I’m lost. Wandering around in my own head. Trying to figure out who I am, who I was, who I want to be, and if I’ve just been tricked all this time into thinking that I like clutter when I really don’t.
I’ve been reading stories on this blog: Becoming Minimalist. You need to go to the tab at the top that says Share Your Story, and you will see a list of stories as to why people became minimalist.
I started reading. I felt so free as I read the stories. It sounded so liberating and like the thing to do. I was compelled to declutter. Coffee cup in hand, I began walking through the house, mentally tagging things to get rid of. Not much was tag-able. Within moments I was overwhelmed. Time for a nap.
Okay. I mean, I can clean out, and I did that recently for the big yard sale, and I currently have a van load of stuff to go to Goodwill, but I’m having a really hard time deciding just how much decluttering I want to do.
I think of how my old farm house must have looked when it was first built in 1921. Just how much ”stuff” did the people have? They had things that were useful, for sure. Farm implements. Things for the kitchen. The closets are small, so I know they did not have a lot of clothing and “junk.” I sometimes think I want this house to look “authentic.” What if I cut back to what would have been here in 1921? The rooms would be sparse. The big windows would look even bigger. There would be places for the eyes to rest.
But that’s insane. I don’t live in 1921. And I require a large desk with a computer, router, modem, endless wires, blah blah blah, to work. I know they did not have an office with computers in it — one for school, one for work, and so on. Their kids didn’t have ipods and game systems and huge backpacks and silly bands and skateboards. There was no A.C. Moore to clog up women’s brains and turn them all into the artists that they truly were all along. So why am I even thinking like that?
I am back to square one. Who am I, really? Let’s get psychological. Maybe it’s a sign of something deeper, like feeling I need more control over my time and my life and my children that are growing up all of a sudden and my “baby years” are totally gone. Maybe that’s it. Maybe I feel like if I can just get my house in perfect, peaceful, clutter-free order, I will have order everywhere else.
Ahh. I think we might be onto something.
I think back to when the children were little. (I believe you can click on this picture to see closer up; you’ll probably just have to press the back button to come back here.) We were visiting friends. I was holding “baby John” who drank a bottle until he was about 5. (I kept telling people to quit worrying, that he would not still be drinking a bottle at 16. He’s 16 now and I was right. So there. And he has straight teeth. And no cavities. Just one of his front teeth was broken in half where Michaela hit him in the mouth. I digress.) Joseph had just sprayed Daniel in the face with a water gun about the time everyone was supposed to say “cheeeeeese.” My best friend’s son and daughter were looking on. It was sweet.
Anyway, I don’t think I was having a minimalist breakdown back then. I was focused on keeping children from sticking things in electrical outlets, childproofing cabinet doors, and trying to get a few minutes alone in the bathroom without a child finding me and asking did I want to play Monopoly or something. I didn’t have the time to think about minimalism. So why am I thinking about it now?
I think I am at more of an emotional transition than anything. I just want order and I’m finding it hard to keep up with the demands of trying to help a 22-year-old son and a 19-year-old son figure out their way through life when they’re not sure what they want to do yet, and a 16-year-old son who still has not signed up for driver’s ed and has a mile-long list of things to do and places to go, and homeschooling my 11-year-old tomboy of a girl who also has a mile-long list of places to go and things to do. I’m trying to balance a job and meals and I’m really feeling the pinch of knowing that the “formative years” are all but gone and yet there’s more real work that needs to be done.
Don’t get me wrong. I love my chldren and I am proud of them all. I wouldn’t trade them.
Now. Add to all of that the fact that I love to craft and paint and I never finish a project in one sitting and my house is not big enough for a craft room, so it seems like everything is always “out.” Nothing ever seems put away anymore. And we won’t even talk about 11 rabbits, a housecat with a brain injury and a beagle who is afraid to go outside and wet.
I’m basically just rambling here – UH-GAN — and realizing that my need to find order is probably just a way to deal with where I am in life emotionally. I’ve heard women say when they were at “my stage” in life that they would like to be dropped off on a deserted island for awhile. I think I’m trying to turn my house into that deserted island.
It ain’t gonna happen.
I’m just trying to make my way down this path I’m on, with the Village of Victorianism on one hand and the Village of Minimalism on the other, and I think I really do like it best in the Village of Victorianism. I like lacy curtains, stacks of magazine, tons of old books, pictures tacked to every square inch of the wall. And I think I’ll craft with wild abandon even yet. The children can just step around the blobs of polymer clay and containers of string and the half-done canvases. After all, I’ve sure dodged enough water guns and stepped on enough Legos.
I’ll just keep straightening and cleaning out from time to time and trying to get control of the “hot spots.” I’ll take what I need from the minimalist frame of mind and enjoy the clutter I have in the meantime. I’m just too tired to try to become something I’m not at this point in life. My poor mom knows what a packrat of a child I was, but I have enough of her in me to keep my clutter organized. Maybe I’ll start my own movement. The organized clutter movement. And anyway, The Standing and Staring Club would be null and void if I got rid of everything.
I’ll be to the point. Food. Or, if you prefer, meals. How about groceries? Stocked pantry? Do you cook? Will you cook? Is there anything to eat? Anything?
Putting meals on the table has been a personal struggle for me over the last couple of years. I won’t tell you how many days my husband has come home from work and has had to help get supper ready. I won’t tell you how many times over the last year there was more canned cat food in the house than actual human food. Well, I couldn’t tell you even if I wanted to. I’ve lost count.
In years past, I’ve allowed myself to get carried away at the homeschool conference. The bookfair is huge! This is looking out over one side of one half of the book fair. In the past, I’ve bought too much with too little thought. It’s easy to do.
This year, however, I went in with a very clear thought in mind: I only want a couple of gems. I don’t even need anything tangible. I don’t have to spend anything. I want a couple of things that are really for me. Give me pointers! Give me one or two things to work on to really make our homeschool better.
I got ‘em! I really did!
In choosing which speakers to hear, I was torn. They all looked to be good. But I could only pick one for each session.
On Friday at 2 p.m., Vicki Bentley was giving a talk called Organized (Well, Almost!) — Time Management for Busy Moms. There were 7 other talks I could have chosen. I thought about this: I already work AND homeschool. I have four children and a husband. I garden and paint and craft. What can she say that I have not already covered on my own? (Pompous of me, I know, but I’ve just been doing this for so long!). I decided to go have a listen anyway.
I got seated, took out my planner to jot down some notes and reached for my pen. I didn’t have one with me. No pen. Really? And I’m a homeschooling mom at a homeschool conference? Yeah, I needed to be in that talk.
She suggested many things that I needed to hear. Simple ways to maintain a to-do list, tips for not forgetting things. She was funny. She was a good speaker. But she hit on food and I just hung on every word.
The subject of food was not the bulk of her talk, but it is my current weak area, so I tried to commit to memory (no pen) what she said. She mentioned doing ahead whatever you can. She talked about buying in bulk (meat for example) and going ahead and making more of what you need — one for now, some for the freezer. She talked about rotating menus. It was very funny (and I’m paraphrasing here) when she said that your family won’t mind having the same thing today that they had one day last week. They won’t even remember it. Especially if the alternative is not eating at all, then they won’t mind a bit!
She said that if you fail to plan, you plan to fail. How can something get done if there was never a single thought as to what would be put on the table each night. It is vital here that I give it some thought ahead of time, especially since I work.
I left her talk committed to doing better in the meal department. And guess what I found when I went back down to the bookfair?
Beautiful placemats. Gorgeous placemats! I was amazed, especially since I had looked at a similar, lesser version in a department store recently wondering if it would kickstart our family mealtime again and then not bought them. This time, I bought six of them. They are wonderful, heavily laminated placemats to set our table with each night — Michaela’s job.
I want to get back to making mealtime a consistently looked-forward-to time where we talk and enjoy eating. No more hiding under my desk when Thomas gets home because there’s nothing to eat! Except catfood.
The table of the elements placemat. I’m particularly fond of this. I just think the elements are cool. It’s been a long, long time, but I enjoyed chemistry in college.
Thomas and I both love early American history. This will be nice suppertime conversation as well. Makes me want to go back to Yorktown.
The plan? Here goes.
Prerequisites: Shop sales. Buy in bulk. When making something, make extra. Keep the pantry and freezer full.
plan a week’s worth of dinner menus
write each one on an index card
look at the card each morning and do whatever needs to be done to have it ready. (We will be doing a LOT of crockpot meals.)
keep the cards in my little makeshift menu box
My goal is to have four week’s worth of meals on notecards so that a meal is not repeated until the next month. It will hopefully add some ease to my week to take 7 notecards out shopping and then use them during the week. It will hopefully add ease to my month to cook extra and put things in the freezer. It will hopefully add ease to my day to know exactly what I’m cooking for supper that day.
Michaela helps make meatloaf for the freezer.
Right now Food Lion has ground chuck on sale for 1.97 a pound. We eat a lot of venison, but I could not pass this deal up. I bought several value packages and made a meatloaf for Sunday lunch. I made two more for the freezer. Food Lion also had large bags of frozen broccoli cuts, so I got several of those.
My first menu card:
meatloaf (page 35) — see below
broccoli cuts (frozen)
mashed potatoes
gravy (from mix I get at Sam’s club–Thomas likes it)
I modified the recipe a tiny bit (minus one ingredient) but here it is:
Crockpot Meatloaf
2 lbs ground beef (I used ground chuck)
2 eggs
2/3 cup quick oats
1 pkg dry onion soup mix
1 tsp ground mustard
1/2 cup ketchup, divided
1. Combine gound beef, eggs, dry oats, dry soup mix, ground mustard and all but 2 Tbsp ketchup. Shape into loaf and place in slow cooker.
2. Top with remaining ketchup.
3. Cover. Cook on low 8-10 hours or on high 4-6 hours.
This meatloaf was a huge hit! And so easy! It’s from one of my favorite cookbooks!
One of the final points of Vicki’s talk was this: “I admonish you ladies to get off the computers.”
There was a very acknowledging sort of laughter throughout the room. It’s true. The computer can be a huge time waster. You can sit down with the intention of being on for 15 minutes and the next thing you know, 2 hours down the drain. And we wonder why we’re behind in our housework.
I’ll let you know how it goes! There’s chicken thawing for tomorrow and two clean crockpots ready to be plugged in!
A morning walk around the frosty yard with Annie assures me that Jack Frost remembers where we live.
The lavender’s delicate green leaves hide under a light winter jacket of white frost. I walk and think and feel grateful for a bit of increased strength these past few days.
I was touched by Laura Ingalls’ words in On The Banks of Plum Creek:
In the mornings after the chores and the housework were done, Laura and Mary studied their books. In the afternoons Ma heard their lessons. Then they might play or sew their seams, till time to meet the herd and bring Spot and her calf home. Then came chores again and supper and the supper dishes and bedtime.
There’s perfect order to the day outlined in that little paragraph: Chores, school, handicrafts, chores, supper, the supper dishes, and bedtime.
A lot of our modern-day distractions have squeezed in to clutter what could be an otherwise simple day for many of us. The carpenter told me not long ago that if you want to have a free day you have to plan for it, just as hard as you would plan if you were going to do something special. “If you don’t,” he said, “things will push in and take up all your free time.”
It strikes me too that chores and housework were done first. The home and preparation for life were placed highest on the list; higher even than lessons. I find even here that it is hard for me to focus on anything school-wise when the house is upsidedown, so to speak.
I am striving to bloom where I am planted, which means the century in which I was born and in the midst of the cares of life and struggles that have been placed in my own life. Still, I find myself purposing more and more to keep our days as simple as possible. I want my daughter and my sons to have memories of simplicity and order, family rituals and important priorities.
I find that learning to live life the way I am meant to live it is always a work in progress.
The weeks go by faster than I care to think about. My baby is losing the last of her baby teeth. This school year, in which we had planned to accomplish monumental things, is coming to a close and I feel like we are just hiking into the foothills and not nearly at the great peak we should have reached.
A mass of blue in this bed signals spring is near.
Transitioning From Public School to Homeschool
How do I feel about the school year? Wonderful. I have loved having Princess of the Universe back home. The year overall has been a transition year, with some of the issues that make it a transition year really peaking now. If you bring a child home from public school, especially if they’ve been there for some time, you’ll have some things to work through:
missing old friends
missing the structure of the school day
feeling bored at times
Those can be big things, but it does not make me want to throw in the towel. We have worked actively this year to keep up with her old friends and to develop new friendships.
Princess of the Universe seems to love being home, so keeping her days structured has probably been the biggest challenge for me since I work on Mondays and Fridays, but the workbox system has nearly 100% worked that issue out. (If only I’d found it at the beginning of the year!)
The feeling of boredom doesn’t mean that she’s doing less here at home. Do you remember just how many distractions occur in a public classroom? In addition to the educational activities going on, there was always some sort of drama occurring. No wonder a quiet home and working on things alone or with a sibling seem “boring” some days. Maybe I should work on being a drama queen to liven up our days? No, I think I’ll stick to exciting field trips for livening up the days.
The mustard greens I planted are really taking off.
At any rate, we plan to continue with homeschooling. I am up to working through the transition.
Princess of the Universe sits nearby while I type. She’s reading about the American Paint Horse after our fieldtrip to Elodie Farms. She loves animals and we are looking for ways that she can do some type of animal-related volunteer work for school. I know she would love that.
Nature Studies
One of the things I love most about homeschooling is the chance to be close to nature, any time of the day or even all day. I love getting outside for lessons. As far as our nature journals, I am continuing to work on finding our own personal style of documentation here, with a little help from various books and websites.
Her first try at drawing a horse.
Princess of the Universe was not very happy with this drawing, but I was very happy with it. One of the most important benefits to drawing, in my mind, is learning patience. She spent a short amount of time drawing this horse. We talked about practicing regularly and being willing to spend more and more time on each drawing, which will make her better and better at drawing. I realize that raw talent is a factor when it comes to drawing and how far a person can actually take it, but I also know that an artist must always practice and learn the tools and secrets of the trade.
I am working on a sunfish. It’s taking awhile.
Our Current Unit Study
We are moving on from Angelo to The Clown of God using lesson plans from Five In A Row and as we continue to study Italy and Roman history. We have pulled in a nice chapter book called The Apprentice and we are putting together a little lap book of sorts which includes a timeline of Michelangelo’s life, vocabulary words, and I’m making a really nice multiple choice “test” from the chapters in the Apprentice. I hope to wrap this up in the next week.
Our study of Hamlet has been on the back burner for a couple of weeks, but I assure you not forgotten. We are hoping to finish Hamlet up by the end of March, maybe the first part of April. More on that soon.
Of Home and Garden
Cookie? Are you okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost! What? Oh, a mouse! You’ve seen a mouse.
Yesterday was the first time I’d seen little Cookie kill a mouse (or anything for that matter) and bring it up to the door as a prize for me. Thanks, Cookie. To think, that little mouse might have tried coming inside.
I frequently take my morning tea into the garden now. I love March. Love it. Spring is knock-knock-knocking on the door in March, and I’m saying “come on in!” The sun is brighter in the mornings now and it has a different kind of shine. I love it. (Did I say that already?)
The little windchimes catch the morning light. I tap them to make them sing.
Spare time is hard to come by around here, but I spend as much of it as possible in my little garden. I can do my morning reading there. We can do some studying there. I can take my breaks and lunches there.
I was so inspired by The Learning Room over at By Sun and Candlelight! It was just the inspiration I needed to organize my books. I have a lot of books. (Like no one would guess that based on the arm loads I come home with every time I go thrift store shopping).
At times I have had my books very organized, but in the last year or so they had gotten mixed in with each other — science mixed in with art books, math books with the poetry books. You get the picture.
A couple of Thanksgiving books and a bowl full of hickory nuts from a nature walk.
But finally. My books are in fine order! Dawn, thank you so much for sharing the pictures of your learning room. I think when a person is multi-tasking, as homeschooling mothers are, organization is beautiful and I needed a bit more of it with my books.
The shelf in the picture above holds our art books, learn-to-draw books, make-and-do books, craft books, and a few supplies, like our acrylic paint set. On top of the shelf I will keep one or two or three seasonal books.
Above is probably what I’m most excited about. It’s the nature shelf. Our science books are there too. Now when I need that book on the elements, or that book on tree ID or butterfly ID, or the book on weather, I know exactly where to go to find it. The top will be for showcase books, nature finds, and the bottom shelf holds sketchbooks, drawing pencils ready to go, and our flower press.
Or maybe this is what I’m most excited about. Three shelves devoted to Five In A Row. Yes.
This gets the cutest bookshelf award in my house. I’m a sucker for tiny little books. This handmade bookshelf that I found on sale in an antique store holds all the little books as well as some tea set pieces.
This is going to make lesson planning much easier. When I think of a book that I want to use, I can walk to a labelled section of books and have only a dozen or so books to go through rather than ALL of them.
Part of our US history-related books, above. Every section of books is labeled like this. It’s to help me as much as the children. As I add more books, another book case will be needed at some point and we’ll just move a shelf and expand whatever section needs it.
I just wanted to share my excitement over having all my ducks books in a row!
How I love a good mystery! And especially a British one! I happened upon some Poirot DVDs in boxed sets at Sam’s Club today and I just had to get set 1. In general, I am not a TV person at all. I cannot bear to think of the time I would waste if we had TV. We do not have cable or regular TV, but we do utilize DVDs and videos for school and for occasional family time to watch something educational.
Poirot may be on the border of what defines educational, but it passes my litmus test of what might be a good occasional downtime activity for the children. Poirot matching wits with the other detectives keeps my children thinking, to try and figure out what Poirot is thinking.
Anyway, we had a grand hour together watching Poirot and laughing at how he continually stumped everyone around him! If only I could be like Poirot! My children would not doubt that they need to do what I say!
Generally, today has been a marvelous day. I was able to log in and transcribe without any problems today, so my job is going well, even if I’m not on my regular schedule yet. I have worked some more today on my journaling efforts and trying to somehow notebook my thoughts, lesson plans, to-do lists, schedules and menus, and make it pretty. (Where are you, Poirot? Help me figure this out!) I’ve been trying to plan how to best utilize my free time so that I can enjoy my work time.
Yes, I am actually planning on enjoying my work time. It’s good to just sit. (Meditation, anyone?) Transcribing requires that you think about what you are doing, but there’s also enough room for the brain to entertain thoughts about what to cook, what to teach the children, and what’s most important in life. If I can just keep my increasingly creaky bones comfortable enough to sit for 8 hours, I think my brain will benefit from the endeavor.
I’ll be working on Fridays, Saturdays, and Mondays. I’m thinking that my grocery shopping will be done on Tuesdays or Thursdays. This will depend on what days the local homeschool group will have their fieldtrips. I’ll use Sunday afternoons for lesson planning. Clear thoughts about my cleaning schedule are surfacing. I’ll post more about that later. What my actual work hours will be on each work day are largely up to me, which is very nice indeed. It gives me some flexibility to think ahead regarding field trips, etc.
I want to put together for next year a local group for homeschooling girls. I am envisioning a once-weekly or biweekly meeting. I definitely want nature involved. And sketching. We have several local talented artists. Could I get them to give a group lesson to the girls? I want something Charlotte Mason would approve of. I’m trying to think ahead to things like that as I plan my days. I think if I want to be able to enjoy life, go on field trips, garden, or do anything at all, I’m going to have to be sure and stick to some procedures for keeping the home neat and yet not losing my mind about things. I’m already pretty good about keeping things clutter-free, even though I’m a thrift store addict. I want to really have routines, though, that the entire family are tuned in to. Ahhh, I won’t be able to stop thinking on it until I have it figured out! (Please don’t let everything have changed by then.)
With that, I’ll close. I’ve had a nice hot cup of Organic Nighty Night tea, I’m happy as a lark, I know things will all work out, I’m thankful for today and hopeful for tomorrow. After all, we all only have today. No matter what. I did my best today. I want to do the same tomorrow.
That tiny little planner didn’t last long. I have to chuckle. I sort of knew it wouldn’t. It’s because for the last 10 years or so I have carried the larger planner with the 5-1/2 by 8-1/2 inch pages. The pages are so much larger and so much more can be contained therein. As a friend said, you’ve got big plans!
Actually, the larger planner is so much more like a journal to me, where ever I am — waiting in a doctor’s office, while my children look for books at the library – I can take out my large planner and work up some school plans, house plans, etc. I could hardly hold onto the small planner to even write in it. Lesson learned.
Ahhhh, large pages.
The only reason I feel bad about switching back is that I wasted money on the small one, but I’ll either take it to the consignment shop or save it for someone else in the family. In addition, I splurged on a new large planner to add to my collection, but I can justify that now that I know I won’t switch back. I certainly use my large planner, and it’s not a waste of money.
Oh I LOVE my new planner. (I got it at Wal-Mart.) It’s a little more compact than some of my older ones, but the pages are the same size. It has a place for a photo of my babies on the front.
I feel more like me again.
Nothing beats a backpack.
As an aside, I have also reverted back to carrying a backpack instead of a purse right now. On the days I work, I’ll just have to lug it with me — large planner and all — and cram it in my locker and make do. I tell you, it sure feels good at break time to be able to pull my planner out and focus on home. And backpacks are really handy. They’ll hold all manner of things from home.
“House and riches are the inheritance of fathers: and a prudent wife is from the Lord.” Proverbs 19:14
It’s what I have been saying I’d write more about later. There are so many wonderful thoughts I can share with my daughter as we work on her doll house and play house through the year of 2008. (But why wait? I started this in earnest a few days ago. ~:-D )
“Wisdom hath builded her house…” Proverbs 9:1
Year of the Doll House. It’s like a plan — a vision, a goal, whatever is best to call it — for 2008. Since working in the bakery, I have gained a new view of my daughter. I have a perspective that I did not have before. I am away from her more. She is spending more time with her papa and her brothers, so that’s good, but I see clearly that she needs me, too.
“Every wise woman buildeth her house…” Proverbs 14:1
Therefore, when I am with her, I want to really be present with her, in heart and mind, and not consumed with thoughts of things that I want to be doing for myself.
As we worked together – almost cheek to cheek — setting up her new doll house, it occurred to me that this might be the last year she even wants to have anything to do with dolls or doll houses. Similarly, my window of time of strong influence over her thinking and her habits is small. Playing dolls with my girl is going to be at the top of my priority list for 2008. Staying close to her is what’s really at the heart of this.
“She looketh well to the ways of her household…” Proverbs 31:27
When I’m not home — when I am at work — I want her to know that I didn’t just leave without thinking of her. Every day — every day — I want to have a special something for us for the doll house. It may be a little cup for the table that I have left waiting for her to play with while I’m gone. It may be a note from me about something one of the dolls did that she needs to look into further. ~:-D It may be only a thought shared about what it means to build a house.
Every day. Can I be that committed to something?
“…but the house of the righteous shall stand.” Proverbs 12:7
It may be an hour of special doll house play, or shopping together, or making something new. But I want to have this special doll house bond for 2008. She will remember playing, but she’ll remember the thoughts we’ve expressed to each other even more.
I really wanted to share this idea with you. Perhaps this will appeal to your heart too… I’ll keep you posted on our doll house lessons.
I have added The Year of the Doll House as a category (see margin) so that you can easily keep up with all posts related to our grand adventure! Also, feel free to use our Year of the Doll House thumb image in the margin, link it back to this post (http://www.amothersjournal.com/?p=263), and join us! There are more thumb images here.
It has really been on my heart lately to be careful with the time that I have been given. How I spend each hour will determine what I accomplish, what my children remember of me, how others perceive me, how I am measured as a wife, how I feel about myself…
There’s a little saying that I love:
Sow a thought, reap a habit.
Sow a habit, reap a character.
Sow a character, reap a destiny.
I have no idea who said this originally, but it’s a thought that runs through my mind at times and slows me down and says, careful what you do…
I want to make 2008 a year of more attentive care to my children, my daughter especially right now, and my husband. More thoughts about that later and what my hopes are.
I am starting a new book with my daughter. I found this old copy at — you guessed it — the thrift store. But you can still buy it new.
I have always carried a purse/planner in the classic size, which can get pretty heavy! Still, I always — where ever I went — had my planner and a ton of school info, addresses, phone numbers, appointments, and more at my fingertips. I always felt prepared.
Of late, however, especially with my job at the bakery, I have had a hard time carrying my classic-size purse/planner. It’s hard to find a purse/planner with enough room for cell phone, cosmetic-type things. Also, I wanted to carry my gloves for trips into the freezer, a book to read on my break, so I was carrying my purse/planner inside of a larger bag. Too much!
I downsized! I spent some time at Staples trying to picture myself carrying a smaller purse/planner. I found one with a strap, so it can be carried like a purse, but it’s small enough to be considered wallet-sized, so it would actually fit inside a larger bag without being a nuisance.
Viola!
I just hope I can live with it. The pages are smaller, but I think I am indeed gonna like it. Only time will tell.
More treasures from the thrift store…
I love finding these beautiful, large baskets. I am thinking that, filled with some of the other vintage treasures I find and the wonderful things we sell at work, they would make great gift baskets.
I found a beautiful stationery set yesterday, unopened, very nice.
I am the mother of four delightful children: a 23-year-old son, a 20-year-old son, a 17-year-old son, and a bright and bubbly 13-year-old daughter. I share an apartment home with my 17-year-old son and 13-year-old daughter. My little home on the internet is called Rose Cottage because of my love for gardening, roses, and all things romantic and Victorian. Welcome.
I'm a North Carolina girl and I love sharing North Carolina links and information. I do medical transcription from home. My hobbies include making sweet little dolls from clay who are named and have their own stories to tell. I also make old-fashioned brooches. These are for sale in my Etsy shop.
For 13 years continuously, I homeschooled some or all of our four children, but the time came that our homeschool had to be closed. It was the end of a beautiful chapter in my life. I will always be a strong supporter of homeschooling and I will continue to review books and maintain my homeschool website, The Healthy Homeschool.
To live content with small means; to seek elegance rather than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion; to be worthy, not respectable, and wealthy, not rich; to study hard, think quietly, talk gently, act frankly; to listen to stars and birds, to babes and sages, with open heart; to bear all cheerfully, do all bravely, await occasions, hurry never. In a word, to let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious, grow up through the common. This is to be my symphony.
William Henry Channing
1810-1884
What You Do
Sow a thought, reap an action.
Sow an action, reap a habit.
Sow a habit, reap a character.
Sow a character, reap a destiny.
to 
using lesson plans from 
and we are putting together a little lap book of sorts which includes a timeline of Michelangelo’s life, vocabulary words, and I’m making a really nice multiple choice “test” from the chapters in the Apprentice. I hope to wrap this up in the next week. 
for you to leave a comment, but you can also e-mail me at lynn AT thehealthyhomeschool.com
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