DUDE!! Y'all -- I am still gettin 25 hit a day here -- I MOVED!!! ;-) Join me at the new place!

I am keepin this one live for archive purposes but I don't plan on Blogging here anymore..

Y'all I can't sleep again.

By the way - grab a box and load up the truck... I'm movin.

Here's the new diggs Barefoot in the Garden hope you'll all join me. I will be moving and futzin with the place for a while before I leave this place completely -- but start changin those links!!

I am LIT!!!

Well, actually I am slightly calmer than what I was earlier. MY local newscast just did a story on "homeschooling".

However, they profiled a student doing a state supported cyber PUBLIC SCHOOL. THAT IS NOT HOMESCHOOLING. It is PUBLIC school at home. As a parent you have NO MORE RIGHTS than if your child goes down the street to the local school.

You are given the curriculum, and if it doesn't work for your child, TOUGH. If you would like to teach that God made the universe - good luck - you will still have to teach the Big bang theory. Can't skip it. You have no choice but to complete ALL the curriculum, even if your child doesn't get a subject or problem (for example Algebra - my nemesis). Say you spend an extra 2 weeks on algebraic formulas but don't get to the next stage on time, you have a problem. You must work on the PUBLIC SCHOOL timetable.

This makes me NUTS!! If homeschooling and public schooling at home are portrayed as the same thing, what is to stop lawmakers from writing laws that infringe on true homeschoolers rights? The rights that pioneering homeschoolers went to JAIL for?

Am I saying that public schooling at home is wrong? For me and MY family -- HELL YES. For anyone else? I don't know, not my problem. Each family makes their own choices. Homeschoolers chose to homeschool for 1000's of reasons. My main reasons are faith based. Other families choose homeschooling for faith reasons, for secular reasons, for reasons of safety in the school, just to name a few.

I am saying it's a horse of a different color. And it's going down a slippery slope.

Edited to say this -- I did call my local news and give them a piece of my mind. And I left my phone # and contacted a woman in my state (actually in my neighborhood) to see if she would be willing to back me up if they called back.

Today is the last day of my job. Weird. Wild Thing goes to pre-school next week.

It's also the first day of school for our school district. I didn't even realize it. The kids got up and went downstairs to play just like usual, I woke up a little later (aren't my kids nice?), and I looked out the window, and there were parents everywhere. We live right near the public school, right in the path of most of the walkers, and all the parents park on our street to drop off and pick up.

For a second I felt sad. Like he's missing a rite of childhood. The first day of school, backpacks and new pencils and teachers. For a minute I felt the jitters of "Am I doing the right thing for my kids?".

Then, as I was cleaning the kitchen I hear Thing 1 talking to Wild Thing about God's house, they were "discussing" which was better, the church or heaven. It was cute!

Yes, I am doing the right thing for my kids, we haven't started "school" yet, since the last of my curriculum order is not in yet (and I really have to get off my fanny and lesson plan).

I have worked out my DD's dance class and my bible study (They were at the same time! ACK!)Wild Thing's mom will take Thing 2 to dance class on the days I have Bible study. The girls have dance class together once a week, I could have changed Thing 2's day but since the girls will not see each other so much, I really wanted to keep them together for dance. So that is worked out.


I think it's time to play with the girls since this is Wild Thing's last day with me.

Dollar Tree ROCKS!!!!!

I LOVE the Dollar Tree! I dropped $62 (YES I DID) there today! I got 18 workbooks for the kids - most of them biblically based. (Remember I have 2 kids- and I got extras to put up of the Kindergarten stuff for Thing 2 for next year, and 1st grade stuff for Thing 1)

I got some terrific puzzles, dominos, dice, and poker chips for counting. A clock puzzle for learning about time, markers, construction paper, tape, and the like (of course). A little bulletin board for my desk, smelly good candles, flashlights (my kids LOVE flashlights!) a couple of mama-can-I-have-thises but really - it's the Dollar Tree. ;-)

I cleaned UP!!!

We also went to the library and took out SO MANY BOOKS!!! Mama books, homeschool books, fun reading books and computer games. WHAAA HOOO!!!! Fun day! I took a picture of some of my loot, I will upload it later (the picture thingy is on DH's puter in the basement and I am too darn lazy to go down there right now, although I really should change the laundry over...)

OMW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Barbie has a new pet. His name is Tanner. It's a dog. Big deal right??

IT POOPS!!!

Yes it does!! GO HERE and watch the commercial! After peeling myself off the floor (I was losing it I was laughing so hard) I had to post this.

Why Mattel?? Why exactly do we need our daughters to have a toy dog that "eats" it's dog food (which incidentally is what is used for the poop! So it EATS IT'S OWN POOP!), and then "goes to the bathroom"??

I totally understand the premise behind dolls that go potty when potty training your child -- BUT REALLY, this is too much!

Oh yeah! And Theresa (Barbie's friend) has a cat that TINKLES IN IT'S LITTERBOX! Then Theresa can "scoop" the litterbox.

Beyond the yuck factor -- has anyone thought about the little boy who died from swallowing some magnets from his sibling's Magnetix set? There are magnets in the "food/poo" as well, should we be concerned?

Thanks to Jules at Everyday Mommy for her fantastic idea! If you agree go sign her petition and put the button on your blog!




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Moms & Dads for Modesty Mission Statement

As a Mom or Dad for Modesty I believe in common-sense modesty for girls and young women.

I believe in refraining from sexualizing our girls and young women.

I believe that it is unwise and unfair to taunt boys and young men by permitting my daughter(s) to dress in an immodest manner.

I believe that true beauty comes from within and I strive to teach my daughter(s) this truth.

I will loyally shop at retailers that provide girls' and young women's clothing that is modest, affordable and stylish.


Several women have written significant posts on the subject of modesty and dignity in dressing our little girls appropriately.

It comes down to this. I WILL NOT dress my daughters like "Paris Hilton tartlets". For me it has to do with teaching my daughter to dress like a lady, to have respect for her own body, to have respect for God's word on dressing modestly. Does that mean skirts to her ankles and long hair? No, jeans and tee shirts are great! I live in them. But those tee shirts will not have double entendre written on them. Those tee shirts will not carry messages about being disrespectful to parents or authority.

It also has to do with teaching MY SON to respect women. To respect women no matter how they are dressed, but to chose a life partner wisely. It has to do with teaching my son that modesty in a woman is a virtue. It also has to do with teaching my SON to dress modestly. No pants down so low that his boxers show, no ripped up clothing (unless you're changing the oil or painting, doing something messy that CALLS for old clothing).

For my son this ALSO means no tee shirts with inappropriate sayings on them. I will tolerate them no better on my son than my daughter.

This is a totally different post. Thing 2's hero has passed away. Steve Irwin "The Crocodile Hunter" was killed by a stingray this weekend.

I am in shock. It seems silly I know, but Thing 2 ADORES him. I have been stalking the Austrian Zoo website trying to find out when his next visit to the US so I could take her to meet him.

He's left behind his wife Terry, and an 8 year old daughter Bindi, and an almost 3 year old son Bob. Say a prayer for his family. I don't know the state of his soul (of course) but I will be praying for God to strengthen his family through this loss.

Any of you who pray - would you cover me with prayer please?

This sounds overly dramatic to my "secular" head, but I feel that The Dark One is fighting me.

I am getting some sleep - but plagued by nightmares. Vicious, dark, vampire + evil filled nightmares. During the day I am fighting thoughts of inability, that I can't possibly teach my children and "train them up in the way they should go", that God doesn't really want me, that he cannot possibly love me.

Not the "normal" kind of "how could He love me thoughts" you know like after you have done something you know God frowns on, but just random whispers in my ears when I'm driving the car, trying to sleep, or teaching my kids. Intrusive thoughts, I am SURE it is the Dark One. When they come I cast him out, (literally thinking "Satan, get thee gone!") and pray for God's strength, but I am tired and impatient with my kids. I don't need to up my Zoloft I am sure that's not it. I take a sleeping pill sometimes but that doesn't stop the nightmares.

I could uses some powerful prayers sisters! I need some sleep so I can be a good mama - and fight during the day.

Free chocolate anyone?? Thanks Angie!

Nestle Chocolatier

YUM!!!

What I did While Ernesto messed with my weekend (or what I did to keep for duct taping my kids to the ceiling.)

I LOVE to have my kids stuck in the house and squirrelly because of the weather. Really I do. (and if you buy that I have a bridge to sell ya).

Before the rain came, in the interest of telling the truth, I am prepared to submit the fooling photos... My poor garden has been SORELY neglected.



My poor sunflower (which are now on the ground, the rain saturated soil could not hold their weight up)



My greenhouse is at a standstill is a SEA of grass (there used to be lovely broccoli lettuce and zukes here!)

On the PLUS side!!! I found 3 of these little guys! My nephew (the Rockhound, who has decided to become a lepidopterist) will be over the moon!



Incase you don't know - those are monarch caterpillars munching on my milkweed.

And this is what Thing 1 built! A cooler to hold their snacks.



And then there was the trip we took last night to the Christian bookstore. My DH bought himself a Bible! I am so proud. It's a cool Archaeological Study Bible .

I have a few more thoughts -- I can't keep them straight though. I will gather and post again later tonight.