Doug is making fun of me. Okay, so "Mr. Telephone Man" isn't a Michael Jackson song. I still like it.

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Switching Gears...

I am going to start blogging. Doug is always telling me I need to blog more. But, I'm going to be totally honest and tell you what I think about blogs. Who cares? There. I said it. Almost everyone has a blog and if I wander through cyberspace reading blogs, for the most part, my eyes glaze over and I find I am not growing or learning, I'm just wasting time. I have found some VERY helpful blogs but they are far and few between.

So, why am I going to give blogging a shot? For me. I am going to think of it as keeping a journal. I am also going to start doing some writing in a journal, but I hate having a lot of paper around and I LOVE throwing paper away. This way, I'll have a record that isn't cluttering up my life.

I am going to start educating myself. I will start by reading, writing and discussing. On a daily basis, as I'm reading, I'll be writing on paper. I anticipate blogging less often and it will be more of an overview of the things I'm writing on paper.

Now, to choose a book! I'm going to start a list of books that I want to own. Hmmm....maybe I'll put that here, too.

I guess I'm back on!

Well, how did the compact go last year? I did not stick with it 100%. And that is putting it mildly. BUT, I did learn a lot and our habits did change for the positive.

We are back on...(sorta) The reason: Vision Therapy! Yikes! I just wrote a check for $1288 for Vision Therapy for my boys. Hmmm...should we buy new stuff or make sure our kids can read? Okay, we'll pay for VT.

I'm praying that in 6 months I can tell you that I have voracious readers in my home and that I am off the compact wagon!

14 Years of Marriage

The past 14 years have flown by. Don't get me wrong...those first few years were looooong! Even though the time has flown by, it feels like we've been together forever - in that I'm-a-part-of-you-and-you're-a-part-of-me way.

Doug and I have both learned that there is no magical love that will keep people married for a lifetime. It takes hard work, determination and commitment. Oh, and a sense of humor!

I am definitely the stubborn one in this relationship. Doug has always been willing to work on himself rather than try to change me.

In the Seinfeld Episode, "The Andrea Doria" Elaine (referring to the bad breaker upper) says, "Well, you know when you break up, how you say things you don't mean? Well, he says the mean things you don't mean, but he means them. "

Not with Doug. He has never said a cruel word to me.

I'm one lucky girl!! Here's to 14 more happy years!!

Grammar...Oh Boy!

I need to whip out the School House Rock DVDs (or YouTubes). As I teach my kids I sometimes wonder what happened to me in school. I got good grades. But for some reason it seems I didn't retain anything. So now as I try to remember the parts of speech, I find myself singing, "Interjections (Hey!) show excitement (Yow!) or emotion (Ouch!)".

Thankfully, if I really get stumped and School House Rock doesn't help, I've always got mom!

Off the Wagon

Well...........

I've fallen off the wagon a bit. Somewhere between the busy-ness of homeschooling, health coaching and keeping a home, not buying new became less and less important. I recently bought (brand new) "Mason-Dixon Knitting Outside the Lines" by Kay Gardiner and Ann Meador Shayne. I know it would have been better to wait for a used copy, but I just can't imagine anyone wanting to get rid of this book!! And, when you are studying The American Revolution and you need History Pockets....AND....you've got a 4 year old begging to do "Math" (that's what she calls learning to read...go figure), well, you just log on to Amazon and add that thing to your shopping cart before you can even think about The Compact.

Doug (my husband) will every now and then muse, "We need to get back to not buying new." And, as we approach the holidays, I tend to agree with him.

So, let's see where this new resolve takes us!