I just have to tell you how excited I am about a great book for women and girls: Sarah's Garden. My friend Deb and my friend Gregg's daughter, Rebecca, have authored a fabulous new book. The story is a parable of God's love for us and the illustrations are stunning. You'll be even more stunned when you realize that the illustrations were done by a 12-year-old! You can purchase it here. Proceeds will provide a scholarship fund for aspiring artists. How cool is that?
It's been an exciting journey to see this book born. Deb is in my writer's group. I heard her use this parable in a talk she gave at our women's retreat years ago. Because of the good experience I had in self-publishing (especially because I'm also a speaker), I encouraged Deb to get it published. Seeing the progression in Rebecca's art has been something to behold! I have a hard time getting excited about my kids' art now, I tell you! She has truly been gifted by God. I'm so proud of how hard Deb worked to get this book formatted for publication. It was a challenge! Deb named the princess in the book Sarah, after her recently departed mother who was also an artist.
Buy this book as a Christmas gift for any ladies on your list (or for you!) and you'll be blessed.
My next post will be about another book recently published by another friend. You won't want to miss it!
Okay, so it is tough forcing myself to do this tonight at this late hour, but I was majorly distracted by the debate!
Today wasn’t so much about the kids, but about the dog. My poor little coney dog got spayed. She is really, really miserable with the cone on her head, but has to have it so she doesn’t chew her stitches out. They told me two days, but she is a determined dog. It may take longer!
I was overwhelmingly exhausted this morning so took a nap that took so long I felt horrible when I got up. Know that feeling? Next time I’ll set an alarm. My tummy was upset, too, so maybe I had a virus or it’s just because I HAVE SIX KIDS AND A DOG!
The big issues in having six kids really don’t wear me out. It’s the little things. Like this cute little picture I’ve had sitting on my entry table for quite some time. Someone decided it would be interesting and fun to make the picture back stop functioning. I can no longer have this little decorative art standing in my home. It has to lie down. Maybe that’s what happened to me this morning.
Then it’s things like finding little pieces of dried fruit poured out on my family room carpet. Why? Especially when it’s like gold nuggets with the prices at Whole Foods.
I left the family room to visit the office and found someone had been “creating” with the tape. Lest you think I am complaining over minor things, please know that this was a VERY good day in the destructiveness department. There is only a deck of cards spread out all over the family room floor (and a few more fruit pieces) to contend with at the moment.
I am behind on schoolwork, but we are just about to finish our Firm Foundations Bible curriculum that I am crazy about. I am also keeping up fairly well with our new supplementary history curriculum, The Mystery of History. I can’t say enough good things about this curriculum. If you want quick but thorough or if you want to beef it up with activities, this is the curriculum for you. It’s designed for 4th-8th grade, but I’m using it with my kindergartener and 3rd grader with no problem (though the 3rd grader gets more out of it). As I’ve never taken a world history course, I love learning everything in an easy to understand, Christian context.
I am excited that I have an idea for an anti-procrastination article. I plan to write that up and post on one or both of my blogs sometime. Hopefully.
I thought I could do this last week, but the effort it took to keep all the balls in the air left no time to take Ali’s challenge as described in Aby Garvey’s blog. I was honestly thinking of bagging the whole thing and then I listened to a superb talk on helping children remember while I was working out this morning. I was practically in tears at the gym. That’s a danger of listening to podcasts I guess. The woman (the podcast never gave her name!) described journaling for herself as a Mom and for her children. I realized that the most precious memories I have are just slipping away from me.
So today, I am not only going to do a week in my life blog (which I will later turn into a scrapbook), but I am going to begin journaling. Yep, I’m busy! But that’s what I’ll want to read about later, right? Today’s big event was a homeschool trip to Incredible Pizza. I have never been to Homeschool Day at Incredible Pizza; therefore, fielding the incessant “What are we going to do there?” questions was a challenge. Turns out we learned science (one demonstration pictured above), creative writing, creative thinking, and math. That was all before we were allowed to play games which really messed with my two-year-old’s mind.
By the time we got to play and the money was gone, the poor little guy lost it. As he tried to break in to take another ride, I realized I could relate. We both needed a nap, but only one of us took one. Some cute things I want to remember from today are: E asking me how we were going to fit the money into the game card; B’s answer to my question of how to complete our creative story about a student cheating on a test. I said, “What kind of test was he cheating on?” B said, “An art test.”
It all started when my then 11yo son asked me why I didn't have an IPod. I told him I would get an IPod when they made it a phone, too. He said, "They have that!" He proceeded to show me the Steve Jobs video unveiling the original IPhone. Anyone who knows me well knows that I am a technology junkie. I was hooked and counted the days until the IPhone would be released. Waiting is not my strong suit, so it wasn't a good thing that it wasn't due to be released for several months after I saw the video. I was dreaming about it. Then I had the problem of my cell phone contract not being up. The June 2007 release date came and went and I had no IPhone. My next problem was that my husband is NOT a technology junkie. Convincing him that this was something that I "needed" was a challenge. I begged him to buy me one for Christmas and then I was losing sleep worried that he'd gotten me a plain ole IPod instead, thinking that it was "cheaper" and "just as good." But he surprised me and I was ECSTATIC to get an Iphone last Christmas Day!
Since then, I have counted the ways the IPhone has changed my life. Now don't get me wrong. No one NEEDS an IPhone. If you are struggling to make ends meet, know that I've been there. Even more thrilling than an IPhone is not having to use a cash advance from one credit card to pay off another and wondering when the next check will come bouncing back to you! Everything an IPhone can do, you can do for free or next to nothing the old fashioned way. So if money is tight, forget the IPhone! You don't need one. But if you are in the market for an IPod and/or cell phone and/or PDA, read on.
A girlfriend of mine once told me that wearing thong underwear would change my life. It did for the few minutes that I could tolerate the feeling of having meat stuck between my teeth being extended to my nether region. The IPhone is not like that. Here are all the reasons I thank God for IPhone:
1) Email device – I can keep up with email anywhere!
2) MP3 player – I can listen to my music during workouts.
3) Song name determiner – With Shazam, I just put it next to the music and it immediately tells me the name of the song, album, artist, etc. and links me to ITunes to buy it.
4) Babysitter – I have downloaded a few games, kids' shows and movies to keep the kids from screaming and hitting each other in the waiting room. Turn taking continues to be a problem, however!
5) Workout logger – To do my first Body for Life challenge, I had to carry paper and pen. No more! I take Gyminee with me.
6) Grocery List – I use SplashShopper and Tasty Planner and I'm ready to shop!
7) Chore Timer – The kids are timed doing their chores every day and they earn privileges based on their ranking for the week. I use the IPhone's built in timer to track their times.
8) Allowance Keeper – I use the Spend app to set up a "budget" for each child. The program automatically adds their weekly allowance. When a child makes a purchase, I can deduct the amount on the spot. No more trying to remember and kids losing the actual money.
9) Calendar – I sync iCal with Google calendar so I can make changes to my calendar from my IPhone or from any computer connected to the Internet. This distractible woman loves being able to use alarms or text messages to remind me to do just about anything!
10) To Do list – I use Mark Forster's Do It Tomorrow approach to task management and use Cultured Code's Things to keep tasks in order. I've tried lots of different approaches and right now this is my favorite. I will blog more about DIT in the future.
11) Bible – When I am on the go and even when I am not, I use the free Bible application on my IPhone to quickly look up verses.
12) Reader – I can keep up with all my blogs much better having them on Google Reader on my IPhone. I have read half a free book on my IPhone, too, but it's not as appealing as real books so far.
13) Radio – I love being able to choose any genre of free music to suit my mood. I can put Christian music on to listen to while I'm doing devotions, for example.
14) News – I wish I had time to watch TV news or read the paper. I don't! My dh keeps me informed and when he doesn't, I can check into what's going on with the vSNAX app on my IPhone.
15) Photo Album – No longer do I have to say, "Oh I'll have to show you that photo sometime." I can keep all my most recent or favorite photos or even scrapbook pages on my IPhone. What's more is I can share home videos, too!
16) Weather Center – I used to spend a lot of time trying to time the news just right to catch the weather. Even the weather channel was a challenge! Now I just click on the native weather app or WeatherBug on my IPhone and I know right away what to expect this week.
17) White and Yellow Pages on the go – Can't tell you how many times I have used this. For example, I've quickly looked up restaurants, called them by tapping the number, and gotten directions pronto!
18) Navigator – I am map challenged, so having the ability to toggle between a GPS-enabled map and a list of directions has saved me more times than I care to say. I'm actually glad the thing can't talk to me because I wouldn't want to hear it!
19) Connector – Being able to quickly touch base via Facebook, Twitter, and AIM helps me feel as though I am not neglecting friends and family despite my very busy lifestyle.
20) Remote – I connected my computer's ITunes to the older whole-house speaker system we have. Using my IPhone I can control the music and even the volume that's playing throughout the house. If only I could control the kids with it!
21) Countdown keeper – If I had a dollar for every time I've been asked, "How many days til my birthday?" I would be only a little consoled. But at least I have Ticker, an IPhone app that keeps track of all of that for me!
22) Note taker – I can add text, audio, and photo notes via multiple applications and store them online. For example, I have used the built-in-camera to record my parking space in a garage and I have recorded my Bible memory verses in notes.
23) Camera – Yes, it's only 2MP, but it does in a pinch! No more fretting about not having a camera.
24) Flashlight – I get up to workout while it's still dark and my dh is sometimes sleeping. I use the light from my IPhone to find my way to the bathroom without injuring myself BEFORE I get to the gym.
25) Question Answerer – While in the middle of homeschooling or just about anywhere people ask a question that I don't know the answer to, I whip out my IPhone and in a few Google seconds, I know! This morning, we wondered why dogs roll in stinky things. (Answer: To make you crazy. 😉
Okay, I will be blogging all night if I don't limit myself to a quick honorable mention to the rest of the things my IPhone does for me: calculator, stock price checker, alarm clock, address book, dictionary and scrabble word checker, exercise interval timer, movie previewer, ebay broker, speech timer and recorder, bank teller, restaurant chooser, external hard drive via airsharing and datacase, mobile blogger, price checker, checklist, foreign language dictionary, portable movie player, and online shopping cart.
If you have an IPhone, comment and tell me any other ways you use your IPhone. If you don't and you're in the market for one, what are you waiting for? Get to an Apple or AT&T store!
I have to admit to my craving. I wanted a Big Mac and I got one! I have spent so many hours hassling with PCs over the years that when my dh’s computer died this week, I plunked down the money for a Big iMac–a 24″ one to be exact. Everything is so much more streamlined and easy to set up. I pulled out more than a dozen cords to move my PC and replaced them with 3. The mass of tangled cords compared to the Mac’s was so ridiculous, my 10yo agreed I should send it to Apple as a commercial idea!
You can network Macs and PCs and you can run Windows on a Mac even at the same time as your Mac operating system. And you don’t have to talk to a man in India to service your computer. I had an Indian tech guy wake me up at 11pm and tell me to fire up my computer so he could make me rerun tests I had already done twice. LOL
If you are in the market for a computer, buy a Mac. If not, buy some Apple stock. You’ll either save yourself some valuable time or you’ll make some money.
I order a lot of used books from Amazon. I can get them very inexpensively, but have to pay $3.99 for shipping. Now, all I have to do is post my books (hard and softcover) that I’m willing to share via ISBN. When someone orders one of my books, I print the shipping label WITH postage, tape it up, pop it in the mail, and I am able to order a book from someone else. As yet, I have never paid more than $3.19 to ship. Average is about $2.60. I won’t be putting all my used books out for charity anymore! Don’t worry. I still donate plenty of goodies to charity.
If you give it a try (and I hope you do), please put Melanie Wilson as the person who referred you so I can earn free books!
Some of you may be wondering where I’ve been. It has hasn’t been reading many books! I allowed myself to have a major event each month since January. I did not have time to blog or do much of anything else. I plan to blog about a book that is helping me get back on track soon. Happy Memorial Day!
I’m a Christian psychologist turned homeschooling mother of six. My life can be a little crazy, so I look for sanity-saving ideas to use and share. I hope you’ll read my About page to learn more.
