11.21.07
Posted in Life, the Universe and All that Jazz at 3:19 pm by Meg
To those who nominated this blog
And Welcome to anyone just coming by.
This blog has been nominated for the Homeschool Blog Awards in the Live-What-You-Believe Homeschool Blog Category - A large percentage of homeschoolers are Christians, but this doesn’t have to mean Christianity only. Other religions or even strictly secular homeschool blogs can be nominated here. The person just has to do a good job marrying their beliefs with their posts on homeschooling, uplifting others, and blessing others who adhere to their beliefs.
The voting doesn’t begin until December 3.
I don’t expect to do very well; and if I was to win, I’m not sure what I’ll do with some of prizes. But let’s see what happens.
Permalink
Posted in The creative side of life at 1:07 pm by Meg
I finished another bowl and I wanted to share it.
This one is for my sister, L.
I had it carved before we left for her house this summer, but between realizing that I had no idea of how I wanted to color it and that I didn’t really have enough time to completely finish it, I put it aside.
Her birthday is right after Christmas and so this will be her birthday present.
I’m also posting a picture of this bag (mostly so my mil can see it.)
Girl has a little friend who invited Girl to her 8th birthday party.
Instead of wrapping the gift, Girl wanted to create another bag like she did for 4H.
Permalink
11.19.07
Posted in Life, the Universe and All that Jazz at 10:23 pm by Meg
I have a NEXT button back! Thank you Andrea! I promise to not miss not having ’sticky’ posts anymore.
Not much here, we are on break this week - well sort of. Boy is busy dealing with colleges applications and studying for his other two subject tests - World History and Math 2 - on the first.
We went today and did something for the very first time - we got a family portrait taken. I’ve had them taken of the kids every couple of years, but this was the first of the four of us. It came out pretty well.
Tomorrow is going to be a very, very busy day. We are off at 7 AM and heading up to Chicago. First, Boy is interviewing at Univ. of Chicago, then we are off to the Field Museum to see a couple of special exhibits - Antique Maps and Darwin, and lastly we have tickets to Phantom of the Opera. Lastly, we’ll be driving back home.
Talk about squeezing every last drop out of the trip.
Have a great Turkey Day for anyone in the states! Remember that Andrea and Ron are taking this site down for some maintenance on Thursday.
Permalink
Posted in Scholarships, Contests, Reading programs and the like at 9:28 am by Meg
Last week our local homeschooling group went to the Indianapolis Museum of Art to see a special exhibit - 2000 year old (approximately) sculptures from Rome. These sculptures are from the Louvre and this tour is the first time in about 200 years that they have been on display somewhere else. They are going to be in Indy until January 6th and then I think they are going to Seattle.
We set up the tour as a school group and when we left, the museum gave us 4 free passes for each person to come back.
Well, that’s all great for brick and mortar school trips, but when homeschoolers are already coming through with their whole families - they don’t need that many spare tickets. For example, the three of us came home with 12 free passes!
And I’ve spent the last week offering the spare passes to anyone local who wants them. I still have our free passes left.
So, I thought I’d raffle them off here - of course you have to be within distance to get to Indianapolis to use them - I can’t do much about that.
So, if you are interested: Read the rest of this entry »
Permalink
11.17.07
Posted in Life, the Universe and All that Jazz at 8:03 am by Meg
I’ve been ignoring the HBA, other than getting a good chuckle out of Doc and Sprittibee’s interaction. But this morning a good friend emailed me and said that she nominated me. (Very Sweet F)
And so I thought it might be fun to see how this plays out - I certainly have that G-rating Sprittibee was so concerned about and I’m surely homeschooling at least one child.
Anyway, where I need your help is that the nominations close today and in order to actually move on to the voting stage, I need 3 people to submit nominations.
Anyone else want to submit my blog for a nomination? It’s the ‘Live-What-You-Believe’ Homeschool Blog catagory.
It ought to be worth a laugh to see how this plays out.
Permalink
11.15.07
Posted in Specials and opportunities at 5:12 pm by Meg
If so, Quaker Chewy Granola Bars is looking to build a commercial around you.
This is from Jane Brody, Professor of Acting at The Theatre School at DePaul University and author of The Sport of Auditioning.
I am a casting director currently working to finding children who participate in volunteering efforts with their parents to appear in a Quaker Chewy Granola Bars Commercial.
We are looking for children between the ages of 6-9 and their Moms and/or Dads who work together to help others. These children must eat Quaker Chewy Bars as well as volunteer.
We don’t have big cattle calls, so the initial contact with us is simply a phone call where we do a short interview. If we feel that the family is right for us, we then schedule an appointment to be seen over the weekend. The actual audition appointment takes no more than about 15 minutes.
Would you please take the time to think about this? Any family will be very, very well compensated. We are not looking for actors, we create our commercials based on the people we interview. These are essentially little documentary spots. Any one who wants more information can call me at our toll-free 1 866-9QUAKER (978-2537).
Permalink
Posted in Life, the Universe and All that Jazz at 12:13 pm by Meg
My kids play video games. At times it feels as if they would spend all their time playing video games. The current favorite is Halo 3, but I would run on forever if I started to name all the games that they have played and enjoyed. Most of the time we are fairly laid back about the whole ‘rating system’ they have for the games.
Our way of dealing with video games is to put the system right in the middle of the livingroom. And with our fairly open floor plan, that means either Hubby or I are usually around when games are being played. The best supervision is always being aware of what your kids are getting into.
Actually, I dislike rating systems on games and movies. I’d much rather have them be straightforward about what is the concern and not have them try to hide behind a rating.
But for people who want some guidance, there is ESRB, and they want to make your life easier. In fact, they have a whole section of the website set up to help parents learn how to work with the rating systems and to set parental controls.
That’s all well and good, but depending on a ‘rating system’ can blind-side you to what’s actually there. Read the rest of this entry »
Permalink
11.14.07
Posted in Meme at 4:39 pm by Meg
Me and books - I can’t resist. I saw this on JediMomma - a friend of a friend (IRL)
Amazon or brick and mortar? - Brick and mortar definitely. So much so, that we make nearly monthly runs 70 miles to Indy or Bloomington to get to a ‘real’ bookstore.
Bookmark or dogear? - A major deal in this household. I dogear; everyone else uses a bookmark and Girl will try to lecture me about my choice. (though I am very careful to use a bookmark on any borrowed books)
Alphabetize by author or alphabetize by title or random? - Okay, I had too much time on my hands when we unpacked from sabbatical. First, the books are scattered around the house by topic/focus. Then, my ‘books’ are organized by novels and other. And then lastly they are alphabetized by author. (though series are in order)
Keep, throw away, or sell? - Definitely not throw away. I’ll do book crossing before I’d throw a book away. Most books I keep, but when I’m ready to clear some out I’ll first offer them to my homeschooling friends, and then either donate them to the library or put them out for our neighborhood’s yardsale.
It depends on timing and the like. When we packed up the house for sabbatical we decided to clear out some books (maybe 5% of what we had.) Time was short and they ended up at the Friends of the Library. It was fun watching the gentleman’s face that checked them in, we gave them nearly 500 books - I know, I counted them for tax purposes.
Keep dustjacket or toss it? - I don’t care. I keep it as long as it lasts (and I’ll use it for the book mark) and toss it when it gets torn.
Read with dustjacket or remove it? - see above.
Short story or novel? - Novels definitely. I’ve read a lot of short stories and I find that I get very bored and burned out by them. The only ones I tend to read any more are Neil Gaiman’s stories because if I waited for just his novels, I’d go crazy.
Collection (short stories by same author) or anthology (short stories by different authors)? - hmm, see above?
Harry Potter or Lemony Snicket? - Harry Potter - I never really got into Lemon Snicket. Holding the baby out the window and threatening to let it fall - just didn’t appeal to me.
Stop reading when tired or at chapter breaks? - When I reach the end? I’ve been known to do that. Otherwise, it’s usually when something comes along and forces me to stop, so it’s not on the breaks.
“It was a dark and stormy night“ or “Once upon a time“? - I like my fantasy and science fiction.
Buy or Borrow? - anymore I try to borrow more and more. It’s a whole lot cheaper and save space, but there are a few authors that I buy without even thinking about it.
New or used? - I love used book stores and if I can find it there, I’m great.
Buying choice: book reviews, recommendation or browse? - I definitely take recommendations into account, but I get most of my books by browsing.
Tidy ending or cliffhanger? - I like a tidy ending. And yes, JediMomma, I also like the Harry Potter ending.
Morning reading, afternoon reading or nighttime reading? - It’s well known in my family that if you see me curl up with a book anytime after 9 PM I probably won’t go to beg until it’s finished. So I tend not to do that much.
Standalone or series? - Either, I do like author’s that have multiple books out though even if it isn’t a series.
There’s a few more questions that were part of the meme, but they are the types I don’t like answering - So, I’m not going to.
Anyone else want to play?
Permalink
« Previous entries · Next entries »
