We Have An Angel Blogging Buddy.......

Yesterday was an amazing day.....
The post gal tooted her horn that we had a packaged, Kelly and I ran outside to get it. Kelly was excited to read it was for her, I was hesitant for a few minutes for her to open it since presents are in short supply this year I was thinking it might be a good idea to hold this package till Christmas Day but she was soooooo excited I said go ahead and open it.
It was from one of my Blogging Buddies!!!!!!
I can not express how happy this box made Kelly, She actually had tears in her eyes at all the generous gifts that were sent to her. It really made her smile the whole rest of the day and we haven't seen much of that around our house lately.
God Bless You Angel Blogging Buddy...... I can not Thank You enough for making Kelly's holiday Sooooo Special : o )

Three more days....

I haven't had much to blog about lately.... Same old stuff just another day. I haven't been able to Christmas shop yet, Would you belive we got another electric bill shut off notice of $127.44. Some how we got two months behind, not sure how that happened since they ride your butt the minute you miss a payment. Anyway, that took the money from Friday's paycheck which I had hoped to use for presents. My husband says his boss is going to pay them on Tues. night this week so I will be out there Christmas shopping on Christmas Eve. We are going to use the turkey my husband's boss gave him for Thanksgiving for our Christmas meal, We always have ham but since we have it in the freezer I figured that will be one less thing to buy.

I sure have been enjoying reading and viewing all the winter weather posts you all have been making. Kelly really misses snow terribly and I show her your pictures. I on the other hand feel if I never see snow again in my life time I would not be upset. Our weather here has gotten colder... 55 degress for a high I think today but we are warming back up for Christmas they say near 80 degress, we might put the table outside again and have Christmas dinner out side like we did for Thanksgiving it was so enjoyable and different which made it fun.

Hope everyone stays safe during these storms and has a wonderful day!!!!

Posting Troubles......

I was having trouble with posting earlier this morning, Hopefully it is corrected now.

I was not feeling well most of the weekend : ( Not sure what it is but I am feeling a little bit more chipper now. Needless to say I didn't get much of anything done! My husband and son went golfing.... You would think since Christmas is only a week and half away he would want to be buying gifts with that money....

I need to get my butt in gear and organize our school week, We have alot of Christmas books & History books from the library to get to. I think even though the public school has all of next week off I am going to see if I can sneak a few days in. I can't wait for the holidays to be over.... I just hope 2009 is a better year.

Have a great day!

Sat. Wrap Up

Here is another craft we made from the Christmas book activity advent, thank goodness we have had the supplies needed to make these things I hope we have the materials needed for the rest of them, We are having just to much fun with this! We didn't work on any school work yesterday : ( I just felt so tired and really didn't have the strength to get it all together (Isn't that terrible!).

My son has to work at Winn Dixie on Christmas Day 8am. to 3pm. so we will be having Christmas dinner at around 5pm., The holiday just isn't going to be the same. Last night my husband was yelling about what else "Money", My son had lent me his credit card to buy Kelly three of those wrestling Kane items she wanted, it take 5 to 10 days to receive them. Well in front of Kelly he is yelling about it saying what did I spend that money on... We had just talked about it the night before. Life goes on....

Thursday Looks Like A Rain Day Here In Florida

Here are the pictures of Kelly and her Civil War poster she made & our day two of the Christmas book activites. School has been pretty simple the past few days, mostly crafts. Yesterday I woke up to see Roper (my horse limping) which just put me in a terrible mood! I had just cancelled the hoof guy because I couldn't afford him and now the horse is limping.... that's pretty much how my life is going lately! Kelly and I cleaned it out and put some medicine on and wrapped it up in a baby diaper - I pray that will hopfully fix the hoof for him.

My husband worked only half a day yesterday and now he is home already today by 10am. (because of the rain) - The pay check I was hoping for to buy Christmas presents sure is going to be tiny. I do have to say one thing though - My son went out Christmas shopping and bought his sister a Kane figure and he is also getting her the wrestling playstation game. I thought that was so sweet of him : )

We have another Christmas book to work on today (I have four more books to pick up on Friday). We are really enjoying fooling around with the crafts - Not much school work but it sure is fun!

Have a great day!

This & That

Yesterday we read our first book of the Christmas activities books - We made our snowflakes which was alot of fun... Kelly also worked on her Civil War poster and did a fantastic job on it! I will post a picture of it and her when I can get her to be in the picture : )

Other than that I have the Blahs... Here it is only Tues. and I am out of money all ready for the week. Then to top that off we had gotten the car insurance cancellation notice and the electric bill turn off notice both for the same day... Thurs. of this week. My husband has been working (knock on wood) so we should have a paycheck large enough to cover the $332.07 but that won't leave much for food next week. I still haven't been able to Christmas shop at all yet, which makes it more sad but we still have one more check before the holiday so I hope to be able to pick up a few things for Kelly & Kris then. I was thinking of getting fleece material of the football team he likes and make him a no-sew blanket but then maybe a gift certificate would be better for him then he can buy something small he needs. Then there is Kelly... this girl loves wrestling on tv. who would think it but she does and her favorite wrester is a scary looking guy called Kane. The stores actually sell action figures of these guys so I want to get one for her and then hopefully a few other things also.

I had to cancel the hoof guy for the horses which every time I do the horse come up with a hoof problem from having their hooves too long but I had to he was set to come this Wed. and we just don't have the cash for it so hopefully I can find the $50.00 for next time. Did you happen to read or see the video clip of the dog in Chilie who went out in highway traffic to pull his dog friend who had gotten hit by a car out of harms way? It was so heart wrenching to watch, the dogs friend was already dead but he still kept trying to get it to the medium of the highway. The news report said that someone got the two dogs to safty but the dog ran away.... My gosh that just goes to show you how carring dogs really are!

I guess from my post you can tell I am sure in the dumps today! We have another Christmas activities book to do today and I am guessing that will be about all. I just feel so low, I have no energy to do more. It is funny we were like crazy people putting up our outside christmas lights and the tree the day after Thanksgiving but that all has coem to a stop. My son doesn't even go out and put the lights on at night anymore I had to ask him last night to put them on. We also have not finished decorating the inside of the house, boxes are all over the livingroom where they have been since the day after Thanksgiving.... Maybe I will at least get to that today.

Hope everyone has a productive day today!

December 7th. "A date which will live in infamy"

Hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend!

Today is Pearl Harbor Day, My father always used to tell us stories of that day - He was 16 at the time. I wish I could hear them now, I never really appreciated them then.... Don't you wish sometimes you could just ask a few more questions of the loved ones who passed - Like my grandmother, I would love to hear how she was able to feed her 8 children, her two parents who lived with them and her and my grandfather during the great depression. We used to sit around as a family and all talk stories, I never heard that women complain about anything - ever! I sure do miss them all.

We actually have had a few good days here. On Friday, we decided to go to the park and have lunch there. It has one of those obstacle courses that Kelly did as we walked around the park. Then yesterday, my husband actually joined us and we went to the nature trail we had gone on a few days ago. My son got his brakes fixed on his car so he was happy so the whole household was at peace...

We are really enjoying the Christmas book activites my library had gotten me two of the books so far and we are making snowflakes for the first book "Snowflake Bentley". Kelly really likes to be able to be doing something that ties into the books we read so this works out great! I checked our library for the rest of the books which they have 12 of the listed books but of course 10 of the books are out. I am on the waiting list for them and next in line so not sure when we will get them. It was funny the library contacted me on Friday that a book I requested three weeks before Thanksgiving by inter-library loan just had come in (It was a Thanksgiving book) so I am thinking there isn't much use in requesting the books they don't have because most likely they will come in after the holiday is over...

The Post Card collecting is going well also. It is alittle hard trying to keep track of it all but we really enjoy getting the cards in the mail. I was requesting state map cards but I think we will also go with national monuments ect. to add to her State Workbook she is making. We are still working on Florida, we have been reading a good fiction book that takes place in Florida "The Missing Gator Of Gumbo Limbo" Jean Craighead George is now one of my favorite authors - It was a really great book! We enjoyed it : )

Have A Great Sunday!

Nature Walk

After we did some schooling yesterday, I decided to take Kelly over to the walking trail - It's not to far from our home. As you can see from her face she was happy to do something different. We looked for alligators but didn't see any this trip : ( She found these broken palm leaves that she was so excited to bring home. Our trip was a nice one, but to be honest I always feel a bit worried when it is just her and I on these walking trails....
We got home and she was upbeat. She ran out to show her father the leaves she brought home and would you belive he carried on about the gas we used... instead of letting her enjoy the leaves. He went on and on so much so she said "I will just stay in the house and won't go out". It really took all of the fun she had that day out of her : ( I really wish I could just win the lottery!

Have a wonderful day today!

Wed. (Middle Of The Week) Already...

Sure is cold as heck here!!!!!! I think it is the coldest I have felt it since we moved here about 6 years ago : )

My son got his car back last night! Yea! Would you belive they fixed the one problem but didn't fix the brake issue! Can you belive all that time and it is not completely fixed... It amazes me how people just don't stand behind anything they sell now a days! Also, Winn Dixie sent him home early from his job yesterday (not busy enough)- Yikes! I sure hope that they don't cut his hours, He won't be able to pay the car loan.

School went well yesterday. Kelly's reading is doing very well - She still picks very easy books but she is getting through them. Math is still a major issue for her, I flip back and forth between multiplication and division - that girl just can not remember the 6, 7 & 8 times tables. She uses a grid when answering the division problems which does help. While we were at the library I picked up a GED book, We both looked it over. Gosh, it looks like the test sure covers alot.... I have thought of buying one of those books just so I can drive her in the right directions as far as knowing what she needs to know for that test.

Tonight is "Ghost Hunters" on tv., I love that show so it always makes Wed. go faster. Did you happen to see the Britney Spear tv show the other night? Kelly & I watched it, that poor girl looks like they have gotten her all pretty again on the outside but gosh the girl looks like she is still on the brink on the inside..... I felt sorry for her.

Hope your day is a wonderful one!

Trugging Through Tuesday.....

Would you belive the car place still has not fixed my son's car yet! We are getting really nervous that they are up to something.... last nights excuse was that the repair place that they took the car to to fix it ordered the wrong piece. Every day they say it will be ready then by evening when my husband and son go there to pick it up they tell them another excuse, this has gone on and on. Tonight my husband told them the car better be there or he is calling the cops and getting a police report on where the car is ect. It is a darn shame my son's first car experience has to be like this, he has to make his first car payment today and he hasn't even been able to enjoy it yet!

School went okay yesterday, we didn't cover everything but it is hard getting back into the swing of things. Today we are going to work on the "wrap up" Civil War poster I thought of doing. I was printing out pictures for the poster and ran out of black ink.... then I remembered that my copier uses the same ink so maybe I can finish up the pictures with that.

Did you happen to read the post about the gal who tries and feeds her family for about 35 cents per meal? Click Here or here is another gals story - Click Here I struggle every week with having enough to fed my family with spending alot more money then these folks.... I read these articles but I just can't seem to get our bill down lower : ( I have been shopping alot at the Dollar General, we don't have any liquidator type stores here so I can't get those bare bones prices that the gal in the article gets. No matter where I shop I never see meat at very cheap prices... I spend roughly alittle over $6.00 for a 2 pound package of hamberger meat that I use for meatloafs ect. or if I buy fish in a box that too is near $6.00. Meat takes a huge chunk out of my budget. Anyway, I find it very interesting to read how these gals do it.

Have A Fantastic Day Today!

Can You Belive It's December 1st.!!!!!

A Monday after a holiday... sure is hard to get organized! Then to know it's December 1st. - Yikes! My son put our tree up and decorated the outside of the house - It looks beautiful : ) He is like Tim Taylor of the Home Improvements show - He wants our house to look the best on the road. To be honest I hate December, when you have money problems it just seems sooooo much worse during this month. I know the hoilday of Christmas shouldn't be about the giving and getting of presents ect. but when you have kids and they don't have that ahhhh moment on Christmas Day when they get a gift they were hoping for it just isn't right : (

I wanted to bring to your attention a really cute site over on Crafty Crow Day #1 starts today, You read a Christmas book and it gives you advent activites to do along with it. It looks like alot of fun. I searched on my library's website for the books and would you belive they didn't have very many of them at all : ( I ordered them through inter-library loan so I won't be able to go along with the blog but hopefully we will catch up.

Have A Great Day!

I'm Back..... For Now.

Good Morning All, Hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend!
As you can see we were able to pay part of the internet/cable/phone bill to get us back in business so now any way - I have to hope we can get enough together for the electric bill.

I have been trying to pry the computer away from Kelly long enough to be able to read all of your past posts. I know I have been on my soap box about the computer and Kelly, but I have really seen how it affects her. The first few days without the computer she was nasty, then once that passed she was helpful around the house, found things to do like puzzles & games, took care of the horses ect. once the internet was back on she is back to being snippy with everyone, trying to get the computer away from her is like pulling a tooth. It seems to me that it really is just like an addiction. For Christmas she wants a computer of her own (we were thinking of fixing our old one for her), now I am wondering if that is a good thing or not. I keep trying to tell her she needs to enjoy the computer but also needs to do other things through out the day. Her side of the story is she has no other outside contact with kids and this is her way of talking to her friends...

On another note my son bought his first car! A silver mustang, and would you belive he has only driven it three times the rest of the time it has been back to the dealership where we bought it because of problems with the car. I feel so bad for him! I think the repair guys are jerking us around now but they have us over a barrel. Once the care left the lot it is our car as is so they don't HAVE to fix it but they said they would since we bought the problem up to them the day we picked it up. The poor kid has his first car payment due on Monday and no car.....

Our neighbor is up to her old tricks again! She was tailing my son (she drives very fast), he turned one way she another they meet up right in front of our house and she stayed in the middle of the street making my son go off the road almost into the ditch. He pulled in to our driveway and went out to the road and confronted her which of course you just don't do these people are NUTS. She was swearing at HIM (I can not post the words she was calling him - they were terrible, I had opened the door by now and heard her). He came back in to our house and then my husband came home and they looked at the marks in the road and saw where my son had to go to avoid hitting her car. Well wouldn't you know it she called the POLICE! The cop came over and talked to my son and told him to stay away from HER and that road rage can get out of hand so quickly since people now a days have guns, knives ect on them and they don't have any fear of using them. He was very nice and listened to my son's story and they talked about my son going to the police academy and he told him about tazers ect. he was very informative but I was still steaming about my neighbor....

Can you tell I haven't been able to post in awhile I am talking all of your ears off!!! I'll let you go for now and post the rest later.

Have a wonderful day!

Now What....

Just when I get the computer back up and running, Now the internet has been turned off because we couldn't pay the bill.... Gosh something must be wanting me to stay off the computer!

I want to wish all my blogging buddies the very best Thanksgiving ever!!!!! : )
May you have a wonderful day with your families and enjoy all the great food.
I am cooking dinner this year and we are having over my son's girlfriend, my in-laws never invited us.... they are too busy getting ready for their garage sale on Friday & Sat.

Have a wonderful day!!!!!

I Think I Fixed The Computer!!!!!

I think I may be back up and running again! I have been working on the computer almost every day trying to get it working since we have no money to get it fixed I figured what the heck and pushed a few keys here and a few keys there and I am back in business. The bad thing is I lost everything that was on the computer! All my homeschooling favorites, my files, websites, EVERYTHING! A number of things I paid for and will have to contact each company and see if I can get another copy of each item... I also lost all the files for my dog breeding business and the past puppy photos : (
I do have to say though I really enjoyed having Kelly back during the down time of the computer. She spends way to much time on the computer and really doesn't do much of anything else - While it was down we went for walks, rode the horses, did a puzzle ect. It is amazing how the computer ties up your mind.
It is good to be back and be able to read all of your blogging posts again - I missed you all!

My Computer Has Died : (

My computer has finally bit the big one!!!! : (
Kelly & I will try and get down to the library as often as we can so I can read your blog posts and stay in touch. I am not sure how long it will be until I can get it repaired. I do have to say one thing about being computerless - Kelly has had to start finding other things to keep her busy which has been a good thing! I on the other hand don't miss it at all except for staying in touch with you all!
Hope everyone has a wonderful day!

Good Monday Morning : )

Sure is cold here in Florida this morning!!!! I slept with my sweat pants & sweat shirt on.... We haven't thrown on the heat yet but if it was up to me I would have had it on. Too Cold!!!!!

You know how our computer has a virus on it so we have to baby it along to be able to use it. Well I tried to download a coloring book that was sent to me in one of my yahoo groups, it must have had another virus attached to it and it made the computer a hundred times worse : ( I have been working on it trying to get it repaired enough so we can use it.... so far this morning it is working okay.

To top off the weekend my in-laws stopped by on Sat..... I went to greet them and can you imagine my father-in-law walked right past me. My mother-in-law as least spoke to me, telling me how she can't find a used computer for Kelly at the garage sales she goes to... BUT they brought over a coffe maker for my husband, socks for my husband, golf mittens for my husbands golf clubs, and a few other things I can't think of. Can you imagine visiting your grand children and bringing gifts for their father and nothing (not even a piece of candy) for the kids - especially Kelly! They sat for a few minutes and said they are having a garage sale at their house on Thanksgiving weekend. I guess they are doing that so they don't have to have us over like every other year.... The whole time they were here they spoke of how many doctors appointments they have (my mother-in-law has swelling in her feet among many other problems which the doctors tested her for and can't find any thing wrong with her so she keeps going to one doctor after another). I mentioned my son bought a car, my father-in-law wanted to know how much he paid for it - my husband told him. Then he started in on our son about why he doesn't work 40 hours (Win Dixie doesn't let anyone work 40 hours). This man is just the crankiest person I have ever meet. They didn't even ask Kelly one question while they were here. Last night while I was sleeping I was wondering to myself do I e-mail my mother-in-law and tell her how wonderful it was to have them visit or do I just not e-mail and leave it at that? I am leaning towards not e-mailing them. As I have said before I can't figure these people out - I can not imagine having a garage sale instead of having your family over for Thanksgiving dinner! I forgot, When they were getting ready to leave my husband says to them that he may stop by on Sunday (they said they have work for him to do there), His mother goes I'll cook a pork up and we can have that for dinner not once inviting the kids to come also. I guess I carry on about them so much because my parents would have never treated family like that when they were alive...... As a side note: My husbad didn't work Sat. (He knew a guy who had work for him o do) or Sunday at my mother-in-laws...

On the school front, I went to the library on Sat. morning and got a ton of more books. I still do most of the reading during the day but I make sure Kelly is reading something - she just finished "Thanksgiving on Thursday". I have a number of easy reader books about the things we are covering about Florida - I am hoping one of these days she will catch the reading bug : ) Awhile back I had talked to one of my son's 12th grade teachers about her having the class "color pictures" during the day and she has said that she has found it to relax the class and that they take in the information she is teaching. I have been doing that with Kelly, at first I was worried she would not be paying attention to what I was reading but it really seems to help her focus in.

I hope everyone has a productive Monday - Enjoy!

Thurs., It sure has been a fast week!

Good Thursday morning to you all!
My husband had no work yesterday so that always throws are school schedule off but we got a nice days worth of work done. We started that States Study and it isn't going as smoothly as I had invisoned : ( I will have to tweek it and see why it is so jumbled. We also are reading a number of Thanksgiving books - I was going to do a full unit on them but I am now thinking just reading some of the books we got from the library you get a really good background of what things were like for them ect. We also got a few state post cards in the mail yesterday which has been turning into alot of fun. I think we are finally on the home streach of the Civil War.... by the end of next week we should have that wrapped up (I hope). I bought a few pieces of the huge poster board paper at the dollar store for .40 cents each - I was thinking of writting Civil War in the middle of it and have her print out pictures of people and events from the war and hang it in the school room as a wrap up.

We went yesterday to look at that car my son has his heart set on. When we got there would you belive someone had put a pretty big dent & scratch into it since my husband and son had looked at it last. To say my son was disappointed was an understatement! We went and looked at a few other places (I was really surprized at how many other people were also car shopping). Well he has found two possiblities - one is a silver mustang and the other is a dark burgandy jeep. The mustand is a newer better conditon car but he will have payments of $50.00 a week for 2 years - the jeep the payments are the same but only for a year (of course car insurance is a factor also because he has to carry collison while he is paying it off). He is mulling it over, this is one of his first big decision he will have to be making in his life time. I worry because of the way the economy is but he does need a good working car to get back and forth down to Daytona Beach where the police academy is. My husband and son are going this evening to test drive both cars to see if that helps him make a decision. He is now thining he may need to stay working at Winn Dixie and do the police academy nights and on Sat. - they have a evening class that starts in March. He has alot to think about, I pray that he will be guided in the right direction for all of this.

I just wanted to mention this conversation my husband had with Kelly yesterday. We had gotten our work done in about two hours yesterday, He says to her "Is that all your doing today"? She said, "Yes, I worked very well today and got everything Mom wanted to cover done". She was proud of herself (you know from my posts how we have struggled in the past and are now just actually hitting our stride with homeschooling). My husband says to her "I sure hope you marry a rich guy".... I felt sooooo sad for Kelly : ( Can you imagine her own father is saying to her basically she is not going to make much of herself in life that she will need a "rich" guy to have her succeed. I was floored he said that and just quickly brushed it off to another topic. Later late in the evening before we went to bed Kelly asked me as we were throwing hay to the horses "Mom, I am doing pretty good with the school work, aren't I". I told her she was going just great. I tell you it brought a lump up in my throat though that here my baby must of been thinking over what her father said to her all night and she was feeling very uneasy with it : ( I have to do more to pump Kelly's self esteem up, I don't want her thinking she isn't a treasured important person that has many opportunites in life!!!!!

Happy Veterans Day!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Veterans Day today! Of course we are off of school again today.... that deal I made with Kelly about going by the public school calender for days off is really coming back to bite me.

I am having one of those days already today where you can feel a cry is looming. I think it is because I read an article in our local newspaper that stated in a few months they anticipate alot more building/painter/plumbing contractors to go out of business. That a huge amount of the unemployed in our area are from these fields of work and alot more workers will be added to that unemployed list. One other thing it mentioned that the highest amount you can get when you make a claim for unemployment is I think it said $265.00 and you have to jump through hurdles here in Florida to get that little bit... It is scary not knowing week to week if my husband will have a job or not. It always seems so much worse for me around the holidays : ( Last year Kelly qualified for the Toys for Tots program (those were the only gifts she got plus a special gift from one of my blogging buddies and her grandparents), my son got nothing. This year she is to old for that program so I hope to at least be able to get our old computer fixed (my mother-in-law I geuss hasn't be able to find one at the garage sales she goes to) for her as at least one gift.

My son asked me this morning to call the car insurance company to see what our policy amount will be taking my husbands van off and adding the car he wants to get on - I mentioned to him that we haven't been able to pay the insurance bill as of yet, that we have a cancellation notice for that on the 22nd.. I felt so low. He said "Gosh Mom, you are sucking all the fun out of getting this car". He went over to the calender and saw that all three of our bills for the month electric ($253.02), phone/cable/internet ($297.98 - We owe two months but if we pay them $150.00 they will keep our service on) & the insurance ($75.75) have not been paid yet! He shook his head and left for work, I never thought in my life time things would be so bad for so long money wize.

Oh well, It's sunny and really pretty outside already this morning maybe a good walk or outdoor project will do me good... I also want to say I really appreciate having all you blogging buddies to share our ups and downs with : )

It's Monday Already - Yikes!

Monday sure rolls around quick doesn't it? I am not ready for it : (
The weekend had it's ups and downs - I am getting a nice handle on cleaning the house. I worked my tail off in the livingroom and kitchen (It's all one big room). My husband walked in and said "It looks like "crap" (not the word he used), the table looks stupid against the wall" (I put it there because the floor is so stained I wanted to hide it). That kind of comment from him usually makes me stop what I am doing but this time I took in stride and tried to keep going with my cleaning. He was in and out of that type of mood, yelling at me about how much I spent on food AGAIN.... He doesn't keep track of what he spends but yells at me even though I can accout for every penny I spend (I thought if I could show him where the money goes he would stop yelling but it really makes no difference to him). Anyway, that's my life and I need to stop letting this negative person bring me down every day of my life!

On the school front, I have a nice week planned. We are starting our state study - We are starting with Florida : ) It is funny but when ever you even mention the name Florida in this house everyone has a comment.... We all hate it here. Kelly says as soon as she is old enough she is moving back to PA., My son says as soon as he finishes his police school he will try and look for a job some where else other then Florida. It makes me sad to hear them talk like that just because your childhood home should be a place where you can find refuge in not want to run from it.

Two more weeks and my son will have enough to put the down payment on the car he wants. I pray this all works out for him, He is soooo looking forward to it. I was just reading were Curcuit City has gone bankrupt, You have to wonder how many more stores after this holiday season is over may also go bankrupt... the economy is just so scary right now.

I do have one positive thing to talk about.... Our new homeschool schedule is really working out great! Our day starts at 1pm. and goes to 3pm. this way if Kelly wants to sleep till noon she can or I can do my computer work in the morning and then take a nap and we can both be fresh to start the school day at 1pm. I would have never figured how well this works but it does : )

Hope everyone has a wonderful week!

Understanding In-Laws.....

Sometimes I just can't figure out my in-laws....
They used to treat me like I was a loved daughter, better then they treated their own sons. Now they are cold to me which if fine with me but when they are also cold to my children I just can't understand that! No matter what my children do in the future I always want to have a bond with my future grandchildren. What is life without the love of your family.... They called our house on Friday night and talked to my husband his mother told him "It's been six weeks since YOU have been over to see us", She never mentioned Kris or Kelly. They don't invite us over for dinner, not even Thanksgiving. I tried to stay in contact with them by sending up-date e-mails to my mother-in-law but the last one I sent I had to about beg her to let me know she had been reciving the e-mails because I hadn't heard back from her. You would think when a grandmother read that her grand-daughter was having to take advil every day to ward off the toothaches she has been having you would step in and get this girls teeth fixed. These people are VERY well off, money is not an issue for them so I am not sure why they would let their grandaughter suffer needlessly. They are the most self-centered people I have ever meet, they want to tell you their problems but not hear about yours, they want you to bend over backwards for them but they don't care to help us ect. I am sure you know the type but what get's me is these people are now into their middle 70's wouldn't you want to love your grandchildren in the twilight of your years? I guess I will keep sending her the up-date e-mails and try and stay a possitive person even though these people sure try my patients.

Wonderful Sat. Morning : )

I hope all of you are having a wonderful Saturday!

I just have to tell you about a book that was suggested by one of my blogging buddies: http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/Haflingerhorses/ "The House That Cleans Itself" by Mindy Clark (I had to use our interlibrary loan system to get it). What a great book! It speaks right to me. Last night I started on my living room, as I have mentioned before not many people who are dog breeders have them all living in the house like we do so I have always used that as an excuse for why my house is always messy but not any more! Right now it looks like a hurricane went through but I am hoping with using her tips I may be able to get my house back into shape again and not be like a crazy women if there is mention of someone stopping by.....

As I mentioned in a previous post I have my homeschooling blog buddies listed in the order that they up-date which is saving me a ton of time and now I have also removed myself from a number of the yahoo e-mail groups that I used to belong to limit the number of e-mails I get, this way it frees me up a bit more to concentrate on other things. It is really working out alot better for me.

It is funny when I was going through my MANY favorites I have saved to delet some of them I found a goodie I didn't even know I had.... If you are working on the states like we are this is a great little site which gives you some really fun things to do for each state: http://www.gale.cengage.com/DiscoverAmerica/guides/ Our State Postcard trading is going well, I think that will be alot of fun to add to our state book, If you would like to join that group it is called Postcardkids http://groups.yahoo.com/group/postcardkids/ (Sorry I can't link the pages for you - My computer is still in bad shape we haven't been able to afford to get it fixed yet so the virus pretty much runs the computer).

I will let you go and hope you have a wonderful day today!!!!!

Here We Are At Friday Already : )

This week moved really quickly for me.... Usually I am praying for Friday to get here....

The end of the week brought not very good news on my husbands job front - The painting compnay he works for had no work for him yesterday and today. What is happening the boss is keeping the guys busy for two to three days a week just enough so the guy can't collect unemployment. I can't express how stressful it is not knowing week to week if he will get two days, three days or any days at all of work time in.... At least with the weather change we haven't been using the airconditioner so that should make our electric bills a little more managable.

My son got all his paper work in for the Police Academy, He will hear back from them next week or so if he is getting in. If he does he will start classes in Jan., He is saving up all his work money for a car to get him back and forth to school. The problem is school is full time and he will have to make weekly payments on the car - I don't know how this will all work out. My husband keeps telling him we will help him out but that doesn't look possible with the way the work thing is paning out. I am going to have to leave all this in God's hands and see how this all works out....

Now don't fall down when I tell you this but Kelly actually said to me yesterday "I was actually looking forward to school today Mom". WOW! It made my heart sing a little bit. I think just maybe after two years of homeschooling (we started 11/13/06) we may be just now getting to the point where she is actually enjoying homeschooling & learning something : )

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Middle Of The Week Up-Date.....

Another great day here in Florida, It has warmed up just a bit and it is overcast! I love these types of days....

The public school had off Monday & Tuesday so of course we had them days off too. Monday we went out shopping for sneakers for Kelly - This child get's sick every time we go out. I am not sure if it is a nervous stomach or she is getting car sick, but it happens every time now when we go out : ( I had had something similar when I was about her age and so did my son, so I guess it is somthing in our genes. So needless to say the day was not fun, It was a race at every store to get in and out.

We have signed up for a post card exchange that I found on the 50 state lapbook webpage. It seems like it will be fun to receive some state cards in the mail to go with our state study. Also with this study we will be finding the state quarters - I put a post on the freecycle list for one of those state quarter maps but so far no luck. If we don't find a cheap one we may just tape the quarter on to the card stock.
I think this state study is going to be fun, I am really trying not to go overboard like I alway do and add to much and then it takes the fun out of it for Kelly....

We sure are enjoying Across Five Aprils - It started out a bit hard for Kelly to keep all the characters straight but now we are rolling and enjoying it. I am doing all the reading of it but she sure is spell bound by some chapters : ) Between you and me, I can't wait till this Civil War study is over... I have had enough of it. We have been moving at a snails pace that is why it is taking us so long.

Well I hope everyone has a wonderful day today!!!!

Pumpkin Man 2008

Kelly & I cut out our pumpkin for this year - Here he is....
I can't belive we are at the end of October already and Halloween is tomorrow. Time sure does fly, What was that John Lennon quote? Life is what is going by while your making plans.... something like that.

It still is very cold here! We haven't put the heat on yet (I would have had it on but the kids said it smelt like fire when I started it up). I just hate it so cold though, but everyone else in my family seems to really be enjoying it. It brings back memories of PA. : )

How do you work with your inter-library loan books? I can only have three out at a time but I have a ton on order.... (sometimes it take only a few days to get the book and other times it takes two weeks so there is no judging the time frame). I think the librarian is getting sick of my asking for so many but with so many subjects to cover I seem to be needing a number of books they just don't have. They only give me a few days to pick them up so I may have to quickly read through each one when it comes in so I can get it back to the library so I can get the others before they ship them back.... Yikes.

My local homeschooling group seems to be falling apart. Kelly and I haven't had a chance to participate in many of their activities but now it looks like they are falling to pieces. It really all started when one mom mentioned something about the elections and since then they have been bantering about with each other. I just don't get it actually everyone has their opinion so be it. I can listen to your thoughts about a subject but it doesn't mean it will change my mind about what I think. It seems a shame that a number of the members are saying they will be leaving the group "because they don't like the direction the group it taking".....

Hope everyone is all set for Halloween and you have a spooked filled day tomorrow!!!!

Tues.

It sure is cold here! We have a cold chill to the air and a strong wind at times. Not your normal Florida weather for sure! I had to dig out my pants & sweatshirt out - Yikes...

I tell you last month I was in the dumps about homeschooling and now I seem to find something great ever day to work on.... I just have to figure it all out and get us working on all this stuff : )
I have been upset with myself that we still had not got to working on learning about the states. This has been on the to do list since we started homescooling. I found a site that has a tone of stuff "50 States Notebook" http://www.squidoo.com/50statesnotebook. It looks great. My husband is a nut about knowing the state capitals for each state so that is our goal but along the way we will cover the little extras like state bird. flag ect. and also the state quarter (I thought of buying one of those quarter maps that I mentioned in an earlier post that my Dad was working before he passed for Kelly). I am also getting a book from the library that has a recipe from each state that I thought we would try and make. Then it also lists living books that happened in each state http://www.mrsmcgowan.com/projects/flags/states_books.htm#Georgia
http://www.carolhurst.com/subjects/states.html I thought we could get a few of them from the library. It sounds like a fun plan now I just have to get it all together and start it!

Today's lessons were cut semi-short, It was cold in the house and Kelly's nose & eye were running so possibly she is getting a cold.... We were working on Astronomy (not one of her favorites) and I saw she wasn't really paying much attention (she was more worried about staying wrapped up in her "no sew" blanket that we made). Hopefully tomorrow will warm up a bit and we can hit the studies hard again.

A note about the Angel Food Ministires food we got, So far we have had the boneless Rib eye steaks & the boneless pork chops and both were terrible! The meat was tough as shoe leather and tasteless : ( I don't think we will be ordering anytime soon.

7am. Monday Morning

I have to pass on a tip I found which I am sure you all most likely know about already.... Did you know you can set your Homeschool blog friends list up so you can see when someone posts to their blog? It has been such a time saver for me. Now I don't have to go to each blog and see if it has been up-dated or not.

I worked on our schedule for the week yesterday - It was pretty hairy here though. As I have mentioned our water tank has a hole so my husband bypassed it and now the pump goes on when you need water.... Well now you may be in the shower and it just shuts off and doesn't come back on. Needless to say my husband was ranting and raving about that all day - I tried to wash some forks up for dinner and he yelled at me that we aren't going to have any water at all if I keep using it. Soooo the dishes are piled sky high in the sink which I hate.
Back to the school schedule, I think I have a nice handle on it this week. I am also adding in a craft pumpkin that you use crayon scraps, wax paper and then you iron it. I just have to locate my iron.... I know I have one some where : )

Picking up the Angel Food Ministires box was a adventure. The truck was very late in getting there and the lines to pick up the food where huge so I left and went over to the library for a while then came back. I had brought plastic bags which was such a mistake - they had to find me two boxes. Then since I was by myself there was no way I could carry the two boxes,but a nice man helped me carry one all the way to my car. It seemed like alot of food but when I put it away it looks like I didn't get much. I am not used to cooking steak type meat (we never have it) so I guess I over cooked the bonless ribeye steaks that I had gotten, they were so chewy everyone didn't care for them. I think they needed to be grilled but we don't have one. I will let you know about the rest of the things in the box as I use them. Just not sure if I will order again from them....

Hope everyone has a wonderful day!!!!!

Wrapping Up The Week....

The visit from the ferrier was not so good : (
Roper still has an infection in his hoof. He is walking fine and I thought we had gotten it all healed up so it sure was a surprize when I saw the puss coming out when he squeezed the hoof! My poor boy! He packed it AGAIN and taped it up, to be honest it is going to be really hard for me to get this infection under control, it rained again yesterday and the horse pen just gets so much standing water in it that there is no way I can keep their hooves dry....

I did make it to the library yesterday (My husband had off again from work so he took me). I picked up most of the books I was looking for except their copy of "Thanksgiving on Thursday" they said someone must have walked off with it.... : ( We really enjoy the Magic Tree House books, I know they are a very easy reader and Kelly is in "7th" grade but with her learning problem I figure as long as she is reading something. We are going to add a Thanksgiving unit study to our school week. Over at "Shades Of Pink" http://theshadesofpink.blogspot.com/ she mentiones using the Amanda Bennett Unit Studies, I was thinking of buying that but with things so tight I figure I will use the one listed on Cindy Downes site http://www.oklahomahomeschool.com/pilgrimCL.html. Or I also found this Thanksgiving Lapbook: http://www.squidoo.com/thanksgivinglapbook While I was at the library I picked up a really nice Art book "The Usborne Book Of Art Ideas", I really want to start getting arts & crafts and nature study into the school week. I think it really will add that "something" we are missing. Now I just have to get some cash together to buy some art materials like tissue paper, chalk & oil pastels, some acrylic paints and brushes....

While I was at the library you should of seen the line to vote early - My gosh isn't the point of early voting so you don't have to stand in line.... I still haven't made up my mind yet who I am voting for so I guess I will be waiting in really long lines election day. Speaking of the economy, I am picking up my first order from Angel Food Ministries this afternoon. I will let you know how that works out. I bought two boxes they say that will feed a family for two weeks (they don't know my son). I have also been working on a "Price Book", I an trying to get the prices of each item I buy week to week from each of the stores I can shop at to really see where I get get the best bang for my buck.

Well I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!!!!!

Sometimes.....

I just did something I feel terrible about!
Kelly & I went to check the mail and inside the mail box is this scary looking spider. This spider has lived in there for a year now, way back in the back of the box. Today it was right at the front of the box when we opened it. It looked like it had something in it's "hands". I grabbed a stick and started to scoot it out of the box - I didn't think it fair for the postman to be shocked when he opend the box and sees this standing right there. Well I knocked it out of the box on to the ground and I checked it and it was alive. I looked back into the box and what it was holding was still in there - I think it was her baby! : ( Now I feel terrible! I scooted what ever it was out of the box and closed it. I hate spiders with a passion but I just feel so bad.....

Thurs., One More Day Till Friday!

Good Morning, Hope everyone is doing well this week!

We had another fire in the burning pit last night, I hate to carry on, but it really gives me a nasty headache when I sit out there to long. I hated to be a party pooper but I went in early and watched Ghost Hunters. I enjoy that show, they showed a repeat last night of the St. Augustine light house which is kinda close to us. We had gone there one day "before" we had seen the Ghost Hunter's episode and were going to take a walk up the lighthouse but when we got there it was too expensive for us - It was $9.00 a person and we had the four of us (It is huge too, Not sure if this old out of shape body could have made it anyway). It would be fun to take a tour at night but since we saw the episode I think it would be just to scarry for us... They are having a Trunk or Treat at the church (that is where families park their cars and sit by their trunks and hand out candy so the kids don't have to travel around the neighborhoods) I asked Kelly if she would like to go - This kid really has never enjoyed a good Halloween! She was about 7ish when we moved down here and the first year here she was fighting with her brother and told him she was going to call 911 and she did! The police officer came to the house to check it out (we had only been here a month... what a way to start out). I told her we NEVER fool around with calling 911 and took away her Halloween privleges for that year. Since then we have never gone trick or treating here. In our area no one treat or treats, you have to drive down to town or drive over to Palm Coast which kinda takes the fun out of it. So nedless to say Kelly has never had a really fun time with Halloween (we did do alot of trick or treating in PA. but I think her memories of that have faded). Now that I think of it this kid really has been jipped in alot of areas : (

As for schooling, Going well! Today the hoof guy is coming to take care of the horses so that may put a kink in the day - If he says Roper's hooves are better we just may head out for a ride : ) I know what you are saying "Now Donna, Don't go blowing the good thing you got going"! I hear ya....

I Think We May Have Started A Fire.... For Homeschooling

I hate to even say it, But WOW! What a difference so far in our schooling. This starting in the afternoon is doing wonders for both of us. When my husband got home last night he asked her some questions about the Civil War and she answered each question correctly! Yea! It made my heart sing.... I have struggled so much with worry that she isn't getting anything out of what I am teaching her and now I am seeing just maybe a little time change may make this work out so much better for all of us.

Last night my son had to work late and Kelly's friend wasn't on the computer so my husband and Kelly decided to start a fire outside and we sat around it. It was very relaxing starring into the fire and we had a little chill in the air which made it even nicer.

For Halloween this year since we don't get any trick or treaters and Kelly doesn't plan on going out - I am thinking we will make these cute ice cream cones: http://www.flickr.com/photos/50003039@N00/1812057231 they are just the cutest and look so easy too. Then get some marshmallows and start another fire and sit around telling ghost stories roasting marshmallows....

So Far So Good : )

Well the school time change is working out very well for us so far. Kelly did very well yesterday (of course we didn't cover every subject we were supposta but it's a start). It could also be the temp. change giving everyone that extra something lately, It sure is nice to be able to be outside again with out the dreaded ultra hot weather.

Kelly really loves the Zoology 3 book, this child would be just as happy if that was the only topic she ever learned about... She has no interest in the Astronomy book at all. Here I am outside at night (It is very dark where we are so you can really see the stars and planets very well) pointing out the planets and you can see she just doesn't find it one bit amazing like I do. I don't want to scrap it, but it seems a waste to spend all that time getting the lapbooks together on each chapter and not having her really care about it. Maybe I will scrap the lapbooking on the Astrology book and just do the Zoology 3 lapbook but still read over the Astrology book and do any experiments that might be interesting.

I also want to add in Unit Studies - Over at Cindy Downs site: http://www.oklahomahomeschool.com/unitstudies.html she has just such amazing ones already put together that I would like to try. I am going to use the Thanksgiving one to start off with - Now I know Kelly has heard the stories a hundred times about the pilgrims ect. but I thought we will read a bunch of the books she has listed and see how it goes. It's funny but I am going up to the library this Sat. I have been checking the library's listings and almost the entire stock of Halloween books are out : ( I obviously started to late to looking for them! I thought I would grab the Thanksgiving books on Sat. even though it will be pretty early to start the unit study but at least I would have th books available. You can keep the book for two weeks and then you can only renew it if no one else has it reserved, so just possibly I will be able to keep them a bit longer.

As far as inter-library loan books go..... I really don't know how to work with it. Sometimes I request and then they come right away and other times I am waiting weeks and weeks before I hear back from them. I am only allowed three inter-library loaned books out at one time so it is pretty hard for me to judge not having too many lined up at one time. Many of the books required for the history program "Biblio" we are using don't seem to be in our library which is a bit of a pain in the neck. At least the inter-library loan lady knows me by name now : )

Can you tell by the post I am getting a twinkle of the Homeschooling bug back : ) I had lost it for awhile there and was pretty worried about it but now I think it is inching back again!

Have a fantastic day today!!!!!

Monday Morning, It's 8:45am Already.....

We are trying something a bit new for us to maybe make our homeschooling day go a bit better - We are not starting school till almost noon or later. Since Kelly likes to sleep in late and I don't get enough sleep at night and feel like I need a nap in the morning we have decided to just start much later and see how that works for us. We don't do anything else during the day so time wize we are wide open so hopefully this will take the stress off of me to get everything ready in the morning and then feeling so tired when I am trying to teach her. Kelly is a much nicer person when she has had her sleep so this may work for us. Now that it is a bit cooler here we have been having class outside again as I mentioned not sure if we will continue that or not. It is funny, If I have more then one thing to think about (like homeschooling, getting my son's paper work together to apply for college, how we are going to pay the bills ect.) I just can't seem to get even one thing done corectly.... I get so overwhelmed with things : ( I have tried hard this past weekend to get th crazy stuff out of the way and hopefully try and focus on homeschooling.
Best Wishes for a Great Day!

Thurs. on the Homeschooling Front

We had a nice school day outside yesterday. I find it refreshing to get in the air and away from the airconditioner. Of course there are many distractions out there.... mostly the horses! But we got a bit of schooling done which is a start for us. I have been wracking my brains for some ideas on how to get Kelly to have better recall of what we have learned - Any ideas? I read a chapter in History of Us about the civil war generals (we have been covering the civil war since the school year started, but have had quite a bit of time off from it) Kelly said "General Lee, I think I know him"... I have mentioned this mans name no less then 25 times or more since we started this lesson and she only kinda remembers who he is. So I obviously need to use a different method to help her retain the information. I try not to show her how deflated I feel when she says something like that but it really wears me out.

My son took the day off today from Winn Dixie to try and gt all his paper work ready to take down the police academy. the gal said on the phone the Jan. class is almost all filled up already - She has 27 students but she can take 30 so he has to hurry. To be honest I am not sure how this is all going to work out, but I am leaving it in Gods hands.

Have a great day!

Wake Up, It's Wed.!

I think I have found a great Christmas idea I can give to just about everyone on my shopping list.... the "No Sew Blanket"! Kelly and I made one for her yesterday (I will post pictures soon). It was sooo easy, fast to make and I think they are really cute. We don't buy Christmas gifts for many people at all.... the kids, my in-laws and my son's girlfriend so this could really work out for me and that it is kinda homemade is even better.

Speaking of my in-laws, I e-mailed her again since they weren't answering my e-mails (I wasn't sure with my computer having major virus problems ect. if the e-mails were going through) anyway she sends off a e-mail with such a "tone" to it. I was taken a back by it - All I did was ask her to keep a look out for three items I am searching for for Chrsitmas gifts. She said that they couldn't "promise" my anything... these people go to no less the 50 garage sales each weekend sometimes more. I know nothing is for sure but with going to that many sales I think their chances of finding a used computer, coffee maker & blender are pretty good. She kept asking my how my husband was in the e-mail, She seemed really worried about him. I wrote her back that he is fine - I come to find out he didn't want to go down to their house this past Sunday to paint her washroom so he must have told her he was feeling sick. Here I get the back lash from them because I am seeming like I don't care about their son's health when it is all a lie! They used to treat me better then they treated their own children but I guess my husband has been telling them stories/lies when he goes down there without me... : (

Hope everyone has a wonderful day today!!!!!

I'm At It Again....

Here I go whinning again....
I have just been in this funk for awhile now and just can't seem to get out of it.
I am soooo tired all the time, now my sleep is never restful so that I am sure is a large part of it but you all have crazy lives too and I wonder what you all do to keep you energy up all day? I don't drink coffee or reg. soda (just diet pepsi). I litterally am always thinking through out the day when I can get a nap in. I am thinking of trying melatonin and see if that will help me sleep better so I have some kind of energy for the day.

Then homeschooling, It has been such a struggle on my part. I just don't have any interest in it at all and I am not sure why.... We have some really good books we are using and some fun looking projects but I just can't seem to get with it. My life has been crazy mentally and physically but really I thought once the puppies all left I would bounce back (I always have a happy attitude after I am able to pay bills) but I haven't. It seems to be worse because now all the money is gone and we are back in the same boat as we were in.

And while I am gripping - Remember the dog we were babysitting for a few days, Well the fellow still hasn't paid us (I am going to let Kelly have any money we make from dog sitting). He told us as soon as he get's some money he will pay us (Hey, I understand that!). Tom told me yesterday that this guy went golfing at a golf course where they drive around and serve you drinks as you play (He invited my husband but he thought better of it). So here this guy had money to spend on golfing but not paying Kelly for the dog watching (Isn't this what is wrong with America)!

Okay I'll stop whinning - I did spend my last $20.00 on that Winn Dixie can sale this morning. My son is going to pick some more corn & cream corn cans up for me (we had the cream corn last night and it was very good, we liked it). I wish I had more money to really stock up on everything we buy.

Oh well, Today is another day....

Up's and Down's of the Weekend.....

This weekend has had it's good points and terrible points about it!
The good - I had fun shopping at Winn Dixie and getting $65.00 worth of veg. cans, they were 20 for $10.00. I also put in my first order at the Angel Food Ministries. Isn't sad that this is the highlights of my weekend! I am now officially broke again, all of the puppy money has been spent. I had really hoped to get a chance to take Kelly to the dentist to have those terrible cavities she has on her back teeth pulled out but that's out the window now. I did buy at Walmart a few spices & baking ingredients, Since I have been reading the "Dining On A Dime" cook book I want to be able to maybe whip together some cheap meals and snacks.

On a sad note, one of our puppies (Gracie) who I had bottle fed and brought it along to where I thought she was out of the woods caught a cold and passed away last night. It just broke my heart : ( I of course have been bawling like an idiot all last night and any time someone says her name.... I had gotten so attached to her.

I have my in-laws looking when they go to garage sales for a used computer for Kelly's Christmas present, that's all she wants this year. I know she is on the computer alot, but I figure it would be either that or on the phone if she had friends around here.... I am not looking forward to the hoildays at all, I always feel much better in Jan. after they all pass. Not that we do much of anything different around here anyway so I don't know why I feel that way.

While I was at Walmart I did pick up the other piece of fleece material for that "No Sew" blanket we are going to make for Kelly's room. It is going to be a very cozy blanket : ) I will post pictures of it as we work on it.

Can you belive gas prices are going down....! We are at $3.19 a gallon. It makes you want to buy gas when you see it going down. At least something is going down in price for a little while at least.

Have a wonderful day!!!!!

Just Weathering The Storms.....

Gosh just when I thought things were settling down at my house it all starts back up again!

Kelly & I did do some schooling yesterday - Yea! It went well, I just love Apologia Zoology 3 book. In one part it asks a question and if you get it right it says "You have a great memory". Kelly soooo needs this kind of re-enforcement because she always feels like she can't remember a thing..... We also did some spelling and reading.

Then we had a terrible storm come over our area. Heavy rain and nasty thunder & lightning. After it kept getting worse I turned on the tv and it said we had a tornado warning. My son's girlfriend was driving home during this and saw one come down from the sky and touch down in a field. It tore apart the farmers shed where they process potatoes, ripped the roof right off... Not much other damage was done to the area thank goodness!

Then we had a storm of another kind..... My husband. He came home in a very foul mood. He took Kelly & I to pick up the hay for the horses and to see the damage at the farm field. Well even though I called the feed store twice, paid for the hay with my credit card and told her to leave it ourside of the fence so we could pick it up after hours it wasn't there. He just exploded! He must have been drinking before he came home because he doesn't usually scream like that. He went off on everything from the feed store, to his job, to the fellow who called about having him paint his whole entire inside of his house to my son and the extra van rental money.... I mean he was screaming at the top of his lungs. I tried to explain to him that he was screaming at the wrong people but he still kept going. Poor Kelly, Here she just wanted to get pictures of the farmer's shed and she had to put up with all the yelling! We finally got home and would you belive my husband started yelling at my son for round two.... So that made for a very long night. Which brings me to a bight spot though - I went to bed and I prayed to God asking him to help me make Kelly's life better, she doesn't deserve all this crap that she has to deal with. Do you know what happened next (I swear and cross my heart), I heard a voice in my right ear and it said "I heard you"...... That's all I needed to hear : )

THEN... In my email box this morning was this post from Joel Osteen:

The God of Comfort
Today's Scripture

“As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you…” (Isaiah 66:13 NIV).

Today's Word from Joel and Victoria

Oftentimes, when people face challenges, they seek comfort in things that are familiar. It may be work, or an activity, or relationships; and of course, we all know about “comfort food.” But those things only bring temporary comfort. True comfort is found in a personal relationship with God in heaven through His Son, Jesus.


According to Webster’s dictionary, comfort means: to give strength and hope; to ease grief or trouble. No matter what difficulty you may be facing today, God wants to bring you comfort. Like a mother cares for her child, He longs to give you strength, hope, and confidence. Make the decision to put Him first in every area of your life.

Let go of those things you know are holding you back. Let Him be Lord over all! As you surrender to His grace, you will be filled with His peace and joy. You’ll be empowered to overcome every obstacle, and you will live in victory all the days of your life.
A Prayer for Today

Father in heaven, I come to You today and invite You to fill my whole being. Give me Your comfort and strength and empower me by Your Holy Spirit to live in the victory You have planned for me. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.


Have a Blessed Day!!!!!

I Have To Get A Life......

I tell you, I have to get a life! This is how nuts I am, I check all of my homeschooling blogging buddies sites every day and when you all don't up-date I worry about you. : )

By chance yesterday I found out a church kinda in our area is hosting Angel Food Ministries http://www.angelfoodministries.com/ I am going to order two boxes and see how it works out. The meat portions are ex. one pork chop per person, my son eats like three himself so I am not sure if this will save us money or not.... Has anyone bought from them before?

I also had one of those 'Is this really my child" moments. My son let us use his credit card to rent the van to go up north. The fellow said it would cost about $367.00 dollars, I gave my son $370.00 dollars to pay off his credt card bill. Well it turned out the car rental place charged us only $258.00 dollars to rent the van. When my son told me about it I was like "Yea I get $100.00 back".... Well this eight ball looks at me and get's all mad. He wanted to keep the extra $100.00! Can you imagine, I am just shaking my head lately and wondering where have I gone wrong. That's what makes me really worried about with how the economy is going and what really lies ahead for us - Most of the now & up and coming generations are all about what can I get for me..... How will they be able to handle in the future when you have to SAVE to get a car or house, you will have to be able to pay cash for everything you want to buy when they all think they are entitled to all these things. You won't be able to just get everything you want RIGHT NOW.

Can you tell I am in my chair each night at 7pm to watch Glen Beck! This guy is the only person who I feel tells it like it is. If you get a chance take a peek at his show (I even get a daily e-mail from him... http://www.glennbeck.com/content/articles/article/198/16278/
He brings up so many interesting ideas. I have seen first hand how people are reacting to this situation. This family who lives in our area bought a pretty new house a few years back. Of course when they saw that the interest rate was just going to swamp them they refinanced. Do you know what they did...? Since they knew they weren't going to be able to make the house payments either way (before the refinanced or after they got the new loan or wouldn't be able to sell it) they took all the money they got refinancing the house which was a lofty sum and just left the house! They new their credit was shot anyway and they figured they would at least have a chunk of money to work with..... Now doesn't that bust your back hearing that! This is just one family I know of, Can you imagine how many more people have already done this.....

On a lighter note: Winn Dixie is have a 20 cans for $10.00 sale on their brand name canned veg. & fruits. I am really thinking of stocking up - Canned veg. around here are up to $1.00 a can (Of course that is the name brands price). I also found a farm family outside at my local feed & grain store selling bagged 5lbs. potatoes for $2.00 - I want to buy a few bags, Does anyone know how to store them so they won't go rotten before I can use them up?

Have Wonderful & Blessed Day!

I Sure Am A Worry Wort!

Good Wed. Morning all!
It's funny how being able to pay a few bills makes me in a good mood : )
I have to go today after my son get's home from work to pay a few more people.... I am sad we aren't going to have enough to pay the property taxes but I am thinking we will use our income tax rebate check in Jan. to pay that off.

Here I was so worried when my husband, son & his girlfriend were in New York City on their return trip home from dropping off the puppies.... Just yesterday my son was driving home from work and at a gas station in town there was a man laying on the ground, police where every where with their guns drawn (I think they shot the man) and a helecopter was landing. We use this gas station alot so my son could have been getting his gas there and been in the middle of all this. The other scary thing is just a few stores down is the Bank Of America that my son does his banking at, that had gotten robbed just a few weeks ago mid morning.... and I was worried about them being in NYC! Yikes!

On the "Homeschooling" front: It is really going slow!!!!! I think we are in reverse mode. We have really hit a nasty slump where both Kelly & I have no interest in working on the school stuff. My husband was all mad last night when he heard we took another day off yesterday - He is right I have to get it back on track... One very interesting thing is our tad pole has turned from a greyish fish looking creature to a green alomst frog : ) It has been amazing to watch : )

Best Wishes for a Wonderful Day!

Happy Tues. Day : )

My husband, son & his girlfriend have all made it home safe from their trip up north! I always worry myself silly until they put their feet back on Florida soil. The trip went very well, they have alot of stories to tell which are very funny so I am glad they all enjoyed themselves. The one sticking point was Annie relized in NC. that she had lost her pocketbook in a NJ rest area.....! They called and someone had found it and are mailing it back to her. The trip was very expensive but I am blessed that we will be able to pay some of our bills at least.

I really want to start stocking up on canned good ect., just last week my husband was off of work Mon., Tues, & Wed. we can never count on how much his paycheck will be from week to week and plus with all that is going on with the country at this time I think it is a good thing to get a bit stocked up. I am enjoying the "Dining on a Dime" cookbook! It is very basic but I think my limited cooking skills can really work with these receipes and maybe save some money.... Have you all checked out "Save-A-Lot" http://www.save-a-lot.com/display.do?page=Fuel+Your+Family they have an area where they show you how to feed a family of four for $4.00 a meal. In my family nobody seems to eats breakfest... I don't drink coffee either (maybe that's why I don't have any energy). Our lunches: Tom & Kris usually take a sandwich to work - Kelly and I share one frozen pizza (they are $1.29 each at WalMart). Dinner: I am a horrible cook and not creative at all but I get food on their plates,we never have any steak ect. it is basic food. For fun I am going to try and figure out exactly how much we spend on each meal. I think one of the budget busters I have is paper towels!!!!! I use alot with all the dogs and their messes that always accure in the house. I have tired using the cheaper brands but they fall apart and are not very absorbant. I use Bounty and it works great but cost $8.00 for a package of them sometimes I use two big packages a week. Anyway, My mission this week is to start really scutinizing over where our food money is going and see if we can save in that area.
Hope every one has a Happy & Blessed Day!

What A Day We Had!!!!!!! : (

You will NOT belive the day we had yesterday!!!!!! To be honest I kinda don't belive it either.
I got Kelly up early (9:30am) and we shot downtown to PetsMart for our first stop. Kelly picked out a very cute purple polk-dot collar for her dog Reba. We get to the cashier and my PayPal debit card won't work! Okay I stayed calm I tried it again and it said denied. I stood there dumbfounded, I knew I checked the balance just before my husband left for the trip up north and I had $247.00 available. We left the store and I just sat in the car a few minutes, It was like a bad movie was unfolding in front of my eyes. The only money we had for the next 3 or 4 days was on that card!!!!!! My stomach was in a knot driving home. When we got home (Thank God my son left us enough gas in the car to be able to go back and forth) I checked my PayPal account and sure enough it said I owed them $118.00. I was in a panic, I had no money for food, the horses & dogs had no food what was I going to do for the next 3 days.... I looked over the account and I found an error - FPL charged me $367.00 twice. I called PayPal, they said the see the error but can't fix it without the okay from FPL, I called them they said it wasn't their doing it was Wester Union who handles the credit card payments for their bills, I called them the girl said unless I have three way calling (I don't have three way calling) and can get PayPal on the line she can't give her authorization. I am now crazed, I called Pay Pal again I talked to no less them 5 different people there - They were getting sick of me and my tone of voice was getting nasty. I had two supervisors tell me that there was nothing they could do! I just couldn't let that be the finale word- I NEEDED that money. I sat there and started to cry! Kelly was like "Mom", but I just couldn't help it. I called PayPal again and got a lady who I pleaded with and she fixed the error and freeded up my account so I could use it.
Even though the day was totally ruined we shot back down to PetsMart, the girl was still working she said they had put the collar back on the shelf (It wasn't there so Kelly picked out something else that I could tell she wasn't very happy with but went with it anyway). Then we went over to Walmart and I used the ATM machine I figured I was just going to pull most of the money out so we would not have any more problems the rest of the weekend - My card would not work.... I asked a cashier to run a purchase and that worked so we got some dog food & picked out a fleece fabric for the blanket we wanted to make. By now Kelly was feeling sick and I was just so drained so we agreed we would food shop another day. I stopped and picked up chinese food and then headed for home - Then you know what I did! I drove straight over a large glass beer bottle and shattered glass every where! I looked at Kelly and just held my breath.... We made it home but now I a wreak that we might not have a car to use to go food shopping with!!!!! And to top it all off - I bought only one panel for the blanket, I was supposta buy two so now we can't even work on that : (
My gosh it sure was one of those days...... I just feel soooooo bad for Kelly, It just seems we can never just have any fun at all.

Happy Saturday Morning

My husband, son, his girlfriend & the puppies are all off on the trip up north. They left about 7pm. last night, they plan on driving straight through to PA. only taking short naps at rest areas and of course getting gas in the van. I worry until I hear they have gotten there safe. Today Kelly and I are going out! As I mentioned in a previous post we are going to buy the material to make her a blanket (most likely at WalMart), going out to lunch (maybe Steak n' Shake), buy some snacks and rent a movie for tonight. We almost thought our plans were going down the tube.... My husband had called up from work thurs. and asked me if I could baby sit a dog for a co-worker of his for this weekend. I was a little reluctant since just getting rid of the puppies I wanted some fun time but I said yes anyway. Well he brought "Honey" home just before they left for the trip last night and she is a sweety : ) But my dogs bark ever time she makes a noise so it is going to be a long weekend..... I told Kelly we are going out anyway for at least a few hours so we can enjoy our fun day.
Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

P.S. - I did buy that e-book Dining On A Dime cookbook, It is something like 480 pages (yikes). I will let you know what we think of it in a future post. I would still like to hear from anyone who has already gotten this book to hear what your thoughts are about it.....

Crazy.....

So the Bail Out Bill passed.... As I have said, I don't usually follow such stuff but this is monumental I think. It amazes me how we can give this kind of money back to the people who abused it in the first place. It's crazy! I know they were all worried about what would happen if they didn't pass something but gosh these people are supposta be doing what is best "for the people". It really makes you worried what kind of life we will be moving towards for our children and their children.....

My husband, son & his girlfriend are leaving tomorrow night to take the puppies up north. Kelly and I are counting the minutes.... We have our weekend all planned out : ) We are going to try and buy some cheap fleece for the blanket project, look around in some stores, rent a movie & get some snacks - I sure hope it turns out to be an enjoyable weekend for us!

Did you all see for a short time that the e-book "Dining on a Dime Cookbook": http://www.livingonadime.com/ebook-ordering.html?hop=kinderinfo is $10.00 Have any of you used this cookbook? I need a bare bones cheap type cookbook and am wondering if this would be worth investing in?

Is It Friday Yet?

Good Morning All! I hope everyone is having a wonderful week so far. We have been very blessed this past week.... Some of the puppy families have sent payment early for their pups which has helped out things ALOT. Would you belive though my husbands job has had no work for him Fri., Mon. & today so that has really been scary again. It just makes it impossible to even try and plan anything - We were going to use this paycheck to pay the electric bill ($367.00) before he leaves to drop off the puppies this weekend, but I guess that won't be happening.
As far as schooling goes I have really had to put it on the back burner this week until I can get everything done to get the puppies ready to go to their new homes. I was really stressing about everything but you can only do one thing at a time.... I was thinking while my husband and son are away this weekend I want to take Kelly down to the new Micheals store that has opened and see if we can't find an easy/cheap craft for us to do to make the weekend kinda fun. I saw this post on Heart and Trees: http://heartsandtrees.blogspot.com/2007/12/no-sew-fleece-blankets.html about making a no sew fleece blanket which looks easy enough for us to try - I just have to worry about the cost. Has anyone tried to make one of these? Anyway, my goal this weekend is to make it FUN fo Kelly!
Best Wishes!

Economy....

Gosh the health of the economy sure looks bleak! I am not one to really follow stock and such but lately you can't turn on the tv without hearing all the doom talk. I really have been finding it so interesting on how a great nation like ours can so easily be brought down to it's knees. My parents grew up during the depression and had told me of how they had to live a totally different life style then the "people of today" - Most folks today have gotten so far away from being self sufficient which I think will really cause us problems (my family is one of them). It really is a scary thing to think about.... I have been watching the Glen Beck Program at night that guy is trying to show people what troubles are coming.
I already have "Making the Best of Basics" book by James Talmage Stevens & "The Encyclopedia of Counry Living" by Carla Emery,
and I just wrote to see if my library can get me a inter-library loan on:
"The Just-In-Case Food Pantry" by Lorraine Platka-Bird
"Don't get caught with you pantry down!" by James T. Stevens & Leedee Teague-Stevens
Has anyone else read any good books on this type of topic?
It sure makes you wonder.....

Another Day.....

We had a better day school wize yesterday : ) We didn't get to every subject but I did see some enthusiasm from Kelly which I love to see. We worked on the book mentioned in the last post - It is an extreamly easy book but my goal is to get her to read SOMETHING and it just may spur her to enjoy reading. We are in the process of still working on the lapbook questions that went along with it - that took up alot of our time yesterday..... Now if I could just get some math done!

As for the rest of the day..... It was a tough one for me again. I just can't seem to balance everything. You would think with all my whinning I do about being home all the time I could get everything done in a day but I just can't seem to do it! The topper last night was my son let me know 20 minutes before his girlfriend was coming over... Yikes, that is not enough time for me - I have to put all the dogs in their crates, mop the floors & pick up the place a bit. My husband comes out of his room (As I have said before he has a tv room that he pretty much goes into right after he comes home from work and pops out to get the dinner I make and then goes back in) and starts yelling that the house should't be in this shape. I tell you I almost cried. If I comment about why it isn't done that just makes him fly off the handle more so I just try and let it roll off my back. I try and tell myself I am doing the best I can, I run my dog business from home which includs cleaning up after a large number of dogs & puppies who live inside my home, answering e-mails for that business, work on a webpage for that business, I do all the cooking, cleaning, clothes washing, taking out the garbage, I have to feed & water the goats, chickens & turkeys, help Kelly feed & water the horses, try and organize/pay the bills and then last but not least I am trying to organize & teach homeschool to Kelly. I guess I need vitamis or something to give me strengh to get everything done. It just blows me away when he has had lately a number of days off from work because of the rain we have had and then he also has the entire weekends off and stays in his room all day napping & watching tv and then complains when the house is dirty while I never have a day off EVER! Oh well I am sure by now you all are sick of my complaning.....
I hope to day is a better day : )

Maybe Today..... We Will Get To Our Studies!

It's funny but every time we try and settle down to do school work something keeps coming up! Yesterday I was bone tired but I cleaned off the kitchen table & got our books together, I was just about to wake Kelly up when I heard a noise and went to check it our - One of my girls decided to deliver her pup.... I thougth I had a few more days before that blessed event. I had to scurry around and get all the items needed for delivering but it turned out she only had one pup. Being that I was tired already then the new puppy activity school work got put aside AGAIN!
If we can get school going today I have gone to the Homeschool Share site and printed out the lapbook ideas for "Abraham Lincoln, The Boy Who Loved Books" I think this will tie in nicely with all the Civil War stuff we are working on. I am enjoying lapbooks but gosh they are alot more work each night to get them ready for in the morning.... I have been putting them all together and then just having Kelly answer the questions.
My post yesterday mentioned how I think of all my blogging buddies as my friends (since moving to Florida 6 years ago I can honestly say I do not have one friend here - I talk to a number of people but no one is that friendly). I talked to Kelly about this yesterday and she says that the girls she knows on the computer feel like her good friends too (she spends countless hours writting back and forth to these girls every day - two of them are also homeschoolers). I am still trying to figure out ways to get Kelly out amoung kids her own age. Mrs. Darling mentioned church friends - The church we have gone to is a new one in our area and it doesn't have a whole lot of members, most of the children there are much younger. I guess I will just have to make it a point that when the homeschooling group has an outing that we NEED to go! I will just have to find the money & a car from some where to do it.....
Hope everyone has a wonderful day!

Getting Out Of The House......

I just wanted to tell you all I really enjoy reading your Blogs! The first thing I do in the morning is check up on you all and see what you have been up to. I have learned so many wonderful ideas on many different topics - Thank you! I really think of you all as my friends : )
I am really feeling drawn out, the puppies have me up every night (a few times a night) with no sleep I just can't seem to function! I have about two more weeks and then they go to their new homes - I am counting the minutes : ) My husband, son and his girlfriend are making the trip up to PA. to drop the puppies off to their new homes. They have decided to stop off at New York City on the way home (my son's girlfriend has never been up north before she is a home grown Floridian). They are going to see the Statue of Liberty - Did you know that you can't walk up to the crown any more.... that was such an experience I will never forget. They also hope to make it over to the Empire State Building, my son's girlfriend is afraid of heights so I am not sure how she will be able to handle looking down from that building. They are all excited about all the site seeing they are going to do and my husband has mentioned they are going to stop somewhere to golf too.... (they all made these plans without even talking to me about them). I feel sad for Kelly she has never been to NYC either, I have tried to get her to go with them but she gets car sick from time to time and she doesn't want to go. I just feel bad because as I have said a thousand times before Kelly never gets out to go any where besides the convience store or food shopping and that is very rare. I really worry about that alot.... I even discussed it with her saying as much as I LOVE homeschooling her I really don't think it is good for her not to see other kids or to even just get out of the house. With us having no car and no money her biggest outting is around the block walking or riding the horses - I really think that is just not enough stimulation for a 13 year old girl. I mentioned maybe looking into the new charter school that opened in town, she is totally against that idea. Anyway, I just think it must be hurting her feelings to hear that they all are going on this outing & are going to have fun, something she hasn't had in a very long time : (

Our Prayers Have Been Answered!!!!!!!

It is totally amazing our prayers have been answered!!!!! I need to tell you how it all unfolded to really see the wonder of how God works. As you can see in my last post I was at my wits end with everything, I was feeling soooo over whelmed it was such a burden on my shoulders I could barely get through each day. Yesterday I made myself get things together to do school, Kelly and I were sitting there reading Across Five Aprils when out of no where she says "Why do you think so much bad stuff is happening to us"? Which took us off of school work and on to that topic which we hashed over, my husband working only a few days each week which has put us so far behind on all of our every day bills, having the electricity being shut of any day now, the two tires going flat on his van, the horses having their health troubles, the dog running away and on and on..... all within no more then a three week time period. Well we talked it over and she says "Mom. I think God is showing us we need to be happy and appreciative of the things we do have". A little while after that about 3ish a strange knock came at the door - I opened it and it was Rainbow our dog who had run away!!!!!! I was bawling like a big fat baby.... I was so happy. Kelly and I walked around the blocks taking down the lost dog signs and talking about how wonderful it was to have Rainbow back.... I then said out loud wouldn't it be great with how wonderful the day was going that my husband/her father got a bonus today so we could pay the electricity. We both stopped and looked at each other and said no we have to be happy that we have Rainbow back and not want more. Then later on in the evening I checked my e-mail and one of the puppy families sent a paypal payment for her puppy which enables me to pay part of the electric bill so it won't be shut off!!!!!!! We all thanked God and gave praise for all that he does..... What a day : )