1 year I wasn't ready for has gone by

I recently looked back at a post (Jan 11) that I never posted. It reminded me that this year started with a portent, ominous feeling. I wasn't ready for 2011 to start. But you can't stop the clock or tell the calendar to slow down. I might have been dragging my heels into the year, but I'd say things turned around and I've been leaning forward looking toward 2012.

2012 will be twenty years for the Commander and I. March 12 will be anniv. for 1st date, Sept. 12th engagement, and Dec. 12 wedding. We are hoping to do something special (Garmin, Germany) for our anniversary. We will see.

This year had us looking for another house for some unknown reason. The year is finishing with us planning two egress windows downstairs and building out an area of the room into a new bedroom, then there will be painting and someday redoing the kitchen. Once again, we feel like God is telling us to stay put and quit looking to move.

This year had us training for the Bataan Death March Memorial Marathon. That has ended with Morton's Neuroma in both feet, Commander pulling his back out of whack, and my coaching position being in full swing at the time of the march. The coaching was a plus to the year that I never expected. I am so looking forward to watching the kids perform, learning how to recruit, and hopefully bringing in some jumpers and throwers for the 2012-2013 team. Recruiting definitely causes you to look to the future.

I have learned to butcher duck this year, I have put the writing a novel aside, I have started doing puzzles again and love the relaxation it brings - slows life down for me. I've enjoyed reading the Old Testament again, gaining new insight into the kings of Israel and Judah and the prophets. I still enjoy homeschooling and spending the days with our boys. This new year will add driver's ed to our schedule at some point. UGH!

I've enjoyed having friends here on the computer. Thanks goes to all of you who stop by to see what's up at the EFandB.

OKGRANNY - Commander likes your church rubber band.

Have a Happy New Year, may it be blessed.

Not New Years Eve New Years Eve Party

The boys are having a couple of friends over tonight for an all nighter Not New Years Eve Celebration of New Years Eve. Why would they be doing it tonight, you ask?
They know they have to get up Sunday morning for church. Plus, Mom and Dad are real good about poking fingers into ribs if eyes start to close in church, or don't open soon enough after prayers. I thought it was a good idea for them to party tonight. Let's just hope I can say that in the morning.

Hurdles

Here are the new PCV practice hurdles for

the track team. Hawk is by the 36" hurdle, the one in

front is twenty inches.

Week before Christmas

Life is always hecktick around this time of year. It's a good hecktick, trying to bake extra, get Christmas cards out, finish schooling for the semester. This week included water in the basement AGAIN. This time through a crack in the foundation wall. UGH.  We will turn this mess into a good thing though. Since the foundation will have to be dug out with a backhoe to find the length of the crack, Commander liked the idea of putting in an egress, and turning this corner of the room into another bedroom. He is trying really hard to get a room for his own - computer, man cave.

Wednesday was interesting with trying to make angel food cakes for us and cookies for the church non-Christmas Eve Christmas Eve service. The first cake came out great with no sugar. Didn't plan it that way. The second cake, well, it ended up in the garbage disposal. I forgot the flour, tried to pull the fluffy egg whites back out of the oven, they wouldn't whip up again once the flour was added. They had fluffed up so pretty, too.  Commander came home and put the rush on getting to church early. So the cookies, they were still cooling on the table as we rushed out the door. Didn't think about them until the third song was being played.

The mail lady arrived a while ago. The Christmas cards were still sitting on the kitchen table. So I'll just shout it from the roof top
"MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY" 
Thanks for stopping by the EFandB.

Twelve Days of Homeschool

Twelve Days of Homeschool        Here's one for the holidays.


Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday break homeschoolers.

Yeah! Commander is home

I'm a bit late posting this great news. The Commander was able to come home Tuesday afternoon. He will recoop at home for the rest of the week before returning to work and having some back therapy. Since he has to lay low for a while, he is able to finish a Christmas gift calendar we make every year for his mother and ourselves - collage pictures for every month from the previous years. It's a great way to catalog pictures without having to stay up with photo albums. When I'm old and gray I'll just flip through the years having great memories - hopfully I'll remember.

Thank you for your prayers for Commander and the family.

In the hospital now

Hey, Commander could use prayers. We had to use the ambulance service to help get him to the hospital for his back. He probably felt like he was going through labor with the amount of back spasms he was having. It was rough on him. Haven't been able to talk to him today, yet. Hopefully the meds are working and they are finding out if disc are involved. Thanks for the prayers.

doing better

Thanks for your prayers. Commander was able to go to work for part of the day and then to the chiropractor. He is actually sitting up tonight. Yeah!

Have a great weekend.

Flat on his back - & T shirts for sale

My po'r whittle Commander is flat on his back.  There, that should do it. Once he sees that comment he'll be up in arms.

The guy pulled, yanked, or slipped his back Tuesday night right before he was scheduled to take over kid duty with boy scouts and soccer.  He was hurting so bad his eyes were bugged out. He scared me. He did this 12 years ago right after T12 was born. I remember us placing the baby in the crook of Commander's arm while he lie on the floor. He couldn't hold the baby for a few days.

He had been down since Tuesday. This morning we did the early morning call to get a same day appointment with his therapist on post. Monday? They want to give him an appointment on Monday?. Now if that doesn't sound like our government stepping in and taking over the health system of our soldiers, I don't know what does.
I think it is chiropractor time. We have a good one in town that we've seen for 10 + years. It's time for him to work a little adjustment.
So if you don't mind, keep praying for the Commander. We could sure use him back on his feet. I don't want him getting to comfortable with me waiting hand and foot on him.

****
The track team is selling this t-shirt to raise money. If you feel like having a navy long sleeve shirt and want to support the team. Let me know. We have s-xl for  $20.00 I'll throw in shipping. The proceeds will help us purchase uniforms, travel bags, and pay for travel expenses this first year.

Thanks for stopping by.

Life lessons are hard

T12 had a hard day which kind of spilled over.  He went camping with the Boy Scout crew last night. It started raining and rained all night and most of today. Commander had to pick him up in time for a soccer game at 6:00 tonight. He had left all his soccer gear in the van Thursday night, thinking this was a good idea. Wrong. This is not where his gear is supposed to be kept. He hurried into the house grabbed his shirt and shorts and ran to the van thinking he was doing good. Four miles down the road we pulled over to search the van for a missing soccer sock. To end the turmoil of the moment, we decided to stop at W**mart and buy him a pair of socks - which he needs anyway. This was almost a mistake. There were three lanes open at each end of the store and 4 to 5 people in each line. I think the maniac look in my eyes as I stared at the closed express lanes informed the woman in front of me that I really needed to cut in line. She was a real sweetie, and understood when I explained that we were trying to get to the game with this detour. Ugh.
At the fieldhouse, we end up waiting (thank goodness) because games are running late. T12 joins his team before the game and takes off his sweats. That's when we realize he is wearing his white shirt and one white sock. His full soccer team is green and white, but when they split the team for Futsal, his team is considered the white team, but they are suppose to carry both shirts with them to all games. T12 didn't have his green top with him since he changed so fast at home and didn't bring his soccer bag. So, of course with the way things were going today, he would need his green shirt. The coach found a LARGE shirt for him to wear. Now, this worked out okay because the coach decided to put T12 into goalie and the other goalie needed a green jersey to play on the field. Are you getting all this?
We survived the game. 14-0 loss. It was pathetic.  T12 joined us in the snack area to leave, he was carrying a green sock. The coach had found it at practice. The missing sock from the van.
Let's pray for him tomorrow. He has to help the Boy Scouts unpack at the church and then go to another game with Commander. If he forgets anything - he might be walking home.

one chest hair

Okay, I'm not sure I'm ready for too many years of teenagers. Tonight one of the boys wanted to show me that he had one chest hair. Then he asked if I wanted to feel his "army-pit" (it's been called that since toddlerhood) to prove he has arm pit hair. Lord, help us through these teenage years.

Happenings

Red Tail Hawk - chicken thief - killed one of our banties today. The predator couldn't get enough lift to clear the back fence and dropped "Camo". The boys just happened to be at the back door (not at the table doing schoolwork) and saw it all transpire. One ran out screaming at the hawk, another grabbed the airsoft gun, and the third stood with his mouth open in the back yard. I happen to be on the phone in the bedroom and heard enough commotion to look out the window just as the hawk cleared the neighbor's trees.

Camo is now buried at the site she was dropped. T12 took care of burying her between tears. He went out in muck boots, pajama pants, and no shirt. I didn't know this until he was coming back to the house and I was going out to find the rest of the birds. One of the black layers was squeezed between the black leaf bags we have piled up around the north side of the coop. She scared the daylights out of me when she ran out. The birds stayed in the coop the rest of the day. Even the ducks didn't want to come outside.

****
We had our first official track meeting with kids from the fall sports. Coach was giving them the spill about being late, just don't come if you can't be on time. Anything else? .... I jumped in with NO SWEATS, NO PRACTICE. We're not here to train like high schoolers, we will train to run in conference, nationals and Olympics if anyone has that desire. We don't need to mess around with pulled hamstrings, because someone doesn't want to wear sweats.

The kids told me today, that some one whispered, "Coach Deskis must be a H.A. (clue: donkey).
The ones working out with me started laughing as I handed them each a pair of $1 gloves. Yeah, coach - your a real H.A. giving us gloves, making us cookies. We told them you make us run 2 minute 800's for warm up.

A long time ago, Commander said we would compromise - I wanted three kids, he wanted six, so we would have nine. The last few weeks have filled those numbers with the college teenagers I'm coaching. A great group of kids to work with, and it was actually hard yesterday, when we split into groups, to see four of  "my" athletes follow Coach Williams down the hall to meet with her - sprint coach. But they were all back out at the track today ready to run, jump and throw.

Please pray that I make an impact on these kids with God's light shining through me. It's a private Catholic school, but that doesn't mean the kids have faith in God. I want them to see their potential  being put to use by God - how great it is when He is in charge of the body. I want to be the light that shines.

Celiac Stats - FYI

--- On Sun, 11/27/11, * Angie - GlutenFreeClub.com * wrote:


I've been doing research again and found some interesting statistic about celiac disease and gluten intolerance. I thought you'd be interested in learning some of them.



I usually stay away from numbers, but I realized that the numbers can be a great way to prove to you how NOT alone you are in dealing with a gluten free lifestyle.



Keep in mind these are not just numbers but each single digit represents a living breathing person like you and me. By the way, all numbers are for the USA.



•It's estimated 1 out of every 133 people have celiac disease

•Out of every 100 people, 97 remain undiagnosed (horrors!)

•Over 3 million people have celiac disease

•It takes an average of 8 to 11 years for a US celiac to be properly diagnosed (oh horrors again!)

•Up to 10% of people with celiac disease also have type 1 diabetes (another autoimmune disease)

•Women have a celiac disease at a ratio of 3 to 1 when compared to men

•There are over 250 possible symptoms related to gluten intolerance

Well, that's enough stats for me. I've got to start thinking about what's for dinner tonight!



If you're thinking the same thing here's an idea for tonight's dinner.



http://www.glutenfreeclub.com/g/StuffedHerb/Chicken



Enjoy,



Angie.

Messed up mentally due to holiday

Does having a holiday break in the middle of the week mess up your mental calendar?  I don't know what happened to Friday, it's been a repeat Saturday - Commander watching football on tv (yuk), boys playing with Cam., and I've been writing lesson plans for three boys and workouts for 4 groups of athletes for next week, and putting together puzzles.

I'm so messed up that I just looked over at the Commander watching TV and asked him why he was watching it muted. He isn't - I've got headphones on. I'm listening to Pachabelle.

We have one more week of workouts with the track team before we have to turn the kids loose to study for semester exams. The break from going to workouts (for me) will be filled with writing workouts for the winter break, putting together a Track clinic which will include Dynamics, Active Drills, Plyometrics for upper and lower body, weight training without a weight room, individual event training sessions of what to do before you get on the track,( winter training), how to make some training equipment. We will have groups for sprinters/ hurdlers, throwers, jumpers, and distance. So if you know any high school athletes or coaches,  have them contact me. The clinic will probably be late February.

These are our obnoxious practice javelins the boys helped me make. Then they broke the pink handled one and didn't tell me until Thanksgiving Day when I wanted to try it out. The nerds.

This year I've made hurdles to hops out of fencing from T.S.C. and lattice strips for our plyometric hops.  The hurdles have a five inch spike and stake into the ground. Cool.  I still need to make hurdles out of PVC piping for indoor practice. In the past, I've made plyoboxes, and plyoballs out of basketballs and water/sand. Just gets messy if they bust inside the gym. Oops.

Anybody else not ready for Christmas - cards, shopping, putting up a tree, baking, kids out of school. Right now it feels like a 400 meter hurdle race coming up next and I'm out of breath already. Oh well, one hurdle at a time.

I think I'll go put together another puzzle.
Anyone else like 1000+ puzzles?

A time for Thanksgiving and prayer

A free nation UNDER GOD. How THANKFUL we should be for the freedoms granted to us by our constitution. One freedom that was never put into the constitution - because our Founding Fathers never thought there would be such a need, is the freedom to keep our parental rights.

Did you know that our parental rights are not locked into the constitution? The post at The Homeschool Apologist will make your heart flutter. The rights of the child that the U.N. is backing and wanting the United States to accept will take away your rights as a parent. It will give the schools the right to determine what education is appropriate for your child and at what age - to include acceptance of homosexuality in kindergarten. It will allow a thirteen year old to determine how many time a week his family can take him to church. It would allow a child of any age to decide for themselves what is their entertainment for the day - to include the internet.

Please check out the video at  The Homeschool Apologist, or go straight to http://www.parentalrights.org/ . We need to make as many Americans as we can aware of what the government is trying to do to our God given rights. Our children and grandchildren need parental rights solidified into the Constitution of these United States.

I give thanks to God the Father for being our Father in Heaven, for loving us first, for giving us families, parents, and children. I also give thanks for this nation which we live. Please, God, protect our country.  I pray that no man will be allowed to destroy the parental rights that hold our families together, and in turn hold our nation together.

Happy Thanksgiving America. May God Bless You.

More Vacation fun

Or maybe I should say - Field Trip, yeah, it was a field trip.

Can you find the face?  Kinda hard from this angle, it's winking.

Can you see the Garnet?  We panned in the stream at Sabino Canyon with a couple of convervation specialist. Let's just say they didn't want any of the garnets leaving the canyon. You do it the same way as panning for gold. Something I could spend my day doing. It is a lot of fun. They also had a magnet for you to sweep through your find to get the magnetite out - think of those bald headed board games where you move a magnet over the metal shavings and give the guy a beard, or hair.  It was cool.

If you are sitting this high at a football game, shouldn't you just go home and watch it on the TV? They were ten rows from the tippy-top. Hawk held onto the seat behind him  when the wind blew.  T12 just laughed. Thank goodness I was already back home.

Super Mom, not..... One big plane, though.

THis one had me steaming. A restaurant in Tucson advertised free gluten  - I was hoping for a clearer picture. I really wanted to call the main company office and let them know that two boys and  I  weren't happy with their making fun of our auto-immune disease that we have to live with daily. Other than the last one we had a good time.
*** I found the restaurant and emailed the main office. I was nice, sorta, let them know that a menu of pizza topping on a plate with a salad would be better than hacking off celiac sprue customers.

Field Trip, Vacation, Homeschooling

Nothing better for homeschooling than a field trip. This one just happened to be in Arizona. Where you come across signs like this one while hiking.....

One thing the boys learned about the Desert around Tucson, is that everything can bite you back - including the plants.

There is also a lot of beauty in the desert.

The cactus in the area are called Saguaro and they are indigenous to the area. You won't find them anywhere else.

This one is a young one. Only about 50-60 years old - the little arm starting on the side gives the age away.
Have you hugged your Saguaro yet, today?

The Sonora Desert Museum has a hummingbird pavilion and a larger bird pavilion that you walk into and spend time with the little buggers buzzing your heads. They are so cute. Hard to take a picture of, yet they don't seem camera shy. THis little one gave me a nice profile shot.

Just be careful about being friendly with the wild critters. Don't panic, there is a plate of glass between Herogian and the Rattlesnake.

Nineteen years ago, I snagged on to this 'fine' find in the desert. He's a keeper. This is Sabino Canyon behind us at the top of the tram ride.

More field trip pictures later.

Have a great weekend.

Random

Monday was hunting, track practice, and picking the guys up at the airport in a scary rainstorm. Herogian and his hunting partner, Mr. J. had a great time cleaning up at the hunting preserve. They came home with 10 -12 birds. They hunted with two of Mr. J's dogs and Penny for four hours. The rain started as soon as we arrived home. I had time for a quick shower (well, it ended up being longer than it should have been) and dashing out the door for track practice.

Track practice - interesting, when it rains where do we get to practice. We are the low sport on the totem pole - being our first year. We ran circles around the Cheer leading/dance quad on a basketball court. They are the other new team at the bottom of the totem pole. We managed to wear the athletes out for a good practice. Spontaneity, flexibility, making it up on the spot, -- three skills of coaching.

That evening the Kansas City area had a horrendous thunderstorm. Or, that's how it felt while trying to drive to the airport to pick up Commander and the other two boys. I realized as I drove into the airport that their flight might have been cancelled in Texas due to the size of the storm. I was ready to sleep in the van instead of driving back home. It took thirty minutes (flight delayed) for my heart to calm down and head to clear. Praying without ceasing.

Archery tonight was a bust. I needed to adjust my sight just a hair. You might say it adjusted itself when it slipped out of the groove and bounced to the floor - I had loosened the wrong screw. It is like trying to look in a mirror and unscrew something behind your back - that's my excuse and I'm sticking with it. The screw on the part you want to move is not the screw to undo. I lost to Herogian again.

Today is Veteran's Day. Thank God for all our heroes who have fought for freedom in the world. I love you, Commander. I love you Dad.

A hunting we will go.

Herogian had a great day at the Youth Pheasant and Quail hunt. He hit three pheasant and three quail. One of the pheasants sailed into an adjoining property and we never found it.  Herogian had a 17 inch tail on one of his pheasants. The last group of the day had an 18" tail.  
We are going back in the morning with our hunting buddy Mr. J to do clean up. We get to hunt for anything still in the fields, and give our dogs training. Praying the skies will stay clear.

Time, time, time

Yesterday I was on Arizona time - 2 hours difference. Today, Central Standard Time. Tomorrow - daylight savings time ends. I think that will put us closer to Arizona time again. Does that mean we get the sun in our eyes when driving west at 6:00pm?  I think so.

We came home yesterday to find a young raccoon curled up on our front porch trying to sleep in the corner out of the breeze. We put a dog crate out there for the little one (planning to catch it and let animal control take care of it) and some bread. He used the cage for at least a while - left a present. We will try again tonight. If we don't catch him, the coyotes might. We are getting quite a few of them in the area. We can hear them hollering and partying after dark. It's kind of a freaky sound. The city is trying to decide if land owners can shoot the intruders on their property....... I had my bow adjusted at Cabela's today.  Ooops, off topic.

Tomorrow, Herogian has the Youth Quail and Pheasant Hunt with the post rod and gun club. Only problem is that it isn't on post this year due to all the heavy flooding along the Missouri River. We have an hour drive northwest of here to a hunting organization. Herogian is bouncing with excitement.

T12 in a police car?

He, actually, was on the right side of the law, thank goodness.
Commander was taking T12 to Cam's house to play this afternoon. When they turned the corner in the expensive neighborhood, there was smoke rolling out of the gulley. Commander and T12 stopped  to investigate. After intering the gulley T12 could see two boys building a fire. The boys took off when they saw T12. Commander drove to Cam's house and called for the police, and a fire truck (small one) came out, too, when he returned with T12 and Cam to the gulley. The owner of the property also showed up about that time to find out where the smoke was coming from.
T12 and Cam were able to ride with the police officer and show him which neighborhood the boys ran. Unfortunately, they didn't find the boys. Commander said they had a fire going in a culvert and were trying to ignite a large log. The police and the owner were really glad that T12 and Commander called.

T12 said the police ride was really cool.

OU beat K-State  59-17. YES. Maybe that will teach that boy (Hawk) to not like purple cats. AAAAGHGH!

Pay up, Mom!

All right, my shooting was pathetic tonight. Herogian beat me arrow tips down. 371-362. I bought him a candybar this time. The competitor in me hates not improving. I dropped thirty-five points from last week, thirty-nine from the previous week. UGH! Something though was throwing a few arrows. Herogian got a few laughs when we found more than one arrow completely off my target page.  I'll have to check a few things before we shoot again. Having a soft carry bag isn't the best for arrows, it might be bending the fletching too much. Herogian  wants to try and make a better carrying case for my arrows.  What a sweetheart.

Track practice was awesome today. A big stroke to the ego from the kids. When I told them we were doing 2 x 6 x 100. One of the guys, J.C., asked, "IS that all, Coach?"
"I can change them to 200's if you want?"
"No, that's okay. But is that ALL, Coach?"
"Well, we'll do some work over the hurdles."
"WOW." He turned to the others. "This is going to be easy!"

During the workout, I looked up to see the six athletes walking back after run #9. They all had their hands on their hips. You could tell they were breathing deep. They were lined up in front of the green hill with orange and yellow trees behind them and each of them was wearing something black - picture perfect. I'd love to have a picture of that scene with DEDICATION underneath it. It reminded me of the poster for COURAGEOUS.

J.C. also commented during practice, "I really want us to make it to nationals. They'd have to make a movie about us, out here in the park training cause we don't have a track, with a coach that builds us hurdles."

When we moved on to the hurdles, we did a few hop overs, then I wanted them to work on what is called "A MARCHING" this is working on the down drive of the leg to get it back to the ground as quickly as possible. S.M. was the first one to go and he kind of got hung up on the second hurdle. OUCH! He pulled his shorts up as far as he could possible pull them - into his arm pits, then went again. This time with no problem. The other guys decided to follow him by pulling up their shorts. If I only had a camera. Here were five guys with their waist bands pulled up to their chest. Geeky! Funny! "Hawk", L.R., our  female athlete, and I couldn't stop laughing."

They also made me feel really good when J.B. said he heard the newest coach added this week would be working with hurdlers and sprinters and I would be with the throwers and jumpers. Two of the sprinters asked if they could be long jumpers. Stroke, stroke, to the ego.

Can you tell I'm loving it?

Have a great weekend and thanks for stopping by.

Found an answer to prayer

I've been praying for an adjustment to our homeschooling schedule that would in some way lighten the load, but still allow us to cover all our subjects. Doing them all daily was wearing us down. I can see it in the decline in grades and memory retention.
I bounced over to Eagle Eye Academy where I found some Tasty Tuesday recipes. While glancing through her list of blogs she follows I thought I'd check out My4sweetums.  She had the solution to my prayers right there in her blog. She was discussing their "Themed Weeks".   We will give it a try after our trip to Tucson.   We will concentrate on Science one week then Geography the next. THis will allow us more time to cover the information and work on memory of the important stuff to pass the test! Reading,Writing,and  Arithmatic will stay on our daily schedules. Already it just sounds a lot easier to deal with on a weekly basics.

Feeling the Burn

Today was cool, windy, and perfect for track practice. Five guys showed up for circuit training, bleachers, and bounding. If it wasn't so much fun being active and doing this stuff with them, it would probably be smart of me to remember how old I am compared to them.
 BLEACHERS. 
At OU we would run up the east side of Owens Field. I think it was 23 steps then, and they grew in height as you went upward. We would actually run eight to ten repeats.  The sprinters would fly to the top. It was amazing to watch them. They would take one quick step to the left and be around the passage opening halfway up without slowing down.

Our little field has eight rows of seats that we did 2x8 == Squat hopped up the 8 rows of seats 16 times. We then finished off with a CORE EXERCISE Circuit and a PLYOBALL Circuit of 45 seconds on and 30 seconds off.

The joy has been the attitudes, they are willing and ready to do what is asked of them.

I had to giggle when one of them started talking about food. He couldn't wait to get to the cafeteria. Another one said he wasn't going to the cafeteria, he was going home to lie on the couch and moan. He would see if his mother and father would feed him while he convalesced, if not, he'd get breakfast tomorrow. I think I need to give his parents a heads up.

Homeschooling hit a fat wall yesterday.  One of those days where you wonder why you are doing this, and I had just ordered the next math book for T12. Today made up for it. The boys were done in time to help our Youth Pastor in a small community service job this afternoon while I was coaching. Thanks for taking them, C.C. We have to work on their self esteem though. One of them said he was a 'B' student and that was good enough for him. I can't see settling for that. That's not giving God 100%. T12 just walked by and I asked him about that last statement. HMMMM made an impact.

Have a great weekend.

T12 Northley 3rd place pumpking

At the church cookout tonight with the pumpkin contest 'Northley' won third prize. The judges really didn't know who had carved what until they called the winner out and asked the kid to come forward. So it was comical when the judge made the comment that "this pumpkin must be a Deskis pumkin and it wins 3rd place. Who owns this pumpkin?" Northley stepped forward to claim his prize of Sizzlers.

Hawk didn't get his pumpkin done in time for the contest. We will try to get it done for next weekend.

I did get to talk to a doctor tonight that deals with diabetes and hypoglycemia. She gave me some suggestions to help us start figuring out what is going on with blood sugar or blood pressure. Thanks Dr. M.R.

T12 Northley's Pumpkin and Hawk's birthday

He spent a lot of time yesterday adding to this, then he had to start adding tape to hold it all together.

 THis past Monday was Hawk's birthday. He is now 14. Ice cream cake consisted of Chocolate Chip and Chocolate, Butterscotch and Chocolate syrup, whip cream and candy toppings.

He is using the 'force' to put the candle out. He's playing with the smoke trail. We set out candles in small votices for birthday blow outs. A show once convinced me not to put candles on the cake and have kids blowing their spitty germs all over it. The boys like the harder challenge of blowing the candles out when they have to get over the top of each one.

This was his big gift this year. 1200+ lego pieces. He has started it this weekend while watching the Green Lantern we borrowed from the library. If you know what day a new movie is released on DVD, call the library and ask to be put on hold for it. Hawk has been the first to get the movie from them about three times now.

Here's the boys, Casey in Hawk's arms, Herogian and T12 Northley.

sugar drop, caffeine high, 397 and 9 x 200

What does that all mean you ask? Oh, you didn't ask. Well, I'll tell you anyway because the caffeine must still be in my system.

Track practice included 2x4x200's in the park, half uphill, half downhill. It would have been half downhill if the kids hadn't got me talking on training technique changes in the last 10 years (see yesterday's post) and we walked all the way back down the hill when we should have been running. Therefore, we did an extra uphill run. I warned them for future reference not to get me yakking between repetitions. One of the guys pointed out that on a previous day it caused them to run 6 instead of 5 x 75's.  So how did it end up being 9? One of the athletes was a little late getting there, so, I ran her last 200 with her, that made 9 for me. I actually thought the other kids would jump in and run the last one with her also. THat's what I get for thinking.
"Hawk" did go to practice with me today and he ran the 2 x 4 x 200's with the college students. I was proud of him.

THe sugar drop came afterwards. Hawk and I stopped at _Mart to buy purple paint for his pumkin and he picked up a 'Mountain Dew'. For some reason the kid has become a Kansas State Wildcat fan. Purple, uggggh. Anyway, we pull out of the parking lot and my blood sugar must have dived. I could feel the blood leaving my hands, my head starting to swim as we passed through the corner light. I told Hawk to grab my purse and find some candy, then I remembered that I'm only carrying sugarfree stuff. I pulled into the first neighborhood and grabbed his DEW. after a few sips, I realized  Hawk was just starring at me in horror. I had drank his soda!  "You can just keep it, Mom. Can we stop at the dollar store so I can get another one?"
We sat in the neighborhood for a while, then at the dollar store, and finally I felt well enough to make it home. (I'll be researching exercise induced hypoglycemia in a few minutes).

An hour later after dinner, Herogian and I headed off for archery. Yes, I was praying the whole way for a clear head.
Tonight was a blast. Herogian had his draw length lengthened twice. During these changes he had to keep changing his sights. His score tonight was 117, 117 and 117. With all the changes,  it was a surprise to see him shoot so consistantly.
My shooting went like this    center of target  =   X    99  8 my three shots, next round   8  99  X. They were right in line with the X The last round was even more of a kicker 999 X with the three shots all being in the 9 ring. If an arrow breaks the line at all between rings, you can take the higher score. Nooo. They were touching each other, not the 10 ring.  I shot a 397, 4 down from last week. Herogian and I are having a blast and I've been drinking DEW all evening long.

Will post some pumpkin carving pictures later. They have a pumpkin carving contest with the church family next weekend and the boys are hoping to win something this year.

Have a great weekend. We plan too. Herogian is taking Penny hunting. T12 Northley has one last fall soccer game. Hawk has a thousand plus lego set to put together, Commander has TKD, and wait a minute, my schedule says do grade cards, lesson plans, chop wood, and work on Sunday. Oh bother.

Teaching an old coach a new technique

Thursday, October 20, 2011   A good read about Dynamics


Tonight I read Dynamic Stretching by Mark Kovacs, Ph.D., CSCS. Since being hired to coach track and field, I've been refreshing my mind over the different stretching techniques trying to make sure I use the correct terms (most frequently heard), so our athletes will be familiar with what I'm asking them to do. So the "Doggie" exercise we did Monday is actually called "Fire Hydrant", like that really makes a big difference; both words put the same picture in your mind.



One thing the book clearified for me, is why static stretching before workouts and competition is being frowned upon in speed and power events such as track and field. The scientific research over the last 10-15 years has proved that static stretching actually "have shown decreases in immediate performances by as much as 30%.... and last approximately 60 minutes after the stretching routine." That's a big impact on jumping, sprinting, and throwing events. So the athletes "should limit or avoid slow static stretching within about an hour of training or competition."


Think back to the time we were in school and all the static stretching we did every day before every workout, or every event. It amazes me to think how far training techniques have changed. It's like computer technology - changing in leaps and bounds. Oh, I'm just too funny.  NOT.

If you have an athlete at home, ask them if they are still static stretching before a game. If so, you might want to drop this blogspot in the coaches email. Together we'll direct them to a whole new improved method of training, or as the book cover says, " The Revolutionary New Warm-up Method to Improve Power, Performance and Range of Motion".

Have a great weekend.



DRESS WARMLY IN LAYERS FOR PRACTICE FROM NOW ON. NO MORE BARE LEGS.

WHich one is Dad??

Good question. I believe he is on the left side of the picture, back row.  First, look to the young man in the wheelchair on the left with the dark blue sweater with rainbow suspenders,  go straight up from his right shoulder and behind the two guys in full view. Between them you get 3/4th of a face with a dark blue collar. His glasses are rimless so it blurs the face a bit, but the silver hair gives him away. Besides, he is 6'1" and always stand on the back row.  Now, watch him tell me I'm wrong :-). THanks for asking Claudia.

I love this picture at the Unknown Soldiers grave. It looks like the second soldier (unknown's ghost) is just a split second out of step. An escort  in charge of two Honor Veterans, one being Dad, took this photo and allowed me to take if from his facebook page. He unfortunately didn't get any single shots of Dad.

401, track, making up questions on a quiz

Archery was relaxing tonight. There were a lot of people missing from the line ups. I shot against a family friend. He and I were neck and neck until the third to last shot. Something happened and his shot went wild. It hit the center of the paper, but outside of the three targets on the page. He still finished with a 406 and I with a 401. My first 400. Cool.

Someone made the comment that I needed to get the cord on my nose as an anchor point when I line up the arrow. Well, I tried. I just couldn't seem to do it. So I asked our resident pro. He had me line up after class and show him how I was doing it. I get a knuckle into my right ear as an anchor point. He had to laugh. My bow has the longest draw it can possibly have, yet, the knocking point doesn't even reach my face. I couldn't even lean forward and get my nose to the cord. I need a bigger bow. I need a light weight bow, with light poundage, therefore I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place. I think I'll plan to get one when I shoot a 450 - a perfect round. That will at least give me something to work toward.

Track practice is fun. Today I had five young men running repeat build ups through the park for 100 yards +.  Next week two or three girls should be joining us.  The learning curve is steep right now. There is a lot about sprinting the "Modern" way as it is  called, for me to re-learn. Also the throws and horizontal jumps again, and hurdles, blocks, you name it, I need a refresher course in it. But I love it. I'll be reading and watching videos for the next month or two. Cramming to get it all down before indoor season starts in January.

Herogian pulled a funny today. He had a science quiz. Question number 4 needed to answers. The test had two line for those two answers - 4. _______________ and 5.__________________ with the five line being underneath the 4 line and question.On the number 4 line he had squeezed in the two answers seperated by a (/). 
Herogian took the empty 5 space a wrote his own question in there - "Should Herogian be given a new gun?" On the space at number 5 he wrote "YES". If I could find the camera, I'd take a picture.
I don't think a teacher in public school would enjoy the humor in his paper as much as I do. His question would have him sent to the prinicipal's office.

Wow Wednesday

As you know from previous post, we had so much on the plate today to get done. It actually turned out to be a fun day.
The orthodontist appointment gave Herogian the words he has been waiting for  - braces off before Thanksgiving.

T12 - Northly, helped me take all the food to church. He stayed with our youth pastor to set up the tables, stir the meat, and just hang out in good company - well, that was after his long division problems were finally done. He had a hard time with the fact that the worksheet doesn't always have enough room to complete a long division problem.

Track practice was a riot( in a fun way). The park is right across the street from the campus. These kids are so engrossed in school, life, and who knows what else, that they never really noticed that there was a park at the end of campus drive. They had to call from their cars to ask directions. When they arrived, they stood there shaking their heads in disbelief that they had missed the park. I wanted to welcome them to the feelings of CHEMO BRAIN, menopause, old age.

The park was perfect for running loooooonnnnnnngggggg inclined hills. The hard work of running to the top of the hill was worth the smiles when they found out the last two runs would take them back down the hill. And they forgave me when I goofed and had them run two 300's instead of a 300, 200. What a good group. They make me excited about what they will be able to do next spring. One athlete hasn't ran since his sophmore year in high school. He was leading the pack.

Dinner at church went off without a hitch this time. What a miracle. Commander was able to get there before me and the ladies were already setting things out. I ended up driving back to the park to find a weighted jumprope we had left at the circuit training area. Ugh. Doesn't it always happen that way when you are trying to get somewhere in a hurry? At least I wasn't pulled over by a police officer this time.

Thanks for the fund raising idea. Please keep them coming.

Happening around here

The bird count took a dive this past weekend. Five roosters went Boy Scout Camping. Instead of ending up in the dutch oven, they came home on ice. Herogian cleaned them for Saturday's dinner, but a hike took longer than expected and they didn't have time to cook the chickens. Herogian and Commander both cooked a meal Monday with some of the birds. I'm just loving the fact that the boys are learning to cook meat, and cook it well.

First workout with the team was Monday afternoon. (six attended)  I'll meet with them again on Wednesdays and Fridays. The Veteran's Administration Center has an empty park just across the road from the campus main entrance. It has a long sloping hill from north to south. The wind usually blows from the north or south around here. The kids will soon find that I love windy hill work in autumn. Can you say Repetition?

Coach has handed over the fund raising department to me. Yeah great. I'm thrilled. Can't you tell excitement is just oozing from my pores. Just knocked me out of my comfort zone with one blow. He wants me to come up with fund raising ideas that will bring in great profit so we can buy equipment, traveling supplies, and everything else we will need to outfit a team. Any ideas you want to throw my way would be greatly appreciated. Please keep throwing the ideas.

The marathon training has gone out the window. The right foot just isn't responding to treatment. At the three mile mark it starts screaming. Commander has started taking Taekwondo again, and with me coaching, we don't foresee a trip to White Sands next March. So nix that idea. It was fun while it lasted.

Tomorrow  Today will be crazy. Get the boys up to start homeschooling, throw them in the car for orthodontist appointments for the three of us. Rush home to pack all the fixings for a church meal into the car. Rush that to the church, unload, get the meat, cheese, lettuce, tortillas and topping all set up. Rush out of there for track practice and then back to church for prepping the rest of dinner and having it all ready to serve at 6:00. If you are hungry, come join us at Wyandotte County Christian Church for a gluten free meal. It's a 2-3 dollar donation.

Well folks, it is after midnight. I need to crash on the couch and read Judges for a while before I'll be able to sleep.
Finding God's word waiting for me in the quiet of the night is like having him wrap his arms around me as I cuddle on his lap of comfort and protection.

I'm finally official

Here's one of the perks. A T-SHIRT.
Now I can get out there and start recruiting athletes. We meet this Thursday to see which kids from campus are interested in joining the team (besides those in other sports right now). Once they have their physicals done, I can start working them out and setting up their weight lifting programs.
I come from a background where track and field training starts - well - it never ends. You back off a bit in August but by September you are into an eight week cycle of heavy conditioning. Please pray I don't scare these kids off. I usually do the workouts with the kids that way I can monitor my own weakness and know if I'm pushing too hard.
I'm excited.
We will have two indoor meets and a conference. Then we go into outdoor season. We will do most of our meets here in the Kansas City area since we don't have the budget or the numbers of athletes. Thank goodness for little starts.
If you know of any high school seniors with the grades that would like to still run track, let me know. If they have a 3.5 or better they get a lot of the tuition taken care of through scholarships.

Have a great week.

Archery League, underwear, and when I'm old and can't remember anything

I love this sport. Archery. It can make me feel so good. Then with the very next shot it can humble me down to my knees.
450 league started tonight. Herogian and I were competing against each other for a candy bar. My two practice rounds were promising, my sights were lined up, I was ready to take him on. 

First round, I shot three arrows at three targets on the page. I didn't want to look at the results until I had put the bow away. Herogian was standing there with his binoculars.
 "How did I do?"
"Well, the first and the third shots are tens, but where is your second shot?"
"What?"
"Oh, there it is? Nice one, Mom. You shot Dennis's target and hit a ten. But, you know, that's a zero for the score card."
Then we heard Dennis exclaim about his target. "Why are there two arrows on my number 2 target?"
This was going to be an exciting evening.
Herogian 375, Mom 386.  Dennis 403, and Dave 424. That was our score card.

T12-Northly Davis is pestering me while I blog. He wants me to smell his underwear that he found left in a string backpack in the back of his friend's dad's truck. That is such a boy thing! Really, he wants me to smell his underwear because "he says it smells like a "Minty Hotel Room". YUK!
He has been shoving it in my nose, not realizing I'm so plugged up there is no way I 'll ever smell it. I'll die first or snaught on his underwear.

"Okay Mom, I'll do it if you do it."
""NO. The last time I ever did anything when someone said,"I'll do it after you." I ended up going off a retaining wall on a bike with no brakes, hippy bar on back and wide handle bars that spun around and knocked my jaw out of line after the hippybar hit me in the back of the head. The neighborhood kids had to pull me out of the chainlink fence and rosebushes. The teenager who loaned me the bike, popped my jaw from the other side to get it back in place. The gang all ran off laughing at me, while the teenager told me not to cry or my mom would ban them from jumping their bikes off  the retaining wall in our backyard. SO.... NO I won't do it before you!"
THat is such a boy thing. Groce.
"Okay Mom, we are not in Back to the Future! We are not in your childhood. You don't have a bike! The retaining wall is gone, conquer your fears," he whispers in my ear while trying to shove the AWSOME UNDERWEAR (his doing) in my face. Guess I'll just blow my nose on it and send him to bed with it. WHat a hoot that child is. Favorit underwear. Never heard of that catagorie for boys.

Coming home from Archery, Herogian was talking about his future as a vet, then when he retires he wants to live in a small community close to Cabela's so he can work there. I told him that when he retired from being a vet - especially if he is one for the Armed Services, that he won't want to go from a high end paying job to a minimal paying job.
"Yes, I will when I'm so old that I can't remember what I'm doing.

I started laughing, "The store won't want you when you can't remember what you are doing."
"Oh I could work in the fly fishing department and make flies."
"Yeah, I could see you checking someone out. "How much change do I need to give you? One hundred. Didn't you pay with a credit card." Hand to ear. "What's that you say? Two hundred. Okay."
Good thing it is the weekend. I don't think I could do a day of schooling with these two boys this wound up with the giggles.

Herogian had a chance at a deer the other night and might get another chance next Tuesday. Pray for the hunter's safety,please.

Have a great one.

Happenings

Time out for a cold this week for everyone in the family. Ugh. I'm saying it all came from the Commander getting the flu shot and then getting sick. I'm not sold on getting flu shots.

I did get the coaching job and start Monday if the school has all the paperwork in order for me to sign. They did up the pay a bit, thanks to the assistant cross-country coach and coach convincing the administration to do so. Those guys are already spoiling me. We will start with around six kids to coach this fall, and grow to around 20 for outdoor season after football and basketball are finished.

Commander started a Taekwondo class. It is a slightly different style then what he did in the past (3rd degree black belt) that he has to be a white belt again in with the younger kids. He was stiff this afternoon when we went to T12's soccer game. We are still trying to walk together, but the foot is still giving me fits.

Archery starts this coming Friday for Herogian and I. We shot a few rounds in the back yard. I hit a 29 out of 30. Herogian wants to team up with me this year. Do you remember last year when he didn't want to team up with me? Tri-County's Rod and Gun Club Archery page on Facebook has Herogian and his shooting buddies as its image. Cool.

Cute an onery

What a look of devotion.

 What a look of oneriness. Attacking at the top of the stairs again.

Coach D.

I've been told I have the assistant coaching job for our local college. It is crazy how excited I get over coaching track and field. I thought I could walk away from it. I've tried not to get excited about the possibility of coaching again. I even told myself that the administration would hire one of their teachers just to give them the stipent and keep it 'inhouse'.  I guess the desire is still buried deep within my heart. I wanted to dance a jig last night when the assistant cross-country coach walked over to let me know.
 I'll find out more by the end of the week. I'm praying about the finances. They could up the stipent a little which would be a big help.

Thanks for stopping by this week. Hope you have a great one.

Done with the jungle - garden

A year ago we decided to put in a garden. Commander bought a rototiller. A big thing that could run away with him hanging on behind and eat fence at the same time. We put in about 100 feet of fencing to keep the chickens and dogs out of the selected area. The back corner was alloted for drying branches that would eventually end up as firewood, the extra dirt was piled back there and a composter was added to the area.
After two years, the only things left in the garden area are two blueberry bushes, two rows of asparagus on their second year, and every kind of  weed known to the Kansas plains.

Today, it just hit me that enough was enough. I'm getting rid of the weeds, the fence, and taking over the land again as easy-to-cut-not-fenced-in- backyard. I worked with the hoe, I worked with the riding lawn mower, I pulled with my hands. When T12 came outside, I asked if he would want to use the machette.
His eyes bugged out, he jumped up and down, then ran to the house to get the blade. ( disclaimer here) He has been taught by the Commander on proper use of a machette.

I pointed him to the back corner and asked him to cut down a buttercup -something -or -other kind of weed.
"Mom, look!"  He was standing on the willow stump. He withdrew the blade and thrust it skyward. "All for the Willow!"
What a character.

I bent over to pull crabgrass and heard him chopping. The only problem was that it sounded too close. I turned around and hollered. "T12 - that's the sunflower!"
He looked up over his head at all the yellow flowers, back at me, shrugged. "Oops! Can I cut it down anyway?"
After about 5 minutes he was done with the sunflower and the back corner. He wanted more. I pointed to the same kind of weed growing on the other side of the aspargus rows. I went back to work and he did a number on the weeds AND the asparagus.
"T12, that ASPARAGUS!"
"Oops! Will Dad get mad?"
"Just let me tell him."

Herogian had joined us by this time and wanted to use the machette. T12 asked to practice driving the mower, without blades. I showed him the mower, told him to drive a path around a large tree and I went to open the gate.
He didn't follow the path I gave him, he cut it short and ran right over a small sapling of an oak tree. Thank goodness the blades weren't engaged. The little tree at least sprang back and wobbled like a drunkerd.

It was time to call it quits when I grabbed something that slit the finger. OW! But the garden is almost yard again.
THis weekend should do the trick. Three of the four gone for boy scouts, Hawk and I should be able to get a lot of yard work done. Anyone else praying for rain over the weekend?

9/11 memory from a soccer dad

I sat next to a father this morning at a soccer game. It was 7:50 in the morning when he mentioned that there was six minutes left while looking at his watch. He said he would have been in the Pentagon sitting in an office with a friend at the time the building was struck if he hadn't had to change his schedule and gone to another building first. He and his friend, at the pentagon, would have been sitting in the office catching up on old times when the plane would have struck his office wall.
Since he wasn't there sitting with his old friend catching up on old times, his friend wasn't in the office either. His friend was down around a corner or two of the building getting breakfast. Their lives were spared. The father  was taking pictures of his young twelve year old son playing soccer on a wet field as the sun rose in the east over the trees to illuminate the players. It was a blessed morning.

How about another job?

It doesn't pay worth a hoot ( I will get a polo shirt and a t-shirt to wear). I'd probably spend more on gas traveling back and forth . The boys will have to be more diligent about getting their work done earlier in the afternoon. I can't quit the cashier job at Price Chopper - I need to make some money. But to coach - to coach track and field - to coach track and field at a small university - too cool. The job hasn't been posted yet, so there's no holding the breath. I met with and liked the head coach and assistant cross-country coach, and they seemed to like my back ground.
 Prayers that this works out for the good of the family and school and doesn't become a thorn in our side.
 I LIKE TO COACH.
You can also pray that the school gets equipment and a track someday. For now we will be using local high school tracks and the one on post. 

Prayer Warrior for our boys - What are we aiming for?

If you are joining me for praying for your boys, this is from the Warrior Prayers ebook.
This one hit home. As I was reading this page, one of the boys walked in holding his shoulder where a brother had just whacked him. The brother was shouting that it was an accident, he didn't mean to hit him hard. Yet, he must have meant to hit him, because he made contact 'hard' with his brother's shoulder.
The third child at this time was doing an adverb page in English for the third time. UGHH! BOYS!
We definitely have to keep praying for them. I highlighted a few points for myself.


What Are We Aiming For?


___________________________________________________________________________________________

“And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove


the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my


Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.”


~Ezekiel 36:26-27

I swear--young boys are a whole different breed of human. Mothers of girls often glare at me as if to say,

“Do they act that way all the time?” I often want to glare right back and say, “Yes! They do!”

Parenting my sons is my greatest joy and my greatest challenge. I love them to the ends of the earth and

back, but honestly, sometimes they suck the life out of me. I get so discouraged when it seems that even


my best efforts to reach their hearts miss the mark. I have all the right books (and I’ve actually read

them--some several times!). Each day I target the hearts of my boys, aiming high and taking my best

shot. But so many days I fall short, or my aim is off, or I’m just too weary to pull the bow back far

enough for the arrow to have the strength to pierce the heart. I go to bed those nights exhausted physically


and emotionally. But in my weakness, He is strong.

Perhaps the best place for a weary mom to be is physically and emotionally exhausted and on her knees.


With each day that passes, I’m more convinced that I have absolutely no power to change the hearts of

my boys. Oh, I can change their behavior if I try hard enough. Anyone can do that. But I know that

what’s in the heart eventually comes out. I know that if their knees are ever to bend to Jesus as Savior,

their hearts must bend first. And that’s God’s business.

I’m praying that you’ll grasp this concept so clearly that it will bring you strength and peace in the midst

of your wildest storms. You cannot change the hearts of your boys. You can’t. Period. It’s not your job.

It’s so important that you get this, friends, because you’re going to want to be able to change their hearts

more than anything in the world. Days, months, maybe even years of endless toil and labor for the sake

of your sons will go by with no apparent fruit. Night after night you will cry out to the Lord for change.

Day after day you will parent intentionally seeking the heart of your son. But until the King of kings and


Lord of lords turns his heart of stone to a heart of flesh, your son’s actions will be motivated by what is


pleasing to himself rather than by what is pleasing to the Lord.

As we journey into this process of praying for our sons, let’s remember this foundational concept: the first

and most important thing we must do is pray that God will change their hearts of stone to hearts of flesh.

These verses from Ezekiel thirty-six have become the theme of my parenting. I pray them for my sons

most every day. Because I know that until their hearts are softened by the Lord, to the Lord, nothing else


matters all that much.


www. warriorprayers.com

Casey, arrow, sprinkles, table

Happy Labor Day weekend. Sprinkles can smile too! (Sorry it is so blurry). I was adjusting the lens then 'Hawk' decided to move his hand.

This is what happens to you when you are short, hairy, four legged and come into the house dirty.

Can you see the arrow pointing down toward the left corner? 'Hawk' did this with a PVC pipe and darts from about 10 feet out.

This is the table I built last year using the legs from a previous school room table. The only problem was that the legs were about a foot in from the corners. the two chairs couldn't slide under. I sit back left and had to straddle the table leg. Bought the wood this morning, screwed it together painted it, and then switched the table top to the new legs. I always have fun doing wood projects.

Thanks for stopping by.

Big foot

No we didn't have a sighting in the area. Commander took me to Cabela's to try on hiking boots. You should have seen the look on the clerks face in the men's department when I asked for a size 10. He glanced at the Commander, started to point to the women's department....
Commander spoke up and told him, "Yeah, she has a big foot and needs a man's boot."
"I just wanted to make sure." He sheepishly sunk away to get the shoes.

I got a nice pair of Merrell Mid-high Kangaroo/Boa hikers. Just like a kid, I've been wearing them around the house.


After our walk today, I used an old recovery technique from the training days.   ICE BATH.   I pulled the metal tank, that we had used as a brooder for the chicks, out of the garage, cleaned it out, filled it half with water and emptied the ice container into it. It wasn't as cold as they use to keep them in the training rooms, but it sure felt good. Dipped in all the way to the chest so I could get the arm and shoulder into it.  I actually had goosebumps by the time I crawled back out. 
When I was training, the ice would be floating on the water. We would switch after five minutes from a cold whirlpool to a hot whirlpool and then back again for a twenty minute cycle. Can you tell I'm enjoying the training again?

Now, if I could just find a way to write on my stories while I'm walking. I'm open for your ideas.

3 hours of walking

Commander and I complete 10.5 miles this afternoon through the streets of Leavenworth. Only had to make short stops for the feet, and water refill at a park. I'm pooped.

Ready to look for hiking boots for the walk, though. That's how good the walk was today. Will be glad when I can get my rings off my fingers, forgot to wear my lymphadema sleeve. Won't do that again.

Happy Labor Day Weekend.

walking and boys

Tonight was my first night back at the track with Commander. We did 24 laps in just over 2 hours. I walked with ten extra pounds strapped around my waist and then the camelbac on top. Only a few twinges in the right foot, but adjusting some cushioning in the shoe seemed to help. If I can make a LSD trip (yeah, man) tomorrow (LONG SLOW DISTANCE is all it means) then I'll start shopping for a pair of desert hiking boots. I'm excited.  The distance came out to 6 1/2 miles because we were in the 6th lane of the track.

Boys arent' very good about keeping time when they are suppose to be in bed.  T12, though, is great at knowing what day it is, especially, the first day of the month, which he claims is  for buying sprinkles for his ice cream and one bag of chips each. The only problem T12 has with the first of the month is that the sprinkles don't last more than the first week with the three of them decorating their ice cream. He cringes on the night they sprinkle the last few drops - "it's so terrible for the rest of the month. Woe is me!"         Can't you just hear him. Another item they only get at the first of the month is a fridge pack of soda. Twelve soda's between three boys one allowed every other day, doesn't last long. Wait until next month boys.

THree weeks of schooling done, and I have to make an adjustment to my schedule, not the boys. I need more individual time with each of the boys, so we will try to do it by blocking hours. That really means I have to roll out of bed earlier, since Hawk starts when Dad leaves for work. And here I am at midnight blogging.

Have started another writing project to go along with everything else. I'm not sure what to title it, so I'll just say it is about enjoying the fruit around the pit - with the pit being cancer. I'm writing it like a Dairy and focusing on the funny stuff in life that got us through along with the Biblical passages that spoke to my heart and soul.

I feel like my brain needs to be defragged while trying to remember things in order. Commander says as long as I don't have a blue screen of brain death, I'm okay. Thanks Commander. I love you too.

Warrior Prayer Challenge

I just bought the ebook. I'll be joining a friend from church to be a Warrior Prayer for our boys. I hope you can join us in this challenge.

life makes me smile

T12 had to read the original short story "Lassie, Come Home".   He wanted to know where the guy that fell in the well was in the story, and where was Timmy. Why did they live in a cottage and sale the dog to the Duke? Wasn't this suppose to be a cowboy story?  
Shows how far the TV shows have come from the original story.

Found a prosthetic devise called "Been a Boob" this week. Ordered a pair. Boys were so excited when a package came in the mail today, they couldn't wait to open it. You would have thought there were snakes in that there box.

Walked three miles yesterday before the pain kicked in. Received cortisone shots in the feet today. Also had x-rays of feet and lumbar spine. Just incase an old high jump injury is part of the nerve problem. Praying these shots work so I can continue with the Commander in our training.

Our pastor's family might be blessed with a newer house, with room to grow. Praying this goes through. Please, please, please.

Two boys are now involved in Boy Scouts and are camping this weekend. We will have a busy day tomorrow traveling to where they are camping south west of Lawrence, driving T12 to Overland Park for a soccer game, and then taking him back to finish the campout. Commander will then have to go back to camp Sunday morning to bring a group of campers back home. Can you say "OUCH" to the gas bill? OOOOOUUUCH! T12 is just bummed that he has to see his parents every day this weekend. HA HA HA.

Read a book by one of my favorite young adult writers -Donita K. Paul. "The Dragons of Chiril".  Probably read about three pages before I realized I had already read the book. Finished the book before ever noticing on the front cover (in real small letters) that is said it was previously released under another name. No wonder, I had already read it. It was just as good the second time. I highly recommend her Dragon Keeper series.

Remembering to shake my boots out on the back patio before putting my feet in them. A friend, Pac Leo, found a black snake in his boots at the back door. Can you believe he didn't kill it??? If it had been in my boot - biology on the driveway, Babe!

Boys are doing a super job at getting back into the swing of schooling. Herogian is working to be a day a head by next Thursday to go dove hunting with Mr. Joe. He gets to take Penny with him for her first hunt.

The Commander can burp "I love you" in a handful of languages. I luv u two -Oklahomian, and I love you, too. English. That's as far as I get.

Have a great weekend.

Unplug it to make it work

Okay, that makes sense doesn't it?  You probably already guessed I was talking about the computer.  This time it wasn't the modem but the wi-fi router. So, we've been without internet since last Saturday because the modem and router couldn't communicate. Isn't communication a big problem in this world?

Thanks to the nice reps at Road Runner, I can now get back into a love/hate relationship with my computer.

Last night a miracle occurred at our place. Three boys sat down before bedtime to do some school work. Herogian danced down the hall to the bathroom chanting "I like Algebra! I like Algebra!"  T12 did his literature and Hawk completed a couple of his subjects. All this while I was at work. No one standing over them making them do any of it. Cool.

After I work a late shift, it is really nice to sleep in until 8:00. The boys then get up knowing they are not behind on schedule. Yeah.

It is nice being back on the homeschool roller coaster. I like the familiarity of it.

We survived the first week

Schooling the boys is something I really enjoy doing. This summer, for some reason, I wasn't ready to start. I even put our start day off by a week to unwind from VBS and prep a bit more. Not like I don't prep enough from February to July.

The week started off rough with a bad teenager attitude (Herogian). That, thankfully, has turned around and he is now reading ahead during the evenings. Hawk is back to his old ways - getting a couple of subjects knocked off the night before. Then there is Terminator 12. He started off earning what he called 'Responsibility points' ( Commander must have given him a talking to while I was at work). He would let me know when he felt he had earned one of these by getting something done on time, or correctly the first time. Well, he blew a big hole in that one today. Let's just say he earned a spot at the table doing repeat copy work. I know, old habits die hard. We finished the day early enough to sit down and watch Ninja Warrior  Boot Camp together. What a fun way to relax at the end of a school day!

Commander and I have spent the last two nights walking about 5 miles each night. I'm ready to see the podiatrist for injections into the balls of my feet. There are good reviews on alcohol injections for Morton's neuroma. I'll save the cortisone shots for March if needed. I know cortisone deadens everything - I jumped six-four with cortisone, then dropped below 5'10 when the doctor wouldn't shoot it up for the third time- not a good thing during Olympic Trials. I'm hoping to find a taping method that will curtail this painful situation.

As of this week, we now have two Boy Scouts. Herogian of all people. I'm so glad. I think he'll really enjoy the camping and activities. Next week they head off for a place with a lake. He can go fishing all day long. A few weeks later they get to camp out on a train and work for a Railroading merit badge. How cool is that?

Oh, the computer is RAMmed out. Our computer geek (genius) came over at 9:00 last night to install the new drive. What awesome service!  I haven't had a blue screen of death at all today. (insert happy dance.)

How we homeschool

This is a general synopsis of our day, it fluctuates like waves on a beach. I try to be the moon and pull an even tide, but I wane and wax, too.
With just the first week under our belt, we have found that getting up at the same time works best - when I get up, I get them up, somewhere between 8-9. With late nights at the store, then insomnia in some degree or another, I need to ignore Commander's alarm.

The boys start with Bible reading and verse practice while eating breakfast. Next is Daily grams and Easy grams, We do two daily grams on MWF so we have T, TH off, but also will finish the year earlier by about 36 days. We are required 186 days in our private sector.

The boys then follow a daily checkoff schedule meant to keep them from needing the computer or the same book at the same time. They have helped line out this list as to what they want to get out of the way first. For Herogian it is;  World Geography, Hawk - Math, T12 - grammar.
THe boys have 11-13 different subjects to cover in the week. some are every other day, to once a week. "Better THinking Skills" only takes five minutes. (You heard about that one yesterday). S.A.T. Prep is one chapter a week for the older boys. They need to know what is coming, so it won't be overwhelming. Typing and Foreign Language are computer lessons, this allows them to get away from the books.

The boys work at their own pace, but have a time schedule to follow. If they finish a subject early, they can get a chore done, or tell me that they are taking a short break. Sometimes they use this time to do a lap on their bike, or Herogian takes Penny for a walk.
Lunch is between 30 minutes to an hour, but  if lunch is finished or not- they start back to work at 1:00. If they played around and missed lunch, too bad.

THe workout for me is staying up on the daily check of their work ( 3 against 1) and making sure, right now, that they are doing complete notes from the chapters. During this first quarter, they will be allowed to use notes for test. Then those will drop away, but they still must take the notes.
I look at Jr. High and High school as college prep training. They need to have the study skills engrained, beat into their heads, established by their sophmore year in high school.

The boys know that if they mess around during the day, they will be doing their work when Commander comes home. In the past I've left T12 at the table working with Commander while I leave for work. School isn't over until their work is finished.  During this frustrating period for all involved. If they need a break - they can go do a chore and burn off their frustration getting something accomplished, or they might be allowed to take a bike ride, or run a loop around the neighborhood.

Hawk has especially learned to sit down in the evening with his ice cream and start on the next days assignments. Herogian will also do some reading in the evenings. T12 is still fighting this concept.

Yesterday Herogian learned that I won't be so eager to take him places that he wants to go - Ducks Unlimited Banquet, last night, if he hasn't completed his chores. The chickens depend on him. So when he was so eager to go at 4:30 last night, I asked if his jobs for the last three days were done. What a look came over his face when he realized he had three jobs to complete before he'd get to leave.
When we finally left, (remember this is the kid that loves to hunt and hates geography) I told him, he would have to give me directions. A deer in the headlights look blossomed on his face. So I gave him a hint. DeSoto, 10th or 20th street, which one do you want me to take?   He chose 10th.  We drove about four miles down this road before he decided that we were on the wrong road and asked if we could go to 20th. I turned on Spruce. That's when Commander called and asked him where were we? When Herogian told him Spruce. Commander thought I was lost and gave Herogian the directions. OHHHHH! I asked Herogian how he would have found the place if we had given him the keys to the car and told him to have a great time. His reply:  "I would have driven around until I found it."    OR RAN OUT OF GAS!
I like dishing out life lessons.

As I'm typing, Hawk asked, "do you want a grape soda, cream soda, or a root beer for lunch?"
"I don't know."
"You sound just like Hawk!"
Takes one to know one. Indecisive parent, Indecisive child.