Delving into My Aspieness

I just found this blog written by an autism specialist named Tania Marshall. In this particular post she lists the First Signs of Asperger Syndrome in Young Girls Pre-school. I was so tempted to reproduce her list and make my comments here. However, that is illegal (called plagiarism) and that is also the lazy way.

I did recognize a LOT of myself in her list but not in every item. People who knew me when I was that age may look at this same list and say, "Oh, yeah, she did that for sure!" to something that I simply don't remember doing. I mean, how many of us really remember our preschool years??

I will comment on some of the things on her list which I most strongly identify with:

• Sensory Sensitivities: I've always had issues with this. I remember when I was in elementary school I had to have MY special pillow and pillow case. The pillow case was extra soft (made from a gunny sack, if there is anyone out there who remembers what those were!) I would NOT accept any other. I still have have to have MY pillow. This is just one small example out of many sensory issues I have.
• Speech: My mother had me in speech therapy when I was in elementary school. I used to insist on my own "special" pronunciation of words like "Belbow" for elbow.
• Hyperlexia: When I was learning to read in 1st grade, I was SO excited about it that I came home every day and taught my little sister (13 months younger than me) what I'd learned that day. She was reading on a 2nd grade level by the time she hit Kindergarden and I had been her teacher!
• Play: In the lower elementary years, I remember trying to play with the girls my age and being frustrated because they didn't want to play the way I wanted to. So I played with the boys instead and had a grand time pretending rocks were cars on that old rock retaining wall.
• Appearance and clothing: Those who attended school with me from 1st through 12th can attest to the fact that I had my very own sense of style. Maybe it's the fact that I'd attended school with these same kids for so many years that I didn't get teased even more about that than I did.
• Imagination: I was an AVID reader as a girl. I often read and enjoyed books many grade levels over my own.
• Writing: I was intensely interested in writing and wrote many of my own stories. I'm sure I would have written much more had I had the luxury of using a computer instead of my spiral notebooks and pencil.
• Determination: Oh, my gosh!! Do I fit this one to a tee!! I am still one of the most stubborn and competitive people you will meet.
• Attention Issues: I spent the majority of my childhood hanging out in my own world. All the way up into my college years, I had a rich fantasy life in my mind and preferred to spend time there rather than in the real world.
• Hyperempathy: I still struggle with this one. I can get choked up over the craziest things.

Add to these things the general social awkwardness that always accompanies the aspie and it is a wonder to me that I was never diagnosed. I have absolutely no doubt that I am an aspie and don't feel the need as an adult to be diagnosed. I would sure love to get feedback from people who knew me as a kid on the list I mentioned in the beginning of this post.

Eeek!! I'm a microwave Christian!!

Like so many people my age, I am a certain product of my generation. We are the generation that saw the microwave enter nearly every American home. We are the generation of "I want it all and I want it NOW!" Remember that song?? 

I see this in several areas of my life. My weight loss for sure! Who of us doesn't want to see the weight come off overnight? Even as much as I tell myself that is not healthy even if I could find a way to make it happen, I STILL want it to happen that way. Even worse, I still get discouraged when the weight doesn't come off as quickly as I'd like to see.

I see it in my parenting. I want to be able to tell my kids how things are supposed to be and have them follow and obey without question. Anyone who has kids (especially teenagers) knows this is NOT how it happens. You have to train them and correct them, then train them and then correct them again. At times it feels like they are never going to get it. But we have to stick with it and they don't become well adjusted, with a good work ethic, high morals and great character over night. It takes years of patient parenting to get to that point.

I realized this past week that I see it in my running too. It's hard for me to slow down and build up to faster speeds and greater endurance because "I want it all, and I want it now!" On ever run I go for now, I remind have to myself to take it slow and steady. I'm going to have to crochet myself a tiny turtle to take on my runs to remind myself of this. Again, it's the patient building of muscles and endurance through many practice runs. This takes time.

I also see it in my prayer life. I've been wanting to learn to pray more effectively and not be so bored in prayer and not have my mind wander as it tends to when I'm trying to converse with Jesus. I got discouraged when I tried to pray the way Daniel Henderson outlines Worship based prayer. 

What I think I failed to recognize is that much like my running, I am in prayer training. It's going to take patient building of my prayer 'muscles and endurance'. That is of course assuming that I'm going into prayer with the correct motivations and with a clean heart before my Lord. But that is a totally different discussion.

So basically the Lord is teaching me to slow down and listen for HIS leading instead of running off half cocked barely having any idea what direction I'm even going.

I have not wanted to post to this because we have had such a tough time staying consistent to doing school the last couple of months. I prefer for my posts to be uplifting and encouraging, however I also desire to be real and transparent. It's not always easy to find that balance. I'll just share what God has been doing in me over the past couple of months.

I shared about my second fall and messing up my knee two posts ago. To make a long story short, I bruised my kneecap which means that it will be a long time before it feel normal again. In the meantime, I've been allowed to go back to running. Praise God!! I am doing my best to take it slowly and not push myself too hard, too fast.

So I'd been back to running for two weeks when my hubby came home feeling like he was coming down with a cold on a Thursday. All that night he ran a temperature and stayed home Friday from work. By Saturday, I was beginning to feel like I was coming down with it too. By Sunday I was running a temperature as well. Went to the doctor on Monday and was told that I had an upper respiratory infection. I wasn't the only one who came down with MyHero's cold. All 3 kids came down with it as well. Even the dog was sneezing! We spent the week of Thanksgiving hunkered down and quarantined from the rest of the world. Praise God that my hubby already had the week off. He had asked for it off months before.

Due to all the sickness and perhaps from just being so inactive, I've been fighting depression again. The enemy tries to tell me that I'm a terrible mom and that I'm failing at homeschooling my kids. Never mind the fact that we've been sick and that I had scheduled this week off from school! I refused to give in to the lies and kept reminding myself of the truth.

This morning is Sunday and I was home sick with sick kids. I listened to our church service live via internet connection. I was so glad that I did! One of the things the speaker discussed was fighting depression and how we can choose to praise and be thankful instead of believing the lies.

Another thing that God has been impressing on my heart is to spend more of my time seeking Him. I want to seek for Him as for hidden treasure. I want to seek for Him as for the thing that is going to save my life. "As the deer pants for the water brooks,
So pants my soul for You, O God." Psalm 42

The way that is walking out for me is by listening to all the recorded sermons from Genesis to Revelation from our church. I must confess that since I've been sick I haven't been very consistent with this. I think the enemy of my soul recognizes that I'm on a path to blessing from the Lord and doesn't want that for me.

Yet another thing the Lord has been laying on my heart is a desire to see unbelievers come to know Him. I want to be used to bring them to Jesus. As a stay at home, homeschool mom I don't get many opportunities for that. However, I do have this blog and I have my Facebook. Therefore, I'm recommissioning this blog to the purpose of sharing what God chooses to teach me through His Word. I pray that this will be used to bring others to Him!

Why I'm Not Making My Kids Do Dishes Anymore

You are more than welcome to disagree with me, but I have chosen NOT to make my kids do dishes anymore. The way I see it, they have plenty of other chores to teach them responsibility. 

They each are responsible to do their own laundry, ManBoy is charged with taking out the trash, Fashionista is to keep the bathroom sparkling, and RoboBoy's job is to keep the floors swept and clean. In addition they are each tasked with keeping their rooms and computer areas clean. Yes, we have more than one computer, in fact each child has access to one to use during the day. They also have various smaller chores to keep up with such as helping to care for the critters.

The main reason I'm not letting them do dishes anymore is because I got fed up with never having a clean kitchen. There seemed to always be dirty dishes, and messy countertops. As a result, we've had an issue with ants causing us to have to keep our bread, peanut butter and other ant attractors in the refrigerator. Clean dishes were rarely put back where they belonged. I felt like my kitchen was constantly in a state of disorder which totally stresses me out.

I also feel that, by doing the dishes myself, my kids can see that I'm doing something to contribute to keeping our home clean and orderly. Not that I didn't before, but this is a more tangible contribution. This should help them to feel less 'used' or like mom is just giving them all the work to do.

So as I said, you are welcome to disagree with me on this, but my kids are no longer allowed to do dishes in our house. Well, except on rare occasions. Please feel free to comment and share your thoughts.

Sidelined for Jesus

I shared in my last post about falling and scraping myself up pretty badly. As a runner, it is hard to let yourself be down for very long. I was recovering well and saw no reason not to be out running. Besides that, I had an important race coming up. It was the official kick off race for our running team, Calvary Chapel Running Team. 

So this past Wednesday I was out doing one of my training runs. Since my last 5k (3.1 mi) race had been so difficult to complete I had decided to clock a 5k on my own working on endurance more than speed. I was near the end of my 5k and still doing well and feeling very proud of myself when it happened again! Even as I was going down I was thinking to myself, "OH, NO!! NOT again!!" 

I'm pretty sure it was either the same location as the first fall or very close to it. As I sat there gathering the strength to get back up and assessing the damage, I felt overwhelming discouragement. I just wanted to sit there and cry and cry. I was also feeling angry. I'm not real sure who or what I was angry with but I was MAD!!!

I did manage to get up and limp home again. Even tried to run for a short way. Yes, I'm THAT hard headed! Quickly realized that my injuries were to much for that. Once I got home and got a good look at my injuries, I realized that my left knee was in pretty bad shape. What had been just a minor bruise after the first fall was now swollen about twice it's normal size and had very limited range of motion.

Since then, I've been doing my best to stay off that leg, keeping it elevated and icing it. After 4 days fighting depression, discouragement, and boredom that knee is still swollen and painful. So much so that I stayed home from church in order to keep it propped up. Praise God that our church broadcasts the services live over the internet. There was a special speaker who is a special friend to our church, Daniel Henderson. I'm sure that his message spoke to many others as well, but it was one of those that felt like it was especially for me. You can hear it at: http://www.ccstpete.com/living-word-media/teaching/index.cfm?tape_id=GS3352.

Of all things, the message was titled, "Don't Just Do Something! Sit There!" That's precisely what I'm being forced to do. I guess I'm one of those who is so stubborn that God has to sideline me to get my attention! You've heard of the proverbial frying pan to the head! After hearing this message, I have a new purpose to my recovery. I'm convinced that God wants to use this time to teach me to pray effectively. Not those boring, struggling to stay focused, God here's my list of requests prayers, but reaching the heart of God, worship saturated prayers.

At this point, I have no idea how long my recovery will be, whether weeks or months. I need to see the doctor for some kind of prognosis on that, but I'm going to try make the most of this time sitting at the feet of Jesus.

Blood, Sweat and Tears! All part of a typical homeschool week!

I don't know about you other homeschool moms, but I've been about as busy as a toddler in a room full of nick-nacks! We haven't been without our share of blood, sweat and tears either! Literally.

Last Thursday I was out running when I stumbled and fell. Running is not supposed to be a contact sport, but I guess I was trying to make it into one! I scraped myself up pretty good! Ended up having to take several days off from running to recuperate. My road rash is still healing and my left knee is a sickly shade of yellow and purple, but I got back out there yesterday. Trying hard to take it easy. Not something I do well!

That same day, I got word that my dad's brother died. He had been fighting a 2 year battle with cancer. I'm glad to be able to say that Uncle David had a vibrant relationship with Jesus Christ. He performed the wedding service for MyHero's and my wedding. In his last days, he had taken to having a weekly church service for all the family in his home. Even my dad, who had not been to church in years, attended. What a wonderful legacy to leave!! He will be greatly missed by many! I can't wait to be able to visit with him again in heaven!! Please pray for my Aunt Debi and my cousins and their children as well as the rest of my family. They will be grieving for some time yet.

This week I have been plagued by migraines. They have made it difficult to monitor school progress. Yesterday, I was helping RoboBoy with his school work when I got slammed with a migraine. It had been gradually coming on for an hour or so, but suddenly became unbearable. I told RoboBoy that he would have to do his best on his own with his school, then I took my prescription and went to bed. So far today I'm feeling better. Such is the life of a homeschool mom!

Off and Running!

We have now been back to school for just shy of 4 weeks. Each day has not been without it's struggles, but I'm very proud of the consistency we are displaying! At this rate, this may turn out to be one of our best school years yet.

I have to give a shout out to Mark Berg who runs the new math practice site that I've found for the kids. It is called Math Facts Pro and is only $5 per year for 5 students! Yes, you read that correctly. That's $1 per student. It is geared to teachers who have a class full of students but works great for homeschool moms. 

In fact, after some e-mail communication with Mark yesterday, he shared with me that his wife homeschools their children. Makes perfect sense! It seems that homeschoolers are the ones who usually have the ingenuity to invent such programs and then make it affordable for all.

Besides being affordable, I like the fact that this program, while going over the most basic of math facts, does not make my kids feel like they are being treated like babies.

I feel like I have FINALLY found a way to remediate my children's lack of math skills without having to hire a tutor or spend hours with each child going over flash cards!

We were using another online math facts practice program that was free. However I became frustrated with it after two weeks of the site being down. I decided that it was time to scrap that one and find something else. I'm so glad that I did because now we get to support another wonderful homeschool family while using a program that more perfectly suits our needs!

We are still using Time4Learning for Fashionista and RoboBoy. They are using it for Language Arts, Language Arts Extensions and Social Studies. RoboBoy still needs my assistance when he "does school" on the computer. He has a hard time focusing when there is a lot of text to be read. So I set aside time to sit and help him through it. We are both learning a lot. LOL

How is your school year starting out? How long have you been back? Have you realized that you need to make any changes in curriculum?

Planning for the New School Year

It has not been a fun week to be me! Well, it actually started over night Friday. During that night the headache I'd been fighting for nearly 2 weeks blossomed into a full blown migraine. The problem was that I didn't have any of my medication for it. Uuuugh! It was nearly 2 days and 3 nights of migraine pain off and on. When it was bad just turning my head made me feel dizzy and nauseous.

Times like that make me wonder why God allows me to endure such pain. I know He has a purpose for it. Haven't been able to figure it out yet, except that it allows me to appreciate the times when I feel good so much more.

Now that I'm feeling better, I have been working on more lesson planning. My goal is to start school back up August 19th and so far we seem to be on track for that. It's looking to be an interesting year.

ManBoy will be in 10th grade, Fashionista in 8th and RoboBoy in 7th. I am working to get all three kids back to grade level in math so this year we are focusing on some specific remedial math skills. We will also be placing great emphasis on cementing those math facts.

Here is a breakdown of the curriculum we will be using this year and which kids will be using each:

• "Exploring World History" by Ray Notgrass - ManBoy
  (This incorporates Language Arts, History and Bible in one curriculum)
• www.time4learning.com - Fashionista and RoboBoy
  (They will be doing Language Arts and Social Studies)
• "English from the Roots Up" - All three
• Key To Fractions Workbooks - All three
• Key To Decimals Workbooks - All three
• Answers in Genesis "The Astronomy Book" - All Three

Although ManBoy is now in high school, I'm not worrying too much about following the prescribed college prep courses with him. He has his heart set on becoming a baker and so that is where my focus is for him. I'd like to see him go to a trade school for that, but not at all sure what direction that will take. It would be nice if he could do some sort of internship with a cake decorator or something. His personal plan is to get a job at the local grocery store bakery as soon as he turns 16.

With Fashionista getting so close to entering high school, I'm beginning to think college prep for her. She has expressed interest in becoming a fantasy writer and already practices writing her own books. She hasn't totally made up her mind yet though. Whatever she chooses, I'm fairly certain that it will entail a college degree which means that now is the time to begin preparing for that.

RoboBoy is still in that blessed grace period before we have to begin seriously thinking about how to prepare for his future. He has declared that he wants to be an Explorer when he grows up. Not sure how he intends to make a living that way, but it does sound like fun!

I just finished updating and scheduling the chores each of my kids will have throughout the year. The Lord has convicted me lately about becoming so slack on teaching them good work habits. I'm just praying that He gives me the endurance and consistency I need to make this next school year a success.

What are your plans for the new school year? I'd love to hear about them! Also, please go check out the other blogs in this Blog Hop!

It's NOT You, It's Me

It's hard to believe that we are already nearing the last days of summer! Or at least of summer vacation. Having survived the past week of VBS, Fashionista has begun her last week of 5-day clubs for the summer. I'm frantically trying to pull together lesson plans in preparation for the looming school year. I knew this summer was going to be a whirlwind but I did not expect it to take the kind of toll on me that it has.

It seems that especially lately I'm finding myself feeling more ASPIE than normal. (For an explanation of what Aspie is you may want to read my former post, Hi, I'm Dee and I have Asperger's Syndrome) I'm feeling like I just want to climb up into myself and shut the rest of the world out. Perhaps this is a result of being forced out of my house and into the presence of people all summer long, which is something that I find absolutely exhausting. I think this weekend was the first time all summer that I was allowed to stay home and not have to go anywhere.

I guess I'm feeling depleted of I'm not even sure what. Opportunities for inner contemplation? That thing that I have to tap into which allows me to be social despite how unnaturally that comes to me? Whatever it is, I'm feeling totally drained of it. Even talking on the phone is feeling like a gigantic chore to me. 

Hopefully, the cessation of 5-day clubs and getting back into a school routine which will not require me to be out of the house and around people so much will help my Aspieness to retreat. In the meantime, I'm sorry to all of you who have been feeling like I'm mad at you for some reason. Try to remember that it's not you, it's me.

What To Do With All These Books?

Having finally finished updating my personal database for all our books, I've started listing them on Amazon. My goal was to be able to list them in bulk but after wrestling with making that happen for a whole day, I decided that it was easier to just deal with listing them one at a time. 

I got about 40 some books listed that way. This morning upon checking my email, I realized that one of my book had sold. Yay! Time to get it ready to ship. I have flat rate boxes, no problem. Oh, good grief! It costs more to ship that way than I charged for the book! Scrap that idea! Ok, so what are my other options??

A trip to the post office later and $1.49 spent on a padded mailer, then buying postage, I think I made a whole .48 cents on that book! Uuuuugh!! This is NOT going to be worth all the trouble I'm going to!

So what do I do with these 200+ books?? Trying to decide if it will even be worth my time to mark them all and attempt a yard sale. I'm having trouble getting to all that I need to get done as it is! I just want these books out of here! I may just take the whole lot to the Salvation Army and be done with the mess!

What are your thoughts??

Encouraging Progress in a Difficult Subject

This past week was July 4th so Fashionista had no 5-day clubs. It was nice to have a little respite from getting up so early every day and running around town playing chauffeur. This week we get to do it all again! Only this week Fashionista has afternoon clubs. This means that I don't have to leave the house so early to drop MyHero off. Fashionista doesn't have to be at the CEF office until noon.

We had our annual homeschool evaluations on Friday. I was quite nervous about these because we struggle with math. There was no need for me to be concerned however. All 3 kids made improvements in their scores over last year. ManBoy's score went up nearly 3 grade levels! We still have a long way to go, but I'm greatly encouraged by the progress made.

My kids are not liking it but I'm making them work on their math facts over the summer. They think that they know them, but it's always good to keep them fresh! We will be covering some new territory in math this coming school year so this will help them to be able to comprehend the new material more easily.

I'm starting to feel the pressure to get prepared for the new school year. Need to nail down what curriculum we will be using, I know most of it, but some is still up in the air. Also need to set up lesson plans and all that stuff. 

One of the things I plan to use this next year is, English From the Roots Up. It's an oldie but a goodie. I've had it sitting on my shelf for a while and rediscovered it while clearing off bookshelves. I think it is finally time to put it to work. It should help to improve spelling and vocabulary for my kids.

I would also like to get Fashionista enrolled in a class with www.time4writing.com. She loves to write fantasy books but needs a lot of help with her grammar and mechanics.

I still have all those books sitting in boxes in my kitchen as well! I have GOT to get them listed on Amazon. I'm feeling like my summer is filling up with too much to do and too little time to get it all done! I'd better get busy!

First a couple questions for you! We all as homeschoolers seem to have at least one subject that we struggle with. What subject is it for you and your kids? If you don't homeschool then what was your tough subject in school? How do you deal with this difficult subject? Have you found a way to make it less of a struggle?

Is it the weekend yet?

Oh, my! What a crazy week! Fashionista started her summer of 5-Day Clubs with CYIA, (Christian Youth In Action). I spent the week playing chauffeur to her and her dad. We have one vehicle and they both had to be in places across town from each other at the same time. I dropped MyHero off at work a bit early then scooted over to the CEF (Child Evangelism Fellowship) office to drop Fashionista off to head out with her team.

Fashionista and her team were at a local church all week. This next week they have no clubs due to the July 4th holiday. I have been working out and running almost every day this past week and would like to continue getting up early to do this in the coming week.

Speaking of working out and trying to loose weight...I think I've figured out why I went months working out like a maniac but not able to loose a single pound. I realized that I'm beginning the wonderful adventure of perimenopause. Along with that comes the tendency to gain and retain weight. So I decided to try one of those menopause symptom relief supplements. I'll have to let you know if it helps. Of course, I'm also recommitting to eating better. My new motto that I'm trying to keep in my head is, "You can't out exercise a bad diet."

What Have WE Been Up To??

I'm making it my goal to get back to blogging at least weekly. I'm amazed at how quickly I can get behind with my blog! Some updating is definitely in order. 

If you remember the post about the little stray dog I found and took in, he found a forever home. We were unable to keep him ourselves although I would have in a heartbeat. After much research I finally found a foster home for him. They had him for a few months and then decided that they wanted to make him part of their permanent family. 

I finally got those book shelves cleared as well! That was a LOT of work! Now the over 200 books are sitting in boxes waiting to be sold on Amazon. First I have to clean up my database so that I can do a mass listing on Amazon. That shouldn't take very long, once I get the time to do it. 

I did manage to get all the books we are keeping to fit into one shelf. That's a good thing because we needed the extra room for my sister and two aunts who came down from Arkansas to visit with us last week! We went to the beach pretty much every day they were here. 

This was the day we went to Tarpon Springs, home of the United States' largest Greek population and historic sponge docks. Mmmm!! Gyros!

On the heals of having my family visiting, I took Fashionista to her week of training with CYIA (Christian Youth In Action). She is spending the week in the dorms of a local Christian college learning how to tell kids about Jesus Christ. She had to send out support letters just like a missionary and is earning the title Junior Missionary.

I miss her terribly but know that she is in great hands with the staff of CEF (Child Evangelism Fellowship). I'd better get used to it because we will not be seeing much of her this summer. She will be going out doing 5-day clubs for the remainder of the summer after her training is done.

In the meantime, the boys and I will be working to clean out their room and toss or give away all the junk...er ahem stuff they don't need or want. I will also be working to sell all those books and of course crocheting! I'll also have to carve out some time to do some homeschool planning for this upcoming school year.

Just 15 minutes!

GUEST POST by Rebecca Fuller of LearnFluteOnline.com

What can I accomplish in 15 minutes?

Well... it all depends on which 15 minutes you are asking me about.  I have certain “15 minutes” windows of time where I am like a lump on a log and other times I can whisk my whole entire main floor into ship-shape.

What are the differences between these little snippits of time?  As a highly motivated person striving to raise highly motivated children, I have had to analyze this often.

First, I am a goal setter.  Second, I am a goal accomplisher.

I have home-taught my children to a very high-level of proficiency on several different instruments.  I’m not kidding when I say that I work concertos with 9 year olds, and that they love it.

What’s the secret to my success?  15 minutes.  That’s it.  I can take 15 minutes and set everything else in the world aside and put and extremely concentrated effort into making sure my child and I have a positive experience in music learning.    

Where has this gotten us?  I don’t think this blog post could be long enough to list all of the benefits and amazing fun we have had over the years as a performing family.

It’s 15 minutes a day working towards an effort for a positive experience between you and your child.  Desire to have more positive experiences grow from here.  

And, children are never too young to start a lifetime of positive experiences.

-Rebecca Fuller

You can find Rebecca teaching online with passion and organized to the hilt at: http://LearnFluteOnline.com where she helps all ages hone their musical skill by using the beautiful instrument flute in a step-by-step, affordable, online approach.

Thank you Rebecca for sharing with us here!

Just a Little Bit

On Wednesday I did something I've never done before! I was out for my run and several blocks from home when this Little Bit of a dog came toward me. He let me approach him and pick him up. I checked him for a collar and he had none. I asked people in nearby homes if they knew who he belonged to. They said that they had never seen him before. So, not knowing what else to do with him, I took him home.

Little Bit was absolutely filthy! Not only that but he was covered in fleas. I tried to give him a bath, but his fur was so thick and fluffy that it just started matting up. I ended up pulling out my scissors and dog grooming clippers and taking all that nasty, dirty fur off. He seemed to be relieved to get it off.

After the fur was gone, it was back to the bath. It took several sudsing ups to get him clean. There were fleas seemingly coming from nowhere all over his tiny face. It seemed to take forever to get all of them off.

Now that he was finally clean and more comfortable, I started the process of searching the internet and making phone calls to Animal Services, SPCA, the sherriff's office and, posting to Facebook and Craig's List. We even took a walk to the vet down the street several blocks to ask them to scan him for a microchip. He doesn't have one. I also put "Found Dog" posters up near where I found him and at the vet's office and our local library.

I knew that I didn't want to take him somewhere that he might be euthanized. So I told Animal Services that I prefer to keep him here until his owners can be found or a new family located for him. In the meantime, he is getting lots of love from my kids and me.

Yesterday, Fashionista and I decided to try to get an idea of how old Little Bit is so we tried to get a look at his teeth. There were no teeth! Now we understand why he wouldn't chew the kibble we tried to give him.

I wanted to make sure that Little Bit doesn't become re-infested with fleas or get our house infested, so MyHero and I went to the pet store last night to find flea medicine for him. In chatting with the store employee who was helping us, we realized that he most likely has worms. So she helped us find a dewormer for him. I would love to take him to our vet, but we really can't afford to do that.

I've gotten tons of offers to give him a good home but no owners have come forward. Anyone who takes him in is going to need to be prepared for a walking vet bill! Not only that, but he doesn't have good bladder control and piddles in the floor. My hero is NOT thrilled with the piddling and many might think twice about taking him in knowing these things. I'm praying that he is able to find a loving home soon so that MyHero doesn't insist that I take him to the pound!

Clearing the Shelves

I had the privilege of serving other runners this past weekend at a local Halfathon. Several of our running team were on hand to distribute water to the runners.

I'm on the far left with the red hair.

It was so much fun to encourage these athletes! I did discover that there is a technique to handing water/gatorade to someone who is in motion! Many of the more serious runners did not want to slow their pace to grab the cup, so we had to expect to get splashed a bit by the contents. What a wonderful way to pay-it-forward to the folks who were there to encourage and distribute water in my first two races.

Live here continues to move forward at breakneck pace. Too many times this week I've asked myself, where has the day gone?? I'm simply going to HAVE to train myself to get up earlier. There just aren't enough hours in the day to do all that I need to do, if I sleep till 9 am! Working out and running have been taking up a pretty large chunk of my days. Oh, yeah! And we are still homeschooling too. I'm also working to unload our multiple bookshelves of the books crammed onto them.

My hubby had the brilliant idea of having me purchase a barcode scanner to use to inventory all our books for sale. This will be so much easier than entering information manually into a fill in the blank database. I'm excited about the prospect of bringing in a small amount of extra income while emptying our bookshelves of books that we will no longer use.

Here are the bookshelves which need to be emptied. I also have boxes full of books that will not fit on these shelves. Part of the reason that we are pushing to get this done is because the two main bookshelves shown in the bottom picture are currently in Fashionista's room. There is a possibility of my sister and my aunt coming to visit this summer. We need these shelves out of Fashionista's room so that we can set up an extra bed for them to sleep in.

Son, What Are You Going To Be When You Grow Up??

It's a rainy day out. I worked out and then went for a refreshing run in the rain. Well, the rain was refreshing but NOT the pain in my legs! I powered through the shin splint pain I was having and made it to the end of my run. Yikes! I need to find a way to run without having that much pain!

Now that I'm all cleaned up after the workout and run, I'm relaxing and trying to get a bit of work done. The rain isn't helping me to get motivated to do anything. This is great crochet and audio book weather!  Maybe I'll be able to do some of that later.

I've been thinking about homeschool-friendly colleges for my son. I wish he would decide what he wants to do with his life!! That would greatly simplify things! Since he loves to cook so much I did some research on local cooking schools for teens. They all seem to be way out of our budget. I thought it would be nice for him to get a chance to work with a professional chef in order to decide if he really wants to settle on this profession.

Too bad there isn't a career path for sitting and playing online games all day! He would excel at that! Any one need a Mine Craft player for their business?? No? I thought not! I tell you, homeschooling high school may just be the death of me! Or at least my sanity!

Taking it Easy

This is day two of a migraine. When I feel like this, it seems no matter how hard I try to keep it from happening, school ends up sliding to the back burner. Last time I checked, Fashionista had TONS of math to catch up on. Mom is starting to experience math anxiety! I keep having to remind myself that I will feel better in a day or two and we will get back on track. Educational videos are on the docket for today! At the moment we are watching Animal Planet. As far as I'm concerned this is enough learning for today.

Home Again, Home Again! Jiggity Jig!

We made it home from our vacation visiting Grandma and Grandpa in AR! Whew! It's been a crazy week trying to get back into the swing of things. We will be starting schooling back up on Monday. However one of the things I've realized that I've neglected to add to my kids' assignment list is spelling. Uuugh! I really need to get on that! Not that it will be a difficult task, just one more thing to remember. We use Spelling and Vocabulary City which has wonderful spelling lists by grade. I can just add the appropriate lists to each of my children's assignments. This will round out our homeschool language arts curriculum.

As I promised last post, here are some pics from our trip!

My kids playing in the snow! No that is not an outhouse! It's my parent's well house! LOL

ManBoy found a huge ice sickle hanging from the eaves of my parent's house.

Looking out the back window of my mom and dad's house.

This is a shot from the side porch of mom and dad's house.