Where is the New Year.....?

I sure am glad the holidays are rolling along.... almost outta here!
I am just in a "funk" right now, I have tried to just plug along and try and make it as nice as I could and then live with it. I really belive if you are around negative people it wears you down... Well my husband is a very negative person, he told me that when a guy he works with called our house and I answered, the man told my husband I sounded very nice & had a sexy voice - My husband said yea but she is 500 pounds. Then I wrote a shopping list for him to pick up on his way home from work after he cashes his paycheck, I put down chicken chunks - He said "You just sit there and hope I bring that home" sarcastically. Well, I really have to let that kind of thing roll over my shoulders.
My son is cleaning up his room very nicely, He painted it and rearranged it which has been keeping him busy. Kelly has been on the computer WAY too much - I hope to be getting back to some type of learning after the 1st.
The new year can not get here soon enough for me........

Merry Christmas!

This is the closest we will get to snow this year.....
It was raining when I got up at 7:30am now it is overcast and mild - Just not Christmas weather : (
We had a nice time last night at my in-laws, My son brought his girlfriend which made it even more festive. We didn't have any money to buy them presents so I tried to print out a picture I took of my kids by the Christmas tree but wouldn't you know it our colored ink was almost all used up and the picture came out very poor.
Today Kelly finally woke up at about 10:00am. she opened the presents and like I thought she liked the Are you smarter then a 5th grader - I can't wait to play!
Kelly and my husband have taken Chance out for a walk, When they get back the turkey will be done. My son is over at his girlfriend's house so I think we will go ahead and eat without him.
I hope everyone has a wonderful Merry Christmas today!!!!!!

Christmas Eve

So the holiday begins....
I worked like a wild women yesterday cleaning and getting out the decorations that we never put up and washed the curtains & floors trying to make things look pretty for the holiday. My husband and kids kept asking why I was going to all that trouble when the holiday is almost over now, but I really wanted to make the day alittle festive for the kids. I got it looking pretty good, I even hung up the christmas wreath on the door.
Well I got up early this morning to wrap the presents that I got for Kelly at the Toy's for Tot's program - they gave her 5 gifts & books. The one gift I know she will like is the Are you smarter then a 5th grader game, the other games I never heard of and the puzzle & books looks very hard and not very kidish but hey I apprecaite all they gave her! My day has started out rough already, My husband has been yelling all morning at me for spending money yesterday on 2 jars of red cabbage to add to the turkey dinner that I picked up at Albertson's donated from the church for Christmas Day plus I bought food that we ate yesterday because I didn't leave enough for gas money to get down to my in-laws house tonight..... He said I don't know how to handle money and he is taking it over! This month I have been to food pantry's & churches getting food, human resource centers to help pay for our electric bill, toy's for tots for presents for our daughter, talking to bill collectors - All I have been doing is trying juggle to feed my family and give them a holiday and he is yelling at me : (
If I might ask, Could you say a prayer for me & my family.....

The Days Sure Do Fly By..... 4 More Days

I can't belive counting today only 4 days away from Christmas! How quickly the days have flown by. As you know this is not a Christmas I am looking forward to, but it is coming if I want it to or not. There is no excitement here at all, half the time we don't even have the tree lights on. I have tried to explain to Kelly that we just can't afford presents like we have done in other years. She says she understands but you can see the "let down" in her eyes. I have to use a large chunck of my husbands paycheck to get the car insurance back up and running so we are covered again, but with what is left I am determined to get at least a few little things to wrap for under the tree - I can't imagine having her and Kristopher not have anything to open Christmas Day. I was able to buy Kelly one of the things she has been talking about: The Magic Tree House Space Book (Thanks to a special homeschooling blogging friend ~*FatcatPaulanne*~). I go today to the Toys for Tots program to pick up the toy Kelly will be getting from there - I am not sure how that program works since we have never used it before. I had to write down a few of the things she wanted not sure if they go with one of those things or if they just have to pick through the items they get donated, What ever it is I am sure she will enjoy getting it. Kelly had a small list this year even before the hard times hit - A western saddle, a computer for her room (she told me used for both items would be just fine with her), Apples to Apples game, Who is smarter then a 5th grader game, a puzzle & the Magic Tree House Book. I thought I would at least try and get the games so we can play on Christmas Day to make it at least a little festive. The one church pantry was giving away free fixins for a Turkey Dinner from Albertsons - I pick that up today too. I thought also since things will be kinda ho hum Christmas Day, I might try and take her to the movies to see "NATIONAL TREASURE: BOOK OF SECRETS" we both think it looks good and if only her and I go it won't cost too much. I am bound and determined to make this holiday a nice one for the kids (maybe not the best we have ever had but nice...).

Homeschooling Possibilities....

We had another great day of school work - Yea!
I have been very pleased with how well things have gone yesterday and today.
As we go over things I keep getting her attention so she stays with me (I ask her "Are you putting this information in the mind bank" - Which makes her laugh and brings her mind back to what we are working on.
I know it isn't good to keep jumping around from one teaching style/book to another but I "THINK" I may have found just what I have been looking for - Joy Hakim's American History series and she has a new Science series too. I got a few of the books in the history series from my library and they are really good. Kelly & I started book one - The First Americans (Prehistory-1600). I am still going to use Story of The World book one for our World History studies. We will also finish off our Apologia's Zoology 2 book, I liked it but I think we will switch over and try Joy Hakim's sciences books - We had trouble with alot of the very large words not knowing how to say it correctly and it just bogged us down, kind of mixing us up.
I have to say I feel a bit renewed again : )

Cold Here In Florida.....

It sure got cold last night, but it is supposta get even colder tonight yikes!!! When I woke up at 6am. it was like 56 degress here in the house, I know that doesn't sound cold to some of you but it sure was cold for us. Tonight they say it may get down to 39 degrees or so - that's way too cold for Florida.
I am reading a very interesting book one of my homeschool buddies suggested to me (Thanks Bunny) "A Mind At A Time" by Dr. Mel Levine. It really helps when you have a child like my Kelly who seems to have information go in one ear and out the other.... I do wish he would go into more detail about how to help correct each problem area though.
I am also reading "Your Best Life Now" by Joel Osteen, Also a enjoyable book that is helping me get a better attitude for the situtations I am facing lately. Can you tell I was at the library on Sat. I tell you I get in there and could stay for hours - I can not see why my kids HATE the library the possiblities are endless.
We are hitting the books this week - I am really taking stock of what I can do to help Kelly retain a bit more of the information we are covering. In talking to her she really doesn't have much recall for the stuff we have covered so far so I must take a step back and see what I can do differently. I thought of covering more current history topics like metnioned in Ambleside Yr. 6 I thought maybe if I could get her more intersted in the topics we cover she might remember more. Not sure yet which way to go with this....

Car is repaired Yea! & Blogging

Well the jeep repair went very well. The fellow came when he said and seemed to know what he was doing, being that we are out of town though he had to travel back into town to get the starter that was needed to repair it. It cost everything I had $180.00 (He replaced the starter, cut the transmission line and fixed that & looked into a light issue we are having). I had to use the money that was for the electric bill : ( But it is repaired - One problem down on to the next....
I enjoy when I get a few free moments to look around at all the home schooling blogs, Well I was reading along on one of them and it got to her post about her family hunting & trapping (Dec. 5, 2007 - Black Widow Update) when I saw the raccoon in the cage I just started bawling.... he looked so terrified and just wanted to be set free to be with his family. I find it amazing how people's blogs can so affect another person weither it be good or bad, sometimes you find fantastic teaching ideas or just some fantastic fellow homeschooling moms : )

Trail Blazing.....Kinda : ) & Aldi Stores

We didn't do any schooling yesterday but we did go outside and explore alot of the trails in the woods. It was kinda fun and Kelly seemed to have enjoyed herself, We looked at the different types of trees & shrubs. One of the things I wish we had missed was a black snake.... I just get the creepys when I see one. Kelly just said "Mom, He's more afraid of us then we are of him, look he is terrified and is slithering away", and she contiuned down the trail.
I was kinda proud of myself, I found a car repair man who comes to the house! I am saving the $60.00 tow bill - Yea! He is coming today at around 10:00am, We will see how this all works out - Keep your fingers crossed.
On the down side I was a bit upset last night, My husband came home from work and said that the boss said working on Sat. will be mandatory from now on, If you don't show up you are fired. I took this as a good thing, another extra day of pay is going to go along way towards helping us. My husband was very upset with the idea that he would have to work on Sat. : ( sometimes I think I mop up our problems all by myself!
On another note: I have been trying to lower our food bill and really miss a store up in PA. that had really GREAT prices it is called Aldi they are a bare bones type of store but when you are watching every penny it is a great store to shop in. I discouraged to find out that there aren't any in Florida... I contacted the company (I suggested our area as a possible location) - They said they are planning on building in some Florida locations, she said the closest one to me will be in Daytona.

Can't wait for 2008

Kelly & I tried to do at least some school work yesterday, Even though she complains I think she really misses when we don't do some work. She actually said to me "Who made the decision to take a "vacation" from work last week?". My brain is all over the place so I can't seem to get much done but we did work on spelling, reading, music composer, presidents, & she wrote a page about two of the books she has recently read. I think we will just dabble here and there during the next few weeks until after the holidays pass....
It is sad to say but I can not WAIT till the holidays are over! It has just been one thing after another here, Just when you think maybe you see a bit of light at the end of the tunnel something else happens. Like I had mentioned that we had gotten help with the electric bill so all we had to do was pay the $86.00 (the next electric bill of $132.62 is due today) I had planned on paying the $86.00 plus the $132.62 so we could finally breath easier knowing that the electric would not be shut off. Well you know what they say about best made plans..... Our car would not start! We had the battery checked and it is fine, the repair guy said it might be a starter but of course he would have to look it over. So now I have to pay to get the car towed in to the repair shop (about $60.00) and then what ever the repair bill will cost - Yikes! So all the plans I had made of paying the electric this week, car insurance next week and then on the 22nd. possibly squeeze the paycheck to buy a few gifts for the kids is out the window : (
I can't wait for 2008!!!!!!!

Thank You!

I just want to "Thank" all of you who have been so wonderful with your concern about our financial situation, I have had wonderful offers of help, tips & ideas on what we could do & even money donations......
Thanks again to all of you, You are the BEST!
xoxoxoxoxo

Life Lessons.....

Well we sure haven't been getting much schooling done lately but we sure have been having alot of "Life Lessons"...
For the first time in my life I had to go the Human Services and ask for help with our past due electric bill that the eletric company keeps calling us about that they are going to shut us off. I had Kelly with me at the meeting, I sure had mixed emotions about that. They gave us $200.00 towards out electric bill which will be a big help. The lady there gave me a list of food banks, I went to one of them also. Kelly stayed in the car this time she didn't want to go in, but when we got home we went through the bags they gave us and we were both shocked at how happy we were to see certain things like the pickles she loves and peanut butter it WAS like Christmas for us. One of the saddest moments of the past few days is that on Wed. morning my husband said we were totally out of money, there was nothing left for gas. We use alot of gas a day for my husband to get to the area he works at, So I had to find some way of getting some money together. I decided I had to part with my Dad's car, He passed away 16 days after we moved down here to Florida and the car which no longer works since it needs a transmission has been just sitting there, but I didn't want to get rid of it because it is something my Dad just so loved and it brought me such peace to be able to see it each day. When I told Kelly that the junk man was coming to get the car her eyes got big and said "Mom are you going to cry when they take grandpa's car away"? I told her no but inside I will be. The junk man came and got my Dad's car and our old Neon, they gave me $225.00 which will be a big help this week, but it really comes at a "Heart" cost....
It has been a very tough time for our family, but I know that Kelly is learning some life lessons through out this whole mess good & bad : (

Good Monday Morning : )

Good Monday Morning! Hope everyone had a great weekend.
You will not belive this but this cat in the picture is a stray cat, she started hanging around our house, she would run away from us when we would get to close to her - But right after Mickey passed she lets us pet her and she tries to come into the house! Our other cat (Mickey's brother Joe doesn't care for this new addition to our family though).
Kelly and I semi finshed up last weeks work, She did great on the spelling test and on the test she took after watching a video on United Streaming about Thomas Jefferson. We are moving at a snails pace but we are moving : )
I had signed my son up for a health class at Florida Virtual Schnool the class starts today - I was looking over the course and what is expected of him (Three Oral Tests). He is sooo worried about this, He is afraid he will do poorly and he will get an "F" for the class which will then not allow him to get the Bright Future Scholarship which he needs to be able to go to the police academy. I called his school this morning and it doesn't look like he has any other option (To be honest his guidance counseler was not very helpful, It was like pulling teeth trying to get him to pull up Kristopher's records). I hope it all works out for him.