Grrr and Oy!

     So I joined NaNoWriMo on Nov 2 and did make it to 50,000 words but when I went back to post my final bit, it had closed for the year. :( I know that I made 50,000 because I have gone back and counted. I wish that I was an official winner. I guess I could just paste this year's story in on Nov 1st and be a winner next year, but that just seems a bit wrong. So I guess I will chalk it up to experience and get a better start on next year's story, and not wait until 11:30pm to post the day it ends. (I should've had 30 more minutes but live and learn I guess.)

    But on the other hand, Chanukah is upon us! We have had such a fun time this year preparing and celebrating every night. Here's some pics if you are interested to have a look. The boys love taking turns each night lighting the candles and playing dreidel. It is something that the boys really look forward to. We are so lucky to have my wonderful grandparents coming to stay with us for the first time ever!!!!!( Oh my, the place looks clean, but is it?) They will be here for the last two nights of Chanukah and we can't wait to share it with them. They are the most bestest grandparents in the world and they have given and shared so much with me. I am excited that I will get to welcome them into our little hovel soon and return a bit of the hospitality and love that is always shown to us. I have never had people spend the night with me as a guest since I've been a grown up. Do I get an adult scout merit badge or something for this? Ha!

       Back to the subject of the utility bill from a few posts back, our most recent bill was $142!!! YAY, how wonderful to have gotten our bill down that low. But of course the weather is turning cooler so we may have to kick the heat on soon but oh it was nice to have such a low bill. Of course with still hand washing the dishes and hanging the clothes up outside to dry, I hope that continues to help keep the bill down. 

       Much love and latkes to you all. I will leave you with a little Chanukah artwork and a Chanukah quote...

The darkness of the whole world cannot swallow the glowing of a candle. ~Robert Altinger

 

       

Lost in Nanowrimo Land...

This video was posted today on the Nanowrimo page and I have to say they must know what they're doing, or they are psychic, because this is just so daggum timely for me! I loved this vid! You name it, I edit it. Anything. Facebook, texts, message boards and such, I will (mentally) edit anything. It kills me with all this crap I've written just sitting there, whispering and pleading to be put under the knife as it were. It is hard to contain myself from editing, almost harder than actually doing the novel to begin with. And the month they picked to hold this little writing motivation  pow wow. November. Really? Thanksgiving, Christmas prep, getting ready for guests, homeschooling, washing clothes, bathing, eating... (you get my humorous point by now right, when would it be good to take on writing 50,000 in 30 days?) But I am over 10,000 words and I'm enjoying it. The boys are enjoying school, loved the Vikings and the Middle Ages. We are currently in China, Ian's personal obsession. We may be having family for Thanksgiving, yay!!! We have our 7th wedding anniversary this month and Bob turns 32 in a week. Lots to keep me busy, lots to look forward to. So busy, so good. Off to write...Love you all. XOXO

Yawn...Is it over now?

I'll be honest with you my lovelies, it ain't been fun and games around the Bishop homestead here lately. I have been down, and out, I've cut myself off from people because I just can't seem to muster up the courage or strength to carry on a conversation.. I can't imagine how foreign that must seem to others, I apologize. I have such a wonderful, loving family, and some friends that put up with me too. Instead of embracing that I go inside my shell. And I have been sick off and on all month. My nice neat little schedule has gone by the wayside and we do school when Mommy can stay awake enough and out of the, ahem, water closet. I'm looking for a way out now. I've been down long enough, I've been suffered gladly at my home, been doted on and nursed and frankly I'm tired of it. I just want to be well in every sense of that word. So here goes...

 I signed up tonight for Nanowrimo and this should be interesting to say the least. I've never done anything like this and I'm excited and nervous at the same time. The goal is to write a 50,000 word novel from Nov 1-30. I don't even know what I'm writing about. I'm telling you here so I don't chicken out there. Kinda like a literary  sponsor for Word Lovers Anonymous. I'm not sure what I'm thinking doing this. Well that isn't true entirely, it is an attempt to un-cloud my mind and give me "something to do" with a purpose beyond the everyday tasks of a domesticated female.

 Another thing I have to be happy about is that, yes, we did our no spend month! We saved $200! WOO HOO! And we reduced our utility bill from $350 to $195 YIPPEE!!! So all of the little inconveniences we have imposed upon ourselves have paid off! Literally paid off. There was some confusion as to when our monthly date for food stamps would be. I thought it was the 1st, the state says the 11th, so, while it is an inconvenience, at least we have the money to buy food until then, instead of wondering what we would do.

 Here's to November, a month of thanks and I'm trying to do my part to join in on that sentiment. Some of you will be getting apologetic phone calls tomorrow regarding my sorry state of being...Love you all XOXO

No cute title for this, just a lil vent...

  I've been having trouble sleeping, which makes getting up in the morning horrible, thanks to developing a tolerance for coffee it isn't as bad as it could be. I'm flirting with the down cycle of bipolar right now and that makes it so fun to act all domesticated. At least I don't have obligations outside of the house right now and I can fake it til I make back on the upswing with those in my house. I'm not a super mom doesn't even begin to describe what's happening, or not happening in our humble abode right now. 

  The boys seem to be set on deaf mode right now. Perfect example- I ask them NOT to splash water out of the tub after cleaning up said water that was splashed. 5 minutes later, they are in the bathroom playing puddle jumpers and giggling gleefully. Their father handled the second round of water mania and they seemed to think that they had never before been told that water was to stay in the tub. That just happened. 10 minutes ago. They've lost privileges because of previous infringements and have no DS, Wii, movies, or computer to take away right now. So what do we take away? I told them if their blatant disregard for rules continued there would be no trick or treating. Oh if you could've heard the wailing and gnashing of teeth that ensued. Ah motherhood...I think I liked it better when they were immobile.

  So we have 11 days left in this month, our no spend month, and so far, so good. We are not deprived, although it's easy to sit and dream that we are. My wonderful Mama took me and the boys to lunch today, we are having fun going to the library because they've gotten some new books in and, be still my heart, Ian is reading chapter books on his own.( Insert me holding back tears here.) We should be more focused on what we do have rather than what we don't have. We are anxiously awaiting our utility bill to see if all of our radical ways have really made an impact. We should know by next Friday and I am excited about that at least. Not to have to pay the bill, but to see if we have made a difference.

Love to all, thanks for your love and encouragement XOXO

No one said it was going to be easy....

It seems so long ago that Bob and I decided that me losing my job wasn't the end of the world, no problem, we had a budget, we'd make it. Heck, we had already decided to home school before we knew my job was ending so no private school tuition was gonna be great! But....

I sometimes pine for those days of Mommy is tired and guess what, she ain't cooking someone call our Domino's guy stat. Not anymore. We are having October be a no-spend month, so no take out/delivery for us. And quell your laughter, only one income ain't much to NOT spend and you are right, but Mickey D's has 59 cent cheeseburgers on Wednesdays and Halloween is coming up and what will we do about costumes??? I know, I know we aren't deprived. But when the boys do not understand that if they don't sit still and I have to re-read the same daggum paragraph on rivers one more time they will be excommunicated to the back yard indefinitely, I wonder if this is worth it. I've gotten use to having coffee every morn and now I can't justify the $3 Belgian creamer I love so desperately. I wonder at those desperate moments is this homeschooling gig really worth it? Just how bad can the public school screw them up? I'll get a crappy job I hate and have money for inconsequential crap.

So....in light of these depressing thoughts just WHY are we doing this? Oh right. We love our boys, I am fond of being with them all day. I feel this is where I am supposed to be without a doubt, not saying that will never change but for now it works, it fits me. We are starting our first garden and what a task that is. Just trying to dig in our soil is hard enough. And we have stopped using the clothes dryer, the dishwasher, turned off the ac/heat a month ago. Our lives are changing but for the better I suppose. I can sit here and listen to the boys going wild outside, listening to Tori Amos with tears in my eyes because I am doing what I love. Love you all...

Our 3rd week of home school began today ;)

Our first few weeks have been amazingly wonderful. It took some time getting used to the layout of the curriculum and getting a routine down but we got it goin' on now.

Here's a look at our day: We get up when Daddy does. (Well lemme specify that, I wake up when Bob wakes up. I assure you the boys have been awake upwards of an hour before us.) I wash a load of clothes while preparing breakfast. Say goodbye to Daddy during breakfast. Then clean up dishes and boys go outside to play in the back yard while I hang up the laundry on the line. I go get papers copied and the days plans put together while boys are still outside. We do school until 11 to 11:30 and then lunch and nap. Ahhh quiet time. I prepare the afternoon plans, usually art and or music to back up what was studied in the morning. Around 4 the boys are "dismissed" and, usually, go back outside to play while I get dinner together and file school papers away. The 4 of us sit down at the table and have dinner together, shocking I know.

I wonder where the day goes but when I see it put out this way in "print" I understand. It's a good thing we no longer have any TV service beyond Netflix, it would be a huge waste, who has time? Yes we have down time now but the boys fill it playing using their imaginations. I think children should be outside playing instead of parked on their butts in front of a screen. Yes my children can use a computer so efficiently it's almost scary, they also have a Wii and DS but it's not an everyday thing. Poor dears didn't watch a movie or play their DS' all day long. So deprived, I know. I sneak the house work in during the day. We are busy all day, but we are having fun! I smirk when I hear the boys ask, "Is this our school? It's fun!" It's so interesting to see where you can "sneak" school into your regular day to day goings on. We need groceries, we have $10. If we buy this one frozen pizza that's $8 and we only have $2 left so that's not a wise buy because you can only get one meal from it and so on... Maybe I just never outgrew playing teacher when I was younger. But I am lovin this. Love you all, thanks for all your support! I'm attaching a link at the end of this post for some pics from our school/ field trips, enjoy. XOXO

Is school supposed to be this much fun?

7 Days...

7, count 'em, 7 days until Bishop Academy opens it's doors. Or at least we do something constructive that may be counted as educational ;) I'm nervous as the days pass and think about what is really before me. I am going to be in charge of educating my boys...for real!

The four of us watched the newest version of Alice in Wonderland last week and I must say I see an analogy here...

At the beginning of the film, no one is convinced she is the "right" Alice. Even Alice doubts she is Alice. All along the way she keeps doubting herself, and so do others. At end of the movie, she knows that she IS the right Alice, she's as Alice as can be. I think that fits me to a tee right about now. I'm not too sure that I am even capable of being a teacher, I'm not sure who exactly signed me up for this (of course I did, like Alice).

Alice realized that "wonderland" was her own dream, I have realized that this is my journey. I put this into motion and I decide how well we do by how much effort I put into it (i.e. slaying the jaberwaki)

Bob is my mad hatter, always believing, always encouraging. Doing whatever it takes to make sure I am where I am supposed  to be to slay said task.










 If I have lost you because of my movie analogy I apologize. In case you didn't know, I liked Alice in Wonderland... a lot!

Thanks for listening to my ramblings...I need a sounding board now and then. This homeschooling gig is gonna get curiouser and curiouser Until I have more thoughts that I feel the need to share, I'm off. Because I'm late, I'm late for a very important date...making banana bread with my boys :)

So the Instructors Guide is HUGE

I have so enjoyed taking my time, savouring all of our materials, getting familiar with it all. But I had put off breaking the seal on the IG, mainly because of it's sheer size. But I reminded myself that it contains a whole year's worth of lessons by the week with notes and notes and more notes. So I sat and looked at it for 5 minutes yesterday.

Then I dove in and removed the shrink wrap on this voluminous tome of my year ahead. It took me about 10 minutes to figure out how it was set up, to realize that instead of being intimidated I should be rejoicing. Everything and I mean EVERYTHING I may need to know is in there. Once I took a breath and listen to that little voice saying, "You have made the right choice, you can do this," instead of continuing to cower at the big blue binder, I was even more excited to start. We are counting down the days until Bishop Academy (lol) opens its doors, as of today, we have 24 days .

Box day...the aftermath

I had such a hard time going to work last night and leaving all of my new school stuff behind. And I am having a time getting to sit down and really pour over everything like I want to today. So maybe when they go to bed Bob and I can both go over stuff, especially the instructor's guide. Bob was so impressed that the history book has info about the Vikings exploring America before Columbus.

I was so happy that the boys were excited about getting our curriculum last night. I had this deep, dark fear that they'd open the boxes and just be nonchalant about it and wander off. I feel even better about homeschooling knowing that my boys are looking forward to it. Owen has already asked me if we can do school now, just a little bit, today. Our plan is to start on September 7th. My job should be ended by then and I will have plenty of time to devote to teaching! And we will have to time to go over all the materials and finish getting set up. Oh boy. What have we gotten into? I don't know but I know I'm happy and so is my family.

FINALLY....BOX DAY

So, the long awaited box day has arrived and we couldn't be happier. Grandparents came to share in the fun because frankly they wanted to see what I've been yammering about for the past few months!

We had one box Wednesday and one box Thursday. It was awful waiting until the last box but we did and we dove right in!

"OOOH, we got movies too." (It's the Mathtacular and the Science DVDS.)

Owen isn't wasting any time either...

Owen can't get over how many books there are!

Why'd we get a ping pong ball???

Had to rest a minute, Mommy, I'm excited.

Ian discovered Miquon Math....

And this is what he did for the next while...off to the side doing math!

But Daddy lured him back with more books

Map=happiness

And then it was castle time as Mommy checked off the list. Whoever thought up the castle on the inside of the box was a smart person!!!

Ian's castle needed decorating

Then it was time to get in it.

This is our loot!!!

I have no more doubts that we have made the right choice with Sonlight. We are all excited and impressed. I cannot wait to get some down time to go through it all and take it in. We have a daunting task ahead of us, a 4 year old and 6 year old doing the same core, but we are well prepared!