the "TO DO LIST"

MY TO DO list is never ending. I have tried many methods when it comes to how to organizng my day. I have used planners with very little success. I keep going back to the same method and it seems to work the best for me. It is very simplistic.

1. I keep 2 list pads of paper (the long narrow list pads that you get at Michael's for 1.00) I keep one on my refrigerator and one on the kitchen counter. The pad on the fridge is for any items that need to be bought at the food store. The pad on the counter is my "to do list" I check my to do list every day. I mark the things that must get done that day. At the end of the day I check off all the things that got done. (I love that part!) Whatever doesn't get done gets put on the list for the next day.

2. I keep a family calendar. This is where I write any and all plans. The children in the house that work keep their work schedules (because it changes) on the Refrigerator . I have a special magnetic pad (from Michael's-gotta love that place) that has the days of the week on it and they write out their schedule for the week on that pad.

3. I keep a pocket calendar in my purse. I may not have everything on this calendar but it at least will show me dates when I am out and need to plan something. When I am not at home and something comes to my mind that I need to do, I write it in the pocket calendar. WHY? because I have the WORST memory. Once I get home, I transfer the items to my "To Do Pad"

and that is it. It is very simple but it works.

How do you organize your day and priorities?

HOmeSCooL PosTings!

I thought I would do a series of homeschool postings. Every year the dynamics of our homeschool change because I have children in different grades and children that have graduated. This year I have made a lot of changes and thought I would do some postings on them. I had 4 major goals for this year: 1. Be more organized 2. Create a method that would track progress. 3. Spend more time reading- out loud and silently. 4. Be consistent with family bible time. Every year I make a schedule that we follow. Most years we stray a little from the schedule. This year I have decided to really try and stick to it as much as possible.

The Picture above is of our schedule which is posted in the kitchen. I am also planning to make smaller copies of it to post around the house so the kids can keep track of where they should be.

Here it is:

6:30 -7:00- Mom goes for walk

7:00 -8:00- Mom's quiet time/breakfast/start laundry /check e-mail

8:00-9:00- Kids wake up/Morning chores/ Breakfast

9:00-9:30 - Family Bible Time

9:30 - 10:30- Math/ Isabella's seat work with mommy

10:30-11:00- English/ Jeremy -Spanish

11:00-12:00- Science with the boys

12:00- 1:00- Lunch and Read Aloud time

1:00-2:00 - History with the boys

2:00-3:oo Reading and spelling / read aloud with Isabella

3:00 -4:00 - Kids exercise

4:00-5:00- Mom starts dinner/ kids afternoon chores

5:00-6:00 - Free time/ Jeremy practices music

6:00-7:00- Dinner and evening devotions

7:00 - 8:00 Baths

8:00-9:00 - Silent reading

9:00- bed time unless tv/dvd has been earned.


So far this has worked for us. It will probably change a little as we add some outside activities. I try not to leave the house during our "school" time. If I have to go out I wait until 3:00. I try and do my food shopping for the week on the weekends so that I am not tempted to leave the house during school hours. It helps having two adult children living at home who drive! I can delegate when necessary.

This is our schedule Monday -Thursday. Our Friday is completely different. We get up and do all subjects except for history and science. I grade everyone's work for the week and they make any corrections that are necessary. After lunch we work on some other kind of work. Right now we are doing nature studies with another family which means we drive to a near by park. When the weather gets to cold we will change gears and work on learning art, music, creation, and whatever else I find of interest.

I dont want you to think that all I do during the day is homeschool. While the kids are on task, I put in laundry, pay bills, clean etc.... BUT the kids schooling comes first. I try not to answer the phone or check e-mail during school hours. (sometimes that is not possible but I do try and make it a general rule)

If you have never tried a schedule I encourage you to give it a chance. It takes time to really make it stick and work but I find when we stick to the schedule we get things done and I am a happier homeschooling momma!

Score at the Thrift store!

I have a love for crowns. I found this one at the junk shop by my house. I paid 3.00 for it. I am not a fan of brass so..................

I bought some silver spray paint at Michael's (.99) and covered up the brass!

I am not really sure what it is supposed to be used for but I knew It would come to live in my house as a candle holder. The candle was just a plain white candle-not fit for a crown. So, I wrapped the candle with a piece of old sheet music, added some torn fabric for a tie, and some bling! The pin and round crocheted circle were also picked up at the junk shop for pennies.

fall is coming

I am not sure why, but I seem to go through a lot of crock pots! This is my third one in 2 years I am not sure why that it is but I have bought every kind and every price range. I decided to go back to just the plain old basic one. I was happy to find one at Wal Mart for 18.00! and I love the fact that it is white.

In the winter I use it about 2-3 times a week! It is a life saver and easy on the food budget. Any meal that I cook in it goes further especially when you are cooking meat.

This is my favorite crock pot recipe and one that I have taken to dinners before.

Crock Pot Lasagna:

1 pound of ground beef
1 medium onion chopped
2 cloves of garlic minced
29 oz of tomato sauce
1 cup of water
6 oz can of tomato paste
tsp of salt
tsp of dried oregano
8 oz package of Lasagna noodles UNCOOKED
4 cups (16 oz) of shredded mozerella cheese
1 1/2 cups (12oz) small curd cottage cheese
1/2 cup of grated parmesan cheese

1. Cook beef, onion, and garlic together in a saucepan-drain
2. Stir in tomato sauce,water, t. paste, salt and oregano-mix well
3. Spread one fourth of meat sauce in ungreased slow cooker. arrange one third of noodles over sauce.
4. Combine the cheeses. Spoon one -third of mixture over noodles. Reapeat layers twice. Top with remaining meat sauce.
5. Cook on low 4-5 hours

Quick laundry room makeover

I was making some homemade laundry soap and was inspired to do a quick laundry room makeover. I have a collection of enamel ware that I love! In the big pot is my homemade liquid detergent, in the middle pot is my oxi-clean (this too can be made from scratch) and in the pitcher is my Downy liquid softener.

The pictures that are hanging I framed about 7 years ago. While doing a big church clean up one Sunday I came across these old Sunday school pictures. I LOVED the vintage look they had so instead of pitching them in the garbage, I framed them. I could not find a place in my house to hang them and thought one day I would just sell them on ebay but yesterday I remembered I had them and decided they may look nice in my (very tiny)laundry room. I think they will live there for a while, at least until I find a better home for them in the future.

This is my dry homemade laundry soap. It is a labor of love. It takes me over an hour to grate by hand 3 bars of soap. I usually end up with about 2-3 cuts on my finger from the grater but it is soooooooooooo worth it.

So there you have it. The room really needs more work the walls need a coat of paint and there is a border that needs to come down. The shelf is MDF board and it is a bit warped but I just covered it in some linen and lace and wa-la........... I am happy with the quick results from just adding some fun things and getting rid of the clutter that was there before. As you can imagine, I spend a great deal of time in this room!

Say "YES" to the dress

WOW!!! COULD IT BE..............

Nope, this is not it- just a little teaser! I will say, that the one she did pick is beautiful and will be ordered soon!

An Awesome VBS week

I wanted to post some pictures of our VBS week. We had a good turnout and a really great experience. This was my first VBS here at WMBC. Most of the pictures are of all the decorating we did for our western theme. Joey was the music leader. He did an amazing job with the kid. He pumped them up every morning and him and Cristian ended the day with a funny skit.

Here is is showing some moves to the music~

More moves............

Decorating the sanctuary was fun but every morning I would come in and find the murals that we put up (some how Jeremy did not get pictures of them) down on the floor so, they had to be re-taped every morning.

All of our decorations were donated by other churches!

This was my room the "Missions Firefly Cavern" You really cant tell in the picture but I put fake rocks all over the walls (crumpled up brown wrapping paper that Toby spray painted). Under the rocks my son Cristian placed blinking lights. The blinking lights were the fireflies. I kept the room dark and added some black lights to really give it a cave like glow. I had so much fun teaching the kids about missionaries!

This was the bible bunk house! It was a big room with couch, fireplace, and bunk bed.

Here is the bunk bed. My poor kids slept without blankets for a few days because I took the ones from home to decorate the bunk house! LOL

My handsome cowboy son- Joe (Jenni, the blanket was a great idea)

Here is the fireplace. It was a real electric fireplace that Carrie brought in for us to use. It was one of my favorite parts of the bunk house.

Here is the general store! Can you believe that most of the stuff in the picture came out of my house! LOL (those that know me- can believe it)

A big thanks to all of the people that came out to VBS and all the staff that made this such a successfull time for our kids.

My son Cristian came straight from his night job to run the recreation program for the kids. He was such a trooper! 2 families from our church actually camped out in their campers on the church property and logged in many hours of work. My parents came down on Friday for the closing program and roasted a pig for everyone! I am looking forward to next year! A big YE-HAW to all the WMBC staffers who gave of their time, money and prayers!