Quick takes- what I did on Summer Vacation edition

Summer vacation came and went. Wow, it's already time to start the new homeschool year! But first, a quick wrap-up of my fleeting vacation...

~1~

We did a bit of this, but not as much as I had promised.  I am vowing to go often now that school is back in session. A perk of homeschooling is hitting the beach when the crowds are gone!  I plan to make up for not going as often as I planned this Summer.

~2~

Our Bible conference -with foreign guests (who stayed a extra two weeks) and the U.S. National Fencing Championships all happened at the same time.  I survived. Barely.  I will forever bless the dear Korean sister who took over the cooking for her family. They were happy (Korean food!) and I was happy, because I really didn't know if I was coming or going!  Here's a clip of Josie in fencing action (and me being loud sideline mom in the background-and no, Josie is not her real name.)

 ~3~

Bible conference and Josie's fencing tournament collided with my mother becoming severely ill and then dying.  It all happened so quick it still takes my breath away.  I wrote, when she first was diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver that I wasn't sad- but angry and detached.  I was wrong, there are no words really, to describe the horror and pain of watching your mother suffering.  I lost my mother way too young, and despite our lack of a close relationship- or maybe because of that lack, losing her left a big, gaping, jagged hole.  This will be forever my Summer of regret.

~4~

Meg had a couple of these.  Irish feis time is a lot of fun.  Great photo opportunities!

I've discovered the video capabilities on my iphone, here's a short clip of Meg in action at her last feis:

~5~

Sky took time off work to attend a week-long wood marquetry class.  I can best describe it as making designs with inlays of wood. He has done two complete projects, and I can't wait to share a photo- I do have to wait though, because one of them is a gift, so I can't spill the beans yet. Grumble.

~6~

The Orange County fair is a family tradition. Lately, we've had several family members enter art into the competitions. This year, Sky entered one of his horse jewelry boxes, Josie entered a dragon painting(and won a blue ribbon!) and Amie entered 3 paintings into the children's competition and won one blue and two red ribbons.  It was a good showing for the {Home} gang :)

(I won't bore you with more photos, but if you follow me on instagram, you will see them there. )

How was your Summer?  I hope it was a good one, full of lovely, summery memories

<3

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the mad curriculum shopper

I went to the local hotel showing for Abeka books today.  I needed to order Biology books for Josie's Biola Star Biology class, and health books for the semester of health she needs to complete.  The cool thing about these hotel display meetings is that you get free shipping on your order. Boo-ya!  The uncool thing.... the curriculum lust and self-doubt I begin to experience as I look at all the books displayed.  I don't know about you, but I begin to re-think the approach I was perfectly happy with yesterday.  I'm good with the grammar and Math I have picked out, and yet, I begin to wonder if I have deprived my kids by not following the sequence of offerings they have displayed so nicely.

We are in the midst of some highschool Math-angst here at Home...major review going on at our house to prepare the girls for their courses for 2012/ 2013.  I am unhappy with Josie's retention and scared stiff about Meg taking Geometry this coming year.  I got a 'D" in geometry.  I was also in 9th grade and my teacher couldn't hear and would yell at me when she made me stand up and recite proofs.  Yeah, good times there...  anyhow, I started leafing through Abeka's Geometry and liked the traditional flow of it all.  I was sorely tempted to buy it and have her do two Geometry programs: Math-U-See and Abeka Geometry, you know to attack it from all theoretical angles.

If Math curriculum is good, even more would be better!! 

And heck, while I was at it, let's throw in Abeka Algebra II for Josie to do along with her Math-U-See Algebra II.. piles of curriculum for all my kids!!

The solution manual for the Geometry was $60 and some dollars.  So, I did what I had to do and called Sky.  He talked me down.

Hey, I figure if Mr. Civil Engineer is happy with what we are using, who am I to doubt?

it'll be okay, right?  Whimper....

do any of you run in circles each year doubting your curriculum choices?  Tell me it's not just me....

USA Fencing National Championships -a proud mama moment

The 2012 USA Fencing National Championships ~ Josie's introduction to big-time saber fencing tournaments.  It was mom's introduction, too.  I like to call it, sink or swim style...

I figure, nothing says, "Who loves you baby?" like a ginormous convention center full of fencing bouts when you don't really know much about the sport...Mama was game, this earns me more visits in the nursing home someday, right??

We really were that green.  Thankfully, her coach found us at her very first match- it really was providential because she did her first bout, lost and I would have walked away...not knowing she had like 5 or 6 more to do and then they tally up the averages.  -And then they post the next bouts you move on to, and so on...It would have been bad if we'd walked away to go eat nachos or something...**Josie is the one facing the camera with the mask on...

These photos probably look all alike to you, but really, I remember each match.  It was exciting and terrifying, all at the same time.   **Josie is the one on the right with the fantastic lunge there...it's like a perfect yoga move there, poetry in motion.  (excuse me while I do some mom-gushing)

The day was a mix of excitement, worry, confusion and waiting.  We really did not know what we were doing.  It was a learning experience for us, but in a good way for Josie- I think it pushed her skills up a notch.

The next big tournament?  We'll be ready.

~and we will buy a wheeled equipment bag...no kidding, her fencing equipment is really, really heavy! 

hens and hawks -home movie

So, I had a really old iphone and then it just stopped working one day.  I did the only thing that could be done in such a situation, went and bought a new one!  I didn't get the newest/greatest edition, but the one below...and drum roll please, it has video.  I predict more videos here on the blawg, since I now have it at my fingertips at all times. This afternoon, I saw a flash of brown out my kitchen window - I went out to investigate and saw two cooper's hawks in our tree.  Two turned into three.  This is kind of magical for us, because we live in the middle of a pretty big city.  Here's a short imovie of the hawks, taken with my iphone.  This age continues to amaze me :)

Our hens, Dapples and Annabelle make cameo appearances at the end...

Carousel Horse - Wordless Wednesday

Happy Wordless Wednesday!

Homeschool Mom gets busy- My P90X adventure

I've gained and lost the same 15 or so pounds over and over again, like some cruel Groundhog's Day hoax.  I'd lose it, using an expensive pre-packaged food diet program, keep it off a year or so, and then slowly gain it back.  After a few years feeling chubby, I'd start the cycle over again.

I liked to think I was into yoga. But I wasn't really.  I liked the thought of it, but only once in my life actually sustained a daily practice - which lasted maybe 4 months.

15 or so pounds doesn't sound so bad to some of you reading, I'm sure.  But, on a small framed 5'3" person, it can make a big difference.

So, my story begins when a friend sent me a photo of myself playing photographer somewhere.

Friends, for a few seconds, I didn't realize it was me...until I recognized my red hair.  Yes, it was that bad.  In that instant I realized something needed to be done. Like yesterday.  I asked around over at a favorite online mom hangout of mine, and saw mentions of P90x...so I checked it out.  I liked what I saw, and I liked the testimonials of other moms just like me...but the price caused me some hesitation at first.  I thought about it, talked to Sky about it - and then decided to go for it.  The price was actually a very motivating factor; I decide I didn't want this program to be just another fitness video I added to my dusty, unused pile of fitness videos.  After researching a bit more, getting a Beachbody coach (publishers of P90X) and asking lots of questions, I decided to spend a month working out with Jillian Michael's 30day Shred first, before tackling p90x.  I did read about people more out of shape and heavier than I doing well with p90x by just doing as much as they could, but I realized I would be more apt to quit if the program was shockingly difficult for my marshmallow / cream-puff body.

I had used the 30day Shred before, and enjoyed it (as much as you can enjoy working out!) but hadn't stuck with it more than  two weeks or so.  I decided to up my walking routine, do the 30Day Shred everyday, and begin counting/ tracking calories using My Fitness Pal.  (click over here to read my post on My Fitness Pal)

I am so glad I followed this route before ordering P90X.  I'll talk about why in my next post.  For now, I'll leave you with the relevant stats:

Pre- 30Day Shred/exercise/counting calories:

May 7, 2012

Weight 133.5

waist: 30"  hips: 37"

*not a sponsored post, I am not a Beachbody coach or affiliated with Beachbody, but I do get a very small commission from Amazon for items purchased from my links-thank you for supporting my book habit! :)

Wordless Wednesday~ 1.2 Gigawatts!

I found myself behind not one, but two DeLoreans at a stoplight. I grabbed my camera and got the added bonus of watching a Doc Brown look-alike running to talk to the driver of the second car.  Sadly, I had my white balance setting wrong...the photo is blown-out, but still fun.

Happy WW!  Leave a comment if you have a Wordless Wednesday post today  :)

7 Quick Things {lost} edition

~1~

My mother passed away on Monday, her funeral was Friday morning.  My thoughts and feelings are such a jumble...they change each day.  {Lost} describes me.  Despite the problems my mother and I had, and despite the hard feelings I had for her- I always thought we had time to repair our relationship. She was only 60 years old.  Even when she got so sick and was in the hospital, I thought I had time to tell her how much I loved her, and the things I admired about her...  I was planning to tell her those things as a pep-talk to inspire her to stay sober.  Instead, I told those things to the people at her funeral- desperate for them to see her beyond her last few years. Time can be a cruel thing.

~2~

I put together a slide-show for the memorial, it came out really nice.  My sister and I requested the song "Day O" from the movie Beetlejuice to be played as everyone walked out of the service. For some reason, my mom loved that song, she got such a kick out of it.  We also brought Hawaiian leis for her pall-bearers to wear as they carried her out- she would have liked the touch.

~3~

My mom loved birds, and had many, many parrots over the years.  We all sat around the table one night and agreed that we were glad that she had given Beau away (a double yellow headed mexican amazon parrot she had since I was 9 years old) She had always threatened to leave her with us as an inheritance (they can live to be 75 years old!)  We were all part of the "I've been bitten in the face by Beau club" and were really glad she had given her away a few years ago.  We had a good laugh over that bird.

~4~

My house is just now, after 3 weeks, slowly being put back in order.  We had our week-long Bible conference and guests from Korea.  They asked to stay an extra week, and then we had a teenage friend stay the week after until highschool Bible camp started.  They call it the "School of Truth" -kind of a cool name :)  and then, in the middle of Bible conference my mom was hospitalized and it has all been chaos for me.  We had to send Demi to camp without a sleeping bag- we couldn't find it- we sent him with a pillow and comforter.  2 days later Sky found his sleeping bag under a pile of dirty laundry.  Yeah, it's been that kind of time here.

~5~

I tried to keep up with my p90x exercising during Bible conference, but I had to stop after that with my mom sick.  I was doing so much driving that my diet fell apart, too.  Chick-fil-A happens to be right next to where I jump onto the 91 freeway, and it became a comfort food for me, unfortunately.  It is not very close to my house, so it is a big treat.  I also have to admit to the navajo sandwich from cheesecake factory as a comfort food.  The week my mother died, Sky took me there 3 times. Love that man <3

~6~

I'm out of thoughts, but I thought I'd share this sunflower from my front yard. I edited it with a watercolor filter on photoshop elements. I love sunflowers, every year Sky plants several different kinds in our front and back yards.  Love that man <3

I'll leave you with this song- a reminder to say what you need to say, even if it's a hard thing, while you can...

*7 Quick things is hosted every Friday at Conversion Diary. click over to join up.