I can waste it or use it for good.  What I

do today is important because I’m

exchanging a day of my life for it.

When tomorrow comes, this day will be

gone forever, leaving in its place something

I have traded for it.  I want it to be gain,

not loss; good, not evil, success, not failure

– in order that I shall not regret the price I paid for it

– Author Unknown

We’re a little unconventional when it comes to swimming…  Do you think you would like to be our friends?

but we do have a great time.

Grilled pizzas anyone?  An Italian themed supper was the fare for some friends who came for supper.

Audrey helped me prepare the mint tea by cutting the leaves off the stem. (This was an experiment to see if it made any difference in the taste of the tea versus using the stem, too.)

We had 4 birthdays we celebrated that evening and for dessert I served up an Italian Panna Cotta. Stay tuned for the recipe later this week.

Thanks for stopping by!

Today I have a son who’s turning 15.  I can’t believe it!  It feels as if they are growing up too quickly.  Here are a few um, make that a lot of pictures from this past year.  Excuse me while I reminisce.

Hunting and hunting camp is always a big thrill for him…

After all, he is very social…

He’s not afraid to try the unusual on his dinner plate…

And Scrabble, although so very educational, is an exercise in patience when playing with him.  We wait, wait and wait some more as he finds that perfect word…

He sometimes is a little too enthusiastic in his pursuits…

We know he’s really focusing on his task when we see his tongue. We’re sure he’ll bite it off someday…

He’s taught Justus and Audrey how to ride their bikes without training wheels. Look at the size of bike he chose for Audrey! Check out that tongue – again…

He plays the part of pig farmer once a year for 4-H…

Sometimes he even plays the part of spy…

Of course, there’s always the competition of seeing who’s the tallest and strongest…

Sweetest of all though is the great friendship he has with his brother.

Happy Birthday to a son whose peals of laughter always bring a smile to my face.

I thought you all might enjoy seeing a peek into our used book business.  We sell online and of course, we have to store all those books somewhere.  They have now taken over our basement.  The shelves were built just for the books so we are able to organize and locate them quickly when we list and subsequently, when we sell them.

When we built our home 14 years ago, we had to use 120 sticks of dynamite to blast out our living site. It was solid rock as evidenced by this picture. A rock solid foundation. :) Where Russell is standing we had a shelf to store various things. Slowly all our storage has been banished to the garage. The books rule and get first dibs on the basement.

Now in front of the rock in the previous picture, these bookshelves stand and will be filled very quickly with more books!

The kids have been having great fun digging the sand out around the trampoline.

Have a wonderful week, friends.


This small wood carving we purchased in China when my husband and I were there 20 years ago this month.  The Oriental Poppies I won in a drawing along with the placemat it is setting on.

Won Ton Soup that was quite good but not like Mr. Tim’s.  Mr. Tim is the chef/owner of a local Chinese restaurant and I have never found anyone else’s Won Ton Soup to compare.  I really need to find out his secret.

Thank you for stopping by for my 2nd week to participate in Tablescape Thursday.

To see some other lovely tablescapes visit Tablescape Thursday.

I don’t consider myself to be really crafty.  My projects probably look a little cheesy next to some of these gals but I have my fun, so bear with me.

I’ve been doing some changing around here, changing the living room and now working on the kitchen.  I’m just that way – Rearranging the furniture is my favorite thing but because of the layout of our rooms sometimes it just doesn’t work.  So occasionally I just change out little decorations but I’ve even hit a snag with that in the last year or maybe even longer.  I’ve had no inspiration.  No enthusiasm or interest.

Then I was inspired by… I’m not sure what.

But I did start thinking about having a kitchen command center.

I decided I didn’t really need the whole command center idea but maybe just a place to put notes/pictures.  That idea metamorphosed into a menu planning board.

I love it.

How I did it. I took foam board and cut it to the size I wanted, covered it with burlap, hot glued it and then placed black ribbon around the edges as a little decoration.  Eeeassy.  The first rule when I go to tackle a craft project?  It has to be easy.

I’ve uploaded a menu planner I made which you can get here if you think it might be useful for you.  On the planner there’s a place for you to write what groceries you need as well as a place to write any prep work you should do the previous day.

I also saw this idea for a magnetic menu board which I think is a great idea, too.  A girl and a glue gun has an actual tutorial on how to make it.

So many great ideas out there!

A penpal of Serenity’s came and stayed for a few days. This was Serenity’s first time to meet Roseanna in person. What’s amazing about this sweet girl is the doctors told her parents when she was 8 that she had only 10 days to live, to go home and make funeral arrangements (she had leukemia). Roseanna told us that insead of going home to make funeral arrangements, they went home to pray. She’s now 14.  Thank you, Lord for being a living God that we can call upon.

Isa. 53:5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

This week we enjoyed fresh green beans from the garden – our first this year.  The only problem was there just wasn’t enough of them!

Is this my daughter, Audrey holding a tarantula?  Oh, dear…

I tried my hand at making a grapevine wreath… then I went to Hobby Lobby and found them on sale for $2.50.  I thought I was being so thrifty until I looked at the price tag. Oh, well.  I guess I have the satisfaction of knowing mine came from around our house.

The new reader in the family, Justus.  He’s doing so well and tries to read everything.  I’m really proud of him.

Another day, another week… have a good one friends,

It’s individual fruit parfaits – vanilla goat yogurt (so very, very good) layered with blueberries and strawberries with cereal sprinkled on top.

The centerpiece is salvia flowers from our front yard.  I love the bright red color!

Thank you for stopping by!  Hope you enjoyed a peek at our breakfast table this week and my first tablescaping attempt.

Now I think I’m supposed to tell you where all my dishes came from.

Green Bowls – local hardware store

Glasses – on sale at Dillard’s

Yellow Pot Used for Centerpiece – left behind in the first house we lived in

But as she returns from the gathering of the eggs, she spy’s something in the grass…

something right at her feet…

Set down your eggs, little lady, and look at it a little closer…

Oh, it’s a delicate little mushroom.  Alas for the tan colored ‘shroom it is given only a cursory glance before being cast from the yard. 

Now the little farmer girl can continue on her way…

glancing hither and yon for more curiosities…

The cure for boredom is curiosity.  There is no cure for curiosity.  ~Dorothy Parker

Right brain thinkers begin to feel dumb if they continue to have difficulties throughout their school years.  Most textbooks (if not all) are written for left brain thinkers so it will take some searching to find books that you can use for your homeschooling adventure that will work for the right brain child who struggles.  Dianne says, “They love it when you show them how to learn so that things stick instead of slip.  Help them get in touch with the smart part of themselves.  When you learn to ‘teach to their strength’, they shine in home schooling.” 

What can I add to that?  That’s beautifully spoken and good advice for any type of student.  I’ve always been a proponent of working with your child and his abilities/interests and the way he learns.  Sure we can follow a standardized curriculum and it may work for your child but what about those children that learn differently?  We stress ourselves by trying to produce cookie cutter children when each one is an individual.  I know because I struggle with this myself.  I’m learning to not only believe this in theory but to practice it.

Textbooks are geared to help a teacher keep a class together and to make grading easier.  But how many of us today still pick up our textbooks for a good read.  No!  We go find a good book, written by someone who knows, loves and is passionate about their subject.  I think left brain thinkers would gain more from reading these kinds of books (living books) as well, instead of short snippets in textbooks.

I have definite feelings about this subject – can you tell?   My intention is not to offend but just to share another viewpoint that is not as often heard as the “traditional” avenue of schooling.

Just a note… Your child may learn better by doing things hands on or he may be an auditory learner.  Teach him the way he learns best but the child who struggles even when being taught to his strengths will still need to have the additional help that Dianne talks about. 

At Dianne’s workshop she gave us scenarios of children that were pretty bad cases – like the 15 year old that came to see her and still was unable to spell his last name.   She then would say, “Now, not every child will be like this but there are some.  These kids can be helped.  It may take a little longer than some but they can be helped.”  She was completely calm about it and very sure in her statement.  What hope she gave to those of us that have struggling learners. 

As I mentioned in my previous post, I would really recommend her video Teaching the Right Brain Child.  You will learn a lot!

An interesting fact she shared was that 50% are left brain dominant and 50% are right brain dominant.  Not every time but very often it will skip to every other child.  If 1st child is left brain dominant, 2nd child will be right brain dominant and so on.  This was very interesting because it appears to be the case in our family.  Also, most of the time we marry the opposite of what we are (left brain, right brain).  We knew that, didn’t we? ha! ha!

Next time I’ll share with you the last class I took with Dianne on “The Biology of Behavior.”  Fantastic information she shared that I hope to convey to you as well.