Wednesday Hodgepodge

Well, we are in the full swing of things now. I am working in the mornings, Brynne has gone back to public school and has volleyball practice at 6:00 a.m. every morning before school, Eli has started his 8th grade year homeschooling, and we are getting ready to start a major renovation at our house. I am currently sitting on the couch with a much-deserved glass of wine.

Let's Hodgepodge.

 

Did you watch the Solar Eclipse? Your thoughts? Sun chips, moon pies, Starburst candies, a Blue Moon beer, a Sunkist orange, or a Milky Way candy bar ... what's your favorite eclipse related snack on this list?

I had to work during the Solar Eclipse, but my co-worker and I stepped outside the library several times to watch it. Then I raced home at 1:05 p.m. to catch it at its peak at 1:09 p.m. As I pulled up in front of my house Kyndal and Bennett were getting out of the car. We hurried to see it. We were at about 98.5 percent totality so it was so crazy awesome! The street lamps came on, the crickets went berserk. So cool. My father-in-law was visiting so he came out to see with my glasses. I was so busy trying to video Bennett walking around during the Eclipse that I didn't get any pictures of the cool crescents all over the ground. Rick and the kids went to St. Louis the night before to attend an event there in the Path of Totality, so they had a great time! It was definitely an experience to remember! After the busy weeks we've had, I think I'll take that Blue Moon, thank you!

What are you 'over the moon' about these days? What's something you enjoy doing every 'once in a blue moon'?

I am just so incredibly 'over the moon' proud of all of my kids. Kyndal just got a new job as an administrative assistant to an administrator of a group of medical clinics in our region. Dawson just got two part-time jobs doing things he loves: one is at a doggie daycare playing with, photographing and supervising dogs; and the other is for a recycling company in the evenings picking up recyclables from clients and transporting them to the center. Eli has started his school year at home and I can tell it is just going to be such a great year for him. And Brynne has gone back to public school and is rocking it.
Every 'once in a blue moon' I like to actually leave my house and go do something. But I need it on my calendar and I need to mentally prepare myself for it. I have a few fun things planned in the next month that I am looking forward to just as much as I am looking forward to the days that I have absolutely nothing to do.

Tell us about something in the realm of science that interests you? How do you feed that interest?

I am not very scientific, but instead am more of a language arts kind of girl. But when there are events we can attend and learn about scientific things, I really enjoy that. Thankfully with homeschooling I get to feed that part of my nerdy self pretty often. My kids are great companions when it comes to getting out and experiencing the world. We love to attend workshops and talks and tours and events and get up close and personal with science. Right now our focus is on geology.

What are a few things you remember about going back to school as a child?

Am I the only one who can actually smell fresh crayons when I think about the answer to this question? I can VIVIDLY remember getting school supplies and rearranging them in my school box 100 times before the first day. (And all my school supplies for the year fit in that one little box.) And the perfect lunch box was very important! Back in the day you didn't get to find out who your teacher was ahead of time or get to pick your teacher. You showed up on the first day and walked the halls looking at the lists on the door to see whose class you were in. You prayed that you had at least one of your friends in your class. And then you went in, sat down at your assigned desk, and got started learning.

I've seen several versions of this around the net so let's make one of our own .... share with us five words that touch your soul and briefly tell us why.

Peace, Order, Simplicity, Self-Worth, Freedom - For so many years (the first half of my life, really) I attempted to live a life that was just not my own. I cared too much about what other people thought. But this second half of my life I am approaching my life differently. The first three words are absolutely needs in my life. I need Peace, Order and Simplicity. But only I can provide that for myself and that has to come in the choices I make. And in doing this I want myself, and my children by learning from me, to feel Freedom in how I choose to live my life and to stop worrying about what other people think about me and the way I do it and to, instead, allow myself to feel Worthy of those decisions in mySelf! This is MY life and nobody else's. My children are living THEIR lives and not mine or anybody else's. We all get to do it our own way. I hope that we will all seek God in our decisions and do our absolute best to follow Him. But, aside from that, there is no-one else who has permission to tell us how to live or to make us feel bad for the way we are.

Insert your own random thought here.

Here is a new display I came up with at our library. We are going to spotlight a different children's author each month. I had a lot of fun with this. I love my job so much!