A little bit of spring

We have a corner flower bed by the garage filled with these. We bought bulbs from friends doing their Russian adoption fundraiser, planted them late last fall and here they are announcing spring!

Homeschool conference

Just got back from a homeschool conference yesterday. I went with a friend this year. We really had a great time, learned a lot and I hope we'll both grow from it. : )

I learned a few things from the weekend, like I need to move dd toward independent learning even if it's hard and I don't really want to.
I learned that I need to place greater importance on my marriage, even a great marriage can stand improvement!
I learned that I'm doing a few things right, like using great books.
I learned how to outline a paragraph using the "key word" method.
I learned I need to be just a tad less lazy about school, but only a tad. ; )
I decided to purchase a writing program for dd. She loves to write and I'd like to help her to be an excellent writer.
I decided our history program isn't really broken it just needs a little adjustment.
I decided we need to add something to improve the areas critical thinking and biblical worldview. I've got some ideas, but need to keep praying.
I discovered I love to spend money, especially on books, books and more books.
I discovered I miss my family when I'm away. They were both very sick the entire time I was gone. : (
My two favorite speakers were Andrew Pudewa and Jim Weiss. I also heard Gary DeMar. His sessions were ok, but not great. I going to read his books some day to see if they are better. I read articles of his and I really like them, so maybe his books will be good.

I've pasted the following from an email I sent to a friend.
Oh and I've got a story from the conference. Last year we went to several of Jim Weiss's sessions and thoroughly enjoyed each one. He's a story teller. (www.greathall.com) So this year I went to only one session of his on using G.A. Henty and other greats to teach history. In this talk, Jim spoke of the importance of history and gave an example of Harry Truman as a poor, uneducated (college) man, but he loved history and was well read in it. In his description of Truman he mentioned that he was from Missouri or for those who are from there "Missoura." I immediately got tears in my eyes. My grandparents were from there and always said "Missoura." My dad still does. There was a deep, albeit small, connection to my life. Later, I went to Jim's booth to tell him about it, which I did with many, many tears (I absolutely hate to cry in front of people like that, but it could not be helped.) But I did get it out and thanked him for it and I told him I love the way he connects with his audiences. We talked a little more and then he walked around to the front of his table and asked me if I had his Tom Sawyer CD (for some reason I thought he was going to try to sell me something.) I said we had bought a few things last year, but we didn't have that one. So he said, "here l want you to have this." He picked that one because the setting is in Hannibal, MO. He was grateful that I told him about my experience from his session.

I got home and told dh and dd about it and had to cry through that telling. I called my dad to tell him about it and still got teary, but not crying. My sis was there so I told her about it also because my grandparents were special to her as well.

Anyway, it was very moving even though it was such a small thing. Actually, only one letter--the "i" to the "a"--but such a sweet reminder of my grandparents.

Emily

She's peeking out from behind me.

Emily wants to wish you a Happy Easter! (So do I.)

This week

We haven't had a real eventful week. I keep thinking I should post something, but there are times when there just isn't anything to post, I guess.

Amy went to CO-SI this week with some friends. I decided my back wouldn't handle doing that, so I stayed home. You can read about it here.

We had a couple blasts of winter this week; one the day before spring and another last night, the day after spring started. DH got some pictures of the grackles feeding this morning after the snow.

The gold finches are starting to get more yellow now. It's been fun to see the changes in the birds going from winter to spring.

I've still been sewing & knitting this week. I've made a cute little doll jumper and have started on a skirt set from the 40s or 50s. I've been trying different patterns to see which ones I like the best as far as ease of use goes. So far, I like the Bitty Baby ones the best. I'll post pictures of the new outfits later.

Bird at the feeder

This little guy was at one of our feeders for a long time while we were eating dinner this evening. We got out the binoculars and the bird book. We still aren't sure what it is because it just doesn't look like any of the pictures exactly. If you know what it is let me know.

Sew Crafty Friday

http://w8ng4him.blogspot.com/

Molly in her new dress for St. Patrick's Day.

Molly's also modeling the larger doll shawl I knitted. The first one I did wasn't quite large enough, so I made this one about 4 inches bigger.

Here are the six grocery bags I finished this week. I actually used them yesterday while grocery shopping.

Spring is coming

Today was our first day to see a red-winged blackbird, so spring is on the way.

The day

My pile on the kitchen table got even teenier today. I found the trash can for a couple items, a file folder for a couple others.

Emily's dog, Yank arrived today, along with Coconut. I decided to sell the Coconut, so it's listed on ebay.







I had an eye appointment today. My eyes are in great shape, but my reading vision needs an adjustment. New glasses coming up, I guess.

I also had an x-ray taken of my lower back, tail bone area to see why it hurts so much. If that doesn't show anything, then I'm hoping to get an MRI done.

Organization

Last week a friend and I were discussing piles of stuff. I was saying that I don't think I could "survive" without my piles. If things are put away I don't know where they are. She showed me her pile organizer. I wondered if that would work for me. Now knowing me, like I do, I doubt it. But I decided to try. Staples has a sale on desk organizers this week, so we went there to get this Desk Apprentice. I got it for 25% off. It was the only one on the shelf, so maybe it was meant for me?





I just had to get Emily in on the action.



Can you believe how neat that looks?



I think she's pleased. I know dh is happy! Now for being disciplined. I know it will be hard for me since I've had piles most of my life, but I am committed to making it work! Now off to clean the remainder of the piles from the kitchen table, counter, desk....

While staying inside...

Bitty Baby has a spring outfit.

I made two of these bags. I plan to use them for groceries. I've got 4 more cut out and ready to sew. I found the tutorial here.

I also actually knitted something from a different pattern. It's a doll shawl, but right now I have no pictures. That was an accomplishment. It was relatively easy once I learned how to do a couple stitches. Again http://www.knittinghelp.com/ came to the rescue. It's been a great help.

Computer Woes

Please pray for our computer. Wonderful dh has worked the past two days on it and has worked on it for three weekends. It's on it's way to being better, but we still have a couple things not working yet. It's our main computer, so it's nice to have it working. So dh could use your prayers. Thanks.

More Winter!

According to the National Weather Service our county got 16 inches of snow with this latest storm. This time I stayed inside. I got to see about six male cardinals chasing each other through the trees. It may be March, but I still love snow and winter!

Sew Crafty Friday

http://w8ng4him.blogspot.com/

I've been busy this week.





Amy likes to get the dolls dressed for each holiday. For Valentine's Day they were decked out in pinks and reds. The above dress is for St. Patrick's Day.







Emily got a new dress because I needed to see how to fit the pattern for her.



All the dolls have little bags. This one was made for Emily.

At the play

This morning we went with friends to the Cleveland playhouse to see the Addy: An American Girl Story. This was a school event, but Cleveland cancelled school today, so it was mostly homeschoolers there in a mostly empty hall. Quite nice.

Today's Winter

Beautiful!

Yesterday's surprise

Emily arrived our house yesterday. Now Emily is special. There is a story.

Amy is really into AG dolls and has been on a couple AG related message boards. She convinced me to become a member of one of them. The other day I was reading a post from a woman who ordered her own AG doll, her first, I think. She is 41. So I got to thinking maybe I should do that. I pretty much talked myself out of it, but kept thinking about it. I even prayed about it, talked dh about it. What came to my mind was that having my own AG doll was a good relationship building tool with Amy. It really was a difficult decision, not in the life altering sense, by any means, but difficult in its own way. I was concerned about the cost although I did have birthday money, but I wondered if I should spend so much of it on a doll.

I finally decided to get one of the friends dolls because Amy doesn't have any of those. Emily is Molly's friend. Last Wednesday night Any and I sat at the computer picking and choosing what outfits to get. She even got tired! ; ) We did have a great time.

Now at risk of "protesting too much" I also want to say I fear being judged for my choice. Maybe I don't need to be concerned about that because my friends wouldn't do that. (I hope.) ; )