Wow! What a week!

Hello Everyone!

This is going to be a combo posting.  I have had several things I wanted to post about but have not found the time to get it done.  You are going to get the Cliff's Notes here today.

First off, I had some wonderful friends come over last week and help me finish stripping the wallpaper off the wall in the school/game room.  Remember that project that I started oh so long ago.  Well, with school just around the corner and with the help of friends, I was finally motivated to get it done.  Anyway, after they left, I knew I had to finish because I was starting school in just a couple of days.  So here is the before and after pictures.  Please note that I don't have all my decor up yet.  No curtains, signs, pictures, etc.  I also haven't finished the chairs that will go around the table.  Just to give you a hint though, they are colorful and adorable!

A very messy school room.

The other wall.

Ahh, so much fresher, cleaner, and inspiring for scholastic excellence.  I can't wait to have more time to get the other added touches done.  I have some fun ideas.  Hopefully, we will be able to add some baseboard as well.  I tried to add captions to the after pictures but something was a little screwy and the pictures would get moved to somewhere else in the post.  So I'll say this.  The trim is red, was red and am not changing it for various reasons.  Maybe some day.  I repainted white where there was white before and then in the school room part, painted the walls a gray color.  I am accenting with red, yellow (chalkboard trim is already done), a light turquoise blue and an apple green.  I will reveal more as I get the rest done.

So then after this was done, we started school this last Monday.  So far so good on that, don't have a whole lot to report there.

Tuesday found me in town for piano, shopping and the oh so dreaded, " I've turned 40" doctor's appointment.  Yep, I had my first mammogram.  You know we always fear the unknown and I will say I was a little apprehensive.  I have to say I  found a little humor in the whole situation when they had me put on "The Cape".  I felt like Wonder Women or something.  I remember as a  kid, my brother and I would play Batman and Robin or The Bionic Man & Women or any number of the superheros of the 70's and 80's.  We would use bath towels tucked into the back of our shirts and run around the house and jump over the couch and such; yelling "Shazam!" or "Ka-Pow" or "Bam" or any of those other tough sayings they said back then.  In remembering all that, I giggled to myself and thought that I would have loved to have one of these cape thingys back when I was a kid.

Monday night, I had the neighbor girl come over and ask me if I could fix her homecoming dress by Friday.  It was a little lot low in the front and she needed me to add a piece in to make it more modest.  How many of you out there have a hard time telling others "No"?  I really didn't have time to mess with altering a dress in 4 days but I just couldn't tell her no.  So, I looked Tuesday while in town for some material to use to add to the top.  Do you know how many shades of royal blue there are?  Several!  Anyway, one of the clerks at JoAnn Fabrics gave me a great idea.  One of those, "Why didn't I think of that?" kind of ideas.  She suggested that I use the straps from the tie at the neck.  That is just what I did.  I had her come over and try it on.  Then I measured where it needed to be to hold it on her tightly.  I then folded the ends over to finish them off and overlap a bit.  To keep them closed, I added a pretty rhinestone button and a button hole.  Perfect!  Then I took the left over straps and filled in the neckline.  I added a thin strip of silver ribbon at the top of that and it now looks like it was made that way.  At least I hope that's what she will think.

Today found me meeting a woman in town to sell a Step 2 kids buggy.  I also had to go to the post office to mail two items that I sold on Ebay.  A very profitable morning.  However, the lady was an hour late meeting me.  I had left the kids at home to work on school and was now getting a little antsy about being gone so long.  It all turned out fine but I was wondering if it was worth the drop in price I gave her to sell the thing.  I still made a $30 profit so I don't feel too awfully bad.
Now, as I am typing this, it is rainy, my kids are dressing up the cats...

and I am trying to work on JBF.  If you don't already know, JBFhave to have a new outfit!  That is mandatory isn't it?

So, even though this may seem like a long post.  There really has been lots going on that I didn't mention.  I think this is just the way it is going to be now with school going on and wedding preparations happening.  Maybe it will slow down this winter.  NOT!  Us crafters are always busy, right?!  So until next time...

Have a blessed day,

maggie jane

Cathy Duffy's 100 Top Picks Book Review

Hello Everyone!

This post is for all you homeschooling moms, soon to be homeschooling moms, confused homeschooling moms, want to be homeschooling moms and don't want to be but will probably have to be homeschooling moms.  I fall, or have fallen, into all of those catagories.  Homeschooling is not for wimps much like parenting is not for wimps.  It takes a lot of time and effort to homeschool.  Unfortunately, I haven't always taken as much time or put in as much effort as I should.  Homeschooling is also a process of learning for not only the child but the parent as well.  It is a process sometimes of trial and error.  So, I say all that, to say that I have found a wonderful book to help us all in this journey to educate our children in the way we want them to be educated; with values that are ours and not "the system's".  To teach them what is important for success in life that you can't always get from the basic public school system.  The book is titled, "Cathy Duffy's 100 Top Picks for Homeschool Curriculum".  My SIL introduced this book to me a few weeks ago.  I decided I wanted my own and was able to get it at a great price through Half.com. 

Cathy Duffy talks not only about what she recommends as a "good" book but also about learning what kind of teacher you are and what kind of learner your student/child is going to be by examining personality.  Maybe that sounds kind of like maybe you should be lying on a couch with a psychiatrist asking you all kinds of questions to determine who and what you and your kids are.  Well, it really isn't like that at all.  I found it very helpful to think about myself and my kids and how we operate.  Not all homeschool curriculums are created equal.  Some have more writing than others, some take more teacher participation, some take more sitting down time, some are more creative, etc., etc.  Not only are curriculums not created equal but children (and parents for that matter) are not either.  Some children are "Wiggly Willie's" or "Perfect Paula's" or "Competent Carl's" or "Social Sue's".  These are her classifications.  As Mrs. Duffy brings out, some personality types or learning types just don't do well with this curriculum but might do great with that one.  I have been homeschooling now for about 7 years.  I have two children; a boy and a girl.  Their personalities are very different.  However, they are close enough in age that I have put them in the same grade in some subjects.  For the most part this works out well.  However, they don't "learn" the same.  After reading Cathy Duffy's book, I have discovered that I might have to do a few things differently this year.  I believe I can still find curriculums that will fit both of their personalities and still be able to school them together.  That is the beauty of this book.  She has a lot of the research figured out so I don't have to do it myself.  I really wish I had had this book when I first started homeschooling.  Every year I keep thinking, "Next year I'm going to do something different."  Well, I'm still saying that but I'm hoping this will be the last year as I am going to try out some of Cathy Duffy's recommendations and hope that I get it "Figured Out" this year. 

I hope everyone has had a successful school year but if you feel like you need to make some changes, get a hold of "Cathy Duffy's 100 Top Picks for Homeschool Curriculum" and see if you don't agree with me that it is a helpful resource. 

*I was not contacted to write this review or am not receiving any compensation for writing this review.  These are my thoughts and opinions only.

The other resource that I want to briefly mention is actually a catalog company for homeschool.  It is called Rainbow Resource Center.  They have both a catalog that can be mailed to you or you can shop online.  They have a huge inventory of all kinds of homeschool books, games, teacher helps, etc.  They also have great prices, excellent customer service and fast shipping.  In their catalog, they also do some reviews so it is nice to get a "second" opinion and compare to what Cathy Duffy has to say.  And as mentioned above, I wasn't asked to "put in a good word", as it were, for Rainbow Resources.  I just happen to think they are a great company to purchase from and do so every year.

So after all of that, have a great summer and hopefully a wonderful new school year.  So until next time...

Have a blessed day,

maggie jane