Live a Meaningful Life

1.  All of my nails are purple. I dyed my hair today with a tube that was labeled "dark red violet brown." I realized after I got it all mixed up I had no gloves.  I tried wrapping my hands with plastic wrap but it just would not work out.  Bare hands to the rescue!  2.  It is almost 8:00p.m. My boys and their friend, our neighbor, are in the lake jumping off the canoes into the water.  Do they ever run out of energy? Johnny should be coming down the drive all sweaty any second from running his 6 miles...I am sitting comfortably on my cushioned seat on the porch.  I did do a little arm workout earlier--that counts for something, right? 3.  I love the sound of all the insects and frogs at night.  I wonder what they are saying to each other? I wonder if the dog barking is getting on their nerves? 4. I have a square bowl of a green substance, and 3 small bowls of a dark substance in my freezer. John Gannon says he is creating a Creeper (from Minecraft) popsicle.  We'll

For the past 5 months we have done horrible at living on our budget.  I looked at it every few days. Entered the amounts. Watched it go over. Redid it for the next month. Entered the amounts. Watched it go over. Redid....Get the point? I even had a conversation with one of my friends recently laughing about it! Sunday morning I finally saw the big picture! We can't keep living this way if I plan to continue to stay home with our kids. So, Johnny and I talked about our behavior. We even pinpointed lots of our "stupid" logic and behavior.  For example: "Let's just pick up something to eat. We don't have anything at home." Or we go to the grocery store with no plan--"grab that, it looks good!" Or we go into a store for 1 thing and come out with 12...Living without a plan is what that is called.  Actually, I guess we had a plan--we just didn't FOLLOW the plan! You know, the hard part-making ourselves behave and having self-discipline. S

I will have to say this has been the most exciting first week of school in our history! As a matter of fact, we have had school on Friday nights and Saturday for the past two weeks!  It began on Monday, July 28th.  Both boys participated in the Lego Fair with several of their friends at the library. If you know John Gannon he has always created "scenes" so he took the opportunity to make a scene and turned it into a comic book type story. Jackson created a community of random things.  Both boys really had a great time exploring everyone else's creations and getting to spend time with their friends.  Here is a  link  to my friend Shruti's blog with a very detailed description and pictures of the event.  From the Lego Fair, both boys were off to Granny's.  They stayed with her two nights.  During that time, I prepared the classroom for "opening day." We had our first day on Thursday.  You can read about it  here  if you haven't already. On

Last night, the boys and I were settling in. Actually, the more appropriate terminology would be settling down.  You know, finally sitting still...the time when the mom in me thinks SURELY if we sit still for a few minutes they will HAVE to just fall out.  John Gannon was jabbering--asking all kinds of inquisitive questions--I am sure he was hoping I would say, "Oh, let's research that right quick."  Instead, I made a few notes for school the next day 1. How do they transport elephants from zoos or refuges that are really far away? 2.  I wonder if there are other animals eating our watermelons besides the rabbits? About this time, I see a beam of light break the darkness outside and glare into the window for a split second. Johnny must be done feeding the animals.  Seconds pass. Screen door opens. And the man walks in. Johnny is holding a green 5 gallon bucket, shoves it into my face and says, "Here's the reason we haven't had eggs in the past few days.&q

A lone frog croaks, the rooster crows twice, a bird flutters in the tree leaves, the faint sound of the neighbor's rooster crowing...I love when I take time to stop and just listen.  Quietness of the mind-no racing thoughts, to-do lists, reminders...just stillness. Perfect peace. For years of my life I lived with a constant race of thoughts and things to do. At night the mind would be churning, processing the day's events and planning out the next.  I do not miss those days.  I lovingly embrace the quietness, stillness that seems to prevail more frequently.  Allowing my mind and thoughts to be so rampant, I missed out on so much.  Having an occupied mind keeps me from fully listening and hearing the needs of others. It keeps me from stopping and enjoying the simple pleasures that surround us.  My children model this so frequently.  We will be riding our bikes and they will stop to look at something on the road or trail. They still know how to enjoy the simple beauty that surr