The Move

I can't believe its over.  Sure we still have a few things at the old place, and some cleaning to do but even that is almost done.  It will be nice to have it all completed and then we can totally focus on unpacking and getting settled in here at the new home.

Maddy is turning 15 today... hard to believe my baby is 15 and almost ready for drivers ed.  She is going to be a sophomore in high school come the fall... where did the time go?  Happy birthday my little firecracker baby!!!

Jasper is settling into the new house quite nicely.  Loves his run in the back yard and sitting on the window seat in Madelynne's room.
 

I am going to miss the wonderful gardens our old house had... I guess I will just have to put some in here.

 

I really think we are going to like it here in Waterville!!


~Reg

Thankful thursday on Saturday

Its been a crazy week in the Smart household.  =)

On Sunday Irene hit and we lost power until Tuesday.  It is the longest we have been without power here in this house and for that we are very fortunate.  There are still people who are waiting to have their service restored.  Living out in the country means we are on a well... and the electricity powers the pump that brings water into the house.  A situation that many many people are familiar with, but it was eye opening for me when we moved here 2+ years ago.  I will never forget, shortly after we moved here we were pulling into the driveway and our landlord was by the barn and said in a very matter of fact way... "we have been without power for 4 hours or so now.  If you need water for the commode you can get it at the lake" and he pointed down the road.  I had no clue what he was talking about until we got inside the house and realized without electricity we had no water... and no ability to flush the toilet.   I think it hit me wicked hard at that moment how very different our lives were going to be in this new home.  Hahaha.  Since that time we have had bats in the house, a snake that likes to come visit the sun room.  Beavers swimming feet from us at the lake... deer behind the house, stopping and waiting for turkeys and all their babies to cross the road lol.  Very different from living in perhaps Maines second largest city, coffee shoppes at every corner... a library with 3 branches and a grocery store within 5 mins.  Anyway... we got our power back Tuesday afternoon and we were so very happy.

Maddy started high school the next day.  She is now a freshman... its so hard to comprehend... my baby is in high school.  It definitely didn't hit me as hard when the eldest was a freshman.  Wednesday the school was open to only Freshmen and Seniors... the upper class-men were there to help the younger students acclimate.  Then Thursday and Friday all the students were there and Maddy is loving it so far.  She adores her English teacher, the woman has a System of a Down poster on the wall that Maddy thinks is wicked cool.  They are reading the Odyssey next and when Maddy raised her hand and asked... "What if you have already read it"  The teacher was very excited, even more so when Maddy shared at the end of class when they were doing a "lets get to know each other" exercise that she loved Shakespeare.  My daughter is going to love her English class.  They did an experiment in her earth systems class already and she was so excited about that... and very disappointed that some of the kids in another class were being idiots as she put it.  When handed a globe and asked to pick out a country and give a fact Maddy said " This is Australia... here (she pointed) is the great barrier reef and blah blah blah something about sharks." ( Maddy loves sharks and has since she was maybe 7 years old)  Another student pointed to Canada and said " this is Canada... Justin Bieber comes from there." and another said " this is Florida, its hot there."  She is already being driven insane and we got a lecture in the car  about idiot students.  *sigh*

Then on Thursday I went in for an interview for a job, but after waiting almost an hour they asked if they could reschedule it due to the computers being down.  That evening the husband had a phone interview with a new company that does things just up his alley.  The interview was over an hour long and afterwards I could see how very excited he was about the possibilities.  Its a company here in Maine that does some similar things to his current company, but they will be able to use his test engineering background.  The problem is that this company is almost an hour from the house and we are locked in to this house for another year or so.  Maddy has just started  high school... I dont want to rip her out of it... but on the other hand the husband seems so very intrigued by this new company... and the current company is getting ready to go through another set of layoffs.  His job is safe for the current time but during the last round of layoffs another manager that had been there longer then Paul got demoted with a paycut in order to keep her job.  We have already been through a layoff (before we moved to this area) and it took him 6 months to find this position.  If the current job hadnt shown up we would have had to move out of state which I wouldnt have minded but would have torn him up.  =(  Next step is a visit to the facility including meetings with HR, owners, and other engineers.   I just want him to have a job where he is challenged and where he absolutely enjoys his work.  I would also like to have health insurance again... its been sometime since we had that.  This new job has a fantastic benefits package which would be lovely.

Friday I had my interview (and boy was that nerve wracking) and they offered me a job as cashier, but only if I passed the pre-job screening and a background check.  Later on in the afternoon they called (which I missed because I didn't have my phone with me) and said everything looked good and I needed to call and set up a time for orientation. 

This weekend the kids (Eileen and Shaun) want to come visit us on Sunday, we also need to get down to visit Paul's parents, borrow the truck from them (until we can get another vehicle) and the landlords want to do their yearly walk through and get a list of things that need to be worked on.  Busy busy busy.

So... back to the thankful thing...

I am thankful for..

~ opportunities that are coming our way.
~ cool english teachers who inspire my 14 year old.
~the fact that my daughter will never conform to fit other kids ... but in fact will continue to march to the beat of her own drum.
~ the lake at the end of the path that allowed me to get water each day we were without power so we could flush the commode ... hahaha.
~backgammon =)

~Reg

Busy ...Busy... busy

Its been a bit frentic here in our house... Maddy was on school vacation and while we did lots of fun stuff... boy was I tired at the end of it.

Lets see... we:

had a sleep over with a friend where they stayed up till 3 am giggling.

made lip balm and lotions from a kit she got for Christmas.

made masks with cool feathers and sequins.

went to a bowling ally with her cousin and did DDR... well they did... i watched lol.

worked on a huge huge project for school where maddy had to make a model of a roman house. The place had a vestibule, atrium with a pond and a hole in the roof to let water in, 6 bedrooms, a kitchen, several halls, a garden room, a dining room and something else i am forgetting. Paul helped her and her partner cut out the walls using a special foam board he uses to make model airplanes and then they had to make up a floor plan following the rubric they were given from the teacher. They had to download mosaics from the internet and paste them on the walls... color the rest of the walls like a roman family would have colored them and then name and tag all the rooms with their proper name. And it all had to have a removable roof so you could see the floor plan. Yikes... it was a ton of work but awesome in the end.

Finally on Monday when maddy went back to school I pulled out my trusty old sewing machine and got to work on some of my WIPs. I got some work done on my improv quilt as well as a pretty little potholder that i will take a picture of when i find my camera.

Back again from a blogging vacation...

*waves*

Long time no see... *grins*

The other day my youngest daughter pulled me kicking and screaming into Joannes. I tried so hard to resist but she was quite insistent. No mom... you will go into joannes and buy fabric she said with a serious look on her face. You will browse and ask my opinion and not take it just like you used to. You will force yourself to buy some fabric and add to your already large stash... you will poke and prod and fondle the fabrics to your hearts content while I stand by watching, waiting patiently.

ok ok... thats a fib... i had to drag her in. The kid is taller then me... and boy it was iffy if I was going to be able to even get her in the door. As she explained to her Aunt Linda who showed up 20 mins later (maddy claims we had been there 45 mins by that time which i completely disagree with) "My mom drags me into fabric stores... looks at all the fabric, finds a pattern she really wants to make, picks out all the fabric... then puts the pattern back and then changes her mind on the fabric and we leave the store 3 hours later with something completely different". She swore after the Indigo incident that she would never ever... ever go into a fabric store with me again. So... i had to resort to bribery... I bought my child something so that I could have 45... i mean 30 ... ummm 20 mins of lovely uninterrupted fabric fondling time...and let me tell you... it was sheer heaven.

So... after bringing my new little lovelies home I decided i wanted to figure out what I was going to do with them right away... as opposed to putting them away and deciding at a later date. I racked my brain trying to think of something just right for the little beauties and it came to me. The lovely little wonky stars we made for the Bushfire Quilt Project, perfect!!!



But... since the last time I blogged... the last time I browsed blogs... the last time i did any kind of projects we have had to replace a computer, email addresses etc and I had none of my old links. Wasn't even quite sure how to access this blog. I couldn't remember the email my blogger account was under or even the name of the blog. (i seriously need to keep a list of blogs/sites/forums I go to with passwords and member names).

Anywaysssss.... in the course of trying to find that pattern we used for the little stars I came across some of my favorite blogs and i realized how very much I missed the blogging community.

So... almost a year later I am back and I cant wait to get started.

*hugs*

Regi

Crazy

Well the world is finally slowing down a bit and this is a lovely thing. The college kid is home... and DANG did that girl have some stuff at school. I am not sure how she and her father got all of that into our little car. Her DF has a jeep full in the driveway... he will be heading home tomorrow or Friday, we arent sure yet. His orders for basic have been changed yet again which is causing untold stress to our daughter. My sister and I are chuckling (Umm not cause she is stressed... but because not everything in life can be arranged and categorized the way the eldest would like... this is a good life lesson for her, something she needed to learn at some point) ... we well remember how things changed so often for our dad when he was in the Navy. The military was all about "hurry up and wait"... Guess that hasnt changed much over the years.

Maddy is driving me insane! Thats all im gonna say. I love the kid but she is seriously pushing all the buttons... and the kid is bright... she knows exactly which buttons to push when. *sigh* You know that old mother's curse? The one where you wish upon the child ... children just like them or worse.... Hah... this kid is going to have a houseful of mouthy, button pushing kids... (course this could backfire... when she was 5 she told her sister and I that she was going to have 6 kids and they were all going to live with mommy and daddy... (us... her father and I...) of course she also had the dream of being a bag lady at the grocery store at that time.) *sigh* Im tired already and its just begun. LOL

I finally have a plan for the quilt I want to make for my nephew... Its going to be very nice I think. He is totally into star wars and a few months back i found a nice piece of fabric at ebay just chock full of star war characters. Im going to fussy cut out all the different little pictures, add colored borders to them in varying widths to make blocks of the same size and then put sashing inbetween the blocks. Hopefully I can get this done before his birthday... otherwise it will be a Christmas gift.

Wow... Its not Monday and yet a post from Regi.

Ok ok... i have been missing in action for a while. So many things happening on the home front... all good and all very time intensive. Things are finally slowing down and we can breathe and yes this is a good thing.

I am way behind on loser mondays... so I think perhaps we will start from the beginning... ahem... not because we gained a bit of weight or stalled on the exercise front but just because ... If you buy that i have a lovely bridge to tell you about =P

Madelynne's spring musical is almost over... its been a lot of fun and a long road to arriving but here it is... I went up to orono on Friday morning and picked up the eldest so she could be there for opening night. It was rather important to Miss Maddy and she was pleased as punch that her sister could make it. Then I turned around and at 9:30 pm started the long trek to taking the eldest back to school. I finally poured myself into bed at 2 am. Monday and Tuesday are finals for her and then she is done with her freshman year so the timing wasnt great... but she so wanted to be there to support Maddy. Im pretty proud of both my girls... The musical went very well... as I type this we are gearing up for the last showing. Then we will take Miss Maddy out to dinner to celebrate. Tomorrow Maddy has her cast party as well as the wrap up of the play... taking down the sets etc.

Eileen will be home for the summer on tuesday following the last of her finals. She is very excited to get it all over with... she has done extremely well in school this year. However with the end of the school year along comes the departure of her fiance to bootcamp. She is kinda nervous about this but we will keep her busy this summer with all kinds of fun and no so fun stuff. She has her classes for next semester all picked out... knows where she is living so all is good.

Our landlords will be arriving back in Maine after a winter away in sunny florida. So we are gonna get the yard nice and spiffy for them. Just have to work on mr jasper and his tendency to bark at the wind... *sigh* the little brat. We have been having an awful time with ticks and spiders as well. Country living at its best I guess. Frontline check... a doc visit to get a new prescription for his heartguard... and lots of research on gentle ways to repel spiders. The things are so huge they could carry the dang dog away... we now have these lovely little electronic devices that emit a high frequency that supposedly spiders dont like... we have lots of lemon pledge to dust window sills and door frames with. Lemon scented floor stuff... we are getting rid of all the cardboard we can find in this place... keeping things off the floor... keeping outside lights off unless absolutely necessary... adn so on. I just wanna nuke the dang thigns but thats not acceptable. *sigh*

I have a quilting project or two I seriously need to get finished... several that i need to finish up by the end of the year... and quite a few I need to start. I am so far behind its scary lol. I think I am going to put a few things I signed up to do on the back burner so I can get some projects that are intended to be birthday and holiday gifts finished up first.

We are busy looking into summer camps stuff for Miss Maddy... get the little blue car either up and running or in a junk yard where it belongs... and plan what we are going to do when and in what order. Things are just crazy I tell ya.

Hope all is good in your neck of the woods...

till i talk to you again...

Peace..
Regi

Packing and quilting and just stuff...

Today we are heading down to organize and pack up the rest of our stuff so that next weekend when we have the moving van we can just load that sucker up. Still am not sure what we will be doing with some of the stuff. There is no way we have room for all of it. We may have to rent a storage unit for the larger items that just wont fit in our new home. Perhaps when we find a new place this summer it will be a bit larger and have room for all our things. Then again we may have a storage unit yard sale instead. LOL

When we get back this evening I have some ironing and cutting to do so I can get some work done on a Christmas gift I am making... as well as cut some more strips for Leenies quilt. I cant wait to see that come together... and i have been procrastinating on it. I guess im a bit worried she wont like it ... worried that the colors are all wrong. But after a bit of soul searching I have come to the conclusion that (1) its going to be fun to make... (2) if she truly doesnt like it I know i can find someone who would love it... and (3) I will learn a lot making it. So those are all wins... and if necessary, next time I will take her with me to shop for fabric.

We got Maddys report card yesterday and she got all A's and one B in school. She is quite proud of herself and we are so glad to see her adjusting so well, making friends, working hard for her teachers etc.

Our landlords are getting ready to head south for the winter. Its going to be strange to not have them there. We have always had ppl around... always lived where neighbors were close by. But once they head out we will be on this hill alone. Kinda spooky, but I am sure we will adjust.

There is a knitting shop near by that offers free knitting classes as long as you buy your supplies. I am hoping to take a class or two, I can do a lot of basic stuff (i have made mittens, scarves, christmas stockings and a baby sweater)... but it will be nice meet people and hone up some of my skills. One of the classes listed in the fall was for making socks. I would love to learn how to do that. Anyways... I have to get the listing for the winter and see what is offered. I would love to take a quilting class as well... but the only shop i know of is a bit of a distance away. I will have to check out the community classes in the area.

Hope you have a wonderful weekend.

~Regi

Where has the time gone?

Ok I see by the date on my last post that its been some time since I updated this thing. Do I feel badly about that? Yes and no, yes because there is so much to tell you and it will take forever to get it all out. The highs and lows of the move, how it felt to take my firstborn to college and leave her there... the drama of being pulled over by the state policeman... how well Maddy is adjusting to being back in a public school atmosphere... and the joys of living in the country. The no part is due to the whole "blogging without obligation" thing i have going on in my sidebar... who ever thought that up was a sheer genius *smiles*.

The move:

Hah... i say that so calmly... as if its done. Well get that fool idea out of your head right now, the move is not over. Oh we had a good start, tons of boxes, two trips with the moving van, gosh we were so exhausted after that weekend, but a large percentage of our stuff was up here in the new place. However... we still have a basement and garage full of stuff. We are going to attack that in a 2 part effort... another rental of a moving van... and the rental of a dumpster. The dumpster will only be on the premises for 10 days, and we will fill that sucker as full of crap as we can. Not that i have crap in my house... but, well ok... after 11 years in the same place... we had some crap. Then the moving van will take care of the remainder.

Selling the old house:

We have a bit more work to do to get it ready for sell... at this point I am almost willing to just let the thing go to the first person who walks by with a 5 dollar bill and mild interest. Ok ok thats a bit of an exaggeration there... but I dont plan to hold out for top dollar in this economy. Hubby on the other hand is expecting a bit more and unless one of us is swayed over to the others point of view I forsee stormy clouds heading our way. But like many storms I know we will eventually sail out the other end into blue skies and so on... (after he finally figures out that his brilliant, adorable, incredibly talented wife was right all along. hahaha) Just a bit of mild humor there... ahem!

College:

We tried our best to do everything we could to get Eileen ready for college. We went to summer orientation, read everything we could get our hands on, discussed meal plan options with her... supported her in her course choices... everything. We listened to her fears, cheered with her when her roommate called... stayed up with her when she couldnt sleep... but we forgot something kind of important.

We forgot to get ourselves ready for having a child go to college. We forgot to prepare ourselves for that long walk back to the car after leaving our firstborn in a strange environment. We didnt think about what that long drive home would be like, the sleepless nights wondering if she was sleeping well, staring at a plate of food wondering if she would like anything they served... looking at the carton of soy milk in the fridge and knowing that none of us would drink it and she wouldnt be here to do so. Its like a part of you has gone missing...

6th Grade:

I loved homeschooling Maddy. Sure there were days that we both ended up frustrated... but all in all it was a rewarding experience. The decision to put her back in public school was an incredibly hard one. We have overall had a wonderful experience. Ok so the whole getting up at quarter to 5 to catch a bus that got her to school 30 mins early was a bit of a headache... but over the past several weeks we have done what we could to make it all work for us. For the time being Miss Maddy is driven to school and home again. I dont have a job yet and this allows us some extra time in the morning to sleep in a bit, and not have to be on anyone elses timeframe except our own. (with the exception of course of being at school before the bell rings) She has an awesome advisor team... and her core teachers and I are feeling our way about... its kind of strange... but we will make it work.

Dah State coppah:

long story short... over due inspection sticker... drivers side window that was stuck... his little visit with me on the side of the road cost us 133.00 bucks which led directly to a new car. weird eh? See I tried to get the dang thing inspected and it was going to cost us 2300.00 bucks... there were so many things wrong with it. Now we are driving a toyota corolla and loving it.

Life in the country:

So many things different. Cant run to the store real quick anymore to grab something i forgot... its an hour round trip and thats if i dont get out of the car lmao. If we lose power... we lose water... and we lose the ability to flush the toilet, though our neighbors were so very helpful on this front. " take a bucket down to the lake and get water to flush the toilets" hahaha So now we have bottles of tap water under the sink in the bathroom for just such an occasion... we labled them "potty h2o". We get all of 5 channels on tv with the antenna... and on a sunday afternoon we get football, football, baseball, lawrence welk and one other station and i dont remember what they were playing. Its a bit like culture shock I guess... Wheres the green mountain coffee at the gas stations... Wheres the flipping food channel? ...what do you mean no pizza delivery?

There is so much more to tell you but I am drawing a blank... and i seriously do need to get something posted...

~Regi

Update on us...

We took lots of pictures of the house we looked at on Sunday but have decided pretty much we wont be taking it. The biggest reason we said no was heating that house would cost an arm and a leg and perhaps a torso or two. The pellet stove not only wasnt in yet... but they hadnt ordered it. So that would mean the house was heated entirely with propane and its one huge house. The fireplaces dont work at all and it was very ramblely... rambly... spread widely out... sheesh!

I fell in love with it though, it had so many period features. Beams to hang flowers and herbs to dry, cast iron bathtub, original pieces in the fireplace to hang pots on to swivel them into the fire... a iron box built into the hearth to bake bread... the history buff in me cried... "Mine... mine... all mine" *smiles* But, the mom inside me looked at how the house was laid out, the distance between the rooms, the various problems that still hadnt been fixed and put her heels into the ground and said no way! So I listened to the mom in me. *cries*

We have 3 other houses we are in contact with owners about... Paul is looking at one on friday before he heads home. So I am keeping my fingers crossed and I know that the right place will come along eventually.

The bathroom is coming along slowly but surely now. Packing is progressing ... the list of things we want to do to the house is shortening every day... so things are moving on that front.

Eileen has finally gotten to talk to her roommate at college, which has set her mind to rest on that front. She has put in notice at her job ... and she is engaged.

Yes.. eileen, at the ripe old age of 18 is engaged.. her young man spoke to Paul and I before he asked her, assured us that they were definitely waiting till after college graduation to get married, but that he was joining the national guard and wanted to make a commitment to her before he made the commitment to them. She is happy, looks at us as if we are insane if we even mention waiting till after grad to get married... "of course we will mom... sheesh!" so things are ok... but scarey on that front. Not sure I am ready for my child to be engaged, I really wanted both my girls to get out there and taste life a bit before settling down, and I am worried too about Shaun and being in the national guard. He however feels strongly that this is something he needs to do. Not only to help the two of them financially... but to be there in support of our country. I know my father would like this kid... Wish he and mom were around, they would be so tickled with all their grandkids.

Maddy says she is excited about going back to public school... but I feel sad about it. I seriously enjoyed homeschooling her, and feel its a wonderful option in todays world. I have struggled with this decision for some time now... but we are going to give it a try. We have heard wonderful things about this school, it will give her a chance to meet kids in this new place we are moving to where we know no one. It will remind her what public school was all about... and if for any reason it doesnt work... we know homeschooling works for us. Hopefully this time we can find a support group we feel more comfortable in. The old one was nice but we just never clicked. Maddy herself has already requested that we continue studying things on our own... she really liked the whole child led education, we spent a heck of a lot of time on colonial new england and the revolution... not because I wanted to... but because she was absolutely fascinated with it. Anyways... as soon as we know for sure we are moving into the district I will call and make an appointment for a tour and any testing they might need to perform.

Maddy's first day of school will be Aug 27 (paul and my 20th anniversary) and Eileens first day of college is Aug 29th.

Paul is still loving his new job... the company puts him up during the week in a hotel so he has a lot less commuting to do... but its still a long haul for him, and we definitely miss him being home during the week. I cant wait till we are all living in the same space again.

Guess thats all from this front...

~Regi

busy...

It was a busy busy day in the neighborhood today. We got the whole lawn mowed for the first time this spring... I cant believe we had to do it already, some of that grass in the back yard was as high as my knees. Well hubby would say it wasnt that bad... that in fact I am a trifle short but we just ignore him *snicker*

Worked a bit more on weeding the garden from heck... when we get a new place I swear im going to put in shrubs, and use lots of landscape fabric... forget the flower gardens that turn into weed gardens.

Maddy was busy today with her schoolwork... we did spelling, nonfiction reading comprehension, A History of US and 3 lovely chapters, 15 minutes of reading a journal about a little boy during the American Revolution and finally an investigation in her Saxon Math book. We have our portfolio review coming up soon so we need to get that thing in order. She recently did an investigation on probability so we are going to make up a poster about that for the portfolio. Its really just a matter of organizing the thing so I can have something to refer to, when I talk to the other parents about what maddy and I covered this year.

Leen went to work, got picked up from work and then we went to Target and filled out a college registry for the child. It was very strange to follow my first child around a store while she picked out things to take when she goes away to college. Its coming along so very fast and i just dont know if i am ready for it lol. Surreal is perhaps the word i was looking for... it was very surreal. Where did 18 years go? How could it have passed so very quickly. Its so very cliche to say but it seems like yesterday that she was learning to walk and so on... but honestly... when did the child... err young woman grow up?

We made peanut butter cookies... and they were so very good.

I made beer soap... and I hope that is so very good... will know tomorrow.

Im tired.. and rather then sleeping I found myself wandering around ebay looking at quilting fabric. Sheesh!

Hope you have a lovely weekend... wishing you peace

~Regi

wonderful wednesday...

Maddy returned home from her amazing adventure with her grandparents. It concluded with a trip to the Shrine Circus with her Mimi, her sister, her aunt Nan and cousins Sophie and Gabe. The circus was the awesomest (is that a word) she had ever seen.

Eileen.. aka Teengirl is spending the day with her Mimi tomorrow. Grammie is coming at 10:30 to get the child/teen/young woman... and who knows what mischief those two will get into. This whole job thing has been incredibly stressful for Ms Eileen. Its her senior year, she is going to prom in a week, graduating in a month, going to college orientation 3 weeks after that and then to college end of August. She doesnt have her license yet... up until this week her job wasnt giving her more then 5 hours a week... and the financial aid package she was offered is $8000 short of covering her costs for school. So anyways... a day away with grammie will do her some good.

We got the news today that Hubby isnt getting the job with the company in central Maine... according to them " they still are interested in bringing him on board" but they are talking months... not weeks. They did mention an opening they currently have... were almost embarrassed to offer it... but heck I dont know... if they can give him a position now... that will lead into a different one say 6 months down the road... its a job. On the other hand if he took it we still wouldnt have health insurance and couldnt afford to buy it on our own... and we would have to sell the house yesterday... move up there tomorrow... cause we couldnt afford to pay for him to commute. I just dont know anymore... I am getting rather discouraged. Heck ... forget that. I am moving past discouraged and onto Angry with the world. So I spent the day slapping primer on purple walls and trim... and muttering. Im not angry with hubby ... not even angry with the company... just sad and depressed and I want it to just all go away.

just call me cranky pants...

~Regi

Went to dinner at Hubby's mom and dads house tonight where the Chef du jour was Miss Madelynne. She prepared a 3 course meal for us including a lovely potato and leek soup starter, a chicken and pasta course featuring greek olives, a tossed green salad and rolls and it was all finished up with a yummy brownie pudding cake that her great great grammie used to make for her Mimi Linda when she was a little girl. Maddy was quite tickled with herself and Mimi Linda was a bit proud as well.

We had a birthday today... Mr Jasper is officially 1 year old now. Woot... Happy Bday Meestah J. Its hard to believe he has been with us for 9 almost 10 months.

We got some more work done on Maddys room today, that purple is being awfully stubborn and we are going through primer very quickly. I cant wait to get that room done so we can move on to the next project *smiles*

Maddy, Grammie and Teengirl are going to the Shrine Circus tomorrow... after that the tired Mimi is dropping the girls off here at the house and then probably going home for a long nap... lol I think Maddy has worn her grandparents out.

Guess thats all from this front...

Peace,
Regi

Spring has sprung...

The weather has been just beautiful the last couple of days, so we have been spending lots of time in the great outdoors.

In the front yard we took a bunch of old concrete pavers (that we had sitting in piles in the back yard) and used them to seperate the tree garden from the lawn. Everything inside the pavers is garden... everything outside is lawn, sounds simple I know but at times it was hard to tell. So everything outside the garden has been raked and is soon to be fertilized and then over seeded... and everything inside the pavers has been weeded and hopefully will have a fresh bed of mulch on top of landscape fabric. (I wont be putting the fabric on until the hostas start coming up... and we know for sure we are getting mulch.)

The yard is starting to look rather nice in the front... but we still have so much to do. Its a bit odd... making the yard look so nice so early in the season... and to know that someone else will be enjoying the gardens and the lawn this summer. I don't think its really hit any of us yet that we are moving. On one hand the idea of moving and having a fresh start is exciting... but at the same time... leaving behind my huge maple tree ... the gorgeous lilac bushes... the gardens... the girls' swimming pool... the neighborhood... our beloved neighbors Linda and Maryanne...it just feels a bit uncomfortable. This is one situation where you have to just trust... trust that the universe has a plan... cause I sure as heck know I don't *smile*

Maddy is going to be spending a couple of days with her Mimi Linda... she is so excited. She wants to cook and knit with grammie... and she is making lots of plans. I sure hope Mimi and Papa are prepared for the whirlwind that is heading their way. I am in hopes of getting Miss Maddys room emptied out... and painted while she is gone. A nice neutral color... currently is it light purple with an almost eggplanty purple trim. Not sure what in the heck we were thinking *smiles* but its gotta go.

I am going to make The best chocolate cake from The Pioneerwoman Cooks . I have made this before and the family just lapped it up... you really have to try it.

The dog has been really enjoying his outside time lately... we stuck his tie up right in the front yard and when we are out there.. he is out there. Sure has cut down on the amount of barking he does at people and trucks passing by.

Hope your week ended on a high note... and I wish you peace!

Regi

new beginnings and memories

Well we started the school year off with a bang. The materials we have for "5th" grade are as follows. Saxon Math 6/5, Oak meadows Environmental Science as well as their Social Studies/English Curricula, Rosetta stone ~Spanish (compliments of the Portland Public Library made available online) and the instrument of her choice to be started as soon as I find a teacher. I am hoping she will choose piano... but she is leaning towards Fiddle, and of course she has her Karate.

So far we have done several lessons in the math book, reviewed subtraction, addition and multiplication, Learned about Christopher Columbus and Marco Polo, read the book "Where do you think you are going, Christopher Columbus" by Jean Fritz, and started a project on birds. Their beaks tell what kind of foods they eat.

Already Maddy is resisting, but this seems to be resistance that is a hold over from the summer of resisting everything, instead of resistance to learning in general. So I need to be tricky. Find more projects that make the learning fun for her. I would like to continue to study explorers with her... so I thought perhaps setting up a timeline that she can plug her explorer into. Making a dish or food from the country discovered (if a country was in fact discovered) We have the plans for making a model ship like one of the ones Christopher Columbus sailed on ... so she will enjoy that. Games that stress math skill instead of sitting at the table filling out fact papers.

I have to come up with ideas to make this enjoyable for both of us. So here i sit looking up ideas hoping something will click. Gotta get started on the day...

Peace,
Regi

and so it begins...

Tomorrow we are going to the State of Maine Museum in Augusta. It should be a lot of fun. Just the thing to wrap up the unit on Maine we have been finishing up. She just finished reading a really good book called Sign of the Beaver. Its about a young boy whose father leaves him to take care of the cabin and the crops while he travels to massachusetts to bring back his wife, their daughter and the new baby. He tells his son Matt it should take 7 weeks. Maddy and I learned quite a bit about life in those days...

We have also been studying nutrition for our health unit. We have read about and manipulated the food pyramid... and currently we are studying a book called The Healthy Body Cookbook by Joan D'Amico and Karen Eich Drummond. It has a lot of interesting articles about our body and what foods we need to keep it healthy. Maddy has been having fun reading the articles and doing some of the experiments.

For Math we have been using Saxon's math 54 ... (typically used in 4th grade) we used a placement test to see which books we should purchase. She is really learning a lot ... and so is mum. *smiles*

For science so far we have studied volcanoes and how the earth is made up. We are moving into rocks and minerals... and I hope to take her and her sister on a rock expedition later on this spring/early summer. She has also developed a fascinatin with horseshoe crabs... and has been feeding the ants outside to see what different foods they like to eat. Everytime someone comes over she is careful to remind them to walk around her pets who decided to settle right in the middle of the walk way. Im not sure what we would have done if the ants had decided to move indoors... might have had a battle on our hands. *smile*

For reading etc we have been rather relaxed... the child is a avid reader, she is reading Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by Rowlings, Dragon Rider by Funke, just finished up Sign of the Beaver by Speare, and a book called East by Pattou. Sometimes I will have her write a letter to a friend about the book, or have her re-write the ending of the story etc... but mostly she just drifts from book to book...

I am really looking forward to our trip to Augusta tomorrow... if only Ms Maddy would go to sleep... she is really torqued up about our adventure.

~peace
Regi