November 27, 2011

  • New Traditions

    As a friend of mine pointed out on Facebook earlier today “New Traditions” does kind of sound off. Not sure what you would call it when you begin something that you want to become a tradition. Maybe I should say I am starting something tonight that I hope will become a tradition for our family.” :)

    Tonight, once our 13yo daughter arrives home we will light the first of four candles in our advent wreath. Advent has always been the calendar countdown from December 1st through Christmas day. We will have one of those as well but this year I have felt a great desire to really connect on a deeper spiritual level than previous years. 

    Four candles representing hope, love, joy and peace. I haven’t decided if we will have the 5th candle for Christmas day. Right now I like how it looks and the plans that I have in place. Scripture, explanation, lighting the candle, song and then prayer. Simple and meaningful. My girls are invited to join us and I hope that they will. 

October 19, 2011

  • Yarn Along

    Joining Ginny at Small Things for this week’s yarn along. I am working on a shawl with a yarn that I absolutely love! It is knit picks DK swish and it is yummy. I am also enjoying the pattern as well. Super easy to remember and it goes quite fast. You can find the pattern here.

     

    As for reading I am going to be pulling out the book Easy to Love Difficult to Discipline today. I need to refresh my memory and put some more gentle parenting tools in my tool box. I seem to be reverting to yelling and that is just not cool.

October 16, 2011

  • Dear October

    Dear October,
    You are a hard month for me, a bag of mixed emotions.  The crispness of the air and the smell of warm things cooking in the kitchen make me fall in love with you.

    The changing of the leaves, is a reminder that life is full of seasons and changes that lead to new growth.

    Apples, pumpkins, and red cheeks from the winds that blow in, are all things that I love about you.

    And then there are the days that I don’t love. The memories of the days of frantic phone calls, rapid travel plans, fear, sadness, and anger.

    The memories of the hole that was torn in my heart. Tears that seemed to be never ending then, that still flow at times when I least expect it.

    The feeling of helplessness. The struggle to remember his voice, his smile, his touch. The immense sadness that feels like it might crush me.

    It isn’t your fault. You didn’t ask to be the month that carried my sadness. Still here it is and here you are. I am not sure why this year your presence has beckoned an even deeper sadness than previous years. It doesn’t feel like it has been four years, it feels like it just happened.

    With every gust of wind I feel my breath taken away. The pain in my heart more cold and empty than the moment before.

    I need you to move on. Please don’t linger. I feel as if you will never go and that this intense sadness will swallow me whole. I am not strong this year. Please understand. We will meet again next year and maybe then I will be stronger.

    With mixed emotions,

    JoAnn

August 31, 2011

  • Weight Watchers and a Challenge

    I am still plugging along with my weight watchers. I haven’t tracked my food very well but I am still eating correct portions and getting plenty of calories. My exercise is back up to the 4x a week. After a vacation break if feels good to be back exercising. My weigh in today showed that I stayed the same. I had a 2lb loss last week so I am happy with that. I have to remind myself that muscle weighs more than fat. So far this week(beginning Monday) I have walked 8 miles with a Walk away the pounds video and have done one hour of Zumba.

    Tomorrow starts the September Amp the Activity Challenge
    Pick your track, 3miles, 4miles or 5miles daily, then do that number of miles everyday in Sept with the exception of Saturdays and Sundays. There are mini challenges for each day. Just something to boost the metabolism even more. There is a printable calendar at the bottom of the blog post. Print it out, hand it up and get ready to feel fit by the end of the month!!

    If you join let me know. My cousin Karyn and I have accepted the challenge and would love to have other join us. Just comment to let me know.

    Happy Walking Everyone!!!

August 26, 2011

  • I just deleted my radical unschoolers network account. I hardly participated there but I felt sad when I did it. I think I am still more sad about this change than I let myself believe.


  • Changes, they are a comin’

    My view from my seat on Sunday as I was working on, wait for it, Lesson Plans!!
    I know this will come as a shock to a lot of people who actually understand how we have homeschooled for the past 9years. It came as a shock to me, hence the new intense need for copious amounts of caffeinated coffee.

    This is not my choice in the sense that as the parent I just up and decided that we were going to totally go from an unschooling family to a Waldorf inspired, relaxed, eclectic homeschooling family. It was a request from our older girls coupled with a realization about our youngest 3 that has brought us to this new season.

    I have worked through the mourning process and it is what it is. My parenting won’t change. Of all the things in my life that were positively influenced by unschooling it was my parenting that grew the most . Still gentle, still respectful, still growing in that everyday.

    Monday begins the new adventure.
    I am certain I will need lots of coffee.
    Stay tuned for our new adventures.

August 21, 2011

  • Yesterday, while combing through status updates of my friends, I came across one that started something like this “I laugh at those people that are against spanking…..”. It continued on with how they were spanked and turned out fine, how no one is going to become an abuser by spanking etc. Then in the comments this person furthered the status by stating that we are called to discipline our children by God.

    I commented with “Not spanking does not equal not disciplining. Just wanted to clarify as one of the people you are laughing at.” I was deleted.  Oh well.

    I’m not going to go into why I no longer spank in this post,maybe another time.  I want to address the part of the statement that said “I laugh at….” Every time I read that on facebook from those that I know are Christians I want to scream “DO YOU REALLY THINK THAT IS WHAT JESUS WOULD DO?” It just royally ticks me off.

    Jesus never laughed at anyone in the bible. Especially not in the manner of this statement. He never belittled anyone, not even those that disagreed with him. That statement is belittling. It belittles non believers and those that are believers. It makes the assumption that ALL Christians spank and that this statement is only about those outside the “sacred” circle. I think we all know what happens when you assume something.

    Then there is the assumption that if a parent doesn’t spank that there is no discipline in the child’s life. Again with the dangerous assuming.  Discipline does not have to come in the form of hitting a child. It does require you (general you) getting up off your butt and engaging your child. It takes tools other than your hand or some object wielded by your hand. It even takes some understanding of child development and age appropriate behavior. It definitely takes knowing your child and pausing to ask Are they Hungry,Angry, Lonely or Tired?”HALT!  Sometimes you can even add Embarrassed or Depressed..especially as they get older.

    I don’t not spank because I am afraid to discipline my child. I have just chosen to do things differently than you. There will always be extremes on every side. There are parents that don’t spank and their kids have no sense of boundaries. There are parents that do spank and they are currently in jail for killing their child in the name of doing what they say God told them to do.

    Please don’t assume that I spank simply because I am a Christian. I don’t.

    Please don’t assume that I don’t discipline my children because I don’t spank. Those that have met and spent time with my kids can tell you that this is not the case.

    Please stop laughing at other people that choose to do things differently than you do especially if you call yourself a Christian. You cannot begin to know the reasons for their choices and you certainly won’t gain any understanding if you push them away by laughing at them.

August 15, 2011

  • To Do

    Today’s blog post is brought to you by the ever boring, ever present, never ending to do list.

    1. Finish living room
    2. Clean kitchen done by the teen
    3.Clean bedroom
    4. Finish washing all bed linens and remake beds
    5. Wash fabric for sewing project
    6. Remember to feed kids and myself
    7. Wash love seat slip cover
    8. Do at least two loads of regular laundry
    9. Clean bedroom
    10. Figure out what to do for supper
    11. Track points
    12.Drink water
    13. Fold towels and put them away-done by the bigs with much grumbling
    14. Clean litter box.

    *And I just realized that I put “clean bedroom” on the list twice. It is really that bad.

August 10, 2011

  • Yarn Along and A Weigh In

    Alrighty. This weeks yarn along is going to be missing a picture because I am just not with it this week. I am still working on the sock from last weeks post. And in true ADD knitter fashion I cast on for a fall hat for myself! It is just like the one in the picture but mine is a deep rusty red color. Hopefully I will get my act together and have a picture for next week’s post.

    I would say that I am still reading the same Patricia Sprinkle book but that would mean I would have to actually READ it. I did pick up a book at the airport titled “Mennonite in a Little Black Dress” not too far into that one but I have already laughed quite a bit.

    And now for the weekly weight watchers weigh in. I gained this week;2lbs. I was on vacation in the south…’nuff said. A new week starts today and my friends and I are going to have fabulous weather for our 5mile hike. Then there will be Zumba on Thursday and I will not be eating anything fried, or heavily doused in butter, or having a Pina Colada every night. ;)

August 3, 2011

  • Yarn Along and Weight Watchers Weigh In

    Joining Ginny from Small Things again this week for the Yarn Along.

    What is that you say? This picture looks just like last weeks? Why yes, yes it does. That would be because everything is the same as last week when it comes to both the knitting and the book. It was a crazy busy week and time to knit or read just did not exist. I am sure it existed in my alternate universe but I don’t know how to get there. ;)

    And my weigh in today showed that I stayed the same. I am happy with this….still haven’t had a gain yet so staying the same is good to me. I lost a smidge in the measurement department. I managed to get 2 zumba classes in for the week as well as a 6 and 8 mile bike ride. I would never have been able to do that when I started this journey. It feels good to be getting fit.

    Happy Wednesday!!