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A Day in the Life
Feb. 25, 2006
A Woman on a Mission!
Wow, it feels so great to have a plan for
getting in shape. I have honestly been flitting day to day, hour
to hour with this vague notion of wanting to lose weight and get in
shape but without any real idea as to what I should be doing to make it
happen. I don't know if it is just age, hormones or what, but my
metabolism just plain "ain't where it used to be"-- not that it was
ever very speedy but I used to be able to shed a few pounds when I
really put my mind to it. I have to confess that in the past year
my weight has crept up a good 16 pounds or so and enough is
enough! There are several reasons I need to get my health in
order:
1. Because I have high blood pressure.
2. I can't afford to buy new clothes!
3. I want to be proud to take pictures with my family-- my children
will one day look back and wonder why mom was always avoiding the
camera!
4. I want to be a healthy role model to my children.
5. I want to feel more attractive to my dh-- he says I'm beautiful already ofcourse but I really want him to be like WOW!!!!
So today my plan got a HUGE kick start because my awesomely generous dh
decided to get me a treadmill and not just any treadmill-- it is an
AWESOME treadmill. It does the automatic incline, measures your
heart rate, folds up, counts your steps, miles, calories, etc. It
is dynamic!!!
In addition to the treadmill I have started a new diet system my dh and
I devised together which essentially calls for me to eat frozen lunches
and dinners, cereal for breakfast and a low-cal snack every day.
I am also allowed to snack on fruit and vegetables, drink herbal tea
and tons of water. This is what we came up with instead of having
me do something like Nutrisystem which is just flat out too
expensive.
It feels great to just feel like I have a solid plan in place and that
if I stick to it faithfully I will see results. Pray for me that
this is a success!!
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Feb. 23, 2006
Dial Up's Not So Bad After All
Well in an effort to save some monthly cash
I downgraded our internet yesterday from DSL to dial up. I was
incredibly unsure about this-- when we had dial up before it was soooo
slow and I've become very used to the speedy DSL connection. Well
I went ahead and took a chance (knowing I could reverse it if dialing
up was just "too much" lol) and dh and I have both been very pleased
with the change-- not only is it $22 cheaper per month (WOW!!) it is
actually A LOT faster than we remember. I mean we do have to dial
up and we do have to wait a few seconds for pages to load but it really
isn't that big of a deal honestly. Woo hoo! Cash savings!
I am having my monthly pity party which I think is brought on by PMS
hormones surging-- it is getting really comical. Once a month I
am convinced that no one likes me, every one hates me and in fact
everyone is out to drive me crazy. Well not everyone-- just my
family and friends 
This all started right around when I turned 30 last yeart-- I turned 31
very recently and finally I starting to see the connection and realize
that no, not everyone is changing their attitude on me-- it's me, it's
definitely definitely me.
My husband had an interview for a new position this morning-- can't wait to hear the results!
Home school is rocking and rolling-- Jasmine's handwriting is improving
and she did her first book report yesterday on an Amelia Bedelia
book. Camille is mostly playing but I am having her focus in on
learning one letter each day-- starting with the letters of her
name.
Well lots to do, have to run!
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Feb. 21, 2006
New Schedule
Today I am implementing a new schedule that
I pray will be good for the family-- I have arranged it so that now we
have sort of "blocks" of time in which to do certain things in whatever
order I want because when my schedule is too specific I just sort of
mentally want to block it out and say "forget it". So here's the
new plan:
7:00-9:00 Shower, dress, computer time, devotion, beds, wipe down bathrooms, start laundry, coffee, breakfast, dishes/clean up.
9:00-11:00 Home School Activities
11:00-12:00 Exercise/Walk/Playground
12:00-12:30 Lunch
12:30-2:30 Chores, weekly cleaning, daily to do list, switch laundry
2:30-4:00 Quiet Time/Nap for the girls, Computer Work time for me (marketing and freelance work)
4:00-5:00 Play with the girls
5:00-6:30 Vacuum, baths, pick up/put up, dinner, medications
7:00 Clean kitchen, family time (games, reading, etc)
8:00 Kids to bed, finish laundry, notebook check, clothes out for the next day
I may not be a fly lady but I think this will be pretty good! :-)
What's nice too is that if I finish everything ahead of schedule I can
give myself a little treat like right now-- I finished the morning
stuff quickly so I have a 15 min splurge time :-)
I am also committing today to eat only 1200 calories and to take 12,000 steps. Pray for me ladies!
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Feb. 19, 2006
Reflections
1. My youngest dd is not potty training
well... I'm considering just scrapping the whole notion for now, going
back to diapers and then broaching the topic anew say when she is three
years old or so. It is just frustration and confusion as it
stands and I am the one who is doing all the remembering-- I asked her
repeatedly if she had to go potty last night and it was nope nope nope
and then suddenly it's UH OH and wet pants. Again. For the
millionth time. I am just feeling she must not be ready and that I've
rushed things and that I just need to scrap it for now. Maybe
that's wrong.
2. I am feeling majorly convicted food wise today. I have been
having a "festival of treats" around the house lately... brownies,
cupcakes, candy, you name it. I have been exercising a lot more
but it's almost like my brain refuses to let my body make progress and
sabotages the plan. And I fall for it time and time again.
What I'm convicted about though is that my food situation right now is
out of balance-- it has actually become somewhat of an idol in my
life. I turn to it for comfort and that is wrong. I eat the
wrong things and I eat even when I'm not hungry. I get angry at
myself when I see the scale and make big promises and manage to be good
for about half a day but then at some point my resolve crumbles and I'm
back where I started. At church they talked about the idea of
being "convicted" and our pastor said the next thing is to confess and
repent so I am moving on to those steps and praying for the Lord to
help me shake this unhealthy addiction to sweets.
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Feb. 18, 2006
It is cold in Ohio. Very very cold.
:-) I'm not actually in Ohio but here's the
thing-- we're moving to Ohio (from Georgia) either very soon or at the
latest within the next year. In order to mentally prepare myself
I have been daily checking the weather in the area we will be living.
Today it is 5 degrees. FIVE. DEGREES. Wow. I
better stock up on some long johns, scarves and hats! LOL
On a lighter note, I am very happy with the new look of my blog! I am
making a commitment to really utilize this thing-- especially to get
out and read other people's blogs-- was doing that this morning and
getting lots of VERY good ideas.
We are in the thick of potty training. Lord help us all. My hardwood floors may never be the same again! 
I am testing out a new toy system to cut down on clutter-- I lock all
the toys away in our spare bedroom nice and neat and then daily the
kids can "check out" a basket full and during the day if they aren't
playing with the toys they go back in the basket and at the end of the
day we put them all away again back in the room. Hoping I can
keep this up because it has done WONDERS for keeping things orderly
around here. My two year old however is at work trying various
ways to pick the lock-- she's a crafty one so I better keep on my toes!
LOL
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Feb. 17, 2006
Update!
Lots
has been going on but I just have not even been with it enough to blog
like I wanted to-- I need to get better about this though because I
think it will be very nice to have a written record I can refer back to
about the ups and downs, what works, what doesn't, etc. I am
getting in the groove in more ways than one:
1. I
just finished the book Created to Be His Helpmeet and let me just say
that book challenged me to PIECES. And it is funny because I have
felt like I was in line with being submissive for a long time now but
still-- there was a lot in that book that challenged me-- in very good
ways. My husband is VERY happy with the changes in me that he has
seen and I have to say we've both been just a lot more relaxed and
happy so like the author says-- you put the practices to the test and
you will see that it really does work. The biggest challenges for
me have been:
* realizing that it is better to be loved and be loving than to be "right" all the time
* realizing how important my positive attitude is to our home
* realizing how important it is to have fun with my dh
* realizing how important it is to not come across as "holier than
thou" with my dh (I ofcourse knew this but realized that somethings I
was doing were violating this when I didn't realize it)
2. I
just finished a new article for the magazine I write for-- it was about
discipline. I begged my friend Violet/SchoolDaze to let me
interview her ()
but in the end I decided to make it a personal more humorous piece
rather than do interviews which my editor LOVED. It was truly
divinely inspired like all my published writing-- I literally just sat
down and wrote it from start to finish in about two hours. I am
excited because I want to take this publish piece and start trying to
market myself to other publications. The magazine is called Imara
Woman and it will be on stands in March (in the Southeast US region)
3. Homeschool has been going VERY well-- I just assessed my dd's reading level and found that she is reading on a third grade level-- considering she JUST turn FOUR
I am just blown away. I have heard that homeschooled children
read consistently above grade level but I didn't expect it to be this
far ahead. I didn't even know it was reasonable to start teaching
her to read this young-- I have to thank Violet/SchoolDaze for that
because she really helped me to put aside preconcieved notions of what
my children "should" be doing and just commit to taking them as far as
they are ready to go (did you know you did all that??? lol) We are
getting into book reports, a unit study called "Me and My Body" based
on a set of educational books that I bought a long time ago, and lots
of handwriting practice (loving the book "Draw Write Now"). I
would like to do more in the math department and physical education
(either dance, gymnastics, or a sport) but an organized PE will have to
wait until dh decides whether we are moving or not. It is
uncomfortable to not know what the future holds but he can't help that
right now and we're just giving him all the space he needs to figure
out what step to take next.
4.
Speaking of moving-- I have been whipping this house into shape and
it's been taking lots of my time and energy. So far I have
painted our kitchen, living room, bathroom, office, toy room, kids'
room, hallway and stairwell (PHEW!!)-- all I have left now is the
master bedroom, master bathroom, laundry area, garage and guest
bathroom. Oh and then I have to call in someone for the foyer
because I do know my limits! lol
5. I
have been getting very active with the assistance of a pedometer-- I
have been shooting for 10K steps daily--- that is about twice what I
was getting in on a normal day and my body is FEELING IT. A
friend of mine who is a trainer keeps reminding me that muscle weighs
more than fat and that this will pay off in the long run but I want to
see the scale move NOW!LOL
Well
that about sums it up and we're on the run!! I'm excited because
we are getting out of the house today to go paint pottery as a gift for
dh's birthday on Monday! Should be fun!
Til next time!
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Jan. 6, 2006
Fresh Start
Well the holidays are officially over
and I am all set to get back in the swing of things homeschool
wise. Question-- is it homeschool or home school? I've seen
it both ways and figure I should know that if I'm doing it, right?
I've had a tough time keeping up with this blog and another more
general one that I started about the same time. I usually have a
lot to blab about that is outside of the homeschool realm but I want to
get more regular in posting here-- and also get more regular in
gathering wisdom from other posters. I made a big trip to The
Schoolbox today that was VERY FUN!! I at first was really wanting a big
curriculum and I still do but since it is not in the budget right now I
decided to make the most of the budget that I do have and got a bunch
of stuff today to start the year off on the right foot:
* Art supplies-- paints, paper, brushes, new crayons, etc.
* A large dry erase calendar with themed labels for each month
* A large map of the United States
* A dry erase board for practicing manuscript
* A wooden abacus
* A phonics workbook
* A ream of primary manuscript paper
* Large beginner pencils
* A binder to keep all work in
* A lesson planner book
* A Bible memory verse book with lesson plan ideas
My inner teacher is very satisfied today :-) I have been making
the most of what was on hand to this point but now that we have an
official monthly "homeschool budget" I am excited to see how I can
flesh out our supplies and start doing some cool stuff with the kids--
such as signing them up for a great gymnastics program we have near our
house. I also want to get them involved in an Awana program that
I've heard good things about near us. I have always always always
wished that the beginning of the school year was really and truly at
the first of the year so it is nice because now I can do it just like
that if I want!
My oldest is really stunning me and
everyone else with how quickly she is picking stuff up-- just a few
months ago I wasn't sure she was ready to start reading and now she is
reading multi-syllable words, has mastered sounds such as "ch" "sh"
"ph", has many sight words down pat, has memorized at least three bible
verses entirely-- she's is rocking and rolling! And she isn't
even four yet! She will be next week though in fairness but
still! My littlest one-- she is still a firecracker-- she loves
to sing and dance-- we got her a keyboard for Christmas so I am going
to attempt to teach her piano. She's getting her colors, letters
and numbers down pat and getting the hang of potty training. She
also really enjoys helping with cooking and chores, playing sports,
doing her so-called "happy dance" (HILARIOUS) and finding unsuspecting
people in the grocery store to holler "HI!!!!" at! :-D She's the
life of the party wherever she goes-- too funny!
Til next time!
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Nov. 23, 2005
Making Peace With the TV
I was just recently telling schooldaze
about this whole mental thing I've been through lately regarding the
TV-- I have been guilty of being one of those moms in the past who
would let the "electronic babysitter" keep the kids out of my hair for
WAY more hours than I care to reveal :) Well I have changed my ways
very much so-- I started by cutting back TV viewing to one hour-- just
Dora and Diego after lunch that's it. Well then I was still
disappointed because you would be AMAZED at how much advertising they
pack in between those shows!! My three year old was rattling off
all sorts of specific toys that she just "had" to have-- no
thanks!! So off it went again. And then I remembered-- PBS
doesn't have commercials so I decided to check out their website
(www.pbskids.org) and it is great. I've made peace with my
TV.
First I decided that if we are going to watch TV at all-- we are going
to watch high quality television programs that are educational AND
entertaining. Sure I know Dora has some educational merits but
honestly the programs we're watching on PBS are so much more engaging,
especially for my older daughter. The two programs that we've
decided upon are Between the Lions and Reading Rainbow (I was sooo
excited this show was still on the air, I always loved it).
Between the Lions has so much good stuff about phonics, word families,
great literature, etc. and what is even better is that on the website
they have a curriculum guide that offers great supporting literature,
activities, let's you know what sounds and word families will be
focused on in upcoming episodes, etc. Reading Rainbow is great
because they continue with certain themes through out certain
episodes.
What is great about having these resources for me is that since I don't
have a curriculum these shows and the supplementary materials offer me
a free resource to build themed units around. I know as a teacher
that repetition and extension are such great ways for children to learn
so I am excited to see where this will take us. These shows
won't be the bulk of my teaching by any means but it is nice to have
a starting point to work from.
My daughter (3yo) finally said something about her "real" school
yesterday-- we drove by it and she asked when do I go to school again?
I told her well now we do homeschooling and I just waited to see how
she'd respond. She was just quiet for a few minutes and then
asked, "does that mean we get to make more puppets?" and I said yep!
and she was satisfied. :-)
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Nov. 17, 2005
Dh is sold!!
Now
I knew that my dh was okay with the idea of homeschooling but I think
he's really and truly enthusiastic about it after last night!! When he
got home my daughter was able to recite Joshua 1:9 and Proverbs 3:5,6
to him line for line!! Now that isn't all we've worked on this week but
if one were to know my dh they would know that THIS is speaking his
language. This is the kind of progress that really makes an
impression on him and he literally got teary eyed when she did
that. It was great.
My little one (the two year old) is picking up on things here and there
and is getting a little better at being able to sit still and focus but
she's not nearly as intensely focused as my other daughter (almost
four). I am praying and searching for activities to engage
her. I also need to find ways to have time where I can work with
her just one on one because so many times my older daughter will jump
in with an answer before my little one has a chance.
We are on a puppetry roll (thanks to schooldaze for that inspiration!
:-) Yesterday we made a finger puppet theater out of a cereal box, we
then made tiny puppets out of paper and popsicle sticks of pilgrims and
then I let my oldest daughter make a background "set" which you can
slide into the back of the box-- she decided she wanted to make one of
church :-) It is very cute and they had a good time doing it.
My big thing right now is that I am kind flying by the seat of my
pants-- I mean I have a definite schedule but as far as content-- no
real set direction. I kind of want to work in themed units or
even get my hands on a curriculum just for my own comfort as I get used
to this. We didn't do a lot today because we had a long (and
*exhausting*) afternoon at a Chuck E Cheese birthday party.
I did find a GREAT book of Bible stories at the library yesterday and I
think we'll attempt to do the first one this evening.
Until next time! ~Brandi~
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Nov. 15, 2005
Phew!!!
That WAS a lot to tackle in one day.
As I was creating the schedule it didn't sound so out of control but we
were all pooped by the end of the day! In a good way though. We
all slept really well last night. My plan is to stick to that
schedule three days a week and leave Tuesday and Thursday to let the
girls play and for me to get caught up on house work (and internet time
I must admit :-) and to prepare materials for our next day of
schooling. I am praying over the fact that I don't want to make
this too rigid for them but again, the teacher in me has got to have a
certain level of order or I just can't take it. LOL
They had so much fun yesterday. We made little puppet stages and
puppets of family members-- just pictures drawn on paper and taped to
straws. They thought this was the coolest thing ever and have continued
playing with them into today. We read a lot, sang a lot, did some
workbook work, bagged up some leaves, did some cooking, went to the
playground and my 3yo even attempted to do the exercise video with me!
:-) It was HILARIOUS.
I was looking around online and found some neat plans to build a real
puppet stage-- I know it will be more of my project than theirs but
they can help paint it and I know we will be able to enjoy it time and
time again so I think we'll give it a go! Woo hoo! :-)
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Nov. 12, 2005
Tentative Schedule
The teacher in me demands that I take on my
homeschooling endeavor in a pretty structured manner. I will try
in some ways to overcome this tendency but I think that going with it
at least to start will give me a level of comfort and familiarity that
can help me get started. So I've been poking around on this site
and looking for different schedules and ideas and here's what I've come
up with...
7:00 Exercise Video
7:30 Shower/Dress/Make beds
8:00 Breakfast/Clean up Dishes
9:00-12:00 Home School (snack at 10:30)
~Start with going over our calendar and the weather
~Do a devotional/Bible story and repeat our memory verse
~Interactive activities like art projects, science projects, nature
walks, field trips, movies, building things, etc. that will interest
both of my daughters.
12:00 Lunch Time
12:30-1:30 Let the kids watch their shows (Dora and Diego) while I do my hour of cleaning
1:30-3:30 Little one takes a nap so I will work with my older daughter
on her items that require more concentration-- workbooks, phonics
cards, reading, writing, Bible memory verse
3:30-4:30 Story Time/Snack Time
4:30-6:00 Free Time/Outdoor Play (work on learning some different outdoor games and sports)
6:00 Dinner Preparation and Clean Up
7:00 Husband gets home, Dinner Time, Dishes, Play Time
8:00 Turn down beds, Bath Time, Story Time, Bed Time for the girls
8:45 Bible Study time with husband
9:15 Watch a movie and snuggle :-)
Will try to start impletmenting this schedule first thing Monday morning!
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Nov. 10, 2005
Greetings!
Have you ever had one of those moments
where God put the right person right in your path at the right
time? Thank goodness for me and my children that has happened to
us. I had been considering the notion of homeschooling but was so
scared and then I met a member of this board (not sure what her name is
on this one, it is Violet where I know her from). I have to send
out a big fat THANK YOU to her because she has seriously been so
instrumental in helping me to gain a better understanding of
homeschooling from a spiritual and a practical perspective in a very
short period of time-- hooking me up with resources and giving me my
own personal much needed pep talks. She rocks! :-)
My
whole journey in this area started because I've been sending my oldest
daughter (3yo) to preschool two days a week and have been rather
disappointed by the results. Not that the teachers aren't nice or
doing their best but I remember as a teacher how hard it was to have
real and meaningful teachable moments with individual children in a
classroom setting. Between paper work, hustling in and out of the
room here and there, responding to behavior issues, going to the
bathroom, having snack time, etc-- I can understand that there is just
not very much time invested in pure education. There is also the
fact that as their mother I naturally have more vested interest in
seeing that my children get the very best. I want the kind of
education they would get at the best of the best of schools but can't
afford it-- but even if I could they would be missing out on the
relationship with me that I hope to build with them while
homeschooling.
I was reading a book called Sacred
Parenting and it really talked about how parenting is a ministry that
changes you as much as it changes the child-- I feel like it ties in to
this adventure I'm undertaking. I know a lot of parents in my
family whose actions seem to indicate they think their children are a
nusance more than anything else-- it is really sad. But the thing
is-- I can relate to that. I would never have thought that on a
conscious level but my actions said otherwise. I am working on
developing a servants heart toward my kids. Rather than get
annoyed at them when they need my time, money, attention, etc I need to
learn to really and truly give of myself.
My first steps
have been to look around on this website and to just simply start
working with my daughter through out the day in natural ways.
I've always intimidated myself with the idea of homeschooling--
thinking it had to be "just so" for it to work. Well today we did
a lot of great things that weren't difficult, expensive or tedious:
1. We raked leaves in the back yard-- we talked about the importance of
chores, why the leaves fall off the tree, counted the bags, moved them
and stacked them.
2. We looked for different nature items in the backyard-- a rock, a twig, leaves, grass, dirt, etc and talked about them.
3. We worked on a preschool workbook for as long as she wanted-- she
went almost halfway through the whole thing and it is HUGE.
Apparently stickers are a MAJOR motivator for my child :-)
4. We did flashcards with different phonics combinations.
I also got the VERY COOL idea from Violet to do a puppet show theater-- will sooo be doing that tomorrow! :-)
My goals are to:
1. Limit TV watching to 1 hour per day.
2. Develop a structured routine for homeschooling and chores.
3. I have a temptation to want to shop to death-- but instead I would
like to focus on **Using What I Have** for two reasons-- to save money
and to spur creativity.
Until next time, Brandi
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