Category Archives: Life

Life, My beautiful child, Weather

Still Sunny…

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Today was a good day.
It’s strange, because I am so broke, things are looking dismal for our company, but it was a good day.
Money has always been unimportant to me. It has become important through not having any.

Today Kei played outside for hours and I read my Harlan Coben book. I love him. He is smart and witty and such a great writer.

I am reading The Whipping Boy to her and I read some of that also.† It is a great book and we are both enjoying it.† We started the Middle Ages Monday and have tons of resources for that time period.† It is one of my favorite times.† She made a Wanted poster for Prince Brat.

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Now I am getting things together for chicken fajitas for dinner. Yummy and easy.

Tonight we are going to watch the American Idol results show!† Go Adam!!

Just a very good day, me and my girl.

K

HomeSchool, Life, My beautiful child

Burning Ball in the Sky!

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I awoke this morning to SUN Glorious SUN!† For a minute there I wasn’t sure what it was.† It was great to see it.

I was on the computer checking emails, reading blogs, doing the usual morning stuff when this appeared on my stairs.† I had to video it, I mean, what else could I do!? How does she know who Ozzy is? No clue! [Yes I realize you can see me in the mirror ;)]

Then we went to Wilson Morgan Park for a play day.† We both had fun. K ran and played and giggled and pretended.

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Then she played with Coco, Regina and Anna’s dog. She loved him!

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Us moms sat on a blanket and just talked for hours.† It was awesome!

Now its time to watch American Idol!!† The Finals.

Hugs,

K

Life, My beautiful child, nature, Weather

TGIF…

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Fridays used to be a huge deal for me.

Start of the weekend, school’s out, work is finished.

Now…not so much.† I work from home so I am pretty much available 24/7, Kei is homeschooled, the weekend is just the weekend.

But Friday was beautiful!† It has been so rainy and yucky here.† I am so tired of soggy ground, dashing everywhere with something over our heads, wet everything!

Kei made the most of the day.

First, she planted a garden.† Ok Ok I realized afterwards you can’t plant anything in a container that doesn’t drain!† I am going to fix that.† I am new at this “Country Girl” stuff ok?

kei-garden

Then she found what we thought was a lizard but on further research decided was a salamander.† Regardless, she loved it.† She kept it about 30 minutes and then started feeling bad and released it.

kei-liz

Then, she played in the sprinkler. Well she played in 3 sprinklers because she couldn’t make up her mind which one was best!

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Then it was time for a little rest.

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She spent the rest of the day reading and running around.

Then she insisted on making dinner “all by herself”.† She bakes quite often and is very careful but her dinner was going to involve chopping….lots of chopping.† She begged and promised to be careful so I agreed.† She made me sit outside where I was listening for the sound of fingers being cut off but all went well.† It was a delicious dinner and she was so proud of herself!

kei-dinner

We had vegetable stir fry, leftover pasta salad and for desert…Grape and Banana Kabob with whipped cream.

Ahhh…my little chef.

Happy weekend,

K/K

Field Trip, HomeSchool, Learning all the time, Life, nature

Great Day to Be Alive!

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countrygirl2 Country Girl [Picture by Esther Crawford]

We had a terrific day.† My friend Karen invited us over for lunch and a play day for the kids.† Kei and I had never been to her house before.

Esther picked us up and our 1st stop was the library.† We went to Madison and they have the greatest library.† It was full of “Swine Flu Misplaced Public School Kids” and when we got there Ben came up and said, loudly, “I don’t feel good <cough> <cough>”† He really didn’t feel well but it was a little funny too.

Then we continued on our journey with directions from Ms. Nuvi.†† Even though she and I disagreed a couple of times, she got us there safely.

Karen’s house and land was awesome.† She had a yummy lunch for us.† Pasta salad, bean salad, [which Kei loved and got the recipe for] sandwiches with all the fixins’, chips, Pistachio Salad.† All very good!

Then us moms went out to the front porch to swing and talk and the kids proceeded to play games which sounded very much like someone was murdering them all.† Great fun!

Karen, Esther, Kei, Chan and I went to the pasture and had a BALL!

kei-in-pasture

She has goats…..

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and a little calf…

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and chickens and the cutest little guineas and a big ‘ole Rooster!

Kei was in heaven!

kei-chan-pasture

The cute little calf tried to eat my jeans!† We couldn’t figure out what he was doing.† He started with Karen, then started licking Esther and then me!† My jeans were wet with calf spit!† But my toenails looked GOOD!

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As the day wound down, Kei and Chan took their books and went to read under a big tree.† It was right about the time the school bus came by and neither Esther or I could resist such a perfect photo op.

This is why I homeschool.

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We gathered up tired kids, lost shoes, lost books, wet clothes and headed home.

A perfectly lovely day.

Thank you Karen,

Kei and I have now decided, we are country girls trapped in the city!

Hugs,

K/K

HomeSchool, Life

Happy Birthday To Me!!!!

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Yes, today was my birthday.† Kei was much more excited than I was.

She started the day by singing and dancing a “Birthday Song and Dance Routine” that she has been practicing for days.† Then she wanted me to open my gifts.† It was the sweetest card and 2 candles and a TOE RING!† I had a toe ring I wore for 15 years and I lost it and was so upset.† She knew how much I wanted one so she found me a really cool silver toe ring.† Then my daddy came over with my birthday card.† This was my first birthday without Mom so it was a sad morning for me.

My great boss got me a yummy gift from Omaha Steaks which included the chocolate cake below.† Kei was in heaven!

kei-cake

Then we went to Esther’s for a play day.† The kids had a blast.† They played for awhile in Esther’s new camper!† I loved it in there.† I wanted to punt out the kids and lay on the bed and read.

kei-anna-jon-2kids-cards

Us moms [and Bobby] sat around the table and laughed and talked!† I love my HS moms! [and Bobby ;)]† They got me a birthday cake and I had to pretend that I was blowing out the candles.† It was too funny!

Before we left we had to take the usual kids picture.

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Then I got to see my brother and sister in law and Seth and Katherine.

All in all, a lovely birthday.

Hugs,

K

Holidays, HomeSchool, Learning all the time, Life, My beautiful child

I Could….

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I could send her to school,

And from 8:00-3:00 have no clue…

How many times she laughed,

How many times she learned,

How many times she questioned,

How many times she understood,

How many times she wanted more information,

How many times she bounced in her chair from excitement,

How many times she was proud of something she did.

I could send her to school and she could get her exercise and sunshine,

In 20 minute doses, ifÖshe had on the right shoes, and no one misbehaved and everyone was quiet.

I could send her to school

And let her eat the processed high fat, low nutrition fare they feed millions of children a day,

if she had enough time to eat and didn’t talk too loud and if no one grabbed her food.

OrÖ..

I could homeschool her.

kei-lunch

kei-learns

Hugs,

K

Life, nature

Sundays…

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Another beautiful day.† I woke up feeling kinda blah, not really sure why.† Some of it has to do with our very dear friends who are moving I think.

It carried over into church and my eyes kept leaking during the songs.† By the end of the service I felt better but still not my normal “glass half full, everythings gonna be fine” self.

I worry about my job, I worry about money. I worry about Kei and that I will have to put her back in PS.† But I know God will provide, he always seems to.

After church Eddie and Heather took us to eat at this country cafe.† It was delicious food.† Then we went to Daddy’s.† He had spent the morning at the “Dog Days” Flea Market and was just getting home.

His yard looked great! Daddy’s roses are so beautiful.† Momma always loved roses.

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The kids played in the sunshine and I learned the difference in a carpenter bee and a bumble bee.

kei-seth

Now we are home, and Kei is outside working on her Super Secret Clubhouse with some neighborhood kids.

And I am still feeling kinda down…kinda melancholy…..kinda blue….

Hugs,

K/K

Life, My beautiful child, Weather

Beautiful Saturdays…

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It was so pretty outside today.

Kei and I got up early and went to some garage sales.† We got some good deals!† I got 2 great books, The Reader’s Digest Children’s World Atlas and The Giant Book of Questions and Answers for 50 cents!

Then Kei hit pay dirt and got an almost brand new Groovy doll, sleeping bag, bed and chair for $3 total!† Kei loves garage sales, me, not so much. I like the sales, I just hate finding them.† If they were all lined up together I would like them more.

Then we went to Cade’s baseball game.† Cade and Kei are like brother and sister.† Kei is NOT† a sports girl.† I tried to give her a crash course in baseball 101 [since I spent every minute of my growing up years at the ball park] but she still was a little confused.† Of course so was Jerri, Cade’s mom.† I was cracking up at both of them.† They are so silly.

They we came home and Kei worked in her flower garden.† Kei loves nature, Kei also loves mud.† Where there is mud, there is Kei.

mudNow Kei is out playing with the neighborhood kids.† There are tons of them running around.† That is one thing I love about living here, there are always kids to play with.† Last night when I grilled the pork tenderloin, I threw some smoked sausages on the grill.† So all I have to do for dinner is cook some onions and green peppers. Yummy!

Happy Saturday…

Hugs,

K/K

Field Trip, HomeSchool, Weather

Brrr It’s Cold INSIDE!!!

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It was a beautiful, warm, sunny day today.† Warm breezes blowing, birds chirping, butterflies flitting around.

The smell of freshly mowed grass in the air.

And what did my darling girl want to do? Go ice skating, where it is cold and wet and brrrr.

Our home school group goes ice skating twice a month.† Kei loves it.† She has gotten to be pretty decent in a short amount of time.

It wasn’t so bad.† Regina was there and I got to talk to Tara, a homeschool mom that I haven’t ever talked to much.† She was great and gave me some great ideas for curriculum for next year.

But still…ICE SKATING?

kei-ice-skateHappy Weekend,

Hugs,

K