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!

Wii Boxing: Gianna aka "Hot Mama" vs. Dad

Ask and Ye Shall Receive

For almost 2 years we've been home-phoneless. We've been using our cell phones only. About a month ago I decided that I wanted a home phone line again. I'm not exactly sure why. The last time I had to call poison control (our son was stung by a scorpion), I was connected with the poison control several states away thanks to my Washington cell phone number...I'm not even sure they have scorpions in Washington. Maybe that's what got me thinking about it. I didn't want to call 911 and have an ambulance show up at my dad's house on Bainbridge Island rather than at my house in Arizona. And, trust me, with my boys, you want to be able to contact 911 should the need arise...and it probably will.

So, we got a phone line hooked up. However, a phone line without a phone attached is even less useful than a cell phone that calls Washington state emergency workers during an Arizona emergency.

Where does one get a phone when one isn't buying new? I posted a message on a local internet message board stating that I was interested in purchasing any old used home phone. Evidently a LOT of people have phones lying around the house. We ended up with 8 phones! Not one person would take any money for them.

I plan on giving my mom one since she has a phone line but no phone. Anyone need a phone? I could only find 3 phone pluggies in my house. So, if my math is correct, I have 4 extra phones!

Gift Card Dilemma

I need your help. I received a $100 gift card to a large department store. Normally, I'd say, "SCORE!" and go shopping. But, things are different this year. What should I do with it?

Remembering Charlie

Charlie died yesterday. Charlie was a beautiful, gentle golden retriever with incredibly kind eyes.

He could be relentless when he wanted attention. If there was any chance that you might pet him, he would nudge your hand until you did. The only escape was to sit on your hands. Now I wonder why anyone would want to miss the chance to pet Charlie.

Charlie loved going for walks and was loved by many friends that he met on his daily walks to the coffee shop.

My dad, my step-mom and mostly my sister, Kate, owned Charlie. But, Charlie owned a piece of all of our hearts.

Goodbye, sweet Charlie. We love you.

Calming Fears

Many of you have expressed deep concern for us.  There are two worries in particular that I'd like to address:

1.  Our Finances

We are doing fine financially.  Last year or the year before would have been the time to worry about us.  We are rolling in the dough these days.  Okay, that is an exaggeration, but we are doing just fine.

We are not doing the compact because we don't have money.

We are not doing the compact because we need a lot of stuff but can't afford to buy it new.  In fact, we DON'T want a bunch of stuff (the kids would disagree).

We want to simplify our lives.

We are doing this because we want to focus less on material things and we want to make a smaller impact on the environment.  Everyone can do something to be kinder to the environment.  Some do this by learning to recycle in earnest.  Some just decide to turn off the water while teeth brushing.  We are participating in the compact.

2.  Our Sanity

We have not completely lost our minds.

We are quite sane.

We are enjoying being creative and the challenge of hunting for just the right thing.

We do not need an intervention.