Mondays at My House

I love Mondays.  Yes, I do!  But, I love every other day of the week for it's various assigned things to do as well.  Mondays are like "let's start fresh" and I love it.

My Mondays are days when I exercise again because I don't purposely exercise over the weekend.  My plans and things look different over the weekend, so it makes sense to just start my day with exercise while everyone is still sleeping.

I love getting back to school with my youngest, getting back in to the groove of schooling and routine.

I plan on Sundays for my week, not heavily, but just getting my brain wrapped around what I need to get done.  Since we finished class days at our homeschool group this past Friday, my days are going to look a little different now.  I'll be spending my Fridays differently, but still planning for next 17-18 school year when classes start again.

Mondays are our "clean up from the weekend" days.  Wrappers that have been forgotten, stray papers, cups, that everyone has forgotten and a host of other things are cleaned up, put away, and things generally tidied up.  As much as I try to clean up after myself when I get up from where I'm sitting, everyone else doesn't follow suit and it gets old reminding everyone of everything.  So, we just clean up Monday mornings.  It works!

Mondays are also days when I "start fresh" with cleaning up the bathroom that is ours.  Why not all the bathrooms?  Well, each of my young adults have their own bathrooms to tend to.  At this time we're getting things together to get the poolhouse bathroom pulled together.  Although there isn't a lot to do, there's still things to purchase to pull it together.  When it is, it will be assigned to one of my young adults.  👍🙌

I need to also set aside time to plan menus.  Strangely enough, having been a person who has planned meals up to 3 months in advance, I have not planned ahead for  meals for quite a while.  I would love to do that, but with the crazy schedules we've been having between my daughter and husband working strange hours and my sons doing Civil Air Patrol things, it makes planning quite challenging.  Then add to that someone who just doesn't feel like eating what we're having, so they go out and buy their own meal.  While that meal may be Ramen noodles and only costs $1, it pretty much makes me feel rather defeated at the time.  I've made preparations and etc for healthy food, so they should eat it right?  Well, I have to choose my battles.  Come to find out, they come out to the refrigerator late at night to get something to eat and invariably reheat what we had for dinner, so it eventually gets eatten!  I still struggle with this, though.

Having young adults in the house is challenging.  I feel like I have to walk a fine line between being a drill sergeant and someone who gives them authorship of their chores and when they need to get done.  There are issues there as well with mental health issues, ADHD issues, medication affects on some, so the juggling is challenging.

So, this Monday, I'm doing what I can do to ensure that the area I'm in charge of is clean, neat, and tidy.  I am in charge of the whole house, yes, but my own chores are in the area of my office/sitting room, our bathroom, bedroom and hallway.  If those are not clean, it is my fault.  I need to be the one setting an example to those under my roof of routine, diligence, and getting things done.  Yes, they are young adults and the expectation is for them to get their things done.  Unfortunately, reminders need to be given.  One day reminders will not need to be given.  One day this entire house will fall on my shoulders to clean daily.  When that happens my routine will change, but until then, this is how things are.

One day they will each have their own homes, by the grace of God.  They will be in charge of getting everything cleaned up without our prompting.  Hopefully, they will each see the need to keep things neat and tidy, eventually.  For now, they are a work in progress, just like me.

Have a Blessed Monday!

Learning, Planning, and Growing

"Commit your work to the LORD, and your plans will be established." 

(Pro 16:3)

My clematis on the trellis in Pennsylvania with vinca vines trailing on the ground behind.

I love my flowers, but living in Georgia and observing how my potted plants have done this past year (including forgetting to water) has given me cause to rethink and plan how I'll be able to have my lovely flowers year around and enjoy them.

As I think and plan, I pray about how to do things.  I have subscribed to a F*cebook page called Georgia Gardener and I've been pouring over ideas and gleaning wisdom to implement with my raised beds for our vegetables as well as for my flowers that I love.  I knew to a certain extent that things would be different here in Georgia than in Pennsylvania.  While the growing season is much longer, there is the heat in the summer to think about and try to overcome.  I've seen some people shading their plants in a variety of ways from burlap sacks propped up over the top of 5 gallon buckets, to simply having raised beds in a more shaded area of the yard.  As I plan and think on these things, I'm considering a pergola of sorts over the raised beds to create some shade, then adding some sort of vine on it for added shade.  I'm thinking of just simple posts in the ground with cross beams, and lattice across the top to make it more decorative because it will be in the front yard.  I'm thinking and praying over this idea more and more because it seems like a good alternative.

The shade provided by this trellis is exactly what I was thinking about.

The placement of these raised beds is almost exactly what I was thinking with a couple exceptions.  The star in the middle wouldn't be there and the beds along the side would connect making one long "edge" of raised bed.  Of course there would be more room due to the dimensions of our raised bed area being 24' x 24'.

I'd like to add the split rail fence and wire fence around the exterior due to wild animals and stray dogs in our area.  The placement and "ground" in this picture is very close to how I'd like to put my raised beds.  I have everything sketched out on a grid for future reference.

The pergola idea with flowers.  I was thinking of something like this or a non flowering vining plant due to bees being over head.

Of course watering everything has been largely on my mind as well, so I thought of soaker hoses in this fashion.

The thought behind this would be to simply turn the hose on and leave it on for an hour in the evening and an hour in the morning to completely soak the roots without putting water on the leaves of the plants.  I don't want to burn the leaves of the plants with the Georgia sun shining on water droplets.

 What is the purpose of all this praying, planning, thinking, researching, and observing?  Of course this is a wonderful question!  We have always grown something, whether flowers, gardens, or both.  In the height of our gardening years, we canned over 100 quarts of tomato products with 55 quarts being just sauce, 20+ quarts of salsa, stewed tomatoes, chili sauce and anything else we could find to make with tomatoes.  We canned pickles, jams and jellies, all sorts of combinations of veggies, as well as blanching and freezing 12 dozen ears of corn, pumpkin, zucchini, and everything else we could.  We pressure canned green beans, chili, chicken soup, sausage, venison, potatoes, and whatever else we could.  We dehydrated hot peppers, zucchini, tomatoes, onions, basil, oregano, chives, and anything else we could think of to preserve.

There is so much satisfaction knowing where your food comes from.  The health benefits knowing that there is sea salt instead of iodized salt in your green beans for help with high blood pressure gives so much more peace of mind when preparing these foods for yourself and your family.

This is why we do the work to tend to our family.  It isn't just that it saves us money because the initial investment in the preparation of the raised beds, hoses and so forth is the biggest monetary investment.  But the pay-off is well worth it in the long run.  

This is the area where we will put the raised beds and pergola--4'+ away from the windows.

We certainly have our work "cut out" for us.  This work will begin in January, shortly after Christmas ends and everything is put away.  I will certainly share the progress with everyone, along with pictures.  The beginning of the process will likely be the pergola, then the plastic and then raised beds.  I'm hoping to have lettuces and so forth planted by the end of January since they are cool weather plants.  We will likely have tomatoes and peppers in by the end of February.  We have a 24' x 24' space where we'll plant everything.  Considering the longer growing season, we'll likely be canning and preserving things close to year around, with the exception of canning in the summer months.  I'll freeze everything in the summer to be canned when the outside temperatures are cooler.  

How are you planning?

Have a Blessed Day! 

Sharing Our Gifts

Many times when one would read a title such as that, one would think of getting a gift of money or a present.  I am talking about sharing ourselves, our talents and our time.  Some of those things require a bit of our money, but usually not giving directly to any one person a monetary amount.

Throughout the time I have spent as a parent, I've tried instilling in my kids that we need to give of ourselves, even in the smallest of ways, to help in any way we can. Many times in the beginning, I've just taken my kids with me in whichever service project we were doing and expected them to help, or I gave them things to do like wiping tables, serving drinks or something like that.  As they grew in their own walk and personal likes and dislikes, they've shown that they love helping, but in their own ways.

It has been a humbling experience for me to lend my voice to the Sherwood Baptist Choir.  I am truly stretched and challenged with my own musical abilities, along with my deafness that brings additional challenges all it's own to just about everything I do.  I have always been a soprano, but due to a 3 month long bout of a variety of colds and flu a few years ago, I went from a soprano to an alto.  This is a challenge when I've learned a vast majority of songs in soprano, so much of my work has been to relearn all these songs.  It helps to stand next to some strong alto voices in choir so I don't start singing the soprano part.  The video below has been written by our Music Minister and Choir/Orchestra director Mark Willard.  He is the main vocalist with some very talented folks accompanying and singing with him.  This song is called "Hope is Rising."  From my understanding, we will be having a *Live* worship on October 9th featuring this song as well as many other favorite classic hymns.  This has been hard work for me in this time also since I've had bronchitis since 2 weeks after my knee surgery in July.  I'm excited to be a part of this, to just simply lend my voice to the choir in praise to God.  What a blessing!

This is another video to show the choir, orchestra, and a very talented and beautiful lady who is singing "I Am."




I count it a privilege to lend my voice in a very small way to the choir wherever I am planted.  Praise God!


This is what I've learned:

*When you model serving and encourage them to help and find some place to share their gifts and abilities, be prepared for when they do something unexpected.

Each of my kids have a wonderful singing voice.  As a part of their music training, they've been in the choir with me until our move to Georgia.  I've given them a choice of whether or not to join the choir and express themselves that way, but they've gone other directions.  My daughter loves working with the kids and that's the direction she's going.  My youngest son is working in security and he's enjoying that.  My oldest son is looking in to the golf cart ministry and I'm sure he'll find a niche there.

*Be prepared for them to tell you, "Mom, I'm not interested in that any more.  That's your interest."

Yup!  I heard it and it crushed my heart because they've all got beautiful voices.

*Be prepared to watch them shine in their chosen place of serving.

The happiness is unlike any other.  They're beginning to learn what it means to serve in an area where God may be leading them.


Other areas of service are available if we just keep our eyes out and ask God to show them to us.  What do I mean?  I've been told I have gifts in the kitchen.  For me, though, I just love to bake and bless people with yummy things from my kitchen.  Couple that with including children to help chop things, cleaning up, and serving those things and you have a family that serves.  This is a love of my own and I'm encouraging my kids to help me, even as they get older.  They each may have had their own special part of what is presented, but they know it is something they've helped to produce.

What are we producing this week?

All kinds of pumpkin bread done in Pampered Chef bread tubes to serve when company comes.  I have a lot of pumpkin to use.  :)

I'm gradually gathering zucchini to shred and freeze for future things like cakes, breads, and things like that.

What are we going to do in the future?  We're going to keep our eyes out for ways we can serve others with our gifts.

Remember, no gift is too menial or minor when it is done in the service of your God!

God Bless,

Getting Them to Read

When we began homeschooling in 2001, I knew I wanted to instill in each of my children the love of learning.  I began simply by telling them after each meal, "Go find your favorite book, get in to a comfy position (I don't care if you sit on your head) and read for half an hour!"  This is simply how we began.  We had electronics back then, but just a couple super old desk top computers that were 8GB and maybe 16GB on their hard drives.  We had educational computer games, lots of wonderful educational posters on the walls in the dining room, watched educational shows on TV and DVDs and used our Bibles to learn how to read aloud.

You see, reading is essential to learn anything in life.  Unfortunately, electronics are taking over books, but this Momma is steering her young folks to find information in good books and literature first.  There is something that happens to a person, no matter the age, when you hold a book in your hands.  You can adjust, get comfortable, and let your mind get involved in the book.  When my children were younger, we did "Read Aloud" time where after lunch was cleaned up, they curled up whichever way they were comfy and listened to me read.  They would always say, "Momma please read another chapter!"  And I would happily oblige.  These were the times that I knew would form them for later in life and they would be precious memories for me, so I obliged.

As they grew and read everything on their own, our "Read Aloud" times became Bible races.  They would race to the scripture verse and whoever got there first read the verse.  

As with everything, reading comes with writing and speaking.  In order to communicate well with others they had to learn how to spell.

They also had to learn to find out information for themselves.  It is bittersweet, but had to be done.

They had to learn to read to know how to do things like read patters and follow directions.

And read their own Bible on their own.

And study Biology 2.

They've each learned at their own rates, with their own sets of challenges from ADHD, kinesthetic learner, Dyslexia & Dysgraphia.  I have researched until my eyes hurt in how to help my kids learn how to read and they each read very well now with very little issues.  If they do have any issues, they know how to self correct.  This is what reading is all about.  Gaining the skills to learn, research, understand, communicate in writing and speaking, as well as how to correct themselves when they know something didn't sound right.

And it all began with telling them to find their favorite book and get comfortable even if it meant sitting on their head! (Seriously!  I used those words! And they laughed!  LOL)

My job was to find out what they were interested in and supply them with TONS of quality literature.  Going to the library wasn't always convenient for us, so I scoured Amazon for good books very cheap based on their interests and reading levels.  I remember buying 3 different books on General Custer, all on 3 different interest and reading levels.  Over the years we've resold many many books, but they were all worth it.

Where do you begin? 

If I had to begin again in 2001, I would begin with this book.  I read this book after our first year of homeschooling.  I would have loved to read it before we began, but I didn't know about it.  So, as a result, I encourage all new homeschoolers to read this book IMMEDIATELY.  It will change your homeschool for the better!  It will help you understand your own learning style in order to learn your child(ren)'s learning styles.  Once you do that, you'll better understand where they need to be and how they need to study.

As always, if you have any questions, please feel free to ask!  There is no such thing as a stupid question.

God Bless,

2016 Cometh

As I sit here writing, 2015 only has 20 minutes left in it.  We're watching "Lord of the Rings: Return of the King" as the truest of nerdy folks would be, unless it is just us who are ultra nerdy and this is the movie of choice on New Year's Eve.  LOL

The labels you see at the bottom, yes, go ahead and page down, those!  Yes!  Those are already established *goals* that are in place from year to year, month to month, week to week,  and day to day.

But!

(You knew there had to be one! LOL)

I want to infuse my home with whimsical things that make me and others smile.  I'm not a stoically serious person, but I take joy in lots of silly things, and so should everyone who steps foot on our land and in our home.  Yes JOY!  The Lord Himself created laughter, and for goodness sake, aren't we ones to give him a GOOD chuckle by telling Him our plans, so by gosh and by golly, we're going to have some whimsy around here!  LOL

Why don't I make resolutions?  Because they fall away as soon as the end of January rolls around and things get boring or hard.  I'm right there right now with my own weight loss, so I beat the punch by a month!  LOL  I know the holidays have been around, and I know I can rejoice in this fact, but in spite of the holidays, my Wii says I gained .4 pounds in the past 2 weeks.  LOL  Yes, I laugh at that!  I can't believe it has only been .4 pounds!  So, I"m going to look at it this way:  I've had my breakfast and coffee, so that's where the .4 pounds came from!  So, I didn't gain anything!  I stayed the same.  Woohoo!  LOL

You really need to laugh more my dear readers!  I really need to remember that myself....to laugh more.  A merry heart makes good medicine!  Well, I need to remember that!  :)

Well, it has taken me 11 minutes to get this far, so I'm going to sign off and bid you all a warm farewell.

See you next year!  Which will happen in about 9 minutes!

Happy New Year!

God Bless,
Regina