Week One

Well, we made it through the first week.

Day one... My husband came home to me crying, saying I was putting the kids in school.

Day two... My husband came home to the kids crying, saying "PLEASE DADDY, PUT US BACK IN SCHOOL."

Day three... I yelled at the kids, did all my laundry, ran around town like a mad woman.

Day four... The cats pooped in the fire place, my tire went flat and I spent 3 hours in Les Shwab waiting for them to fix it. Meanwhile my 5 year old son made friends with a Hispanic family and informed them it was OK that they didn't speak English, because he speaks Mexican! Then he proceeded to say Hubala humuna humuna. They didn't look too amused.
THEN I lost my 7 year old son. He said he was going to the bathroom. 10 minutes later, he's still gone, so we look in the men's bathroom... EMPTY. I look all around the tiny little tire store with no luck. I'm ready to lose it so I yell out his name. A grunty reply comes from the WOMEN'S bathroom. " Yeah mom, I'm in here pooping, and it's a big one". (He failed to read the sign on the door I guess). Well another 10 minutes later he comes sauntering out with his shorts crooked, patting his belly, with the biggest smile possible ( you know, the smile that says I just accomplished something great).
A few men who had greasy shirts and a little too much crack action thought my son was just great.
Then, an Asian family walked in and guess what! Yeah, I found out my 5 year old speaks "Chinese" too. Who knew?
My oldest daughter spilled popcorn all over the floor, my nine year old had gas. What do you do in that situation? Do you say"That terrible smell is coming from my cute little daughter, not me" Or do you just ignore it and pretend it doesn't exist? I never learned the answer to that in etiquette school. (Yes I DID go to etiquette school when I was 13, and NO I obviously don't apply any of it).
Finally the tires are done and as we leave I get the question "Hey? why aren't your kids in school." "Uh, yeah, we uh... homeschool." People of minority and men sporting crack everywhere have now joined in the anti homeschool movement thanks to me.

Day Five... We had our homeschool dessert picnic (I brought Oreos, because I'm so domestic and all). My sons introduced the homeschooled boys to the word "nuts" (I am still dying of embarrassment as I write this). My daughters openly said the the homeschoolers in this town are "so weird". (More embarrassment). I got signed up to head publicity for the group. Now admit it... THAT'S funny. Oh and I cheated on my "diet" and ate 2 lemon bars and a "few" cookies ( I lost count after 3).

Today... I got my hair done.

Tomorrow... We are going to our new Church! (The details in another post)

Monday... Still homeschooling. I'm not throwing in the towel just yet. We DID cover Communism, the Taliban, Afghanistan, the fall of Rome and how that relates to America thus proving the pertinence of history lessons, early Chemistry (my kids laughed every time I said "gas" so we focused a bit more on liquids and solids), the shifting of continents, Albania, the Azeri people, Islam (and why they hate us), PLUS 5 lessons of math, English, and reading for each child.
You have to admit, with the week I've had, I kicked the school's butt in the education arena. Now if I can just keep myself from loosing my mind, I may make it though week two. ~Karlie

PS. My son wants to be the Grim Reaper for homeschool harvest party. Since they already think I'm awful I think I'll let him go for it. I'll just say he's a bible character....Satan.

Starting Homeschool Tuesday

Tuesday is the big day! We start homeschool again. I am not actually ready to start, but figure I better get going. We have Math and English curriculum for the kiddos, but decided to not use a curriculum for Science, History, etc. It should keep it pretty relaxed... I hope. We are going to study the Solar System as a family and end with a night time field trip to an observatory. Honestly, that's all we have planned outside of the basics, but I'm OK with that.
Soccer has already started for the boys, and next week we add fall gymnastics team practice for my 9 yr dd, ballet (on point... had to add that 'cause I'm just so proud) for 11 yr dd, homeschool band for 11 yr dd, and Awana's for the boys (only because we are already in town that evening). Is that a crazy schedule or what? Oh and before I get posts telling me to tone down my schedule, let me state for the record, we LIKE it this way. After being home all day, by 3:00 my kids are begging to get out of the house. I am usually a bit burnt out by May... if only activities ended mid April, oh well.
I imagine I won't have too much time for blogging until I get our routine down, so if you don't hear from me for awhile, that's why. I really want to put my focus into a positive start for our year these next few weeks. Ah.... priorities.
I'll catch up with you guys in a few weeks when things settle down (unless something REALLY cool happens that I just have to share, or I get an uncommonly deep thought). I pray you all have a great start to your homeschooling / school year too! ~Karlie

Things I'm Into

As a little girl, I had a pretty blue box, a bit bigger than a shoe box that I would keep my treasures in. Some things would stay in there for a season, some forever. I put in my VERY favorite books, cassette tapes, articles, and of course, my dairy.



I don't have that blue box anymore ( I tossed it after I had kids... I didn't want any "mamma before she was mamma" incidents, but my desire to cling on to my favorites has not changed.



So what am I into right now? So glad you asked because I was going to share anyway ( ;



The new Johnny Lang CD, Turn Around. It is SO good. The guy is like 21, became a famous Blues artist at 16, and got saved! His CD is pretty much about his faith and it ROCKS!



When the Day of Evil Comes by Melanie Wells. This is easily my favorite Christian fiction novel. I literally couldn't stop reading it until it was finished, it was THAT suspenseful. I highly suggest you get yourself a copy, BUT don't start it until you can devote the rest of the day to finishing it. Her sequel Soul Hunter was every bit as good (maybe better), so you might as well pick than one up while you are at it. My only complaint; Mrs. Wells does not write fast enough! I can't WAIT for #3.



Created to be his Helpmeet Debbie Pearl. OK, I must admit, at first I HATED this book, but the more I read it the more I realized it was biblical truth, and as I applied it to my own marriage, I saw AMAZING results. This is NOT a feel good book. This is an in your face, tell it like it is battering of conviction. Like boot camp, it wasn't fun, but I learned so much in a very short time... and it DEFINITELY changed my marriage for the better. A MUST READ! Just calm down and pray about what you read before you send me nasty e-mails for suggesting it. ( ;



Nars has this blush, and it has a "naughty" name that I won't mention here, but the stuff is gorgeous! Pricey, yes, overindulgent yes... but it makes your skin look SO pretty. You can buy it at my favorite store in the world Sephora.

Quorn. It's a super protein, soy free, meat substitute. I'm not a big meat eater, and I DON'T do soy products (that stuff is dangerous in my opinion) so it's nice to have a healthy alternative. Especially one so tasty! This get my vote for the best health food product on the market!

So there you have it! These are my newest discoveries, worthy of my blue treasure box (that is decaying under tons of garbage in a landfill somewhere... but that's besides the point). So, be sure to check them out, and share yours too! You never know when I'll find a new favorite, it just might be one of yours!

I dedicate this post to my fellow bloggers who helped me finally figure out the link thingy!

HELP.... I'm Confused

We are still church hopping here over in my neck of the woods. I'm starting to think we're going to have to settle. We DID find a great church for us (two of them in fact) but they were in a neighboring town, over 45 minutes a way. It just seemed like it would be too hard to be an active member of the body when we live so far away.
Now we have been looking locally at one church pretty seriously. We like a lot about it, so I did my typical (call and grill the pastor to make sure there is nothing goofy). You would be surprised to know how many churches actually think the bible rules don't apply to them.
After a nice conversation I brought out the fundamentalist" big guns" abortion and homosexuality. Now here is where I got caught up a bit, He said that while they believe what the bible says, and homosexuality is wrong, they welcome practicing homosexuals into their congregation. No, they do not preach to them about it nor ask them to change because they want to first develop a relationship with them and hope someone might council them at a later date.
My reply was "Would you let a man who is cheating on his wife bring his mistress to church and not call him on it?" "Oh, no, of course not, we'd follow biblical procedures A, B and C." It sounded a bit like a double standard to me and made my conservative self shudder.
After I hung up and I talked with my hubby we resolved to NOT attend the church. Now I have been thinking... am I too harsh? What if I had a close homosexual relative? Wouldn't I want the opportunity to bring them to church and lead them to God? Maybe I'm being brainwashed by the Liberal influences around me... I don't know!!! What would that be saying to my kids if we attended a church that looked the other way? What about people who show up high on drugs, or drunk, or weigh 300 pounds from their gluttonous out of control life style? Should we say, "I'm sorry mam, you can't attend this church unless you stop stuffing your face with donuts." A sin is a sin. AHHH!
What do y'all think? ~Karlie

A much better excuse

Maybe I should have waited a week on that flaky blogger post, 'cause obviously I wasn't ready to quit being flaky! Actually. we've just been REALLY busy. The boys started soccer, and my hubby's coaching. We had a huge barbecue with my husbands bank that was NOT a potluck because he told everyone that I would provide the food. So, I've been making cobblers and salads for 30. Then we took a fantastic weekend trip (just the two of us).

We went white water rafting and had a blast! The highlights were the EXTREME fun I had on the level 3 rapids, the great scenery, and the water fights we had with the other rafts. The downside, I ALMOST fell out (like hanging on with one arm)... not that it would be the end of the world, but the river is REALLY cold, and it just wasn't that fun. The other downside; we had a mega bimbo on the boat. I kept praying she would fall out, but no such luck.

We stayed at a great resort right on the river. I cheated on my diet (I'm down 12 pounds now... or at least I was before this weekend) and ate homemade ravioli, peanut butter pie, and Pina Coladas. We also ran into some old friends.

Between the trip, the barbecue, soccer, getting ready to start homeschool and a goodbye party, I've been too busy to blog, or visit blogs or clean my house. With that said, I start school next week, and I am again behind in laundry, so if I do spend time blogging this week, it's because I'm procrastinating my chores, which probably means, I'll be on here a lot. Procrastination is one of my gifts ( ; ~Karlie

Flaky Blogger

Is there a flaky blogger award? My computer DIED, and I just got it back today... so there's my excuse!

8 Random Facts About My Marriage

Rhen over at http://yestheyareallmine.wordpress.com/ tagged me with this interesting marriage meme (I still don't know what meme stands for). I'd never seen one like it, so I thought I'd give it a shot!

1. My husband and I met in high school. I was 15; he was 16.

2. We married right after high school graduation (but moved in together my Junior year)

3. My husband came from a very poor family, while mine was quite "comfortable". Interestingly, he has a far better work ethic than I do. I'm still expecting that silver platter.

4. We eloped in a 7th Day Adventist church (my husbands side of the family are Adventist), and the pastor said he wouldn't pronounce us man and wife unless we admitted to being sinners for having premarital sex. WHOA. I was NOT a Christian at the time, and let me tell you I was MAD! The naughty things I said about that pastor for the next few months... Honestly, even now that I've found the Lord, I still hate the guy.

5. My husband worked two jobs and put himself through college, while I had our first daughter... AND stayed home with her. I would only see him a few hours a week, but it has paid off. He has a great career and I am STILL home with my babies.

6. When I met my husband, he had long hair, and a nose ring! I had hair past my waist and wore hippie dresses (what can I say, it was a phase). I used words like Chronic and Humboldt, and was a BIG fan of Keasey (if ya know what I mean; if you don't GOOD for you).

7. We both found the Lord with the birth of our first daughter, and drastically changed for the better. We both share the same passions, God our kids, and each other.

8. Our marriage is strong, for many reasons; but I think the best part is that we both love to have fun. We are always taking little (and BIG) adventures. We laugh at EVERYTHING, and even after nearly 12 years of marriage, we still prank call each other. We both are a bit off our rocker, and that suits us just fine... he gets me.

Ah, now after writing this, I'm going to have to go love on my husband... I'm a lucky girl!


Now, who to tag? Really Nice Day is one cool chick... I'd love to hear about how she met her hubby http://www.reallyniceday.blogspot.com/ . Cindy is another one that I've never heard the "how we met" story. http://www.stillhisgirl.blogspot.com/ . Oh and let's throw in a guy blogger. Carl, an opinionated blogger I met over at HSB http://blog.larsonhomeschool.com/ And anyone else who wants to share. Javamamma and Rachelle have great stories.. I think I'll tag you both too while I'm at it!!! http://javamamma.blogspot.com/ ,http://3knightsandaprincess.blogspot.com/

BTW, would someone PLEASE tell me how to do the link thingy!