Friday, December 19, 2008

Inspired

Hello! Yesterday Kyle and I spent the day at Ahma's and then met my Dad & Ruth for dinner. It was so wonderful to spend that extra little bit of time with them :)

Just a few more days until we are on our way!!! Yay!

But, here's the main reason I blogged today:
In these stressful economic times and holiday seasons....it is so easy to lose focus. I wanted to share with you a blog that I found very inspiring. A concept I believe in wholeheartedly. Please see this short excerpt about building up the people in our lives, rather than tearing them down. http://cindybeall.com/?p=500

Love to all!
-Lisa

Monday, December 15, 2008

Update

We have been SO busy this last week. We have been working on NUMEROUS Christmas gifts (as most of you know, we buy almost NOTHING for gifts and make everything....not that it is really much cheaper, it's not...but it means so much more) and getting them wrapped. We finally shipped our clothes and presents to Nevada today...a 30 minute wait (a lot shorter than it looked like it would be) two 40 pound boxes and $80 later....it's on it's way! No checked luggage for us!! YAY!

Last Thursday Kyle and I went on a field trip with our homeschool group to see the play "A Christmas Story" at the Orlando Rep Theatre....IT WAS SO GOOD!! Wonderful, amazing...I cannot say enough good things about it. They did a fantastic job! I have a couple of pics but my camera was acting up...so all the good ones are on Lisa's camera....I'll get those as soon as I can.

Saturday night we went up to Cottom Farm to see the decorations on the horse farm....beautiful. Then we walked around Light Up Lady Lake. Ronnie and Detto spent the night playing video games and saying "dude" as every other word (we counted once for a ten minute period of time and I think they said it 17 times!! What is it with men and that word??) and Lisa and I sewed our hearts out. The new setup she has now for a sewing area allows her to sew opposite of me....so we both have our sewing machines going...before there was only really room for one...so this is GREAT!
I can't put pics up on here b/c everything I am working on is Christmas gifts!!

Church was absolutely wonderful yesterday. God is so amazing and I never stop being overwhelmed by His grace and love. We are SO very blessed to serve God.

I'm late getting Christmas cards out...but they're coming!!!! I am mailing those out tomorrow.

Jimmy is planning on moving in here in the next couple of days. Praise God for that easy transition. I am so thankful that it worked out like it did. We are very happy about this :)

Ronnie's Mom is still in the hospital. She is able to move her head to say yes or no now though. I am doing a block swap for Valentine's Day and I think I will take the blocks I receive plus the ones I make and make her a lap quilt. The Lord must really have something for her b/c she should not still be alive after all she's been through. They gave her a less than 25% chance of surviving her surgery last week and she lived. So....time will tell.

Another craft day tomorrow at the Mongiovi's and then Wednesday I clean Patsy's house and Thursday I am going to help Ahma. Friday I help Mom finish her Christmas gift making...and Voila...Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday....and then WE LEAVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAY!!!!!!!!! :) It's been snowing up there so we are hoping we will have a white Christmas!!

Mattie is still enduring Mother Nature....my Mom says she BETTER be done by the time we go away, lol. Linus and her have a grooming appointment on the 22nd..I truly hope she is done with this by then. After going through this heat with her, I don't think breeding her is such a good idea. I think we may just get her fixed. I don't know though. I am attaching a pic of her looking very pitiful, :).

Love to all,
Lisa




The Simple Woman's Daybook


FOR TODAY Monday December 15th, 2008
Outside my window... nightime. pretty Christmas lights on the houses in the neighborhood.
I am thinking...that it was expensive to mail our stuff to Nevada BUT oh so worth it.....no checked luggage!! YAY!
I am thankful for... my family. I LOVE my family!
From the learning rooms... Crafts, crafts & more crafts!
From the kitchen... Not much...baked chicken for din din tonight.
I am wearing...Capris and a t shirt.
I am creating... stockings, table runners, purses.
I am going...to go to Lisa's tomorrow & Ahma's Wednesday!
I am reading..." "A Christmas Seduction"
I am hoping...that the boxes we mailed out today make it to Nevada before we do!
I am hearing...Kyle in the shower & the clock ticking.
Around the house...I used this steam mop for the first time and it is AMAZING!! No chemicals, no back pain, and absolutely spotless, disinfected floors!!
One of my favorite things...finishing up sewing projects
A few plans for the rest of the week... finish my table runners and wrap gifts for local family & friends.
Here is picture thought I am sharing...
**If you would like to participate in the Simple Woman's Daybook...go here: http://thesimplewomansdaybook.blogspot.com/

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

12 days of a quilters Christmas

I thought this was cute...it was posted by one of the ladies on my cafemom group "Quilting Moms".

12- stitches left when the bobbin ran out

11- projects going at once

10- little fingers trying to help

9-ladies in the quild

8- cups of coffee/tea that we have had today

7- papers to be pieced

6- dishes in the sink- i will wash them later

5- hoops to be finished

4-times the phone has rung and interupted me

3- kids sleeping so we can sew

2- dogs stepping on my pedal

1- husband calling us to bed

The Simple Woman's Daybook


FOR TODAY Tuesday (yea, I'm a day late) December 12th, 2008
Outside my window... a cloudy day..not too hot, not too cold.
I am thinking...that we need to get our school work started...it's almost noon!
I am thankful for... my home. I love it here.
From the learning rooms... busy with life lessons, thematic units and crafts this week. From now until the holidays are over we are scaling back. We are focusing on our Science curriculum, with plans to finish the planets unit and the unit on Earth this week. Next week starts Rocks and Minerals. We are using a Reading Comprehension workbook, rather than our regular reading/phonics curriculum and we will be starting Westward Ho! again (Kyle has BEGGED to do this again...and there is a museum near Fallon about the Pioneers going West that we will visit while we are in Nevada). We will also be creating two lapbooks over the next few weeks.
From the kitchen... I'll be baking a cake for John Friday, no other major plans....I would like to bake cookies with Kyle on Sunday, but I'm not sure we will have time.
I am wearing...shorts and one of Ronnie's T-shirts
I am creating... a stocking, a new quilt, crayon rolls & helping my Mom make some gifts.
I am going...to homeschool PE at the YMCA tomorrow, to the Orlando Rep Theatre on Thursday for a field trip....We will be seeing a play of "A Christmas Story". And we have a get together day with other homeschooled kids on Friday.
I am reading..." "Night Prince"
I am hoping...that the gifts we bought online for Kyle will arrive in Nevada in time for Christmas morning. How would I explain that Santa was running late!!??!
I am hearing...Kyle making vrooom vroom noises while playing with his cars
Around the house...the Christmas tree is up and misc Christmas decorations are all layed out waiting for me to place them. The school/sewing room is a wreck right now b/c of all the projects going on.
One of my favorite things... hee hee...is watching Linus go ballistic when the outside blow up santa is up...yea, I know...Ronnie is seriously rubbing off on me.
A few plans for the rest of the week... finish the prjects I need to ship to Nevada, wrap Christmas gifts, get the house in order.
Here is picture thought I am sharing...

**If you would like to participate in the Simple Woman's Daybook...go here: http://thesimplewomansdaybook.blogspot.com/

Monday, December 8, 2008

Lapbooking!

Sunday night I attended a class on lapbooking. I LOVE this concept!! Basically, it's a collection of mini books placed inside a folder, folded poster board, etc. to creat a lapbook! You make all these nifty folded mini books and place info in them. It's sorta like doing a book report on a topic without the book report part. Children retain this knowledge SO well by creating these great lapbooks. And they LOVE toshow them off!
I will get the link to the pics from the class and add it on later.*****Here's the link!! http://peterspeapod.blogspot.com/2008/12/lapbooking-workshop.html

Here are some sites to check out if you are interested in this.
*Look for some of our very own lapbooks coming up soon! Right now we are planning on doing a Westward Ho! one and one on Old Florida History.
Take care!!
www.handsofachild.com
www.liveandlearnpress.com
www.squidoo.com/lapbooking
www.homeschoolblogger.com
http://homeschoolblogger.com/jaminacema/228122
www.homeschoolhelperonline.com
www.lapbooklessons.com
www.littleblots.com
www.homeschoolshare.com/lapbooking_resources.htm
www.ruthannzaroff.com/mirkwooddesigns/templates.htm
www.txchess.com/minibooks.htm

Clipart!!--great to add to your lapbooks...real photos are the best though!
www.teacherfiles.com/clip_art.htm
http://school.discovery.com/clipart/index.html
http://webclipart.about.com/od/webclipartatoz/l/blnettop.htm
www.kidsdomain.com/clip
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/clipart/FX101321031033.aspx?pid=CL100570201033
http://webclipart.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.coolarchive.com%2Fclipart.cfm%3Fparameters%3DOffice%2520and%2520Business

Saturday, December 6, 2008

What a fun time :)

So last night we had company over to eat dinner & play games. It was so much fun!!
My mom & John, Jimmy & Dr. Sweda all came over. Plus we decided to play Burn instead of Poker so Kyle was able to play also! We had tacos for dinner with black beans & rice and I made a cake for dessert, as it was also Dr. Sweda's bday. I also baked my ten day Amish bread!!! SO.....I have three starter bags to give away--if anyone local would like one...let me know! :) (It's delicious!)

This morning we are going to decorate the Cub Scouts float for the parade this evening. (We were supposed to be there at ten-ha ha). Then we have to go back around 4:30 for Ronnie to wire the inverter to run the lights etc. 6pm is the actual parade.

We finally finished moving Kyle into his room....the desk was the last thing and we got that done yesterday. Jimmy's room is almost all arranged. He still has some things to settle before he moves in though...so it'll probably be about 4 weeks or so.

I'm also excited b/c tomorrow evening I have a lapbooking workshop I'm attending in Sorrento!! YAY! (I'm hoping to come back with some cool ideas for us Nanc).

Off to jump in the shower & get my butt moving. I hope you all have a WONDERFUL day!
-Lisa

Thursday, December 4, 2008

It smells WONDERFUL!

Last night we went and got our tree!! Yay! :) Unfortunately Kyle chose a 6-7 foot tree and it wouldn't fit in our house!!! Ronnie had to go cut a foot off of the bottom and we still have to snip the top stick thingy a couple of inches!! We wasted $5.00!! (That was the difference between this tree and a foot shorter one). But..it smells amazing. I wasn't really feeling much in the Christmasy spirit lately and now I totally do.

We had an excellent day doing school yesterday. I am so surprised at how much Kyle has retained of what he's learned. Not that I don't expect him to....but for him learning all new things this year, doing a 2nd grade curriculum, I really felt like after having 2 1/2 weeks off that we would have to do more review than we have. Yesterday we classified sentences, identifying subject noun, verb, adverb & adjective and he had not forgotten it at all! He had his question and answer flow down to a T and just breezed right through the review. It really surprised me! I had to read the darn jingle again to remember the correct question and answer flow! jeez, lol.

I am trying to wrap up the first phase in my Christmas gift making. I need to get these in the mail and start fresh on the next set. I finished quilting the gift for my swap (that was my final step) and am going to get that sent out in the mail today...YAY!

Ronnie just got a huge order at work...over $100K in steel in one order, so his branch is looking a little more secure. At least for now, anyways.

Saturday is the Leesburg Christmas Parade....it's at 6pm on Main St. in Leesburg and Kyle will be in it. The Cub Scouts have a float in the parade and Kyle will actually be in the float. So...if any of you would like to come, feel free to! It really is a very nice parade--we went to it last year and really enjoyed it.

Tonight we are decorating our tree.
Tomorrow we are having Jimmy, my Mom & John and Dr. Sweda over for dinner and poker. Or maybe we'll play Burn....haven't decided yet. Ronnie wants tacos (of all things with company over, LOL) so I'll make those and my Mom is going to bring black beans and rice. We are really looking forward to it.

My sis in law Nancy and and my niece and nephew will be heading back to Nevada Saturday. Eddie comes home the following week...and two weeks later...Jimmy, Ronnie, Kyle & I will be there!!!! :o) We are all doing homemade gifts this year, so I am REALLY excited about that!!

There is no new update on their Mom. She did have a seizure two days ago. They are going to try to wein her off of life support, but they are still only giving her less than 50% chance of living. Please pray for her.

Well, I guess I am off for now. I'm looking out my window and the clouds are pinkish b/c of the sun just coming up. Do you think the sky will ever look EXACTLY like this again? I doubt it. There is so much beauty in nature. It truly amazes me...I revel in it. I took it for granted for way too long.

Love to all!
-Lisa

Monday, December 1, 2008

The Simple Woman's Daybook


FOR TODAY Sewing with a friend most of the day while Ky plays with his friends. Finish moving Kyle into his new room.
Outside my window... a clear blue sky, crisp, cool weather. My windmill is twirling :)
I am thinking...that I need my coffee, that I have a lot to do to finish moving Ky into the other room, that today is going to be great fun b/c my dear friend is coming to hang out, that I need to do the dishes and that I pray to God that Ronnie's job is secure.
I am thankful for... my brother in law, Jimmy's life. He very possibly would have been dead had he not stopped to sleep on his way home.
From the learning rooms... back to the grind this week. As we are moving Kyle into my sewing room, we are also combining my sewing room with the school room...hoping to finish that today so we can get back on our regular schedule tomorrow.
From the kitchen... I currently smell my coffee brewing, mmmmmmm. I think I will make spagetti for dinner tonight.
I am wearing...thick bummy capris and a turtle neck
I am creating...finishing a quilt for a family member for Christmas, making a skirt and some scarves and then I'll be starting another rag-top quilt--this one will be done in fleece.
I am going...to do some local running around this week. No big plans though.
I am reading..."Mail Order Husband".
I am hoping...that Jimmy will not fight this transition.
I am hearing...Kyle gab on and on and my coffee brewing.
Around the house...the house is now in disarray. We're in the middle of transforming three rooms...ugh. Hoping to have that all done today though. Ronnie got the workshop cleaned out over the weekend, so we are hoping to do the garage this week.
One of my favorite things...is walking into Kyle's new room and watching him play without him knowing that I am watching him, hee hee.
A few plans for the rest of the week... Head up to the college, clean out the garage, get my swap gift mailed out.
Here is picture thought I am sharing...
**If you would like to participate in the Simple Woman's Daybook...go here: http://thesimplewomansdaybook.blogspot.com/