What my Child is Reading: January 18-29, 2010

During the last two weeks, we read books onHere are some of the boys' favorite picks:Don't wake up the Bear by Marjorie Dennis Murray From hare to mouse, the woodland animals try to snuggle down with the sleeping bear they find soft and warm. The lumbering creature wakes up and growls when mouse, the last to snuggle, sneezes in his ear. Bear then trudges off and snacks on some berries.Our Review:

China Glaze Heli-yum

Outside the polish world, pink is my absolute favorite color. If it comes in pink, that's the color I'll pick for whatever I'm buying. My workout shoes are pink, two of my six iPods are pink, my phone is pink, and all of my video game things are pink. But in the polish world, I just don't like wearing much pink. It's so cliche, just slightly less so than wearing red. And it makes me feel like some girly-girl who grew up with too many barbies. And while I am a girly-girl, I grew up with dinosaur toys. Probably why I favor greens so much lol. But anyways. Heli-yum is the most perfectly raspberry pink. And I very much enjoyed wearing it over the weekend, which is a good thing because I've hardly had a spare second so there was NO TIME to change my polish :D

This is with two coats plus SV top coat, and it applied with creamy perfection. I put this on Thursday night and we're still going strong. I can't comment on tip wear because I filed my nails down yesterday, which I'm so happy about because I can finally type properly again!

Peace be Still

This morning I sat at the computer with a hot cup of tea (a cuppa) before I had even read and meditated on my bible. Realising this I asked the Lord for a verse. The one that popped into my head was Matthew 5:9.so I looked it up on line.


Here it is, "Blessed are the peace makers for they shall be called son's of God."


Is God trying to tell me something? Well, I praise His name and ask that He reveal what I need to know. In all truth and humilty,  am I a peacemaker?  The answer is NO,  not always. Although I would like to say otherwise.   
I don't like contention or arguments. I believe they are a waste of time. They are also harmful to the soul and spirit. Yet as most, I can be guilty.


I believe as a Christ follower, I need to be aware of my actions and words at all times. One of my favoured verses is one that I use as a morning prayer very often.


" Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight oh Lord, my strength and my redeemer!"


May You Find His Peace and Strength in All You Do and Say Today.

Darwin, Northern Territory. Australia.

Water Marbling: Attempt #1

I've been seeing more and more water marbling manis show up, and they are SO awesome! You could use the ugliest colors from your stash if you wanted and it would still look pretty. So I had some spare time today, and after watching like 14 different tutorials on You Tube, I tried it out. It actually doesn't take that long, and it's SO much fun! I used China Glaze Grape Pop and Flyin' High and Sinful Soul Mate. Just did my left hand because I was afraid of taking on the huge challenge with my right! So here's what I learned:

1: Scotch tape around the cuticles works really well, but left little sticky bits on my skin when I peeled it off. I'm going to try something else next time, either oil, petroleum jelly or painters tape.

2: The first drop of color in the cup really isn't going to show up. It spreads all around the cup, loses it's opacity (check the green on my ring finger, it's kinda sheer), and if you try and swirl around the outside of it you break up the design. This makes it so you get a gap between swirls on your nail. I remedied this by putting in a drop or two of clear polish first.

3: If you put your nail flat into the cup and then pull it out flat, water droplets stick to the nail and leave a mark on the swirls (really obvious on my index finger and tip of my thumb). I got some advice on MUA to try dipping at a 45 degree angle, I'm going to try that next time.


Have you tried water marbling? Do you have any advice for me? I really like doing this but those little water bubble marks are driving me nuts!

Science: Oil and Water don't mix

After a rainstorm we have noticed some puddles in the road with glossy-looking oil floating on top. The boys wanted to if oil ever floats on the water or mixes with it? We decided to conduct an experiment of our own to find out.We placed some water in a pot and added vegetable oil to it. We added table salt so that the boys could clearly see the oil (plus Mommy did not want to stain her good pots

Nick Vujicic, No Arms, No Legs, No Worries! Part 1 of 3

My reason for sharing this is because. There really is no excuse for no getting on with life. We all have a story to tell. Everyone suffers heartbreak in one form or another. It's not what happens to us in life but how we deal with it.
Gods Word tells us, "What we sow we reap." We need to be positive about life not negative. So watch Nick on the video and appreciate what you have and who you are.

Who says a $2 polish can't be awesome?

Okay, so I'm a little bit of a NP snob. Just barely though. I won't touch Maybelline, and I have 2 Rimmels that I like but don't wear just in case someone says, "OMG I love your polish! Wear did you get it?" and then I have to say "uhm... the drugstore...". And I think Sally Hansen is becoming a huge rip off! What's with her price increase? I can get 3 China Glazes from Transdesign for the price of 1 new Sally Hansen! But I have a soft spot for Sinful polishes. The glitters, oh, the glitters they have... I love them. I usually wait for a sale, but these were on a special display case so I grabbed them, though I do think they are a part of the regular line. Someone on MUA made a comment that Mint Apple and Soul Mate could be dupes for Jade and Jade Rose. So I ran to grab them! But sorry, they're not even close.

But happily, Mint Apple is awesome. This alone made the trip worth it. It's a dusty green with a gold shimmer, and it applied beautifully. Look at the color! I am in love! You definitely get a bang for your 2 bucks.



With flash to show the gold shimmer:



And I took some comparisons with Essie Greenport on my thumb and Misa Dirty Sexy Money on my pinkie. Here you can really appreciate the dustiness. I badly smudged my middle finger so I just covered it with my thumb :)



Soul Mate was the supposed Jade Rose dupe. It's a creamy dusty pink. I'm not really feelin' this one. I don't think it's a very "me" color, though I do like the dustiness. It applied kind of goopy, though it wasn't as bad as the China Glaze's I compared them to.



Between China Glaze Sugar High on my index and Peachy Keen on my ring finger.



And the last new Sinful I grabbed, named Rise and Shine. This one I very much like. I did a quick swatch but took dozens of pictures, none of which came out accurate. It is VERY close to Four Leaf Clover, which is on my ring finger, only Rise and Shine has an added subtle shimmer and it dries neon matte. You cans see the original finish on my pinkie, and I added Seche Vite to my index and middle for the shine. This also brings out the fine shimmer in it. I think this is just too perfect for Spring!



My Walgreens display is ALWAYS half empty! Either they never get new shipments, or they do and someone comes in and picks it over before I get there! So I never get to see what all the Sinfuls look like. What are your favorite Sinful polishes? If I can find them I'd love to check them out!

Essence Groovy

I love Essence's polishes. Their colors are so wonderfully deceitful! In the bottle, Groovy looks pretty blue, but you put it on and you get these hints of teal... so it's a super blue teal, right? Then you get near something blue, say, your jeans, and that blue makes Groovy look like a slightly-greened blue. It can't make up it's mind, and I don't want it to. And this one is a delicious jelly. I love everything about it!


For fun, I pulled out 2 other polishes that I'm constantly moving from my drawer of blues to my drawer of greens and back again. I can't decide where to put them! On the left we have the lighter China Glaze Flyin' High. This was my first time swatching this color and I am SO excited to do a full mani with it, it is wonderful! And on the right is American Apparel Peacock. I typically keep this one with my teals, but every once in a while I see it in another light and it goes with my blues.

Mint Comparisons

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Book Sharing Monday: Don't wake up the bear

Don't wake up the Bear by Marjorie Dennis MurrayFrom hare to mouse, the woodland animals try to snuggle down with the sleeping bear they find soft and warm. The lumbering creature wakes up and growls when mouse, the last to snuggle, sneezes in his ear. Bear then trudges off and snacks on some berries.Our Review: We found the story is perfect for the boys. My youngest son recited some of the words

Mailbox Haul

I was in mourning this morning for the end of the Vikings season, but this helped numb the pain! Two swap packages showed up in my mailbox today, one very small and one very big! One contained a single bottle of a HUGE lemming, Essie Greenport! Can't wait to try this one out! A wonderful swapper from Germany ventured out and found me NINE bottles of Essence polishes, and every single one is AMAZING! There are two purple shimmers, one magenta shimmer, one black with a hint of sparkle, a jelly-ish hot pink, a shimmery deep green (reminds me of British Racing Green, I'm so eager to try it!), a cream tealy-blue and a sparkly blue. And see that silver one? It's called Rock n Roll and it is exactly what the name implies. I'm so excited I don't even know what to wear first!

I Am Australian ~ Song "I AM AUSTRALIAN"

What is Australia Day? Other countries may ask?
On the 26th January 1788 Captain Arthur Phillip commander of the First Fleet arrived in Sydney Cove to begin a new settlement. It was a wild tough country and like the early America's not easy, yet today we are here, because of them. Brave men and women of yesterday.

Jesus and the Fishermen (Bible Lesson)

BIBLE STORY TIME: A FISH SO-O-O-O BIG!John 21:1-13It’s fun to go fishing! Seven friends wanted to catch some fish. 1-2-3-4-5-6-7. (Show seven fingers).They wanted to catch lots of fish! They wanted to catch lots of fish this big. (Stretch arms out wide).Show me the big fish you would like to catch. (Children stretch arms out wide).So they got into a sailboat and away they went, sailing, sailing,

Best. Purple. Ever.

Grape Pop needs some sort of medal. It is perfection in a bottle. There is not even a hint of blue in this! I like my blurples but they are everywhere. I like to think it's because it's cheaper to make, since way way way back when, purple was an expensive and rare color, so only royalty had it. If you're only going to get 1 from the Up & Away collection, this should be it. Now I'm only saying that today since I've just worn 2 from the collection, my opinion my change later this week lol! Grape Pop applied perfectly opaque in just one coat and flowed super easy on the nail. I skipped the top coat, mostly because I was in a rush, but partly because I want to change my polish again tonight. I'm guessing the Vikes won't win, and I don't need the purple reminder haunting me on Monday! Probably should have worn SV since my nails are too long and I got a dent while I was typing... ugh!


Please excuse the mess, I was in a rush today!

Pre-Vikings Game Yellow

If you live in Minnesota you know what I'm talking about. Everything is purple and yellow MANIA right now. We want this win against the Saints like you wouldn't believe! So for the pre-game, I was wearing China Glaze Happy Go Lucky. This name is dead on. The color makes me so happy to look at! And I've heard that out of the entire Up & Away collection, this was the big problem child. I'm not gonna call it a PITA, because I try to stay positive. Let's just say there is a learning curve to the application! Once you master it, it's not so bad.

You're going go need 3 coats. The first one needs to be paper thin. If you have a droplet of polish on the brush, you have to much. You should be seeing mostly brush, and it should almost drag on the nail. Super thin! You'll also need to wrap your tips. This is when you take the brush and horizontally drag it across the free end of your nail, so it gets on the top and bottom of the nail. Why? I buffed my tips just prior to put this on, but the polish still found every rough spot and bump and sat on top, so I had very tiny spots at the end where there was no polish, the looked almost like chips. But if you wrap the tips this solves the problem. Your second coat should also be very thin. At this point your nails will look like crap. You'll have two streaky coats that look terrible, but the overall texture should be even. Now for coat three, GLOB IT ON! Take a big drop and quickly spread it across your nail. Now it should be even and pretty! I know it sounds like a lot of work, and it is, but if you like yellow, this is the BEST yellow I have tried yet, so go for it. Also, this color dried very shiny, but of course I still used Seche Vite.


The big Vikes game is at 5, but the pre-game party starts around 2 at my friends house, so I'll need to redo this with Grape Pop pretty soon. I still can't believe that I've watched every Vikings game this season. I used to be the girl who didn't even know who the Superbowl teams were, and now I'm loving football. And for you ladies out there who like to stay out of football (and I know that has its perks), there is good food, beer, and hot guys! I've gotten more dates this year wearing my Jared Allen jersey than I've ever gotten wearing something that shows skin lol!

Week in Review for January 18-22, 2010

WEEK 17 in reviewOur week began late but for a good reason. Our family spent Monday preparing a food care packages to deliver Tuesday for a family in need.We spent the rest of our week learning about Animals in Winter, making some fun art activities and the importance of giving to others.My sons are nicknamed "Turtle" who is age 4 and "Godzilla Boy" who is age 10.Turtle's week: This week we read

Nature Study: Squirrels in Winter

This month we started back with our Nature Studies. We took a long break from Nature Study during the month of December and now we are ready to begin doing a Winter Nature Study. The break gave me time to prepare for our Nature Studies.

This week we began to look at animals in winter. The boys had been studying the Squirrels in our area and because these squirrels are not hibernators, they can

What do you think? Mint or not?

I recently swapped with someone for my very first Nubar! After a long, sad week from being disappointed about not getting my Up & Aways, I wore Green Tea on Friday. And the formula blew me away. If all Nubars apply like this one did, then they get my vote for Best Application Ever. The color applied like butter and dried to the touch within a minute, and I could tell since I bumped my TC bottle with one finger and there was no sign of damage! Great for those clumsy people like me. It didn't dry super shiny, but that's what Seche Vite is made for, right?



Anyways, I've been lemming this color because I heard it was mint-ish. But I'm torn... I describe this as a slightly dusty-grass, but in some light, I get the "feel" of a mint, if you get what I mean. Anyways, what do you think? Minty or not?


I took a comparison picture too. On the left is OPI Green-wich Villiage, which is definitely a true green, and on the right I wore my favorite "true green" mint, RGB Minty. But next to Green Tea, Minty looks like Mint Candy Apple did, which is very blue. I really like this comparison because it shows the dusty quality that Green Tea has.

The little marks are from snowflakes getting in the way. Yeah, the weather sucks here today :)



And one last picture for today: MY UP & AWAYs!!!! I wanted to run to the mail box when I saw our mailman put them in (yes, I am a freak who sits near the window and stalks the mail truck), but couldn't risk breaking a hip on the 3 inches of ice in my driveway. There are literally people ice skating on the road right now lol. It's all good though, I'm stocked up on the essentials! Plenty of acetone, chips and beer :)



I'm going to keep them on the upper shelf of my desk to stare at. And yes, those are my Star Wars and Transformers Potato Heads. I'm 21 going on 13-year-old-boy.

Journey of Discovery

Travelling along country highways, 'almost outback'...
There is time to contemplate. My trip me took almost 3 days, so I stopped to take photos along the way and think about those who had passed before me. Now I wish to share some of this with you... MY FRIENDS.

Take care NOT to run over a koala as they are becoming extinct.  On my way back home I did see one little fur ball who didn't make it across the road in time.

This church has become the office of a Counsellor. One must wonder how it could be changed from a place of Worship. I can visualise people being married in here. Babies being dedicated to the Lord and loyal servants being remembered in funeral prayers.

"What a friend we have in Jesus, all our griefs on earth to bear! What a privilege to carry, everything to God in prayer... Written in the 1800's when this church was birthed. URALLA (near Tamworth) N.S.W.

Uralla,  the town that owns this church.

A Grand Old House from bygone years. Stannum House, Tenterfield,  built in 1888. What a legacy of memories this house holds.

The Tidy Town winner of 2009. Well Done!   Note the speed limit in Murrurundi is 40klm (24 miles)..

  

Saint John's Anglican Church Camden, NSW is one of those old church's which have grave stones in hearing of the parishioners. Consecrated 1849 it sits atop a hill where its spire dominates the surrounding landscape for miles.

Inside St John's Church displaying the Pipe Organ built and sent from England.

Arrived at my mothers home on the Southern Tablelands of N.S.W.

My mother Emilee, pictured on the left,  with her dear friends Mary and Ivan.

Like all mothers,  mine holds this photo of her family dear to her heart. 

From left to right: My sister Janiece, brother Denny, Mum holding brother Ralph, me (4) plus (?) 

My mothers favourite hymn is: "There is a Green Hill Faraway."

"Stranger in the Woods" and an Animal Tracks Activity

This week we began our Animals in Winter theme. We read a wonderful nature book called "Stranger in the Woods" by Carl R. Sams II and Jean Stoick. The book is about a group woodland animals who find out there is a stranger in their woods. One by one each animal from the a chickadee, deer,owl, doves, muskrat, porcupine, and a cardinal all try to find out who this stranger is. Unaware that the real

I Can Only Imagine (with lyrics) - MercyMe

Take Time to Listen...

Climbing Mount Zion to Heaven

As the song goes, “I’m climbing my mountain, one step at a time.”
Really all we have in each day, is, that very moment.


God willing there may be more than that, the rest of the day, tomorrow, next week or next year, who knows?


It is good to plan, and to have a vision for your life. With each step taken we slowly accomplish our dream or vision for the future.


Where are you going? Do you have a faith in God?


If not, then there is nothing beyond death to look forward to…..How Sad!!.

The Christian looks forward to Eternal life. A hereafter and a life in Paradise.
No more pain, tears, loneliness or fear….. Can you imagine?


There is a wonderful song called, “I can only imagine.”


Yes, I can only imagine what Heaven is like….. I can read about it in the Bible….yet until I get there…..I can,……………. only imagine.

Under the Sea

Over the weekend I was sporting Atlantis for a day, and I LOVED it! For as long as I was lemming it (like 5 weeks?), and for the amount of time I've had it untried (2 months!), it's kind of embarrassing that I didn't try it sooner. I love the color in it, and the sparkle... well, it speaks for itself. Pictures galore because this one is a stunner!



Here's some blur to show the sparkle:

Just look at this color!



Here are some comparison pictures too! From left to right we have Claire's Green Confetti, Sinful Nail Junkie, and China Glaze Atlantis. And I know I just did a tribute to Atlantis, but I have to say my fave is Nail Junkie, but I do think you need both! Atlantis has an amazing color, but Nail Junkie has some bigger sparkles and these amazing blue flecks that peek out in some light. It's best to meet them in the middle; 3 coats of Atlantis for color and then 1-2 coats of Nail Junkie. I don't have pictures, but I did an experiment with them. 1 coat will give you some blue sparkle and bigger chunks, and 2 will give you the perfect amount, but will change the color of Atlantis. I personally like 1 coat better.


Claire's Green Confetti was something I picked up for $1 on clearance, and it's pretty cool. It's more of a standard green, which you can see in the second pic, and it has larger chunks of glitter! Sadly, it's pretty sparse, and while 3 coats will get you a jelly-opaqueness with color, you need at least 4, and really 5 coats, to get enough sparkle. But it does dry fast!

(You can click these two to see them bigger, it shows the color differences much better)


For my mom's b-day I let her pick anything from my collection, even my HTF's and LE's, and did her nails. She picked Nail Junkie, and got so many compliments at her party! Even more than my Absolutely Alice did.... not that I was jealous or anything, LOL!

Parlez Vous OPI?

After wearing nothing but bright glitters and bold colors for the last week, I decided to switch to something muted, understated, and overall pretty. This OPI is a little older, but new to me, and it's an instant classic. While I applied this I listened to Freezepop's Parlez Vous Freezepop? Just because the name similarities made me smile.

Not sure if it will ever happen but I'm totally waiting for Sprechen Sie OPI?... A German collection from OPI! Come on, OPI, think of the green you could make and call Lederhosen!! I'm sure it would be awesome!


I'm also kind of lemming You Don't Know Jacques from this collection, is it worth tracking down? Most people seem to like it, but I'm so pale that I don't know if I could work it.

Science Art Activity: Winter Art Ice Blocks

We did a wonderful Science Art Activity for our Winter Theme that the boys perform together. It is called Ice Block Design. The materials needed are: Coarse sea salt, containers, plastic plate, paper towels, water and food coloring.We placed several small containers of water in the freezer for two days. The plastic containers we used were originally Hillshire Farm Lunch meat containers, but you

Week in Review for January 11-15, 2010

WEEK 16 in reviewThis week our unit study (theme) was on learning about Winter. The boys learned about the Winter season, clothing and outdoor activities associated with Winter.To start our learning about Winter, we discovered how cold it can get in Winter. We went out the previous Saturday in 16 degree weather. We dressed in layers and that seemed to keep us much warmer than just wearing a heavy

What my Child is Reading: January 11 - 16

This week we are readingHere are some of the boys' favorite picks this week:Mouse's First Snow by Lauren Thompson, illustrated by Buket Erdogan. My youngest son is a huge fan of the Mouse series by this author. When it came to learning about Winter this month, I knew I had to find a Mouse book that would suffice.The book is a wonderful story about Mouse's first encounter with snow. On a bright

A really good Snowman and a Snowman craft

This week we read the book "A really good Snowman" by Daniel J. Mahoney. The book is about big brother Jack and his little sister Nancy who seems to always want to help Jack. Despite his little sister's efforts, she only makes things worse for Jack by making a mess.When a snowman contest is held and Jack is relieved that only there can be three people to a team so Nancy cannot join his team. He

Absolutely Amazing Alice

On the nail board at MUA, this gets shortened to AA, which makes me smile when I see it in some sentences, such as, "I'm so happy I have AA today!" or, "AA is wonderful!" I guess if you had just stumbled over there you would think we're all a bunch of addicts. Which we are.... lol. I applied just 2 coats of this over yesterday's Dating a Royal and you can't see even a hint of the blue that was there. Sadly as you can see there was a bit of shrinkage, though my almost used up bottle of SV is to blame for that. I'm waiting on a fresh bottle in the mail I don't have any polish thinner. One coat of SV barely caused any shrinkage, but the second one really did me in... and you really need that second coat to bring out the sparkle in this one. Alice's blue glitter is extremely fine and the slightest bit of movement really shows it off. Based off this and Mad as a Hatter, I'm pretty much convinced that we all should get together and write to OPI and beg for an entire collection of glitters. These two became instant must haves for me.


As much as I love this, it has to come off tonight! I'm throwing my mom a huge surprise birthday party tomorrow for her big 5-0! And while I've picked my dress, eye shadow, lip gloss and jewelry, I have NO CLUE what to wear on my nails. I'm a bit panicked! My dress is purple, anyone have any suggestions?

The Definition of "Whelmed"

"I know you can be overwhelmed, and you can be underwhelmed, but can you ever just be whelmed?"

Name that movie!

This quote stuck with me while I was applying my nail polish last night. I've been lemming OPI's Dating a Royal for a long while, and when I read reports saying that it was very jelly, I quickly tracked it down and worked out a swap. And the bottle came, and the color was great. Not as great as I was expecting, but still great. Not to be deterred, I started to apply. And the first coat was magic... jelly blue that flowed over the nail, the perfect watery blue. But then the second coat went on, and I can't believe I'm saying this, but it was sadly buttery and opaque. And that was that. A perfectly opaque lovely shade of blue. Maybe I had put this up on a pedestal for too long, but it's not what I was expecting. Do I like it? Definitely! Do I love it and want to wear it for days on end? Nope. It's already been covered up with Absolutely Alice.


I think my clean up is getting better! I managed to get a clean margin without taking off half my nail polish this time lol!

Is there a bottle of nail polish in your stash that didn't live up to your expectations? I'd love to hear about it, I feel a little bad that I'm putting down Dating a Royal like this...

PSA: Up & Away is out!!

Check TransDesign!! It's there!

Of course I literally, not an hour ago, bought them off Ebay... I ended up saving $2, but there was so much else I wanted! Oh well, guess I'll just wait for OPI Hong Kong now for a TD order.

What are you getting from Up & Away?

Without a Vision Man Doth Perish Proverbs 29:18

Yes...without a vision, a dream, something to look forward to, we give up on life.

I pray this year you have a vision and a hope for your life.

Sometimes others may smother our vision with words of discouragement. Sometimes we ourselves sabotage our own dreams by telling ourselves we cannot do something. 

We think we are not good enough or clever enough to succeed.

Think positively, for nothing is impossible to them that believe.

(Luke 1:37)

Is what we want to do according to Gods Will for us?  That's a good question and one that plagues the believer. Well....if it is wrong, God will place obsticles in the way. If it is right, then all the doors will be opened to go forward.  It is not a failure not to do what you want to do. Rather, sometimes God makes a better choice........

As a young girl I dreamed over books on ballet.  I wanted to be a dancer with all my heart.  Instead I went into nursing following a long family line of medical professionals.  I discovered a natural talent in giving, advocating and caring for others. It has been my gift to share again after I returned to nursing in 1994.

I recently read a story about an 87year old college student called Rose. She was an inspiration to many. Shortly after gaining her Degree she passed on to Heaven. But, she accomplished her dream first,  to attend University.  Age is no limit.

Mates: Jo, R.N. and Dr Julian.

My work hospitals: The Royal Hospital for Women, Liverpool District Hospital, Redcliffe Hospital, New Farm Clinic, The Royal Brisbane Hospital, Caboolture Hospital, Nambour Hospital, Caloundra Hospital.

Wellmont Hospital, Rogersville. Tennessee... then Amedisys Home Health, Rogersville. Tennessee U.S.A.

Just in case anyone thinks they know me.....

Recommended reading: 'The Power of Positive Living' by Dr Norman Vincent Peele.

Our Homeschooling Plans for the New Year 2010

Plans for 2010
We were planning on resuming our homeschooling week on January 4th but with the boys sick with the flu that changed. We are starting back on January 11th.

This past week in addition to taking care of my two sick boys, I devoted the time to cleaning the home and on reviewing our homeschool materials.

With respect to homeschooling materials I mainly looked at curriculum (what

Why You Should Always Go After a Lemming

I'm still kind of new to collecting, so while I liked Misa's Dirty Sexy Money when it came out, I didn't realize the significance of it. For weeks I saw people's pictures of this awesome green shade, and my interest grew. I had even planned to buy it in a TD order, but kept putting off the order because I was waiting for Holiday collections. And of course, by the time I was placing an order it was out of stock. Everywhere. I could not find this thing for it's original price. And my interest grew to mild insanity as I realized my only options were spending anywhere from 2 to 4 times the original price. Being frugal by nature, that part hurt. But I finally found it on Ebay for a still reasonable price, and though I had to beat out another bidder (sorry if it was you!), it was totally worth it. This is the. best. green. EVER*. I'm so glad I found this when I did because now I can't find it anywhere. And I encourage you, if you're totally lemming something, get it before it's gone! You'll really regret it later if you don't! And if you end up not liking it? Swap for something else on MUA!




*Okay. Not ever. But from the time I won it on Ebay, to the time I got it in the mail, wore it for 3 days, and then took it off for something glittery, it was the best green ever.

Our first day back

Today, we had our first day back to homeschooling after our Holiday break. We took about three weeks off. We had originally planned to resume on January 4th but with the kids sick and then Hubby, I thought it was best to hold off for another week. I used that week to clean and then review our homeschooling materials and then lay our plans for the new year. You can read about that HERE.

I took

OMG, what has MAC come up with now?

I'm an huge fan of MAC lipstick and lipglass, I own about 45 total! But I have no MAC nail polish. But when Blue India comes out, March 11 as I've read several times, I will! I've heard MAC applies terribly, but for this color, I don't care! This shade is AMAZING in the bottle, I can't imagine what it will look like on the nail. I look forward to seeing the early release swatches!


OMG so pretty!!!

Take Time.....To Be.......Thankful.

Reading Laura Ingalls Wilder's "Little House" books again has inspired me to do what I don't always enjoy doing.

In her pioneer real life stories Laura shares the struggles of her family in day to day living. The enjoyment they got out of simple experiences such as watching their crops grow and knowing there would be a variety of food to enjoy. 
Looking forward to Christmas and thinking it couldn't be better because of an orange and piece of candy found in their stocking. 
Life that we all take for granted these days were a blessing to them then. They survived a seven months winter (1880-1881) when the winds howled without ceasing for days and snow covered everything taking the temperature to 40 below.  No Airconditioners or insulated homes. They ran out of coal and kerosene, using twisted hay in the cooker to keep them warm, which it hardly did. That long hard winter, they almost starved....... How grateful they were when it was over and they had survived. ....
Life was never taken for granted. 

So now I have a Mango Tree laden with fruit. I love mango's and there is an abundance. The flying fox's (fruit bats) feast off them at night when all the lights are out and we have finally given up shooing them off and gone to bed. Fruit fly are descending and taking their pleasure also, ruining the luscious fruit.
So we pick as much as possible, even some green....and allow them to ripen wrapped in newspaper. Checking daily I peel slice and bag the ready, then place them in the freezer for later. Fresh are also consumed of course.
Coming from New South Wales (Australia) where mango's don't grow....they were a rare and expensive treat when I was a child. My first taste was at age ten one Christmas when my elder brother Denny who was a chef, brought three home to share. We all ate half each and I thought nothing had ever tasted that good. 
We have so much to give THANKS for. 
                                          Our Mango's

Dreaded Fruit Fly                                    Flying Fox

Teacher Resources

These are sites that we have used for resources. Links updated April 10, 2010.Bry BackManor has resources for special needs.Busy Teacher’s cafe has Behavior charts, forms and more (click under Teacher resources).Carl’s Corner for Word family Activities and printables DLTK’s PrintablesDLTK”s Felt Board Printables for templates you can print out and use for your Flannel board/Dimensional

Glitter Fanatic Must Have - Mad as a Hatter

I'm pretty sure most of us have a special place in our heart for some version of Alice in Wonderland. I loved it growing up, and after hearing that OPI was doing an Alice themed collection I was excited!... until I saw promo pics. 2 reds and 2 super glitters? Yawn. But then pictures of the glitters showed up and I had to have them. I'm still quite disappointed that OPI did 2 reds and did not do anything for the other fabulous characters. No Cheshire Cat, Caterpillar, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, White Rabbit, or Jabberwock? Come on! There were so many great things they could have done! But what they did was very well put together. Today I have Mad as a Hatter to show, and it is a MUST HAVE! It's a mostly purple glitter with plenty of silver thrown in, but up close you can see green, orange, gold and red flecks. It's so mesmerizing! And the best part? Every time I look at my fingers I think of Johnny Depp. Nothing wrong with that!



Anyone else super excited for Tim Burton's upcoming Alice film? I'm a huge Burton fan, and IMO Burton + Depp is always pure gold!