On Gardening

I like flowers. I've always liked flowers and always wanted to have them around. What I didn't like was the idea of gardening. Gardening meant weeding and caring for plants. It meant more work. Blah!
When we built our porch I decided we needed some gardens to make it a cozy, happy place to spend time. I planted some Gerbera Daisies, some Day Lilies, a Stargazer Lily and a bushy plant that looked like daises, but I think it was called something else. It was awesome, but it was work. Last year I decided that I liked having the flowers enough to try to grow some food. My strawberries and peppers didn't work out super well, but my basil was awesome.
Since my food venture didn't work out as well as I hoped I was nervous about having a vegetable garden, but knew I really wanted to do it. I took this free class at the library called "Grow It; Eat It." It was a good basic class and gave me the confidence to make my own garden. I also learned that you are not supposed to hardest strawberries the first year, so that made me feel better about last year's efforts. My budget was not super big this year, so I wasn't sure I'd be able to do flowers, but Jay found this deal where he got 100 bulbs for $10. I planted them in late spring and the first bud is showing today. For my veggie garden I had to build up a level spot in our back yard since that is our Southern side, but it's all hill. Luckily I was able to use stuff I had around the yard to build most of it. I even had bags of soil left over from another project. As if I weren't blessed enough already a friend offered me a bunch of seeds- for free! She had extra. Then a new friend and fellow first time gardener brought two of her lettuce plants to church for me a few weeks ago. What a beautiful surprise! The seeds have started growing and I have this beautiful garden that will eventually provide food for my family. I can hardly believe how God is providing for me in this time. It's amazing.
Bear with me for a minute while I try to explain something else that may not seem related at first. Through another kindness of the Lord I was able to go on our church's women's retreat this year. The main theme was spending time with God. It happens to go right along with the Discipleship course I'm doing right now, but that's a bit off topic. During the retreat one of the speakers talked about spending time with God just listening. She talked about how sitting quietly works well for her, but one of her friends finds she is better able to listen when her body is moving in a way she doesn't have to think about- like riding a bike on a trail. As I was pulling weeds a few weeks ago this strange thing happened- it all made sense. I was doing a pretty mindless task surrounded by all this beauty of God's creation and I felt this great peace. When I sit quietly in my house I rarely feel peace. I'm constantly thinking about all the things(read: housework) I should be doing or the kids' noises distract me. Outside the noises of the kids playing on the play set or running around the yard just fit into the tranquil outdoor atmosphere. I'm able to enjoy my gardening even more as I enjoy quiet (if not quiet, at least peaceful) time with God. Soon we will be enjoying the pesticide free bounty He has provided for us and I'm so excited about all of it. This year I'm actually starting to enjoy the *whole* gardening experience.

This Stupid Economy is Ruining My Complexion

The economy is ruining my complexion and it doesn't have anything to do with worry or stress (though I'm not saying I don't have those). I am breaking out like a teenager. Before the economy tanked I was going along happily using products that worked well for my skin. Things were good and I was happy with my routine. Then the downfall started.
First my favorite make up line went bust. No longer do I have a light non-greasy feeling foundation option. Supposedly they might be able to keep an online thing going, but they have not brought back the products I really use like foundation and powder. I'm still using the bottle I got before they stopped selling them and I plan on getting every drop I can out of it. I've been using this stuff for 9 years and I have never liked anything as much. Grrrrr...so annoying.
As if that wasn't enough my moisturizer has been discontinued as well. I wrote to the company asking why I can't find it anymore and they said they have had to re-work their product lines to concentrate on their most popular products. This is no small company either. I won't mention it by name because this isn't really about the company, but more about the fact that my skin is suffering a great deal and I'm not happy. I don't know about your skin, but my skin likes certain products and it was doing really well while I used this moisturizer. I've tried lots of moisturizers and "skin systems" from really expensive ones to ones you get at the grocery store. I was really happy with this one and now it's gone. I thought the one I'm using now would work well because I like their  facial cleansers, but no such luck. I'm waiting for the supposed "adjustment period" to be over, but looking like I'm a hormonal wreck is starting to make me feel like a hormonal wreck. Gah! No wonder being a teenager is so hard. At least this time around I've got a husband who loves me no matter how much my skin turns on me.
I would also like to note how unfair it is that I have to deal with pimples and wrinkles at the same time. STINK!

**disclaimer- I am complaining a lot, I know. I am also aware of the people who suffer way more than I do with chronic or life threatening illnesses. I am simply venting my frustration and do not mean to discount my numerous blessings. So, if you were thinking you'd admonish me for feeling bad for myself when there is so much suffering in the world there is no need....really.**

Friday Photo

It's been a while since I posted a picture, I thought I'd share these from Easter.

By this time it's afternoon and the kids have changed into play clothes, played "Dams" with Uncle Ben and gotten pretty dirty. You can see it if you look at their hands. Dams is a game Uncle Ben made up where they start the hose in the gutter and build dams to try to contain the water. After this they went out to the back yard where they climbed much taller trees and crossed Uncle Ben's tightrope. Lily didn't actually cross though she would have if the grown ups didn't decide it wasn't the best idea since she couldn't reach the upper "handrail" ropes very well.

I have more, but I need to go make dinner. To be continued...

Gardening

I signed up for a gardening class at the library. It's called "Grow It; Eat it." I'm pretty excited about the class. I want to grow my own veggies, but I'm a little unsure about some things. I tried to grow somethings last year. I got basil, green pepper and strawberry plants. The basil did great and provided lots of great usable leaves that were so yummy. The strawberries seemed to be doing well for a while, but then the berries either got half eaten or rotted out I'm not 100% sure. We got like 2 small strawberries to eat out of the entire crop. The green peppers didn't fair much better. I have a feeling it was because I did those both in pots instead of directly in the ground like the basil. Hopefully I'll learn a lot in class and be able to get a better crop this year. Is it called a crop when it's just a few plants in your back yard?

Thinking Out Loud (well, at least in type)

Those who have been around me lately may or may not know, but I'm thinking about homeschooling our kids. Ryan is completely bored in school and he is there (including the bus ride) 6 1/2 hours a day. That may not seem like a lot to some people, but when you think of the time left over that's not taken up with dinner, bedtime routines and homework it's not much and of course the morning is just getting ready for school. The boy wants to learn. He's not bored because all they do is work. He bored because he doesn't feel like he is learning anything. I don't blame him, a lot of the work he brings home is far too simple. I worry though. I worry that he won't learn the right things if he is home taught. I worry that I won't be able to teach him music because I don't even know how to read music. I worry that he will become what Jay calls "one of those pod people" that don't seem to quite fit in to what we think of as normal society. I worry that I might go crazy being home with both kids all day long every day for the foreseeable future. I worry that I might start with good intentions and then want to give up when it gets hard.
Then I talk to my homeschooling friends and I look at their kids and I think it might work. I was at a meeting last night for Sunday school and as we were leaving I saw my friend, Deb, who has been a great example for me of home-school life. I went over to say hi and she told me she was going to invite me out with them that night- She was with some of her home-schooing friends. They invited me to sit down and we talked about homeschooling and lots of other stuff. It was great to talk about my fears and hear some of their stories. It's funny how God keeps pointing my way. Just this school year I've met 3 moms(not including the ones from last night) who have given me all kinds of great information and encouragement about this. And last night during my meeting one of the ladies shared that she teaches a home school Bible study for kids that they go to while the moms go to their own Bible study. How great is that? I didn't even know that existed. Then one of the other coaches said that his wife home-schools their kids. I've been learning all about the social activities, co-ops, group field trips, weekday play dates, etc. that offer great opportunities for socialization. A friend gave me a book written by a lady who didn't finish high school until her last home-schooled child did. All of her children went to college and are doing well in their chosen fields. I've been reading the blog of a really amazing photographer, Jasmine Star, who was home schooled. She has the most amazing stories and she is really cool. Oh, by the way, she went to law school, but decided law was not what she wanted to do. So she became an international wedding photographer instead.When I started reading her blog the home-school stuff was just a side note to me. I wasn't thinking about home-school then and her talking about homeschooling didn't make me want to home-school my kids, but seeing a good product of homeschooling makes me happy now that I am thinking about it.
So I've written about my fears and other people's successes and even all the nudges and arrangements God has made toward homeschooling, but what I haven't really talked about is why I want to do it. I don't think the public education system is failing my kids exactly, but I do feel like they could be learning so much more. Well, at this point I'm really only talking about my experience with Ryan and what I expect will happen with Lily since she is not in the public system yet. I can cater their learning to their needs. I feel like Ryan's love of learning is getting squelched in the system that says every child needs to be up to this level by that time. So all the focus seems to be on kids who need more help. I understand with limited budgets that they need to make choices about where they put their resources, but meanwhile some kids are sitting in class bored out of their minds because they've known how to do this stuff for 2 years. I keep hearing "as they get older there will be more separation in classes and he will be with kids with similar abilities." Well, I'm tired of waiting for that to happen and he is, too. If we kill his love of learning in these "in between" years what good is it to be with those kids in however many years? He needs to form good study habits now or he will never think he has to work to learn anything. Believe me, this will cost him dearly when he is older. In getting to choose our curriculum I will get to explore their loves and interests with them. We can go in depth about things they are really interested in instead of glossing over a bunch of stuff they won't retain because it was just a small bit they learned. I have so many ideas about studying how things work together. Studying each state, one at a time, but in groups (i.e. Northeastern states) during a block of time. So they can relate where they are on the map, etc. We can learn about so many things by doing them instead of reading about them. Composting is a great example, or growing plants from seeds(yes, I know they do this one in school). The opportunities are endless. I love that about homeschooling.
Another big issue for me is scheduling. I believe our kids today are way over-scheduled. I understand why parents want their children to experience many different activities, but I really believe they need free time, too. With them being at school for so many hours five days a week it seems like too much to schedule more than one or two activities/sports. With homeschooling I can build those growing opportunities into our curriculum. Piano lessons and dance classes for music; soccer, gymnastics, baseball, etc for P.E.; pottery classes for art; the list goes on and on. I'm also a firm believer in family dinners. Doing these activities during the day would allow us to still be able to come together for a meal every night.
Perks that are not good reasons to home-school, but I will really enjoy- awesome! Being on our own schedule. That means we can sleep later if we want, we can take vacations in the middle of the school year means smaller crowds plus we save money for it being the off-season and we can start our lessons when we are ready. Less wasted time waiting for everyone to be done, walking quietly from place to place and riding the bus for half an hour to get somewhere 5 minutes away means that we will probably not spend 6 hours on school a day= more play time. Picnic lunches together when it's nice outside. I get to choose the school supplies. More family time. I can see the interactions my kids are having with other children and act accordingly. For example if the get along really well with some kids we can make play dates, but if someone is a trouble maker I won't make my child sit next to them while they are trying to learn if they don't want to. We can learn about whatever we want with no time limits. If Ryan wants to spend 4 hours in making a craft, as he has been prone to do lately, he can because we have lots of time in our day.