Lynette

Here's what I have to do (and 11 other lucky readers :) :) :) )
1. Post the rules
2. Share 11 random things about myself
3. Answer the 11 questions from the post in which I was tagged
4. Create 11 new questions for my tagees to answer
5. Tag 11 people - legitly

11 Random Things About Me
1. I hate social gatherings that have more people I don't know then I do know.

2.  I've never skied and I don't desire to ever learn how.

3. I love to collect books. I could open my own library with my collection of books.

4. I love laundry that smells really good. I'd prefer great smelling laundry to cologne or perfume any day.

5. I'm told all the time I do not look my age.

6.  I have three kids who were all conceived at the same time yet are almost 2 years apart in age.

7. All three of my kids spent time in the NICU.

8.  I don't like to be in water that goes over my head. As long as I can touch bottom I am fine.

9.  I don't like heights or any ride that moves fast and is combined with heights.

10.  I'm known as the bird lady in my area. I started feeding wild birds about 4 years ago and I now have hundreds who visit daily. Plus I get some rare birds or hard to see birds here in Utah.

11.  I'm big on starting things but I have a hard time following through at times.
 


Questions for 11 Lucky People (should they choose to accept this challenge):
1. Where do you see yourself in 10 years? Still being a stay at home mom but a much better housekeeper and mom.
2. What was your favorite part of school?the end of the day. I hated school. I hated being around people who didn't know me. Probably the main reason I homeschool.
3. How did you meet your significant other/spouse? (I'm a hopeless romantic) I went to watch a male friend play recreational hockey at the Ogden Ice Sheet and my husband was on his team. To be honest he wasn't someone I had any desire to even be seen with at first but after a few months he grew on me.
4. I didn't like my name and wanted to change it when I was a kid.  If you could have picked out your own given name, what would it have been? Oh man I HATED my name as a kid. Hated is too weak but I'm not sure what word to use. I grew up when every one was name Jenny but I think I wanted my name to be Brittany, Amy, or Cassie.
5. What is your absolute favorite movie (if you can't pick just one, pick a genre)? I have two. The Goonies and The Mirror Has Two Faces.
6. What motivates you when you have the least amount of motivation? Rewards. If I find myself with no motivation I offer myself either a small or large reward depending on what I need motivated to do.
7. Is there a famous person (not necessarily a celebrity!) you admire? And why? Jackie O. She was a strong woman who knew what she wanted, how to get what she wanted, was shy in public situations, and yet was well liked by almost everyone.
8. Who was your favorite school teacher and why? Probably Mrs. Lakman or Miss Kotter. Both tried their best to help me make friends and didn't make life miserable for me in elementary school.
9. What subject in school did you struggle with the most? Succeed in? Math and science were my struggles. However I excelled in reading, history, and current events.
10.  What is your favorite thing about yourself? That I don't judge people. I've never been one to not like someone unless there was a major reason not too.
11.  Have you been to a foreign country (other than Canada -- I just don't consider that a foreign country. :) )? And if so, where -- and why? :) No, never, and not sure I want to.

New Year New School Plans

After an extremely trying 4 months of school with the boys I revamp the way we are doing things for school. I know it's only been one day but it's the first day ever this school year that I didn't scream and holler at the kids or have a child refuse to continue doing school work. Obviously my decision to switch things up worked and oh my heck they actually remembered enough of what we learned to tell their grandfather tonight when he showed up at our place. So over the next few weeks I'll highlight some of the changes we have made and try to be better at keeping this blog up to date. I've become lazy at this as I've really struggled with the kids. And to be honest they almost were sent to public school at the beginning of December. Hopefully things continue to go well otherwise this journey in homeschooling may be ending.

Turkey Day 1k

Well I did it and even though my training went to pot I did it. I even finished it. I'd like to hope I would have done it faster without a crying kid I was dragging along but who knows. All I know is I tied my best training record and that's good enough for me. Now to train better and do a Valentine's Day run. My picture stinks. I hate the way I look in pictures but it's proof I did the 1k.

Moving On

Way back when I first got pregnant with Nathan I found a wonderful support group online. After a while some of us made a move to a private board and became really good friends. We even got together a few times and they were of great support. About a year and a half after the twins were born I came to discover that one member of that board didn't really like me and had secretly started a collection of all my posts, mainly bad ones or where I complained about how sickly the kids were. Yes for a while my kids were sick it seemed every other day. Well one day when I complained about how a neighbor called the police on us for letting a child cry it out I was told by this person she wasn't surprised as she felt I was a horrible parent. She then proceeded to post every single post I had ever made along with pictures I posted that illustrated what happened. Basically I was called an unfit mother and made to feel like I was a piece of crap. What bothered me most was supposedly this person was of the same faith as me yet I can tell you she did not act like any member of my church I had ever known. I left the group as I was ticked off that my trust with people on the board was broken. Sadly I allowed someone else who had also been treated unfairly by those on our private group to convince me I should share my story on the main group. A few details were changed and yes I allowed my anger to let everyone there know exactly how those on our private group felt about them. Unlike B I didn't think ahead of time to document every thing as I actually was friends with the people I chatted with daily. Well word got back to them and I was completely blacklisted and nobody from the group would talk with me again.
Now it's been almost 5 years and I've been trying to apologize, mainly because I know I did wrong, but I can't get anyone to even acknowledge I have sent messages to. They won't even respond with a you an ass and I don't ever want to talk to you again. The funny thing is two people from the group are members of my faith and I guess really don't believe in the lessons we learn from our prophet and his counselors. Years ago two of them suggested I listen to the this speech during general conference because I still held bitter feelings to our old ward. I find it odd that I was suppose to forgive yet they can choose not to. Granted I haven't done all I could do (meaning I don't have physical addresses to mail or visit these ladies anymore and that I have contacted them via their blogs, facebook, and email) but I find now that I just really don't care if I get their forgiveness cause I've finally forgiven them for what they did to me. I really only wanted to be friends with one lady again although reconnecting on a limited basis with the others would have been nice as we shared so much. One I was going to ask to take my kids if something ever happened to me and my husband as that's how close I thought we were. Yesterday I left a comment on a blog run by one of these women. She took the time to respond to each and every other commenter but my comment. A few hours later she removed my comment.
So today I say goodbye to my feelings of hatred, resentment, and hateful thoughts of these people. I have moved on. As James Faust said in the above speech:
"If we can find forgiveness in our hearts for those who have caused us hurt and injury, we will rise to a higher level of self-esteem and well-being."
I only hope one day at least one of them can also learn the healing power of forgiveness.

Testing the Mac

Just testing to see if I can load pictures from the mac onto blogger.

What a wild two week!

Since starting school about one month ago we've had a wild ride. Stomach flu that took almost 2 weeks to recover from as everyone didn't get it at the same time and it was spread out over a two week period. And then the worst thing to happen if you home educate (someone told me this should be the new term for homeschooling) losing the pricey and most important curriculum you own.  Yes not only did one computer bite the dust but the second back up computer. My life was shattered. I can not believe how much computers play a role in my life. We took them to the computer repair store hoping and praying that they could be fixed while also contacting a few curriculum sites asking if they could replace or deeply discount a replacement for me. Lucky for me they all came through but even more lucky, while the computers were dead, the repair store was able to get all the pictures (which of course I hadn't backed up) and files. I ended up buying a used and repaired computer from the repair shop. Great deal from them and I was happy. However as my husband pointed out going back to only two computers (guess Noah's random bid on a laptop last spring helped us somewhat) was hard. So off we went looking for a brand new computer. I had my mind set on a certain computer at the Bx on base that was about $300. But I guess it wasn't meant to be as that is not what we bought. After being convinced by several costumers and sales clerks we walked out of the BX with a brand new Mac. I have to say I'm in love with this machine. So so easy compared to the pc. And once I figure out all the ins and outs  I'll probably be even more in love. Now I all I need to do is get caught up on my food blog and this blog.

First Week of School

We had a rough first day, a pretty decent second day, a really rough third day, and then today which turned out pretty good. I'm realizing I have scheduled far too heavily in some subjects and way too little in other subjects. I think in the next week or two we will get the hang of things. Since so many of my homeschooling friends are posting schedules this week I thought I'd post a little of what we do.

School starts at 9:15. We start with a review of the day of the week, the month and the date. Then we recite the Pledge. Next everyone works on math, followed by spelling, handwriting, grammar, and writing. Then we usually take a 10-20 minute break.
Next we work on reading skills, learning to read (twins), and a few other reading related items. By this time it is usually 12-12:30 and we break for about 45 minutes for lunch.
After lunch we work on history (everyday), science (right now 2 times a week may be moving this to three), music (two times a week one being learning instruments and the other day singing), art (two times a week, once being a crafty or seasonal thing and the other day being an instruction in some fundamental of art), health (twice a week),  and geography (daily).School is usually over by 3 pm although some days much earlier and some days much later.