Science for the day!

One of the things I like to joke about (kinda sorta joking) is how there are always opportunities for learning in every situation, if you just keep your eyes open. (Really it is the same principle as being thankful, if we just look around we can always find something to be thankful for.)

The boys participated in a local county fair last week, which means they made some things and baked some things, and we entered them for judging. They look forward to this time of year because they know they will actually get some decent money.

This year’s fair was profitable. C (12) made $28, G (10) received $16 and N (8) raked in the highest total of the three, $39. With this particular fair, they pay you cash money on the spot when you pick up your ribbons. Wooohooo!!

From previous experience, I knew that one child in particular would be itching to spend his money. Immediately. Probably all of it. Bless his heart. And he received the least of the three. (Yes, I just gave it away.)

Anywho, yesterday the three younger ones went shopping with their dad, while me and my oldest son went off for what we like to call M&C Day. (This is where he goes along for the ride while I run all of my errands, including the ever-exciting fabric store, and in return, I reward him with a lunch out. The boy loves him some food. And I love his company, so it is a nice trade.)

G was predictable once again, and came home with a couple of things from Target. The first was what he had been searching for, a guitar instructional booklet that comes with a CD. (I thought this was a great purchase for him and was pleased. He loves music, and is actually pretty talented, and is determined to teach himself every instrument ever created.) The second purchase was neat, but I figured it was one of those things that will get misplaced, and turn into “just a fad” type toy. It was this: Wild Planet Micro Ear Gear

Boy, I think I might have been wrong about this little gadget.

This morning, N, who is the early riser of the four was playing with the little ol' micro ear and discovered that he could use it to hear his heart beat. What??? We now have a stethoscope. How cool. So I listened to his heart, then I said "Hey, let me see if your stomach is talking." So I put it on his little washboard stomach and you could hear the stomach acids just a churning. What?? Even cooler now.

So today we will be studying medical science. All because of a toy from Target called Micro Ear Gear. (Let's just wait and see how gross it gets with 3 boys playing. I'm sure it will only be a matter of time before one suggests to listen to the others' bottoms.)

Science for the day!!

FREE MOVIES ON MONDAYS!!

My family likes to watch movies. We don’t have cable, well except for the cable you can get when you pay around $6 a month. I used to subscribe to Blockbuster online, then they made me mad. I had been a customer since day one, and then they went and increased my membership fees without increasing my benefits. So I quit them. And then they sent an email asking me to come back. No thank you.

We now subscribe to Netflix. I like it pretty well, mainly because I get movies off of it for school. (No cable equals no History Channel in our house.) I do miss being able to trade a movie in at the local store (like the “other” place would let you do, but not enough to go back to them.)

But my favorite place to get movies is from the little red vending machine known as Redbox. It’s becoming more and more popular and I have seen people write about it here and there. DVDs for $1 a day. Can’t really beat that price, can you?

I think you can. If you have a Redbox in your area, then you have to go to http://www.insideredbox.com/ on Monday mornings. Every Monday they list a “free code” for the day. Must be used on that particular Monday only. As long as you turn your movie back in on Tuesday by 9:00 p.m. (at least that’s what ours say), then you had a free movie.

Definitely works for me. For other great WFMW tips, visit Shannon at Rocks in My Dryer!

THE PAINT EDGER - MY LATEST BFF

I have been painting lately. The sunroom, kitchen and downstairs bathroom. The sunroom took something like 478 hours. Not much wall space but lots and lots of trim. I thought it would be quick and easy. It wasn’t.

Last week I decided I wanted to tackle the kitchen. I have been growing weary of off-white, dirt-colored walls. While in W*l-M*rt, I discovered a gift from God.

It’s this.A Shur-line Paint Edger. It really, really works.

My friend came over on Friday to help me paint the kitchen, bless her heart. We started at 2:30. We were 95% done by 4:30. And it was all because of my new bff. The edger.

The key to the edger is really simple. Put paint on. Place little wheels next to ceiling/cabinet/door trim, etc. Apply small amount of pressure and zip. A nice clean line of paint, approximately 4 inches wide.

A couple of tips: Do not, I repeat, DO NOT, soak in the paint. Be careful not to get the wheels in the paint. This causes some problems. Also, be prepared to smooth out the line of paint that remains with a roller fairly quickly. Unless of course you are going for the textured line-look on your walls.

So there you have it. The Shur-Line Paint Edger. My new bff when it comes to painting. It definitely works for me.

To check out other great WFMW tips, head over to Shannon's!

Contest Winner

Congratulations to Commenter #6 – Amy – who has won my first ever giveaway. I’m planning to do a giveaway once a month, so please check back often. To those who did not win, don’t fret. You can purchase anything from the store and receive 20% off. Just send me an email (conversation) via my etsy store and tell me what you’d like, and I’ll be happy to set it up for you.

Thanks so much for all of the nice comments!

HAPPY 5TH BIRTHDAY TO MY GIRL

September 11. A sad day in the life of our nation. A day to remember those who were lost.

In our home, September 11th is a day of celebration. The day that my girl was born.

She had a great day today. Went to ToysRUs to pick out a toy. Went to Chuck E. Cheese’s. A great day when you are five.

My girl also had a great year. She grew a lot and had lots of fun. She won a purple ribbon at the fair, went to the Lazy 5 Ranch to see the animals, went to see Cinderella’s house in Orlando, rode on the Polar Express train in the mountains, got a puppy, played in the snow, went to the beach, picked strawberries at a strawberry farm, went to Emerald Pointe, went to Carowinds, went on a Mission Trip (her second) to Pennsylvania, went camping, went to Washington, DC, played lots of games, read lots of books, sang lots of songs. Loved life to the fullest. Like it should be.

She had a couple of surgeries and spent some time in the hospital. But she had a great year.

Most importantly, she was loved. Loved by those in her home and out. And she knows that she is loved.

Works For Me - Clothes (and GIVEAWAY!!)

Clothes. At times I feel that I am drowning in them. Especially boy clothes. When my 3 boys were smaller, it was difficult to tell their clothes apart. I ran across a system that worked well for us. All it took was a Sharpie.

Instead of using initials, where we would eventually run out of room on the tag, I used small dots.

Very simple concept. Boy #1 – who wore the largest clothes, received one dot. Boy #2 received 2 dots and Boy #3 received 3. Works great if you pass the clothes down the line as we do. This also allowed my husband to sort the clothes without having to ask “Hey, who’s are these?” 95 times. And I didn’t have to hear “Hey, he’s wearing my shirt!” over and over either.

To celebrate my first WFMW post and in honor of my girl’s 5th birthday tomorrow, I am having a giveaway. Just head over to my etsy store (over on the sidebar), come back here and leave a comment, and your name will be entered in a drawing for $20 credit in the store. Winner to be announced Monday morning-ish, September 15th.

Head over to Rocks in My Dryer for more WFMW tips.

A Mom's Wisdom

Very cute video! Some references really don't relate to homeschoolers, but it is still a fun clip to watch!

The Old Schoolhouse Magazine Digital Edition Review

I have to admit that I was skeptical of an online digital version of a magazine. I currently only subscribe to one magazine that comes in my mailbox, and I love flipping through the pages, and skipping over the ads and articles that don’t appeal to me.

I was pleasantly surprised when I opened the digital version of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine. Through no fault of the magazine, I can tell you that if I had a larger monitor, the whole process would have been much better for me. Even better would be if I had a laptop computer and could be reading the magazine on the couch. But in any event, it was still pretty neat.

The magazine is very easy to navigate using the toolbar at the top of the page. You have the table of contents available quickly, and can go straight to the page you are interested in. One of my favorite features is being able to see all pages as thumbnails. (I love to do this with the Target ad online as well.) You can view the magazine as one page, or to get the “magazine” feel, you can pick a two page spread.

The content of the magazine is great, with tons of relevant articles for all areas of homeschooling. Just like most magazines, there are quite a bit of ads, but not so much that you feel that’s all you paid for. Speaking of the ads, though, one of the coolest features available are hyper-links to other websites referenced throughout the magazine. Even if an author mentions a website in her article, the link to that website is right at your fingertips. Definitely can’t do that with a printed version.

All in all I was pleased with the digital, online version. It was very easy to navigate and you don’t have to worry about misplacing it. It definitely doesn't clutter up my living room. A great savings over the printed version, which is $39, the online version is currently $16.95. Click here to check it out.