jenlar's adventure into excessive randomness...

First day of public school, homeschool style

2010-08-09T16:53:00.008-04:00

This year, GirlKid is in 6th grade and BoyKid is in 4th. We decided to start our school year last Monday and had an absolutely great first week. Both are actually eager to learn, and they are having fun with the subjects. As a reward/incentive, we decided to celebrate the first day of public school, homeschool style: We went fishing!

We decided to spend the morning at Mary Alice Park. This is a very well-kept park on Lake Lanier. There is a large, roped-off sandy beach area, paved walking paths with handrails, and shaded bank areas for fishing. There is an entrance fee of $4 (probably why it's so nice) and they don't allow pets. It's too bad that we can't bring Bella, but if it means no free-range goldens trying to "retrieve" my lure and corks, then I'm cool with the no-pets policy. (That's the way the last couple of fishing trips went down... and when you only get a few trips a year, it's NO FUN!!!) We didn't catch any fish other than some to use for live bait, and we didn't even find the geocache that was hidden off one of the walking paths, but we did make some even better finds.

GirlKid found an absolutely gorgeous American Indian projectile point at the water's edge. It's made from a combination of milk quartz and rose quartz. You can see the markings from where the maker chipped flutes from the edges, which are still sharp after several thousand years. This is our first Atlanta-area arrowhead find, so we are pretty excited about it. Here's a short video so that you can see all sides of the point. Tell me what you think!

The other find was something we stumbled across while unsuccessfully searching for a geocache. We found some amazing wild muscadines growing in the woods! We grabbed three smallish plants and brought them home. It seems like every time we are unsuccessful with geocaching we find something amazing for our native wildflower garden. I'll take maypops (passion flowers), queen anne's lace, trumpet vine, and muscadines over signing a log any day! (Photos not mine)

Our day was still educational *and* we did all of our normal subjects this afternoon. To make tomorrow fun, I think that we'll make milkshakes in bags.

Homemade Gatorade

2010-07-13T12:22:00.003-04:00

Plain water is a major migraine trigger for me, apparently because it flushes too much of the good stuff from my system. Sports drinks are *full* of sugar or fake sweetener (another migraine trigger.) Poking around online, I found this recipe. It's nothing fancy, but it has kept my headaches away for weeks now. It's basically a weak, slightly salty Kool-Aid... much like real Gatorade.

Recipe:
1 packet unsweetened Kool-Aid (green and blue are my favorites)
1/2 tsp of salt
8-12 tablespoons of sugar (I use less, because I drink a lot throughout the day)
Optional: 1/2 c orange juice (for potassium & trace minerals)

Mix all of these into 1 gallon of water.

One recipe calls for a salt substitute instead of table salt, because it has more minerals. I'm hesitant to change something that works so well.

Pin Collecting: What Now???

2010-04-28T11:45:00.006-04:00

Jerry and I always said that we were never going to collect pins.

In the beginning, we both enjoyed our individual collections of Disney books & magazines, monorail stuff, Kitchen Kabaret items, and posters/artwork used in the parks. You know... stuff that was slightly difficult to find. We also bought an occasional pin to commemorate celebrations that we attended each year... like Flower and Garden, Mickey's Not-So-Scary, Christmas, etc.

Over the next few years, we started making several trips a year. We started buying a few pins per trip because they were "good souvenirs" that were "fairly cheap" and "don't take up much room." (Yeah. Right.) More years, more trips, more pins. I'm not going to bore you with the details of our venture off the deep end of pin collecting, but now we make several weekend trips a year in addition to a big trip every September and each time we come back with several handfuls of new pins. That's in addition to the bulk pin lots that Jerry gets for us to trade with castmembers.

We've filled up a large bulletin board and just bought a eight 12x12" cork tiles to display what we have, but how the heck are we supposed to get all of these into a database so that we know what we already have? Suggestions?

This isn't even close to all of them:

new bracelet

2008-12-31T15:56:00.001-05:00

she got jewelry making supplies for christmas

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Gettin ready!

2008-11-16T16:32:00.001-05:00

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Outside HSM 3

2008-10-25T12:59:00.000-04:00

Gotta love north Atlanta

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Halloween Costumes... hmm...

2008-10-04T11:32:00.002-04:00

Jazzie wants to be Aayla Secura, a Jedi from the Star Wars prequels:

Tristan wants to be Darth Maul, a Sith apprentice from the same series:

These costumes should be fun to figure out!

At the redneck beach

2008-10-03T21:15:00.003-04:00

We hit Huguenot Beach, better known as "The Redneck Beach" a few days ago. Here's some pics to enjoy. There would be more pics of Jazzie if she would be still for more than one second!
Pic1
Pic2
Pic3
Pic4
Pic5

Bye Bye PI

2008-09-25T19:04:00.000-04:00

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Where am I?

2008-09-25T08:39:00.000-04:00

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Epcot... early!

2008-09-25T08:05:00.000-04:00

Ready for the tour! Where is our guide?

Oh... AKL was so cool!

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Daddy's home from NJ!

2008-09-23T08:18:00.000-04:00

Filling Daddy in on the news of the day.

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Napping on the bottom shelf

2008-09-22T15:07:00.001-04:00

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Who's this kid

2008-09-22T13:26:00.000-04:00

...and why is she smiling??? Srsly... where's my grumpy lil schoolgirl???

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Super busy boy

2008-09-22T13:21:00.000-04:00

Working on his journal

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Bella's pillow

2008-09-18T18:09:00.001-04:00

Aww... look who's resting her hesd on my knitting! Somebody likes baby alpaca!

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More on George

2008-09-17T13:35:00.012-04:00

Show not yourself glad at the misfortune of another, though he were your enemy.

Let your countenance be pleasant, but in serious matters somewhat grave.

When in company put not your hands to any part of the body not usually discovered.

-George Washington

Handwriting by George deserves an entry all its own. This is the coolest book! This is the first part of George Washington's rules for how to behave around others. The entries are hilarious, yet strangely relevant to modern situations. Every lesson has one rule to write a few times, a place to illustrate a practical, modern application of the rule, and a place to describe what you draw.

Fourth and Second Grades :)

2008-09-17T13:35:00.007-04:00

We are on the third day of school and it is going great! They actually seem to want to learn something this year! Here are two pictures. The first one shows all of the books. The second one shows the way we set up to do the school day. Both show Jazzie being grumpy and Tristan being silly. Imagine that.

Yes, the giant coffee cup is definitely part of the curriculum!

So here's the lowdown on all of the books we're using this year. We kinda abandoned the A Beka stuff this year in favor of an overall curriculum that is more tailored to their needs.

Jazzie:

Reading - Little Women by Louisa May Alcott (one chapter a day)

Math - Mathematics Level D from Modern Curriculum Press

Handwriting - Handwriting by George: Rules of Civility & Decent Behaviour in Company & Conversation, Rules 1-27 from Greenleaf Press (this is the coolest book EVERRR!!!)

Spelling - Spectrum Spelling: Grade 4 from Frank Schaffer Publications

Tristan:

Reading - The World of Dick and Jane and Friends from Grosset & Dunlap

Math - Mathematics Level B from Modern Curriculum Press

Handwriting - A Reason for Handwriting: Manuscript B from The Concerned Group, Inc.

Both:

World History - The Story of the World Volume 3: Early Modern Times by Susan Wise Bauer

Georgia History - Exploring Georgia: The Story of Georgia by Ray Notgrass

Science - Discovery Labs at Bristol Academy

PE - with our homeschool co-op

Standardized testing (bleh!) was last week and is out of the way until til 6th grade unless we decide to do it sooner. Mr. Berg from Homeschool Hangout is the nicest man and he put Jazzie completely at ease about the test. Tristan and I sat together during the test, reading, knitting, drawing, writing, and playing with Lego blocks. I love this store. If you're local, you should go!

Jazzie started riding lessons last week! She and her cousin are taking lessons together at Blue Springs Farm. She loves it. Big surprise, huh? She was very serious-faced til she the instructor told her to trot while the other girls were still walking. Then we got some smiles! Too bad that it was sprinkling and my lens got all foggy so the pictures are a little blurry, but they're better than nuthin...

Poole's Mill

2008-08-04T23:42:00.005-04:00

We spent the day at Poole's Mill park. What a fun place to go! There are rocks to slide on and the water is nice & cold. We had a picnic, complete with watermelon and boiled peanuts. It was a great day!
ETA: Family... check out the pics at my Flickr!

...and for my next project

2008-07-25T17:07:00.003-04:00

A scarf, based on the one that David Cook is wearing in this picture:

I'm not much of a "blue" girl so I switched it up a bit and added some green:

It's gonna be a 1x1 rib, which should be pretty mindless. Can't wait to see how it turns out!

Red Robin

2008-07-20T15:37:00.000-04:00

Yummm

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Origami frog = epic fail

2008-07-13T20:50:00.002-04:00

Well, as you can see in the picture, this was *supposed* to be an origami frog.

Moral of the story: Just say no to origami.

Adorable!

2008-06-27T13:02:00.001-04:00

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Retro

2008-06-26T16:55:00.000-04:00

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Small world

2008-06-26T16:50:00.000-04:00

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De vine

2008-06-26T12:23:00.000-04:00

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Dino wants a bite

2008-06-26T11:42:00.000-04:00

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Oil rig?

2008-06-26T10:47:00.001-04:00

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Uno mas of the light saber

2008-06-25T20:56:00.001-04:00

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Judge me by my size do you?

2008-06-25T20:51:00.000-04:00

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Going 2 visit the ghost host

2008-06-25T12:16:00.001-04:00

Lovd this one! Classic!

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Mmm

2008-06-25T11:30:00.001-04:00

Dole whip float

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Goin downtown

2008-06-24T17:23:00.001-04:00

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My Birthday Breakfast and more :D

2008-06-23T14:45:00.008-04:00

My birthday has been great! I promised some pics to a few people so here they are. They haven't been cropped, adjusted or anything but they're better than the cellphone pics in the last umpteen posts :)

First, my breakfast. Tonga Toast from Disney's Polynesian Resort. It, and it's sugar high, are wonderful. Oh yeah... the coffee is french-press Kona with real cream.

Who would have ever believed that Stormtroopers would be great comedy relief? It's Star Wars Weekend at Disney's Hollywood Studios and the whole place has taken on a Star Wars theme. These guys were on the roof of the ticket gates yesterday, entertaining the crowd til the gates opened.

Mickey sent me a birthday card! Jerry and the kids got one, too.

A quick video of the Mr. Potato Head animatronic at at Toy Story Midway Mania, the newest ride at WDW.

Who.s cute?

2008-06-23T13:44:00.000-04:00

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I AM SMILING!!!

2008-06-23T13:41:00.000-04:00

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Happy bday...

2008-06-23T13:35:00.001-04:00

To meee!

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Classic

2008-06-23T13:33:00.001-04:00

Carousel of progress

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Who.s pretty?

2008-06-23T12:40:00.000-04:00

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String people!

2008-06-23T11:34:00.000-04:00

For crafty reference

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Japamese snacks!

2008-06-22T22:17:00.001-04:00

I got a zillion little packs of goodies from Mitsukoshi @ the Japan pavilion. Betca want some, too!

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I love star wars weekend!

2008-06-22T13:11:00.000-04:00

Lil ewok plushes

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I pwnd Tristan!

2008-06-22T13:08:00.000-04:00

Toy story mania. Awesome new ride!

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Pre show opening

2008-06-22T08:25:00.000-04:00

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Geeeeek fest

2008-06-22T08:19:00.000-04:00

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2008-06-02T13:48:00.000-04:00

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BK has Shia cups!

2008-05-26T19:57:00.000-04:00

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Indy!

2008-05-25T10:11:00.001-04:00

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Heroes

2008-05-21T12:41:00.000-04:00

Off to war. Hartsfield apt.

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Want!

2008-05-17T15:33:00.000-04:00

Buy me?

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Dog plus kids = win!

2008-05-05T17:52:00.001-04:00

Abby is such a great dog!

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Indians!

2008-05-04T13:18:00.001-04:00

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Powwow

2008-05-04T13:06:00.000-04:00

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Tonite???

2008-04-25T14:21:00.000-04:00

Why couldn't you have played *last* night? :(

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Zooomm!

2008-04-25T11:51:00.000-04:00

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5 legged goat!

2008-04-25T11:49:00.000-04:00

Yayy mary blair!

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Dead men tell no tale!

2008-04-23T19:31:00.000-04:00

Pirates ftw!

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Yo ho yo ho

2008-04-23T13:32:00.000-04:00

Pirate and Princess party tonite!

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...and we're in!

2008-04-22T21:48:00.000-04:00

Hodges time machine? *Iz skeered*

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Awww

2008-04-22T21:45:00.001-04:00

Jazzie kingdom

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Horticulture like whoa

2008-04-22T21:13:00.001-04:00

Tried 2 steal this tree. 2 heavy. #

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Tumblebob

2008-04-22T21:12:00.001-04:00

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Rawrr!

2008-04-22T21:06:00.001-04:00

Dinos rule! #

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Squirla

2008-04-22T17:18:00.001-04:00

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2008-04-22T11:37:00.001-04:00

Lets name the zones

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Found Nemo

2008-04-22T11:23:00.000-04:00

We just heard joe rohde speak. Now its time 4 nemo!

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On the way to Animal Kingdom's 10th

2008-04-22T06:53:00.001-04:00

Too early to feel Magical

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ATAT like whoa

2008-04-21T22:49:00.001-04:00

Tried to steal it. Jerry said no :(

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Bella doing tricks

2008-01-29T13:07:00.000-05:00

She (almost) learned a new one! BANG! and she falls over!

I love these gloves!!!

2008-01-28T21:56:00.000-05:00

There's one thing I love about knitting. Now I can see someone wearing something and I can make it. Anyway, on New Year's Eve, Blake Lewis performed on one of the countdown shows. He was wearing the most awesome wool scarf and fingerless gloves! I figured that I was the only one who cared, but then found the forums abuzz with love not only for the performance but about the scarf and gloves.

A friend dropped Blake a message to ask where he got the scarf and he said that he got it in Scotland. No luck... can't make a trip to Scotland for a scarf... but I *can* make the gloves! It's Bethy to the rescue! She loved the gloves, too, and has an original pattern that she's tweaking. To make a long story short (too late) I finally got to start on them yesterday. You can also read a bit of my conversation with rzonmrcury in this way-too-dark picture :)

I'm using Susan Bates size 6 Quicksilver circular needles. The yarn isn't as dark as it appears in the picture. It's 100% alpaca, sport-weight yarn from Frog Tree. It's 005 at the bottom of this chart:

So I'm only just starting, but they're coming along nicely. I'll update when I've gotten farther up the hand.

So what are your arts & hobbies? Tell me about them!

Something pretty!

2008-01-27T11:15:00.000-05:00

I can't believe how pretty this uber-simple project turned out. Just a simple shawl pattern, $6 worth of a soft wool blend, and a few hours while watching tv and you've got this:

It's for my grandmother, but this little model was more than eager to show it off even though it's way too big.

Materials used:
-2 skeins of Patons Shetland Chunky in High Plains Variegated (sorry... nothing called "Fizz" is coming anywhere near one of my projects. I hate novelty yarns!)

-1 pair of size 17, 14" birch knitting needles by Brittany, originally purchased because they're pretty and look like magic wands!

Snow Again AGAIN!!!

2008-01-19T22:17:00.000-05:00

I just realized something. Y'all may not know that you can click on the pictures for a bigger version. Did you know that? Give it a try! -jen

We had even more snow today! We probably got around 2.5 inches or so. It started around 9:00 this morning and continued all day! We took lots of pictures in the woods, and some of them are very similar but I'm posting them anyway. There are even more on the hard drive. If you'd like any of the full-size, un-retouched versions of the pictures just drop me an e-mail & I'll send them to ya!

Jazzie wouldn't zip her coat so her hood wouldn't stay up. Her hair got all wet from the falling snow!

There was this tree that had really neat-colored dead leaves on it... sorta golden brown. I made the kids pose under it!

Jazzie figured out how to make a really big snow ball... then she smashed it on the driveway!

It was sooooo pretty in the woods! I wish that I could've taken more pictures but the snow was coming down so hard that it pictures looked all blotchy... not to mention the lens was covered with itty bitty water spots!

Tristan, wearing his too-little hat I made for him a couple of years ago. He refuses to wear anything else!

A very cold, very wet, but very happy little doggy!

This kid will pose for anything.

Bella, even though she was a cold lil pupsicle, absolutely *loves* the snow! She had a complete fit to go outside, talking and bouncing and around-ing just inside the back door. She saw that snow and wouldn't settle down til we took her to zoom around in it! When I picked up her little sweater she jumped in my lap and started tugging it, trying to put it on herself! Once we were outside, she looked like the world's tiniest snow dog pulling at the end of her leash. Here's a little video of it:

Snow again!

2008-01-17T17:36:00.001-05:00

And the crowning glory of the day, a squirrel trapped inside the squirrel-proof birdfeeder!

Snow/sleet/slush-type stuff

2007-02-01T17:37:00.000-05:00

Here are the snow pictures! It was mostly just slush but we still had lots of fun!

OK... so Bella didn't like it very much. She's trying to go back inside!

Earlier she had on the sweater I knitted for her but it got too wet for her to wear.

This snowball, immortalized in flight, ended its journey by splatting its way down the back of Tristan's pants. See the target?

Jazzie made a tiny snowman family. (She also made the hat that she's wearing!)

The daddy had to walk home from town. See his track?

It was a loonnnngg way!

And finally, click here to see a short clip of Jazzie, Tristan and Bella playing!

New birds... here they are!

2007-02-01T17:04:00.000-05:00

Here are Birder (white-face grey) and Lily (with the orange cheeks) sharing a bowl of food. Lily is making that little sound. Click to see the video!

Lily getting scratches and then Cuckoo coming to get her scratches, too. Click to see the video!

You can barely see Twitter (pearl) in the back ground. She's not a people-person.

This is Jack and Elizabeth. They love each other. They were feeding seeds to each other and they came home with us so that nobody could buy just one of them. They are actually about half-way hand tamed! This is not a video, but you can click to see a bigger version of the picture.

Here's one last video but it's sideways. You can really hear Lily singing tho... so I'm posting it anyway. Click & listen!

More bluebirds

2007-01-17T15:40:00.000-05:00

Bluebirds eating grub worms. Yuk.

The camera is going back on the tree at the salt block tomorrow. Maybe we can get some good pictures of something looking for food in the ice!

SWAPATORIUM: Ski Masks

2007-01-10T21:04:00.000-05:00

This is a frightening bit of yarn work Click with caution. ;)

SWAPATORIUM: Ski Masks

WildView game camera

2007-01-03T17:48:00.000-05:00

Tristan got a really cool motion-activated camera for Christmas. It's a weatherproof camera for taking pictures of deer, bears, moose, or anything else that wanders by. Last night we got this:

Tristan decided that we needed to get pictures of *something* so we mounted the camera in front of our bird feeder. He got a few good shots! Check out the bluebird, the purple finch, and the little woodpecker!

...and in this picture, you can just *barely* see the male bluebird's mate through the practically empty feeder. Jazzie & Tristan have been watching them come & go from one of the bluebird boxes on the treeline of the woods:

That's all for now. We'll mount the camera again in the morning & see what we get!

Blogging from a cell phone...

2006-12-05T09:01:00.000-05:00

...is a learned skill. :-P

Hootie!

2006-10-23T23:12:00.000-04:00

Hootie is doing great. After we got home she explored the house and made herself at home. She's spent lots of time sleeping in my lap or on my footstool with her head propped on my leg. She spent about an hour in her crate today and didn't seem to mind too much after a little while. To top it off, Tristan is having no allergy problems whatsoever!

The easiest useful craft I've ever done...

2006-08-29T11:35:00.000-04:00

At the Southeast Homeschool Expo, there was a lady from JoAnn was demonstrating the Knifty Knitter 2 from Provo Craft.

This is the coolest thing. Jasmine is making a green hat. She is having no trouble whatsoever. I've already made about five or so, from scrap yarn.

If making hats isn't your "thing" you can go back & forth instead of making circles and you'll have rectangles of all sizes. Make several long strips, sew them together, and make a blanket!

Jazzie is modeling NaNa's hat, and Tristan is very unhappy about modeling a hat that doesn't meet his specifications.

Next, Jazzie models her blue, sparkly hat that I made to match a scarf that I made a few weeks ago, and Tristan models *my* giant hat. The last picture is of my hat, over the laptop, showing (but not very well) the detail of the stitches. NaNa's, Jazzie's, and mine all have a band. Tristan's has a little roll at the bottom instead of a band. It's really cute, even if he doesn't like it.

Anyway, it's good, easy fun. Pick up a set!

KwikSewFreeSewingPattern-Purse.pdf (application/pdf Object)

2006-08-25T17:24:00.000-04:00

KwikSewFreeSewingPattern-Purse.pdf (application/pdf Object)
I want to make this. It's really cute, and may use up some scraps.

First Day of School

2006-08-22T12:19:00.000-04:00

We started school today, and I'm sure that I'd be killed if I didn't take pictures and post them immediately :D

School went great. Jasmine is helping me teach Tristan the basics of phonics which they both think is wonderful. Tristan's school day is a lot shorter than Jasmine's (1 hour vs. 4) so most of the time Jasmine and I are still one-on-one.

Now, everyone who knows these two understands that they get pretty furious and/or silly after about the millionth picture. That's when I snapped the last two pictures. Jazzie made faces and Tristan had a complete fit... imagine that!

WHERE'S MY CABLE???

2006-07-26T17:30:00.000-04:00

I will be posting another blog as soon as I find my camera cable. Grrr...

Two blogs in one day!!! Yaaay!!!

2006-07-17T21:28:00.000-04:00

This is going to have a *lot* of pictures!
Tristan's birthday... he wanted his big train set up around the living room, other toys set up inside it, and to eat hamburgers in the middle of all of it. That's *exactly* what we did!

Jasmine, with her roses after her dancing recital.

Jazzie, with her 5.5 pound bass.

Tristan, the dirtiest boy ever, next to a picture of the dirtiest PawPaw ever.

Me, and my almost-6-pound bass.

PawPaw, in a really good picture taken by Tristan.

A sorta cool picture of the cemetery, but not as cool as I had hoped...

My latest finds...

2006-07-17T21:04:00.000-04:00

Stuff from Goodwill:
Cambridge dayplanner, Mary Higgins Clark's Loves Music, Loves to Dance, old metal Swingline stapler that I intend to paint red & dare anyone to touch, cool metal 3x5 index card box, and an old bottle/can opener. Also, I got a Ty beanie baby for Jasmine but she's already made it comfy in her room :D

Stuff from the Big Flag flea market:
A whole tackle box full of stuff for $5. I think that I'll string beads on the fly line backing.

Boy... that sounds more redneck
than I wanted it to...

New addition to the family!

2006-03-27T10:55:00.000-05:00

This weekend we got a new little parakeet for our little boy. He is soooo excited and can't wait until his bird enjoys spending time riding on his shoulder. The cockatiels are very interested in their tiny next door neighbor, and even more interested in his millet spray. He is still a baby so we can't be sure that "he" actually *is* a he, but his nose has a slight blue color to it so we suspect that he is a male.

Update: He just started to sing a little! Only a few little tweets so far, but that's a start. He's getting used to us, and is talking to the cockatiels!

Yard Sale!

2006-03-24T21:10:00.000-05:00

Here's some of the stuff that I got today. First picture is a cute horse sweater and little outfit from Talbot Kids, for my daughter.

Next is a cool plate and bowl by Johnson Bros. The pattern is Farmhouse Chic Silky Stripe, by Johnson Bros.

Next are assorted Christmas & holiday magazines, cookbooks, a plant book, and a copy of Red Dragon.

Then, also for my daughter, is a wipe-off board with the addition tables and a little what-not shelf, and a lamp that needs some work and a new shade. The cool stuffed tyrannosaurus rex is for my son.

The santa & pumpkin things are door hangings that need to be stitched, but I'm going to do something else with them.

The 3+ yards of Roy Rogers fabric was *finally* marked down to a reasonable price at Hobby Lobby, only $1/yard.

I also picked up new Easter baskets for both kids at Hobby Lobby, and matching ribbons for the pink one.

Last but not least, a model roller coaster that will take forever to put together.

Rainbows

2006-03-21T12:06:00.001-05:00

Two weeks ago, we participated in our homeschool science fair. Tristan did a great experiment with fingerprints and proved that everyone doesn't have the same prints. He also proved that you can create quite a mess with a permanent ink pad and an even bigger one with powdered graphite and tape.

Jasmine's experiment was on how a prism makes a rainbow. We tried for days to get the good rainbow pictures that she needed for her display board, and finally succeeded on the day before the fair. Here are some of them, with my favorite one first:

We also decided that a right isosceles triangle makes a better spectrum than an equilateral prism, but that wasn't part of the project... just another observation.

...and now I have two.

2006-03-20T16:17:00.000-05:00

I always said that I'd never blog. Then I started a blog. Then I decided that one mainly-about-tv blog wasn't enough so I started another one here. I have no idea if anyone will ever read this blog but I'm gonna write it anyway.

Anyway, I'm jenlar. I am a Christian wife and stay at home homeschooling mom of two children. I am married to the coolest, smartest cutest guy ever, and he's also my very best friend. We met in 1994 and quickly became best friends and were married in 1997. That's 12 years of best-friendship. It doesn't get any better than this!

I spend a lot of time homeschooling my kids every day, using the Abeka curriculum. It's the best! It gives a great balance between reading and the other subjects and I don't have to make my own lesson plans, which saves a *lot* of time. We are also involved with a very busy, huge homeschool group in our area. We get together several times a week for playing, learning, celebrating, and field trips.

When I am not homeschooling, I absolutely love action movies (think: EXPLOSIONS!!!) and horror movies. I even enjoy the occasional romantic comedy if it comes highly recommended from a reliable source. I'm also a slave to some television shows, like CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, House MD, 24, Bones and Supernatural. I'm currently reading Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and rereading/listeneing to the audiobook of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. I'm not currently doing a Bible study but my favorite ones are by Beth Moore.

What have I forgotten? Probably tons. But hey... I can make as many entries as I like!!!