itchin

A lot of itchin' going around here this week.   The most irritating one has been the feet. I had the second round of alcohol injections into my feet to sclerosis the nerve (Morton's Neuroma).  I broke out later that evening with red swollen areas above the injection site. By Friday afternoon, they were swollen all the way back to the ankles. I went to show the podiatrist and had to see his partner. She was so shocked, she took pictures with her phone to send to him at the surgery center.   AFter lying around for the rest of the weekend with feet propped up and taking benadryl, I'm doing better, just in time for the 3rd round of shots due Thursday. We will see if we can even go through with them.
This really brought on memories from chemotherapy. Getting sick from a shot that is supposed to help, fighting the side effects and by the time you start to feel better it's time for another round. UGH.

Praying that these 2 rounds of injections will be enough to deaded the nerve so I can at least get back to some normal routine around the track and backyard work.

THe other itchin around here is school for next year. It is already March and even though I know what courses the boys will be taking (mostly) I'm itchin to sit down and lay out the whole year. I do this on excel spread sheets. Then next year I just have to look at the sheet to see what is next. If we have any breaks in the schedule, the spread sheet shows me where we are lessonwise. I do put weeks down with it just so I know if we are starting to get behind too much, but I don't hold myself to being on that weeks work anymore. It's not written in stone - I have to keep telling myself that. Just check off the lesson when it is done and keep moving.

Most of my friends here are in Tornado alley.  Please stay safe this spring and keep your heads down. THanks for stopping by.

What they think we do....

We are the last picture, but put the books all over the floor, throw in two dogs, Gluten's bathrobe in the middle of the floor and that would be reality.

Traveling to recruit an athlete from my home town this weekend,and found that. -  This spur of the moment trip will  allow me to go to an aunt's funeral. Didn't want to plan it this way. Glad God is taking care of the planning. Aunt Naomi is with Him now. She fought cancer for a long time.

Biology at home

Herogian brought in this duck egg the other day.

When we broke it open we found another egg inside of the first, but it was still soft shell. Inside that (I don't know who took my camera away so I don't have the picture) we found a blog of shell material along side the yolk.

The picture is blurry - it's not your eyes. THis is Casey receiving a haircut around his face. Just like his human counterpart, I like it when someone is combing through my hair. As a preteen running cross-country for AAU, I kept my hair in a short pixie, I loved having the hairstylist use the straight edge razor on the under neath locks. Nuts? Okay.

THis is the throwing board for the USM track shot putters. All we need to do is move it out of the garage and to the school. Practice starts Monday and it started snowing last night.  It has 3 layers of 2x12 as the stopboard, carpet squares glued underneath to protect the floor from the bolts heads, and handles at the four corners for carrying.

Today three of us woke with congestion and sinus headaches. I'm so glad we homeschool. At 10:00 I sent the zombies back to bed.

Have a great weekend.

Twelve Days of Homeschool

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


Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday break homeschoolers.

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.

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.

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.

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.)

trying to get in the school mode, ready to throw computer out the window

Ugh! The computer.    I can't believe how easy this thing can make preparing for school, yet on the other hand it can really frustrate me. It is ready for Commander to reboot the operating system - blue screen of death keeps popping up. I've moved everything of importance off my main page and onto a portable drive. The slowness of getting around some pages is really putting my multitasking skills to work. I'm taking a frustration break to come see what my blogging friends are up to.

School starts Monday for us. A week later than I originally planned, but oh well. The boys this year will be following a syllabus for each of their subjects. They can see the whole year laid out before them. They can also turn away from that overwhelming view to their weekly check off books and take it one week at a time. I went to the trouble of writing it all out this way so that it will prepare them for college - taking a class syllabus and then breaking it down into doable chunks. We will also add Rossetta Stone Homeschool Spanish to the mix with a Spanish speaking friend from church checking their pronunciation each month. I'm so thrilled that she has agreed to help them. You know this Okie accented person definitely can't.

The boys will also have to follow a daily schedule that I set up for them. Usually, they picked what they wanted to do first and set their own routine for the year. We used their past routine to set up this years schedule but had to tweek it a bit so that the older boys can share books easier - no arguing over who gets literature first.

Okay, back to printing off forms and tweeking lessons.
Have a great weekend and new school year.

Pictures of stuff

Here is Izzy and Casey. They are finally getting along. Ony took about 32 hours. Young Family  I'm going to fatten up your dog. She is way toooooooo skinny. Just thought I'd let you know. I'm not giving her the raw hides either, they cause urine infections around this house, so we won't take the chance. She is doing great. She sits and stares at the birds (chickens and ducks) until it is too hot to be out side in a fur coat. Then she and Penny go after the lightening bugs after dark. Hilarious.

 T12 is taking after his MUM. How Awesome? Killed the snake and chopped its head off, then sliced it open to check out the organs and what it ate for its last meal. Too bad I was at work for this one.  That's the snake head in his right hand.

 T12 again, this time in Casey's kennel. This is one of the smaller pet taxi's for small dogs and cats. Houdini. Thought about leaving him in there. That way he'd at least stay out of trouble for the day.  Twelve year olds are worse than 2 year olds - they know better.

Commander and the boys plus 2 friends are off for  World's of Fun this afternoon. With their Homeschool I.D. School Cards we made a few months ago, they should be allowed in at a cheaper price tonight. We will see. This is the first night that W.of.F. is open until Midnight. You know how long the boys want to be there - midnight.
Tomorrow after church we will be taking two of these boys to Mission Lake Church Camp for a week. They are going to start the week off tired. Thank goodness Chris.C.  gets to put up with them.

Its been awhile

We are on our spring break. I'm doing things I didn't plan to do - burying a chicken the dog caught, having a homeschool garage sale, clearing snow off the steps, and working double hours at the store. Blogging, therefore, was pushed to the back burner. Hope you are having a great week enjoying the mix of spring and winter weather.

One of the birds flew the coop this week and landed in dog territory. Penny sure wanted something to play with, what better than a squeaky toy that flutters when you are a bird dog. She happily brought it to the back door. T11 saw her and screamed. Our friend Cam had picked this banty out of the bunch last year and she was named Camo for him. Herogian received the honors of burying the bird.

Yesterday I posted to our local homeschool group that I had books for sale. Today, before and after the St. Patrick's Day Parade was a great time for families already out and about to stop by. Yes. I still have a lot of books to offer if you're looking for any supplimental books, and also a bag of boy clothes I had stuffed in the attic. Just give me a holler. I'd love to pass it all on - clothes are free, books are almost free.

I've lined up our curriculum for school to finish us through high school. The only thing that might change is whether the course is taken at a local college for dual credits. I love to plan ahead, but I have learned to write it it pencil now.

Monday will start our spring session of P.E. with the local homeschoolers. My friend Arby and I will be coaching kickball, softball, and assorted similiar games. We've had a great response from the area. It will be interesting to see the age range that shows up and how many days a week most people show. We are planning for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday for 1 hour. Not so much time out of the day to mess up the schooling schedule, but enough time to give the kids an incentive to quit lolly gagging around with work.

After reading this post, it seems like it has been a bit boring around here. Let's liven it up a bit.
Snake kill number 1 for the year happened today. T13 and I were tossing pieces of waste lumber on a burn pile. T13 sorta froze in his steps and whispered snake, his finger pointed to the pile of branches and leaves already in the pile. My reaction was automatic, I struck the thing over the head with the board in my hands then asked what kind was it. The neighbor boy (12) wasn't too happy that I'd killed one of God's creatures. So when we saw it's partner, we picked it up with a stick and moved it away from his younger siblings playground and took it to the woods. I'm sure his mother wouldn't have minded if I had clobbered the second one. I always think of the curse from Genesis when I see a snake. It is ordained that a snake will die by my heel.

Tomorrow at archery is 2d and 3d targets, camping out, 3d shooting again on Saturday (40 targets) and hopefully dinner out with the family. Chat with you soon. Thanks for stopping by.

writing assignment amusement

T11 (Northley Davis) as his scout troop now calls him turned in a writing assignment. The challenge was to write a poem about a color, describing how that color would taste, smell, sound and feel. Here it is:

Black looks poor, like a beggers rags
Black feels rough like sand paper
Black smells like sewage and back alleys
Black sounds like popping knuckles
Black taste gross and is
as rare as your bedroom floor.

Can you roll out your bottom lip and stick out your tongue? We can!

For some reason, the Commander didn't want a kiss from us.

Nothing and everything

The new year brings with it the excitement of planning school curriculum. Huh?  Yes, I get excited about thinking ahead. I'm deciphering high school transcripts lately to make sure I start off on the left foot and don't trip over my right foot. I'm a lefty by the way - in my right mind as they say. Total confusion here. So I'm clearing the bookshelves. I'll be boxing up those books that offer no help to our future and moving them aside. I think this all stems from not wanting to move them all back into the schoolroom, mancave, gameroom,  activity room. We are still waiting for the call about carpet. The walls are painted, the shelves are in the closet, the ceiling is done with the vent hole for that room sealed. The only casualty from the process is a stye in the eye. The drill jumped off a screw and hit drywall, the dust flew into my eyes. I thought I was only in need of one screw, so why bother finding the goggles. Pay for stupid move and move back three spaces.

On another note, the Commander and I were talking about my fitness program. What fitness program? He loves working out at the gym on post and would like me to join him. "Loneliness becomes overwhelming for me when I am in a crowd." I told him, NO. Not going there. He asked if I liked Anytime Fitness where I worked out while he was in Iraq. Yeah, come to think of it, I did. The next day a postcard came in the mail offering a 2 year commitment for a lower price than one year. Dude - jump on it. I signed up for it today, Commander paid for it up front and they gave us two more months on the contract and a resigning afterwards at the same low price. Can you say $20 a month for a gym pass? That's pennies a day for even February. Of all things, I didn't work out there today. We just stopped by to sign up on our way to 20th Street. We parked down the hill at the Middle school, walked for 2 1/2 hours through the hills that will be ran in May during a 1/2 marathon. The Commander is training for it, I'm not so sure about running the whole thing, but I might walk/jog it. My training age is infantile right now.
I'm excited though to be back in a training routine to tone up the old limbs. If you'd like to take this wonderful offer at Anytime Fitness, just tell them I sent you so my name can go in a drawing for an IPAD. K?

Last night at work one of the ladies that recently read my self published book, said she wanted to read more. That was one of the best things said to me about my writing in a long time. It was nice. I realized the story I am working on is so different from the one printed that there's only a thread of connection anymore. I'm looking forward to putting the story back on the front burner at least once a week. I can't say everyday, or I'd stress myself out the first day I missed writing.

Tomorrow starts school. Don't tell the boys, I'm so excited. Two of the boys can be done with two more of their subjects by March. That means I can add in electives before the school year is out. Can you hear them moaning? It must be hard having a hyperactive type A mother. HAW HAW HAWWW.(evil laugh)