interested in being free, I want the freedom to choose the sacrifices completely, I want the freedom to offer my husband the chance to stay home. But because of debt I am not free to explore all options, due to debt of a house, we aren't talking ridiculous spending of youth, just a house and a car keep us from looking toward his dream. (this isn't to say we are never stupid with our money, just that no amount of smart money moves will remove the house and car debt in less than 10 years)

Family isn't cheap...I am not talking about the kids, while not free they are relatively cheap. I am talking about the extended family. The trips across town for no reason but to pick up a niece or nephew (OK so w made up an excuse to be there, but really it was just to pick up a kid)

I am talking about the splurges on food, and extra trips for the cousins...Not to mention driving halfway up the country to go see one get married.

Family isn't cheap, it would be much cheaper if I didn't have to do any of that. I don't think it would be better necessarily, just cheaper.

After a week of being low on groceries, and spending more time at the pool than in the kitchen, I was NOT in the mood for another PB sandwich...which is fine since we had no bread.

So Sunday after a light snack at church we headed to the in-laws to pick up a niece (hereafter to be known as Essy). On the way there I mentioned we would have to get food, since we don't eat like the in-laws, and since we are not rude enough to pester them to cook or use up the dishes in the kitchen, it would have to be out. My husband suggested taco bell...My stomach turned at the possibility. We then went down the list and came up with nothing worth doing. I said I was in the mood for steak, preferably accompanied by a nice glass of wine. So we headed to 'the backyard restaurant' as Essy called it. And spent a small fortune...all because I was burned out on cheap lousy food.

Today when we finally go to the store we are getting some not so cheap convenient food so that when we spend the day at the pool we can still eat something relatively good. In hopes that next week I will not be so desperate for meat that I order a 9oz steak. (it was a very good steak btw, and the glass of wine was a perfect compliment)

The summer reminds me of how lucky we are, ok so money is tight, but...I would rather it was tight, and I spent all day with my kids, than it was easy and I didn't (obviously, or I would get a job)

Anyway..while I do have some work to do before the pool (and some being ignored while at the pool, and plenty after) but really, my job is to be with my kids, and if that means soaking in a cool pool...well then, I love my job description!

Gmc is still improving on his swimming, but..still like a frog, I really have to work on that, which is hard, because I don't know how to swim.

JC is swimming underwater like...well a swimmer, but she still can't get her head out of the water, so she has to be able to stand or reach her goal in less than 5-10 seconds (which is longer than her big bro can hold his breath!)

UE loves to jump in..which is pretty boring to me, but hey, jump in, swim (with me holding) to the ladder, climb out repeat. Keeps him happy and gives him lots of practice swimming (and some going under water)

The two older kids bike to get there, which is good practice for them, and I walk. UE half walks half rides on mommy, so a wonderful workout. Who needs gyms

Now that we have two checking accounts, I constantly find myself needing to do the 'money shuffle' move cash from one account to another...just so it is there to pay a bill. I hate that job.

I wouldn't have it as bad if we could get the money auto deposited into ING, but there seems to be a hiccup in that regard.

But on a plus note, with all that shuffling I have to be a bit more conscious of how much money we have and where it goes.

And some recent overtime is making that amount much nicer than last month .

1. Take one sheet of paper, divide into two sections,
2. draw a red line just to the left of the middle and a blue line just to the right of the middle.
3. Offer child multiple crayons of either red or blue shades (check that you don't have orange with a red wrapper)
4. Encourage child to scribble/draw red on the red side, or blue on the blue side.
5. Keep saying, oh now you have blue, lets draw on the blue side, what a nice red scribble, ect.

For older children write the words red and blue (in red and blue if you like) to practice reading.

Or use a larger sheet and divide it into many sections, find a color for each.

For adults write the word red in blue and blue in red...see how long it takes before they realize they are doing it wrong.

We are heading to see my brother on Wednesday and I have to bake, pack, wrap, sort, stack and find...stuff. Lots of it.

Planning bagels with butter for breakfast in the car.

By lunch we should be there, and eat with them...but I am debating on packing whole wheat bread...I had a reminder of how many different varieties of bread are out there and what may be called whole wheat may not be anything close in taste or nutrition to what we are used to...but I also don't want to insult. Same with cheese, I don't do american and neither do the kids...and cheddar needs to be extra sharp, see I eat more now than when I was a kid, and yet I am still picky! (now make sure that water is with lemon, no ice...)

Also planning snack for the ride home possibly trail mix.

Taking muffins, and a snack thing GMC wants to make (he is getting to be quite the 'chef', no bake of course.

Also packing a couple surprises for the family and lots of birthday presents. They have a thing for Summer birthdays!

Now what am I forgetting?

We had a fun day at the church decorating shirts and playing. It cost 5 dollars for each shirt, but I cheated and brought 3 of our shirts to decorate with the stuff.

I didn't mean to cheat, we also bought two shirts, but I packed spare clothes in case they got really dirty outside or paint on them, and decided to decorate them too. It was loads of fun.

I also made muffins to share and took some grapes and carrots, half of which we got back. Perfect packing for snacking before/after the library tomorrow.

I also got a list of books from

bookadventure.com to take to the library to see if the kids can find a couple to read for points.

Actually we already made one, like I said I never remember things!

instructables wallet

But I thought it was cool enough to share, you make a wallet out of paper, which means kids can color it and older ones can do all the making. Of course for fathers who don't get to splurge on themselves a gift card or cash inside would be cool.

Their is a suggestion for cutting out a photo window and putting clear contact to make a window which could have a photo made by the kids with 'Greatest Dads club member' instead of license or state name. Just grab your own license and redo all the questions for Dads..issued date would be the date of the oldest birth.

Only thing I would recommend is to have an adult make the wallet before inviting kids to try, you will get stuck on the final phase and not want kids pestering you to tell them how to do it.

For a long time now we have been playing a game at dinner of quiz questions for a trophy..the trophy can be anything, from the ketchup bottle to a straw to the cup (we often share water when out)

The hardest part is Mom or Dad having to come up with all the questions! After awhile you start to think you have asked 3*6 every day and are not sure which numbers are being left out.

Today I hit upon a great idea to make my life easier...dice. I have a nifty 'die in a die' it actually has a 6 sided die inside of another six sided die. I love it, and the kids love it. We took turns rolling and multiplying, dividing, adding, or subtracting the two numbers. (depending on the kid and skill level)

Then I started thinking of all the ways dice could help with quizzing.

For young kids, I could use one die and have them count the dots, or have them find the side with 6 (or 2, whatever) I have a die with just numbers on it, instead of dots, perfect for practice recognizing 1-6.

For other subjects like geography, you could write up 11 questions numbered 2-12 (or use other types of dice, 20 questions for a 20 sided die, and whatnot) Roll the dice add them up and answer the corresponding question.

Or for more open ended questions, I wrote up an English list. 2. Nouns...that way I have a general pointer, to ask a question about a noun, but I can tailor the question to a specific kid. I can ask:
"what is a noun",
"name a noun",
"is 'walk' a noun"
"what are the nouns in this sentence...'Jeffrey walked his Dog.'"

Most subjects could be open ended that way.

Even after I left the room to go take care of UE they were still passing the die back and forth to add or multiply the two numbers. It was sooo cute.

Actually I know myself, when I had the idea I did it that day, I didn't trust myself to wait till his birthday or fathers day! but here it is:

1. The treasure map. The kids picked a treasure...we are poor (less than 15% tax bracket here) and besides I wanted the treasure NOW. So we wrote a poem..something corny:

And really play and play and today..bit redundant, but since he thought it was mostly my 5 year old he didn't complain.

I printed the poem and had the kids decorate the page.

Then we drew a map of the house and yard, and dug a couple holes. One to put the treasure in (we actually put the paper in a zip lock, and that zip lock in a peanut butter container....cleaned out). The other holes were to make life less easy on my husband.

Then I took the map and buried it in a bit of mud, wiped it off on the grass, and crumpled it a up a bunch of times.

Then I tore it in four pieces and put one in each kid's pocket plus one in mine.

He had to put the map together decipher it (no neat labels) and find the right hole, then dig it up.

He loved it .

2. For his birthday (OK fine the day before) My son asked to make him a "hunt where you find a hint and that leads you to another hint" So we did, I took the cards they all made and put them in a zip lock (handy things zip locks) then we decorated door hangers, one side had the kids pictures, the other had a clue.

I put the first on the door in from the garage (that he normally comes in on) and the others around the house.

Your clues will have to vary, and they don't have to be easy or rhyme, mine were.

---Look for games and fun to find clue number one (hanging where we keep games)

----For clue number two look for a shoe.

Then the final one was 'head out the door' and I put that zip lock sticking out of the grill (cause I didn't know what number rhymed with grill....never claimed creativity here.)

They made extra door hangers so we had some 'nopes' in case the clue wasn't obvious enough (or to use up time with kids who love to draw...whichever)

Anyway if you happen to have a husband like mine, either hunt would work well for Fathers day.

Edit oh yeah if you do fathers day with multiple generations you could bury a 'treasure' for each father...then let them try to find the right one.

Unfortunately for anyone here most are full face, and not post-able.

But here is one of the windows at the nature center...they have frosted leaves and some bird shapes laminated to prevent birds from flying into the windows...I thought all the kiddie fingerprints would be good enough.



And the other day I walked into the living room to see GMC laying on the couch with a book, not to unusual, seconds later UE joined him checking to be sure he had the exact right pose and everything, so I took a picture.



And the pool is open! so here is one of GMC swimming over to daddy and UE. No picture of JC, she was too cold to get in, not quite the fish her big bro is.



---On a completely unrelated note..we have life insurance! I hope we go the right one.

---I have plans for a debt article, so the of you need to get writing!

---And for all the parents out there, cheer with me, my youngest is in his room sortof putting himself to sleep for nap!

---The kids received money, and they each bought a book and a toy, with some to spare. All three books were around $3 each at a used book store, and the toys were at the dollar bins, $2 for GMCs travel sized spirograph that he is playing with right now, and $1 each for a puzzle and some light up bracelets (the kind that sell for $5 each at a concert)

They also each put $5 in the bank and $5 for church. Each has between $3 and $5 left for the Arcade Friday.

--- we are going out to see a movie! Babysitter and all! With my husbands money for his birthday...Pirates three .

I made chocolate cupcakes for my husband to take to cubscouts. I offered to make icing, he insisted it be fudgy....

I tried a new recipe that involved melted butter and cocoa powder, plus of course sugar, milk and vanilla. By not using a mixer I hoped to keep the air content down, and figured melted butter plus cocoa powder makes fudge..it worked...

The end result was a very fudgy, very dark chocolate icing...and a very tired arm on my part!

So now the problem...my cupcakes are not fudgy enough for the wonderful topping!

So how do I make a cup cake fudgy-er....

1. We don't do much teaching. We are facilitators,

someone who facilitates meaning we make the path of learning easier. That is it, the main goal of most homeschoolers is to help our children reach their full potential, to learn 'all they need' to be the best they can be. How homeschoolers define 'all they need' varies, but the base is the same, we want to facilitate the learning so no time is wasted. Sometimes that makes us look like traditional teachers, playing games to help memorize states and capitals, other times it means we look 'lazy', watching our kid build yet another lego contraption, but all of us are simply trying to facilitate our children's learning path.

2. It didn't start out easy, in fact many days it still isn't! I remember the first time I heard about 'teachable moments' which is the idea of finding a moment to pass on a nugget of knowledge. I was positive I would never see one. But then one time I counted shoes with no previous lesson plan, another I explained somewhat solar energy when a kid asked why the sidewalk was hot. before I knew it I was seeing teachable moments left and right! No matter what skill is involved in facilitating education I had to learn it, John Holt had to learn it, and you can learn it. If at first you don't succeed try try again!

3. YOU are a home schooler...no matter who you are, or how many children you do or do not have, you ARE 'schooling' at home. If you have a kid, look at how they eat, sleep, brush their teeth, swagger, or channel hop. They learned it somewhere, and that somewhere is you. Of course if you have multiple kids you may notice not all pick up the same lessons...real learning is caught, not taught, maybe one picked up Dads swagger while another picked up moms channel hopping, they will carry that swagger/hop with them for years, but will forget the list of groceries you had them memorize in a snap.

If you do not have kids it is harder to see, but do you have pet? where did they learn food comes in that bowl every day at 6 am sharp? (or not) you, they caught that information from you. If no pets look at your neighbors, do they know you always park in the street on the far side of the mailbox? Do your coworkers know you always stop by coffee o'rama before work? Or that you make the best brownies?

You made the learning of that easy by just doing it. So you are an educator (not that your parking habits are useful...unless you park in the far lot to walk for health and your not so slender coworkers wonder what you secret is...then you are being a facilitator of health education.)

Children are not so different, humans of all ages are designed to learn, we just get to decide what information we are passing along, to be picked up or not.

4 And the barely connected financial note...facilitating is way cheaper than teaching! We just have to provide opportunity's, not lesson plans, fancy materials, or specialized equipment. No money spent on that complete lesson book with extra test guide, no need to fork over hundreds for state of the art microscopes, the best part of learning is finding someone who has one and learning with them! No need for the class on wallpapering when you have a dad who does it daily. Just the need to loosen up and try new methods, try new ways of thinking and talking and try new experiences with others. (this doesn't mean you can't spend more, after all variety can lead to more moola spent, and so called teaching supplies are nothing if not varied)

For further reading try What the rest of us can learn from homeschooling

As I was typing away at my todo list, I got that feeling, that somone was watching me.

I turn to the side and JC is there staring, knowing this is naptime and she is about to get in trouble for not being in bed, she quickly blurts out "theres a skunk in our yard"

Now I have never seen a skunk in the wild, I do live near woods and spent a good deal of time in the woods, at least more than the average city dweller, but I have never seen a skunk. Thinking a great chance was upon me, I dashed to the door...to find a raccoon running down the hill.

Eh she was close.

On another topic if you ever wondered what the worlds largest flower was my son happened to ask, and I happened to google it.

The Rafflesia arnoldii. is apparently the largest, we read about it awhile ago and he remembered it as an 'orange lilly' which well it is orange. An interesting tidbit to me is both of the large flowers are stinky..big may not be better.

And one further point...there are three secrets so I can now post...I was almost hoping it would go that far! Not because I have nothing to say, but because it is only loosely financial, they say to write what you know, and I know very little about finances still.

First TinaPbeana jinxed me, I read her

secrets Right before bed and here I am at 3am way to awake, and typing, not sleeping....

And while trying to fall back asleep I had several thoughts that so would be much better written by someone else (anyone else) but here goes.

We are supposed to stack the deck
For our kids, in the real game of life as parents we are supposed to stack the deck for our kids, it is not cheating to give them more cards more variety and more options than would normally be dealt, it is what we are supposed to do, however...

We can't make 'em play them
We can stack the deck, in the real game of life so our child has a 'helmet of salvation' but we cannot force him to put it on. I can deal her all the aces, but I cannot decide when she plays them. We can explain the rules, but we cannot force our kid to hold 'em or fold em. We can't even make them 'walk away', much less run...We can however give them as much knowledge about when they need to do each as possible. And more important we can show our kids how the game 'aught to be played.

We don't have to let anyone else trump our own 'goal'
There is a very fun game called fluxx where anyone can play a goal card at any time to change the way you win. The new goal always trumps the old. Not so in the game of life. Just because Mom wants you to be a Dr doesn't mean you replace your own goal for hers. I recommend Fluxx, I do not recommend letting pop culture, an 'expert' or anyone else dictate your life's goals.

Can you guess we had friends for games last night?

If two more people would write 'secrets' posts I could use my awake time for that....

Speaking of my self goal to write for every topic...I have discovered I am not a good writer...I have my moments (reading addiction is still top on google) but well that was last year, almost exactly. Hey maybe it is about time for me to finally write something good again!

Hmm maybe I should base my hopes on something more than the time of year....

edit to add in the real game of life 'cause apparently writing at 3am is not my strong suit.

Not only is missing a pay check an annoying scramble for a week, it is getting to be a regular habit, and that is wreaking havoc on my budget.

Where I was sending extra on the car, I am now reducing the amount sent to savings.

Where I was enjoying the freedom of a 500 dollar food budget I am now scrambling to feed company on less than 400.

I really hate this company, I so do not want to be doing this.

I thought it was going to be once. Now we are going on the third time. (payed in between, so miss one, pay one, miss one pay one.)

Though now that I am expecting the trouble, I am can plan for it. Sort of.

Oh and my husband got a release to go back to work tomorrow...the fact that he has been going to work is apparently beside the point....

Fortunately he also has a release to go to the pool tomorrow, but I think I will be putting some antibacterial creme and a band aid on first.

If I had all the cash to spend in the world I would hire a maid, I only need an hour a day, maybe two right before company. Just enough for cleaning the bathroom, vacuuming, dusting , and mopping, thats it. I don't mind the rest.

Then I would hire a gardener, not just lawn service, quite frankly I don't like grass anyway! I want a guy to plant some flowers, and vegetables, and herbs....skip the lawn, I can mow the pathetic dead thing in half an hour..soon as I stop my wishful thinking and do it.

Now about those herbs, I am a terrible cook, so with my millions I would hire a cook, just for dinner each weekday, no one needs to pop in my toast or peel my banana for me, I can handle that. (and leftovers of good cooking sounds great for lunch!)

Oh and for special occasions, I want an 'Abigail' a girl to fix my hair, and pick out a dress that matches, preferably one sewn to fit my 6 ft frame, and that hides the fact that I packed on a few pounds and still didn't loose them (yeah, I really need to go mow that lawn!)

Ah and then she can do my husbands hair (his isn't quite as long as mine, but still takes up quite a bit of time to fix daily), though fortunately he didn't gain any weight and looks great in plain jeans.

Ooooh and while we are dreaming, how about a chauffeur..to take us to the science center even when my husband is working, and the library and the museum..and .. well that might be a bit of a stretch...

Honestly I think I would rather spend money on all that before I bought a TV (since ours wont work after 2009) or a bigger house (we fit here now) Or pretty much anything 'luxurious' If I am going to spend on luxury, I want it to be in service. (not very Christian is it...)

K I am off to mow the lawn.

Before, down to mid calf...


After, just down to the pocket on my jeans...


There you have it, my new short hair .

1. Write a ‘secret message’ with a made up code to email to family. Decode the answer when it comes.
2. Borrow a book or 20 from the library on Tuesday (really my family is like the proverbial ‘kid in the candy shop’ around books). Discover your kid reads too fast, and you need more (and it was only Friday!)
3. Make up a new magic trick using ‘slight of hand’ and two crackers and a napkin.
4. Google ‘free internet math games’ and see what happens (or

science, geography or reading or whatever)
5. Calculate if 1 million one-inch tall figurines would touch the moon or not.
6. Ruin husband and child’s fun by telling them 1,000 one inch figurines would crush the one on the bottom, meaning you could never make it to 1 million.
7. Calculate the amount of water it would take to fill a skyscraper. (Because he asked)
8. Chop up some radish ends for worms, head to hermans place for more on worms.
9. Try to make a ‘pull back car’ zoom up a block ramp and cross several bears (stuffed). Experiment with steeper ramps, shorter ramps, etc. then make a ‘Rube Golberg’ contraption (known as a ‘duck trap’ to our kids) out of the blocks (and cars, and a duck)
10. spend 20 minutes hunting up odd links for a post on SA

- My kids need to watch more TV...see we went to the store finally (husband can drive) and we heard "can we get some radishes please?", "what does cottage cheese taste like?", "Can we please get some oranges not just apples and bananas?"....

I said no to the doritoes request, but all the fruit and veggie stuff...I find it very hard to say no to.

- There are more than 3 posts for 'top ten' so I guess I have to post now.

- reselling on Ebay is easy for some..too easy for my anti stuff preferences! My husband has found some really good deals and is reselling them...all from his paypal selling of junk money....I really hate these boxes of stuff..and instead of shrinking they are growing (packing supplies, gotta have on hand to sell, plus resale stock..gotta wait for the perfect time to sell, ugh!)

Why does my bread taste 'yeasty' or kinda like a sourdough?

Did it rise to long? (I actually only let it rest so I could make rolls in time for lunch)

Did I put too much yeast in in the first place?

Did it not rise enough?

Too much kneading? (in kitchen aid, till it was not to terribly sticky so I could shape it)

Not enough kneading?

Or is it fate that I be terrible bread maker?