Today's sunset...

Saturday Photo Hunt #92 - Skinny

This was a difficult one for me...there isn't too much 'skinny' around here! The only thing I could come up with were photos of our old dog, Buddy...before and after his haircut. He really was skinny but you couldn't tell from all his furry hair!

Before: Puffy


After: SKINNY


We miss you Buddy!!!!!

Friday Faves - Reality or Game Shows

Friday Faves: Favorite Reality or Game Shows

Hmm, I had to think about this one for a bit. I hate to admit it, but I do enjoy watching some of the reality shows out there...like Survivor, or The Amazing Race. Some of them are quite trashy and I don't even give them a second glance! I used to love The Mole, but they pulled that one off the air. I really enjoyed that show. I like the shows that make you think!

I also enjoy game shows now and then, but don't go out of my way to watch any. The new ones today really annoy me. They're all pretty much the same...dark rooms, lots of flashing lights, big loud music and way too much time explaining things and waiting on people to make decisions!!!! So...with that being said, I'd have to say that my favorites are the game shows from the past.

Remember these?

• Beat the Clock
• Truth or Consequences
• Let's Make a Deal
• Match Game
• Press Your Luck
• What's My Line?
• High Rollers
• I've Got a Secret
• Sale of the Century
• The Newlywed Game
• Tic Tac Dough
  

Oh there's lots more, but those are the ones off the top of my head. I'd have to say that the only ones I enjoy now are Jeopardy, and the Cash Cab...anything with trivia. My absolute favorite channel though is HGTV (Home and Garden TV). That's more my speed. What's even better? A good movie with my dear hubby!!! Nothing beats that!!!!!!

Thursday Thirteen #2

13 of my favorite board games

I LOVE playing board games. I'm a serious player that loves to have lots of fun while still trying to cream my opponents!! My children are also into board games, but I have to admit that I can't wait until they're older so they can play more games geared towards grownups. Don't get me wrong...I love Candyland, Disney Scene It (well, I tolerate that one), Princess Monopoly, Sorry, and the rest of those kid friendly games...but there's something so different about playing games with my own peers. I can allow my competitive side show more - something I try to avoid when playing with my children...well, at least with sensitive little Sweet-Pea. Lionel is getting easier for me to show my competitive side to - he's just like me!!!

Here are 13 of my favorite games that I enjoy playing with friends and family...

1. Apples to Apples


2. Taboo


3. Trivial Pursuit (the old standby!)


4. Clue (any version, but mainly the Clue FX and the Mystery Detective versions)


5. Malarky


6. ImagineIff


7. Sequence


8. Catch Phrase


9. Super Scrabble (especially the 'Take One' version!)


10. Scattergories


11. Pictionary


12. What's Yours Like


13. 20 Questions


There are a ton more games I like to play, but these are probably the ones I enjoy the most...for now anyway!

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!
View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

Finally...

Well, I did it...I cleaned out the kitchen pantry! I got so sick and tired of looking at all the junk. There were things piled on the floor, open boxes all over, things not put in their proper place etc. etc. Need I go on? The holidays didn't help either! All the candy and junk that was in there got thrown away - good riddance!!! We don't need it, that's for sure. Now we can actually see what food we have in the house before going out shopping for things we didn't know we already had.

BEFORE:


AFTER:


It looks a little bit better, don't you think? Now...let's see what else I can tackle today....

Jane Austen on PBS - Yahoo!!!!!!!!!

I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am about the new Masterpiece Theater shows that PBS is putting out.

Premiering on January 13th (Sunday evening) they will be broadcasting adaptations of all six of her novels (including Sense & Sensibility), along with a new drama based on the life of Jane Austen! They will be showing:

• Emma
• Mansfield Park
• Northanger Abbey
• Persuasion
• Pride & Prejudice
• Sense & Sensibility

This means they have re-done the original movies once again. I'm not going to pass on this wonderful opportunity to see them portrayed in a different way.

The link to the Jane Austen part of PBS can be found here. There are links to see a video preview, sign up to win a book, join a book club, and get teacher's guides. The teacher's guide is entitled "The Complete Jane Austen Teacher's Guide". "Get ideas and tips on how to teach the works of Jane Austen using film as another avenue into her world."

The book club has a few good pdf files to view:
Why Jane? Why now?
Jane's life
Scones recipe
Bookmark

OK, I'm headed over there now to print off my teacher's guide. Hey it's free and there may be some really interesting stuff in it that I could use in our own classroom. Enjoy!!

What a day!?!

The other day I was driving home with my son in the car, and we were chatting away. I drove right through a red light at a major intersection and didn't even realize it!!! My son said "Hey Mom, the light was red back there!" Oops!!!! We were so engrossed in our conversation that I didn't even take note of the light. It's not like I've never been there before either - we pass through this intersection almost daily! This was a first for me, and I was so embarrassed since my son was the one who noticed. God certainly was watching over us - we could have been side swiped!

Ever have one of "those days"? Well today was my turn again. This evening couldn't come quickly enough. I seem to be so klutzy lately. I was making berry smoothies in our blender with frozen fruit, milk and powdered sugar (wonderful smoothies by the way). The berries were stuck to each other and weren't going down to the bottom of the container - even when I used the built in wand...so what did I do? I took the top off to push them down while it was still on when...

Unfortunately I didn't get the top on quick enough when the berries decided to hit the spinning blades and explode like a volcano. WHAT A MESS!!! The entire purple concoction shot up in the air and landed all over my clothes, my hair, the counters, floors, ceiling, appliances, walls etc. etc. It actually was quite funny until I realized that the purple in the berries stain everything!!! The only thing that really got me mad was that I forgot to snap a photo of it to post here on my blog. I was too busy heading to the bathroom to shower the berries off my head (instant conditioner!)

THEN...Later in the evening I went to put Sweet-Pea to bed. She was riding her pony, Butterscotch - the one she got for Christmas. She got off to him to give me a goodnight hug and promptly smashed her head into my lip which embedded itself into my upper two teeth! YEOW!!!!!!!! It bled for a little bit, but I was OK. Sweet-Pea cried for a little while since she felt bad, but I really was fine...it just hurt...still does.

Anyhow...this day was just one I'd rather forget (so why am I even posting about it? 'Cause I'm a true blogger, that's why!) Hopefully tomorrow will be better. I think I'll do my part by staying away from the blender.

American Girl Tea - Kit

Once a month Sweet-Pea and I host an American Girl Tea in our home. We have so much fun learning about the various dolls and what era they are from. There are 11 of us in the 'club'...5 moms and 6 girls. Each month a mother/daughter team leads the event here in our home, complete with food, crafts, games and a devotional that applies to what we learned about that particular doll. We have done 7 teas already - this was our 8th - hard to believe.

Today we featured Kit Kittridge. She's the girl who grew up during the depression in Cincinnati, Ohio. The food was delicious - we had apple kuchen, ambrosia and homemade waffles!! The girls all took turns making the waffles...yes it was messy...but well worth it.

Our crafts included 2 simple items...a tissue paper flower and a paper lantern - appropriate crafts for that era. The girls then played a word game for a while which they loved. Sweet-Pea had a hard time with it though because she's still in the early stages of reading. The game was a bit confusing for her but she put her all into it and tried. I was proud of her!

Here she is with her crafts:


The girls playing the game together: (such silly girls!)


Sweet-Pea and two of her dear friends. Unfortunately these two dear girls are moving next month and we won't be seeing them at our teas anymore. Needless to say, Sweet-Pea is very sad about that! Gotta love the matching jumpers...something only girls would do!!!


Next month our doll will be Molly - the doll from the 1940's. I'll post photos and information on her as well once we have our tea.

Saturday Photo Hunt #91 DELICIOUS

This post revolves around Lionel....simply because I seem to take lots of photos of him with food. You know boys and food!

Here he is on his birthday last year. He ordered a huge t-bone steak with pasta at the Olive Garden! Yummy! (No, he didn't eat it all, but he tried!)


Here he is with a famous NYC pretzel! Absolutely delicious! (Yeah, I noticed it too...he's wearing the same shirt - it's one of his favorite NASCAR shirts! I can assure you though that it gets washed after every use. :::grin:::)


One final 'delicious' photo has to be his chocolate towering birthday cake that Sweet-Pea decorated herself. She did a fantastic job, don't you think?

Friday Faves - Past Time

Friday Faves: Favorite Past Time

There are a bunch of past times that I really enjoy, but they're mostly things I do alone...scrapbooking, playing my flute, working on the computer, and watching movies.

Hands down though, my absolute favorite past time is definitely hanging out with my family!!! My husband and dear children mean the world to me, so I jump at every chance to spend quality time with them. We love to go up north and hike - one of our new favorite things to do together. We also enjoy bowling as a family, going to movies, and simply playing games at home with a bowl of popcorn (chips for Edward), some coffee and hot cocoa!

Anyone up for a game??

Today's Geography Lesson

I love homeschooling so much and all the fun things the kids and I learn together! We are using the Geography Matters curriculum for geography (obviously). This year we chose to do U.S. Geography since we did World Geography last year.

Lionel is using the Trail Guide to U.S. Geography book, and Sweet-Pea is using Cantering the Country. Her book is actually a complete unit study, but we are using other material for the rest of her subjects, so we just take what we need for geography.

I really love this curriculum and highly recommend it. Lionel is in 8th grade and Sweet-Pea is in 1st, but the best part is that we can do it altogether. She does a lot of coloring, filling in the blanks and puzzles, but he does more intense research and fact finding.



Besides the books, we go online to research interesting things together, and we also use the DVD series entitled The States, put out by A&E and the History channel. Each state has about a 15 minute segment where they talk about the history and show what that state is known for. Pretty interesting stuff if you ask me! The kids love this little 'break' from their bookwork too.

Another thing we use is the Eat Your Way Through the USA book. There are oodles of recipes listed by each state - along with some interesting facts. We don't use this as much as I'd like to...only when time allows.




So...what did we learn today? Well, here are a few interesting bits of information we found about Kentucky...the state we are currently studying.

Did you know:

• Fort Knox has over $6 billion in gold!?! Unfortunately they don't give tours (or samples - hee hee), so don't bother going to check.
  
• There was once a law in KY that a wife could not rearrange the household furniture without her husband's consent. (I'd be arrested in no time, I'm always rearranging things!)
• The KY Derby makes the most money in the shortest amount of time out of any sport in the USA. The race is just barely 2 minutes in length (usually shorter) and so much money exchanges hands during that time. They also have a 10 day long celebration that brings in lots of money as well. Oh my!!!
• Lionel loved the fact that all Chevy Corvettes are made in Bowling Green, KY
• KY has a cave (Mammoth Cave) that is over 350 miles (so far!)
• The first KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) was made by Col. Sanders in Corban.
• The song Happy Birthday To You was written by 2 sisters from KY in 1893...what's even more interesting is that the song still makes $2 million per year. My question is, 'how'??
  

Here's a photo of some gold bricks from Fort Knox..just to tempt you. hee hee It's so pretty that it almost looks fake! Can you imagine picking up one of these 400 ounce bricks? Wow!! FYI...Fort Knox has also held various other items: The Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, the Articles of Confederation, Lincoln's Gettysburg Address and three volumes of the Gutenberg Bible.

Pretty cool stuff, huh?