I post about Kei all the time.† She said to me the other day, “You never really post about yourself”.† So here it is.

ITSALLABOUTMEITSALLABOUTMEITSALLABOUTMEITSALLABOUTMEITSALLABOUTME

I am tall, 5í 10î.† I hated it when I was younger.† High school is not so great for a girl taller than most of the boys.† I love it now.

I am a Diet Dr. Pepper addict.† I admit I have a problem. My friends know this.† I do not apologize.

I have an 11 year old daughter who I love more than Diet Dr. Pepper or anything.† She has changed my world.

I am a single Mom.

I work from home.† I have a very cool job.† My boss owns a trailer Cast rental business in Los Angeles.† I run it.† It has its ups and downs.† Right now it is down.

I use to work for Public Schools.† I was a Job Coach.† I worked with Special Education kids in high school helping them to find jobs and then coaching them until they felt comfortable.† I loved it!

I lived in San Francisco for 2 years.† I was constantly amazed by everything I saw.† It was beautiful and interesting and full of surprises.† I spit off the Golden Gate Bridge, I rode bikes in Golden Gate Park, I lost myself in Chinatown, I rode the BART, I rode a ferry for the first time, I strolled around Haight-Asbury and much more.

While in San Francisco I got the sweetest job ever.† I worked for Manex Visual Effects; † the special effects company who did the effects for ìThe Matrixî.†† I watched them build the overpasses and road for the filming of Matrix 2 and 3.† I stood in the phone booth used in the movie.† We had meetings at the table used in ìWhat Dreams May Comeî.† We also did the work on ìCrouching Tiger, Hidden Dragonî, ìMission Impossibleî, ì What Dreams May Comeî, among others.† It was a very cool job.

I sat in California, on the phone with my Mother watching the 2^nd plane crash into the WTC.

I had my heart really broken for the only time in California.† I survived.

I have always believed in God, but it took my child and an amazing church to bring me back into church. It has changed my life.† I have so much faith now, so much joy.

I love nature.† I am fascinated by insects and their lives.† The more I read, the more I want to know; wasps and bees and dung beetles and cicadasÖ. There is just so much to learn.

I love History.† It amazes me to learn how people lived centuries ago.† I find it unbelievable that ancient Egyptians had a form of indoor toilets and my great aunt still had an outhouse when I was very young.† Of course it isnít only toilets that I love about History. 😉

I love movies.† I have always been a lover of movies.† I still do, however lately they are more of the PG and PG-13 variety. ††It is very rare that I allow Kei to watch a R rated movie.

I have never liked Horror movies.† I blame it on the fact that my Mother watched ìThe Bad Seedî on TV when she was pregnant with me.† She was horrified that I was going to be born a ìbad seedî and her fear must have penetrated into the womb. †Lucky for her I was such a good girl. 😉

I had 2 brothers growing up who played every sport imaginable.† I spent most summers at the baseball field.† I spent Sunday afternoons in center field running after balls that my brother would hit at batting practice with my Daddy.

I was a cheerleader in Junior College.† I tried out, made it, practiced all summer and then decided to go to a 4 year college.† A boy was involved in my decision.† I was silly then.

I was homeroom Mom the 2 years Kei was in PS.† Kei loved PS, never had a problem; but while she did fine there, she soars at home.

I am a bit of a computer geek.† Especially regarding online games.† The first one I ever played was a MUD called Realms of Despair. It was all text and I loved it.† I try to explain to Kei how awesome it was and she canít even imagine an all text game.† I beta tested the first ever 3D online game, Meridian 59 and still play it.† I have played tons of online games over the years.† Underworld, Everquest, WOW, Guild Wars and more. †Kei had a character on WOW at age 3.

On May 10^th, 2008 I lost my sweet Mother.† I had dreaded it my entire life.† My Mother was the single most influential person in my life.† She was the best Mother anyone could have.† She always believed in me no matter what.† Although it has been almost 3 years, I miss her every day.† I still talk to her when I have problems.† It helps me.

My first memory was lying in a crib with big boxes surrounded me.† I remember white walls.† I was 6 months old when we moved.† People think there is no way I could remember this, but it is MY memory nonetheless.

Sometimes I canít remember what happened 3 days ago!

Homeschooling is the best thing I have ever done.† Hands down!

I used to have a clothes addiction.† Not really, but I was very aware of what I wore.† I always wanted to stand out, be different, make everyone turn and look. ††This was in my 20ís and 30ís.† In high school I was more “one of the herd”.† We went out a lot when I was 20ís ñ 30ís.† I dressed a little wild.† Maybe that is where Kei gets it?† Now clothes are not so important.† I still like them, but shopping is not one of my favorite things.

Reading is something I could not imagine living without.† I am a reader.† You either are or youíre arenít.† I can remember so many summer afternoons that my Mother would put my baby brother down for his nap and we would lie down in my bed and she would read to me.† Lovely stories about secret gardens and toads and fairies.† I still read to Kei.† If I donít have a book to read I get crazy.† Even if it is one I have read before, I must have those pages to pick up whenever I want to read.

My favorite authors change quite a bit.† I love Stephen King, Elizabeth Berg, Harlan Corben, James Patterson, Janet Evanovich and more.† It is impossible to choose my favorite book but I always loved ìThe Talismanî by Stephen King.† The idea of another parallel world that only certain people could ëflipí to always intrigued me.† As soon as I publish this I will think of 20 authors I canít believe I left out.

When I was young I wanted to be an archaeologist and I am still very interested in it.

My friends are very important to me.† Both near and far.† They are the first people I want to share joy or sorrow with.† They make life so sweet.

I still love to go to the playground and swing.† I love to go really high.

I love to find a great Television series that I have never watched and watch them all the way through.† I have discovered Gilmore Girls, Alias, Firefly, Veronica Mars, Monk, Saving Grace and more this way.† I love witty shows with great dialogue.† Gilmore Girls is my favorite TV show of all time.

I love musicals.† I havenít always loved them but do now.

I watch a few TV shows religiously; Castle, The Big Bang Theory, Glee, Modern Family, The Middle.† I also am a closet reality show junkie.† Not all shows, just a few.† Hush! Don’t judge!

I love to cook.† I havenít always loved to cook, when I was young my Mother would never allow me in the kitchen.† She was afraid I would get ëhurtí.† When I first got married I couldnít cook at all.† There were burned boiled eggs, inedible meals.† Now I love to cook.† I have never liked baking but since Kei likes it so much, I am getting more into it.† I really want to learn to cook authentic Italian.† Anyone have a great website?

If I had unlimited money I would love to travel, to help people in other countries, to be Nomads with Kei, around the globe. †The places I would go firstÖItaly and then Greece.

I would also love to be a Renaissance Faire follower.† Complete with a craft booth of some kind, outfits and all the things that go with it.† I told you I am a bit of a geek. 😉

I am at a place in my life where I have peace.† Not every day, not all the time, but most of the time.† It took a long time to get here, but it was worth the wait.

ìYou can’t do anything about the length of your life, but you can do something about its width and depth”† †Henry Louis Mencken

“Be glad of life because it gives you the chance to love and to work and to play and to look up at the stars.” Henry Van Dyke

I have a child who does more in a week than I did in 2 months at her age….in all honesty, even at this age.

Is it because she is homeschooled?

She sings, she dances, she acts in plays.† She is rehearsing for her 7^th play right now.

Is it because she is homeschooled?

She makes things with clay; lovely things like sushi, bread, bears, cakes, ice creams, pretzels, popcorn, babies, strollers, baskets, berries, cherries, cupcakes.† She sets up scenarios with these things with her Little Petz town.

Is it because she is homeschooled?

She sews, she makes clothes for her marionette, her bears, her Barbies.† Simple things and elaborate costumes that she hot glues little bitty sequins to one at a time.

Is it because she is homeschooled?

She makes felt animals; owls and mice and elephants and music notes and writes stories about them.

Is it because she is homeschooled?

She plays Webkinz,† and has 30 Webkinz on one account and their rooms are beautifully decorated, with things organized in a way HER room never is.

Is it because she is homeschooled?

She cooks, she makes up recipes, tries new things, searches cookbooks, online; looking for creative ideas.† She tries different combinations together, she decorates cakes.

Is it because she is homeschooled?

She knits all the time; beautiful scarves that she weaves color upon color in and out of her fingers, making pom-poms, knitted dolls hats and key chains and head bands.

Is it because she is homeschooled?

She writes stories, funny stories with great dialogue usually involving a strong female who takes on the world.

Is it because she is homeschooled?

She rides her bike, she roller blades, she loves ice skating.

Is it because she is homeschooled?

She makes films with her Webkinz, heart wrenching stories with Kings and Queens and marriage proposals and funerals.† They are wonderful.

Is it because she is homeschooled?

She listens to the police scanner and printed out the police codes and writes them down when they broadcast and keeps me informed about ì66 year old woman having seizuresî or a ìrobbery in progressî or ìJuveniles throwing snowballsî

Is it because she is homeschooled?

She plays Wii and laughs at the antics of Animal Crossing and some goofy game about Monkies and their babies and Super Mario and tries to figure out mysteries in Sims: Secret Agent.

Is it because she is homeschooled?

She visits with the lady next door who had a stroke and can no longer get out and do the things she used to do.† She bakes her goodies and plays board games with her.

Is it because she is homeschooled?

She plays with her dog and teaches him tricks and dresses him up [yes he has worn a Pink Tutu among other things]. She writes plays, with her dog as her cast member and an adoring Mom as her audience.

Is it because she is homeschooled?

She plays board games, card games, anything that has a “winner”.† She puts puzzles together.† She paints, she draws, she tries to solve her Rubikís cube.

Is it because she is homeschooled?

She loves old television shows, she spends time looking up music that is from other eras besides the one she lives in.

Is it because she is homeschooled?

She loves trekking around in the creek, collecting water samples and bugs and plants.† Dirt is her friend.

Is it because she is homeschooled?

Who knows why someone is who they are?† So many factors come into play; environment, heredity and so much more.† I am not saying that all children who are homeschooled are brighter, more creative, more inquisitive but it stands to reason that you can be all of those things with an extra 4 or 5 or 6 or 7 hours a day.

And I do know thisÖ

If she went to public school, there would be waking up at 7:00 AM, 8 hours in school, 2 hours of homework, dinner, bath and early bedtime. †She would not have the time to be exactly who she is right now.

And who she is; this amazing girl, for a great part is….

Because she is homeschooled.

ìA child only pours herself into a little funnel or into a little box when sheís afraid of the worldówhen sheís been defeated. But when a child is doing something sheís passionately interested in, she grows like a treeóin all directions. This is how children learn, how children grow. They send down a taproot like a tree in dry soil. The tree may be stunted, but it sends out these roots, and suddenly one of these little taproots goes down and strikes a source of water. And the whole tree grows.”

~John Holt~ Learning All the Time

We got 8″-10″ of snow last night. It was our 3rd largest snow fall on record. It was beautiful and magical and unbelievable to see that much snow on our Alabama ground.

Kei, Nomad and I loved it.

Children come to us in many ways, some of us wish and hope and pray for a child.

Some of us try and try; go through so much, and finally the child comes.

Some of us go through other channels; they adopt a beautiful child of their own.

Some of us arenít expecting it at all; it is a surprise, sometimes good, sometimes not so good.

My child was a miracle, a blessing, a slice of heaven dropped into my life.

I never really wanted kids; I was a great aunt, cool and hip and never said ënoí.

Then this beautiful girl child came into my life.† I was mesmerized, fascinated, in love up to my eyeballs.

Every sound from her mouth delighted me.† Every sticky hug, every wet kiss, every laugh made me love her more.

Today she is 11.† My sweet little girl is 11.† Her presence is what I was made for; I know without a doubt it is why I was put on this earth.

She delights me, she amazes me, she frustrates me, she makes me laugh until my stomach hurts, she drives me crazy at times with her favorite words which are ëWatch this, listen to this.î† She is brilliant, she is kind, she loves animals with an intensity I have never understood.

She loves to create, to make things.† She wants to save the world, to make it a better place.† She loves dance and music and acting.† She loves old 60ís TV shows, 80ís British bands, the Disney Channel.† She loves to swim and explore and learn about nature.† She loves science and math and reading not so much yet but I am still hoping.† She hears something one time and remembers it.† She is messy as can be, won’t clean her room unless I threaten beating with a stick, but will organize her books in alphabetical order.† She makes lists about everything, writes notes, has grand ideas.

She loves Jesus, but she asks questions, she doesnít accept blindly.† We have long conversations about who, why, when and where.† She wants to be a good God girl.† She has brought me back to church after many years.† Our church is very important to her.† She loves serving the community where we live.

She has wanted a dog since she could talk and simply adores Nomad.† She teaches him tricks, works with him, does dance routines with him, dresses him in costumes, loves him unconditionally.

At her first play practice she practically knows the entire play.† She bites her fingernails, she is so tender headed it has caused explosions in our house when I fix her hair.† Her favorite colors are brown and black. She voted for Obama [and yes I did let her vote when we were in the little booth..shhhhh], she doesnít use plastic bags, she worries about global warning.† She loves her computer and will never know a world that the internet doesnít exist.† She loves Broadway musicals and one day my baby I will take you to New York City and we will see “Wicked“.

She wants to be an actor, and if that ëdoesnít work outí, she wants to be a zoologist, a chef or a flower shop owner in that order. She loves Johnny Depp. This is a fierce love that she has had since she was 3.† I took her to see Pirates of The Caribbean with thoughts that we would probably have to leave since she was so little. She was mesmerized.† From that day on, she has said she was going to marry Johnny.† She has never wavered, not once, not when people tell her he is too old for her, not when I remind her he has a wife, not when I tell her his children are more her age.† I have never discouraged her from this.† Wishes and dreams are important.

She loves food, she can taste herbs and seasoning in a way most adults canít.† She loves to cook, loves to bake.† If I would let her cook dinner every night she would be deliriously happy.† She makes breakfast and describes the ingredients in her newest creation lovingly.† She loves yarn, loves to finger knit and has started her own company called Knit-Wits.† She sells her creations at our skate days.

Money means absolutely nothing to her.† If someone gave her $100 or $5 she would just as soon give it to me as keep it.† We donít have a lot of money, but we have something so much more important.† She can put on lipstick and eye shadow one minute and be playing with her Barbieís the next.† She is the best mix of little girl and pre-teen.

Homeschooling has given us wings.† Not only does Kei love learning but I am finding out I love learning. The world is our classroom.† We roam, we read, we listen, we look, we touch, we smell, we taste, we explore.† What could possibly be better than spending all day with your favorite person?

I know she will change, she will grow up, she will no longer think I am the smartest, the greatest and I wonít be her favorite person to hang out with.† So I am savoring these golden moments.† This slice of life I could never even imagine.† Life is so good, so sweet, so amazing.

We have wonderful friends and family, but at the end of the day it is just me and you kid.† And I wouldnít have it any other way.† My Mother always told me everyone needs a daughter.† I finally understand what she meant.

You are my heart and my soul.

Happy 11^th Birthday Baby girl,

Mommy loves you to Pluto and back times Infinity~

A daughter is one of the most beautiful gifts this world has to give. ~ Laurel Atherton

What I wanted most for my daughter was that she be able to soar confidently in her own sky, whatever that may be. ~Helen Claes

One child…

Who has completely changed my life, who teaches me much more than I could ever teach her,† who is my world.

One God…

who blesses us beyond belief.

One family…

who loves me through good and bad times.

One group of friends…

both old and new who inspire me, make me laugh, love me, lift me up.

One best friend…

who has been there through it all.† Who even though she lives 2000 miles away, still is just like a sister to me.

One dog...

who has taught me how it feels to love a furry, silly, no manners, crazy canine.

One life...

that I wouldn’t trade for anything.

Happy New Year.

ìWe will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year’s Day.î† ~ Edith Lovejoy Pierce

Christmas was very different this year.† The snow changed plans.† We were snowed in.

We had our first Christmas in this houseÖKei and I had our first Christmas in this houseÖîIî have many Christmasís here.

As I lay in bed, and thought back to the last Christmas that I spent surrounded by these walls many years ago; I wondered what that girl thought of?† Did she have dreams and plans?† Did she have any idea of where life would take her?† Did she know she would marry a man she loved, only to divorce him a few years later?† Did she ever imagine she would live in a city with a huge golden bridge?† Work for an Award winning company?† Have the most beautiful child in the world?† Life is funny; full of twists and turns at every corner.† Mistakes have to be made, choices, decisions.† All roads lead to here.

To this moment, laying beside a wiggly, giggly 10 year old who cannot wait to wake up and see what Christmas brought her.† Who could not wait to watch her puppyís first Christmas.† Back to this house, this moment, this life.

We had a white Christmas!† WE had a white Christmas.† To my dear friends who spend the winter with snow on the ground, you may not understand the HUGENESS of this event to these Alabama girls.† Kei woke me up with, ìWe have† a white Christmasî and I jumped up and looked out the window.† It was beautiful.

She took the dog out for a bit and he loved his first taste of snow.

We have a ritual every Christmas.† I canít function without a bath; she canít possibly wait to open at least something.† So she opens her stocking while I take my bath.† She sits on the floor in the bathroom and pulls out things one by one.† She oohs and aahs over everything.† There was lipstick and candy and books and earrings and a necklace and bottle caps and an iTunes gift card and puzzles and more.

We read the last day of our Jesse Tree and put the last ornament on the tree.† We loved this so much and fully intend to make this an annual tradition.

We loved this so much that we visited the site that was talked about in our Jesse Tree book and found a little girl we wanted to ‘adopt’.† Kei and I don’t have a lot of extra money.† We discussed it and decided we would do without some things in order to do this.† Her name is Neeta, she is from India and she is 8 years old.† She is the daughter of a single Mother.† We can† not wait to get the information about her.

Then the gift unwrapping began.† She got me some great house shoes which I live in during winter, candles, some bubble bath, bath spray and KEIpons. Which are great coupons with things like “Good for taking Nomad out 6 times” or “One dinner, I cook”.† All of my favorite things.

She opened and opened gifts.† I know her so well, she is so easy to buy for because she loves everything!† There was felt and yarn and more clay and an Edward Scissorhands shirt and boots and science kits and games and Webkinz and more.† She was delighted with everything.

Then we got Nomad to ‘open’ his gifts.† He was hysterical!

There was a calm and a peace of knowing that we had no where to be, nothing that HAD to be done.† We made a huge breakfast, we ate snacks all day, I played an online game with my best friend who lives in Cali, she played Webkinz, we played Phase 10, we watched Gilmore Girls.† We laughed and danced and played with Nomad.† It was a lovely Christmas.

Today there was snow playing; although it was MUCH colder than yesterday.† There was more game playing and watching TV and laughing.

We quickly found out that we didn’t love the freezing weather….Nomad was a different story.† We had to fight him to bring him in!

This has been a wonderful Christmas weekend.† We are so blessed.† I hope your holiday was magical and special and a blessing to you and your family.

The best of all gifts around any Christmas tree:† the presence of a happy family all wrapped up in each other.† ~Burton Hillis

It has been a great few days.† Kei had auditions for 101 Dalmatians.† She has been in this play before, when she was 7.† She was a chihuahua.

She auditioned with “Hard Knock Life” from Annie.† She did a great job.† Chan tried out too and she did a great job.

Chan went home with us for 6 days!† We were both so excited.† The girls had a blast playing.† They cut up the Popcorn pumpkin from Halloween.

The next day it got so cold!† Freezing cold.† They dressed up warmly to go to the creek to see if it was frozen.† It took them longer to get ready than they stayed outside.

We went to see if they got roles in 101 Dalmatians.† As you can see, they did!† Kei got the role of Horace, one of Cruella’s henchmen.† It was the role she really, really wanted. Chan is Pepper the Dalmatian.

We also made Mystery Bars from my friend’s Theresa’s blog.† If you have never had these, you must try them.

It was so cold they played a lot of Webkinz.† Kei sat up her laptop next to my computer and they played for hours.

Kei also started a thread on Webkinz Insider about cyber-bullying in Kinz chat plus.† The last time she checked 507 people had read it!† I was so proud of her.† She looked up facts and figures about cyber-bullying, how prevalent it is, how most kids do not tell their parents.† Here is Manny her spokesman for the thread, reading it.

Thursday we had a get together for Jane Austen’s birthday.† We all brought books to swap, had tons of food, had a egg drop, made Art Cards, chatted for hours and had a blast.† We are so lucky to have our Roamies [What we call our homeschool group].† We also had to leave Chan since her Mother really wanted her back.

Esther got the girls and draped Christmas lights all around them.† It was so beautiful.

I think Jane would have been very proud of us.

We have the greatest people in our lives.† Almost every day something happens that Kei and I just say, ‘Thank you God for [insert names here].

I have a lot more to say about the past few days but I am going to split this into 2 posts.

3 days until Christmas.† Am I finished?† Well of course not.† But I will get it done, I always do. 🙂

Happy Holiday Week,

Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful. ~Norman Vincent Peale