TGIF!!!!

That's about how I feel today. Most of the time Friday is like any other day of the week but for some reason this week has been extra taxing on my nerves...maybe it's that monthly thing, who knows?

The kids have been having problems with math this week...don't ask me why it's been mostly review, they can do it it's just that they hate math and hate sitting to do it. I will admit that 4 pages of about 25 problems each can get tedious...maybe next week we will see how they do by only doing odds or evens like I used to do in school.

And laundry? Who doesn't have a washer and dryer of their own? I do! BUT they are in my brother-in-laws garage, NOT in my apartment where they belong! And it costs at least $20 a week to do laundry! At LEAST! I NEVER used that much worth of electricity and water per week when I did laundry with my own washer and dryer! It's absolutely absurd! I thought we were living in these apartments because they are cheap and we are supposed to live cheaper...not so! It cost $1.75 per load to wash and dry which may be cheap by laundry mat standards but the load size is about half of my washer that's in a garage! And you find out the hard way if you overload the washer because when it's time to dry - they come out damp and you have to re-dry them for another $0.75!

So, you can probably sympathize with me and my laundry woes...anyone with more than 2 children can REALLY understand because I'm sure you have even more laundry than me to do!

Hmmm...

This really makes me wonder if what these people are pedaling is for real...I just found some random pictures of people and put them in the meter and this is what I got...




I also did it with my kids...it was really kinda fun.

The fake one was funnier though!

Things Luke Says to Get Out of School Work:

Luke: Mom, are these all right? (showing me his math workbook)
Mom: (after checking them over) Yep, looks good!
Luke: Good, they were a bit of a challenge for me because my eyes are bothering me today! - Which translates: Good thing I don't have to do any over again because my eyes hurt from the crying fit I just had because I didn't want to do my math today to begin with!

Yep, It's Another PhotoShow!

And it's a long one! Enjoy!

Excellent Oppertunity

Hey! I just wanted to make a plug for the book club that I am in. It's pretty fun and it's all done online. I don't think I've mentioned it before but there is a banner on my sidebar for it. The reason for telling you about it now is that they are changing their start up policy is changing soon! They are currently giving everyone who signs up 3 free credits when you post your first 9 books, that's pretty good, it means you get 3 books free! But they are changing it to 2 free credits when you post your first 10 books. So if you have been thinking of joining no better time than now.

Since I joined I have gotten 11 books and I have one on it's way. I have 15 books. They only cost about $2 each to sent so you only pay that much for each book you get (you get one credit for every book you send). They have books for kids and adults and there is also a rather large selection of home school books.

So, here's their form letter they have for me to email out but I thought it would be easier to just post it here and let you decide. Remember! If you are going to join use my email address as your referral because I get a free credit for every referral I give.

Do you have any used paperback books lying around? I did, and I finally found a great way to share them with other people.

It seems that a few guys were sitting around one night talking about all the paperback books that they purchased over the years when they traveled on business. Each of them had a stack of books that they had read. So they decided to set up a web site http://www.PaperBackSwap.com/ that allows all of us to swap paperback books with each other. Now it's grown to include ALL books--hardcovers and audio too!

Let me tell you how it works because it is so easy. I listed a bunch of books on the site (you have to list at least 9 books to get in the club) and I got 3 free book credits to get me started. So you can order 3 books right away - free of charge and have them mailed directly to you. No strings attached. No gimmicks. No spam mail. Nothing! You just have to love reading.

Then when another member selects one of my books that I have listed, I mail it to them. Yes, I pay for the postage. But then I get a book credit and I can select a book that I want. So another Club Member returns the favor and mails me one of their books free of charge. For every book I mail out, I get another book in return - a true shared system!

And when someone requests one of your books, all you have to do is print a two page document on regular paper from your printer, and use them to wrap the book. The wrapper includes the mailing address and the amount of postage. Then drop the package in the outbound mail. Hey, most of the time you don't even need to go to the post office!

Right now the annual club membership is FREE! Eventually the founders will ask everyone to help contribute to pay for the upkeep of the web site, but for now the annual club membership is free. The annual dues will probably be between $10 and $20 based on the number of people in the club. But again, right now you don't even have to pay any dues for one year if you become a Charter Member.

You really need to check this out! And if you do sign up, please list my email in the referral section because then I get another free book. This is a great club! http://www.PaperBackSwap.com/

I have A New Friend...

Check my sidebar.... :)

First Day of School

Well, we had a belated first day of school. With all the packing and unpacking and visiting and visits from relitives I barely have had the time to order curriculum - let alone get anything started! The majority of my time online since we got online again has been searching for and ordering what we are going to use this year. Here's what we are doing:

• Math - ACE - the same thing we used last year. The kids aren't fond of it at all but I was afraid to deviate from what we've used because I'm not sure of the level of their math skills from ACE and I didn't want to order something different and end up with learning gaps.
• Spelling - A Reason for Spelling
• Handwriting - A Reason For Handwriting

These are the three that we have and are working on right now. Next week we will be starting:

• Science - Real Science 4 Kids Chemistry Pre-Level 1
• Reading/History/Social Studies/Art/etc. - Prairie Primer with the Little House on the Prairie Series. This is an excellent unit study that we will also intagrate SD history into and visit the Laur*a Inga*lls Wil*der Homestead and Prairie Vill*age here in SD in the spring. They are both pretty close so we are really looking forward to it.

I haven't picked out English yet because I'm not sure if or how it's involved in the Prairie Primer so after we get that I will make my decision about where to go from there.

New Places, New Home, New Name!

I decided to go with a new name and a new look to go with our new home. Especially because I was tired of my not-so-original out-of-the-blue original name. I plan on trying to put in a picture of a SD sunset soon but for now my colors are as close to sunset colors as I could get them.

Somebody told me it was hard to see with all that black and bright colored font so hopefully this will be better for you...but the next time it bothers your eyes you are going to have to leave me a comment! :) LOL

Moo Part 2

Ok, ok, I know it's been way past the 10th so you all are probably thinking, "It's about darn time she gets up her new post!"

Before I forget again, the Moo a noise I hear around here freequently. Usually at night when I am puting the kids to bed we can her the cows (and occationally smell them:P) from the 2 stock yards near us - one is a block away in one direction and the other is about a mile away in the other direction. So either way the wind blows we can smell them. It's actully not so bad that you can't handle it, just a little whif to remind us that we aren't in Chicago anymore! :) Yeah!

So the big move went well. It was very draining for me, both physically and emotionally. Who would have ever thought we had so much stuff! I didn't think it was all going to fit, and we had the biggest truck from Penske! I came to the realization that my kids are no longer babies. They worked HARD! I honestly don't know what I would have done without them. They brought as many boxes each up the stairs and out to the truck as I did easily. I am so proud of them and at the same time it makes me wish for their younger years, they seem to be growing up too fast! Maybe in a couple of years we could think about another one....yeah, right!

The first night we had the truck we packed until around 8 or so. My mom had taken the kids to church to say goodbye to their friends on their last Wednesday night service so Bob and I were there alone. We had just picked everything up and closed the back of the truck when we decided to run to the gas station to get a soda. We had hurried to get everything done because the sky was looking menacing and we didn't want to get wet. The gas station isn't far, maybe a mile but by the time we were half way there we encountered rain, hail, and wind that was unbelievable! A tree fell on the other side of the street as we were driving by and when we got to the gas station we were soaked to the skin from the 10 feet between the car and the building. We had just gotten to the cases where the soda is and the electricity went out! So there we stood in the gas station freezing and wet in the dark wondering what to do. The girl at the check out said she couldn't sell anything because the register wouldn't even open for the lack of electricity so we decided to just go home and drink what was there...tap water. :P Things got even crazier as we were on our way home so I called my mom and told her to keep my kids in the church where it was safe until we could find a way home and let her know the situation. It took us almost an hour to get home because every road we turned into had trees down across them. We went by bent and twisted sign posts and puddles that were more the size of small ponds - one of which we stalled the car right in the middle of! Luckily we got it started again and finally found a street that was clear literally to the driveway. A tree from across the street had a huge branch down in the driveway so we had to drive across part of the lawn to get into the yard. Bob and I worked together to move the big branch in the driveway and soon had everyone in the neighborhood coming down the street as it was the only way in and out. The storm calmed somewhat after that and my mom brought the kids home - they were pretty excited about such a big storm and thought it was pretty cool but neither one of them were willing to sleep in the dark basement! So they ended up on the floor and the couch in the living room that night. After the storm calmed down there was still a lot of rain so Bob and John went and borrowed the generator from the church to hook up to the sump pump in the basement. It was a good thing we had it! They were out of electricity for 3 days there and the pump ran literally every minute for the first day or so! We called Penske and they graciously gave us 3 extra days on the truck because the next day we couldn't even get the thing out of the yard because of all the downed trees. They were using a snow plow to push the trees off the roads until they could get to chopping them up and hauling them away.

After all that we were a day late getting out of there but once we got on the road things went smoothly. My mom and John came along to help us unpack because we didn't have anyone here that we knew to help out. It was really nice to have them here those first couple of days. They helped out a lot!

We got here on a Saturday morning after spending the night with Bob's brother and unpacked the truck for the rest of the day. Sunday my mom and I unpacked my kitchen (I still haven't found my salt and pepper shakers and sugar bowl that match my set, grrr...) and Bob and John took the truck back. Monday my mom and John left to go home and Bob, the kids and I went to new student orientation at school. The kids were exhausted and were amazingly pretty good - I think they were more like zombies than kids that day! They both fell asleep in the desks while Bob's instructor was telling us about the school and classes and such. It was quite funny! The other guys in the class couldn't get over how funny it was and how much they wanted to do the same thing! LOL

Tuesday morning Bob started his classes and that's pretty much where we are at.

We don't have any living room furniture because we sold it all when we moved from Michigan but we don't really have room for it yet anyway. Our living/dining room is really rather small and once we got the table and chairs, bakers rack/microwave table, china cabinet, computer desk and TV in here we don't have much for anything else. MAYBE a small couch or love seat would fit but we would have to get rid of a few boxes and rearrange some stuff a little.

We had to get rid of a lot of stuff! Bob took 2 car loads to the Sal*vation Ar*my and 1 load of books, CD's, DVD's and VHS movies to the library. And we STILL have to get rid of more stuff. There just isn't room for it! This is the smallest place we have ever lived and we've always had a garage before for storage. It's not such a bad thing because it forces us to reevaluate what we have and what we really need but it's been difficult deciding what to keep and what to get rid of - more for Bob than for me though! The way I have been looking at is that I haven't used most of it in 2 years, why do I need to keep it? Most of it is replaceable so if we need it again in the future we can get a new one. Hopefully we won't need to move so much junk when we move again!

So that's it for our moving adventure. I will post more later on what we have been up to since then.