New years 2013

Matt had to work New Years Eve day so I decided to take the kids to Wausau to see my new niece Charlotte (Charlie).  We left Sunday, Dec. 30th after church.  We decided to stop at Mom Baierl's new house.  Mabe was there visiting.  Had a short visit before continuing to my parents house.  New Years Eve day we spend most of the day snowmobiling.  What a blast.  We stopped at Jamars to eat lunch.  I haven't driven a snowmobile since my kids were born!  That's more than 13 years ago!

Then we went to Jer and Laura's house to ring in the New Year.  Got pizzas and Jer deep fried boneless chicken wings.  Yummy!  We played cards while Charlotte slept and Sydney and Sam played.  Sydney had Sam just a hoppin'! 

We Skyped with Matt too.  He was "with" us while we counted down!  We even gave each other a "cyber-kiss."
New Years day was laid back.  My dad pulled Sam and Zach in a sled behind the ATV and then the snowmobile.

Zach got to drive the ATV by himself just around the farm.

Jer, Laura and the girls arrived late afternoon.  Sydney played vigorously with Sam again and then zonked out.

I even took a nap with Charlotte in my parent's room.  Guys watched the Rose Bowl.  Wisconsin lost against Stanford.

It was such a lovely time with my family.  And it went by too fast.  After leaving my parents house we went to visit Rose aka MomB at her new house.  Mabe was there visiting too so we got lunch and then went to Lori's

Visiting with cousins is always a blast!

Bat in the attic

Went into the attic today and found we had a squatter...A brown bat.  

I screamed like a little girl.  It didn't move.  When I realized it was hibernating and probably not going to fly away, I grabbed the container it was in and ran down stairs.

Matt called a conservator to schedule a drop off, but he (or she) freaked out as Matt tryed to transfer him to a more secure container and flew away.  Matt lost track of him fast. He's probably back in our attic and I'm not willing to go in there and search for him.

Christmas 2012

I'm sitting in my living room after a nice relaxing Christmas day thinking about what a great day we had.  Well, first I should cover Christmas Eve which was kind of stressful for me.  But, the church was kind enough to give me 2 gift certificates!  I hope to use them to buy a Kindle Fire.  Anyway, even though all of our Deaf church members were out of town, I still interpreted so it could be broadcasted on TV.  I may not get paid for that job, but I take it seriously.
Those old Christmas songs are hard to interpret.  Even harder if I can't prepare ahead of time.  This year there was only one song I was not able to prepare for, "The Angel Gabriel from Heaven Came."  I really struggled with that one.  The rest of the songs I was able to work out my interpretations and write them down.  Took me about six hours of studying and preparing but, I think I signed them quit smoothly.  I did enjoy interpreting the song, "Joseph's Lullaby."  Beautiful, touching song.  Wish I had a video of it.
Per our tradition, the kids opened one gift before church services on Christmas Eve.  Zach opened his Lego mini figures he got from Sam.  Sam opened the one from her dad, which was season 2 of, "Full House."  That's right, my kids like that cheesy sitcom from my childhood!  .

Christmas Day:
We slept til 8 AM, but we didn't open presents right away.  No.  We played Mario Cart together!  Then, when Matt woke up, we opened presents.  Matt got me a new Foreman Grill.  my old one was kind of a pill to clean and dangerous too.  The cord would over heat.  Thought it was going to start the house on fire one of these days.  I got Matt, a new MP3 player (since his old one is on the brink of death) and the book, "Pathfinder" by Orson Scott Card, one of Matt's favorite authors.  Zach was happy with the other Lego stuff he got from Sam.  From us (Mom and Dad) he got a MP3 player, WII points and a sled.  He even got a Doctor who Lego mini figure in his stocking.  Zach got Sam a Webkinz Froo Froo Fox that he made her go on a scavenger hunt to find!  She is excited to sew her new shoulder bag and coin purse she got from her loving parents.  We also got her a new devotional just for girls.  And what a nice surprise to get a gift in the mail from Grandma Rose, the movie, "Santa & Pete."

After we ate breakfast and opened presents we went to Ice Age Trail and took a family picture.

After lunch we went to John and Jenny's in Evansville to go sledding.  Zach got to try out his new sled.

They had a great time with their cousins!  Ah, now time to sleep.  We got school in the morning!

Last day drinking TSO.

Today was my last day drinking my beloved whip worms.  I feel they gave me back my mobility, strength and clarity.  But the trial is coming to an end.  The only thing left now is a few check ups on how I'm doing without TSO.  Today's appointment was almost an all day event.  The appointment itself was about 5 hours but when you add in driving time it adds up to being a 7 hour day away from home.  The research crew were awesome as always.  Even when I got all woozy getting my blood drawn during labs.  Note to all you out there who have issues getting your blood drawn - WATER! Make sure you are hydrated.  I normally am fine but I almost passed out twice this time.  Granted they did want to take a lot of blood this time and because I was struggling not to pass out, they didn't get all the blood they needed.  I hope the next blood draw goes better.  The MRI on the other hand went great, for the most part.  Got a great nap til they woke me for the contrast.  I woke up to a cramp in my arm that had the IV.  No biggie. I was more embarrassed that they had to come in and check on me to see what was wrong.  At least this time I didn't have to pee half way through the MRI.  I hate that!

Obama Nation - My predictions

Obama was just re-elected.  Here are my predictions for the next 4 years.

• 3 more liberal judges appointed to the supreme court.
• Jobs leave or fail under the weight of taxes and regulations.  
• massive lay offs.
• Unemployment (the real unemployment) over 20%
• Inflation will make the dollar nearly worthless.
• Obamacare
• Insurance skyrockets
• System gets over burdened.
• Doctors quitting.
• People not getting adequate care.
• Abortion and birth-control being paid for by tax payers - oh wait, that's already happening.
• Medical research/advancements will slow or all out stop.
• Obama gets to keep his promise to the Russians now that he has "more flexibility."
• 2nd Amendment gets nixed or extremely restricted.
• The main stream media will still worship, adore, and cover for him.
• Freedom of speech being limited.
• More American in-prison or threatened for exercising their freedom of speech.
• Freedom of Religion restricted...only for Christians.
• Christian persecution and imprisonment.
• Lots more wasteful spending. I'd say about a trillion a year.
• Food and gas prices, "Will necessarily have to rise."
• I predict gas will at one point reach $6.
• Food cost will double possibly triple.
• Food shortage. - I suspect this will happen around the 3rd year.
• Illegal's voting - Oh wait, that's already happening too.
• Over 50% of the population on some form of government assistance. - I predict this by the end of his first year.
• Stock market crash - I think that will happen soon.  It won't happen all at once though.
• Public moral in the toilet, but if asked, most who voted for Obama will still support him.
• Class and racial divide deepens.
• Our defense budget will get slashed.
•  We get attacked again on American soil.
• Iran will war with Israel.  US will not help Israel.
• Energy shortage.
• Lots of Republicans saying "I told you so."

I'm sure I have a lot more I could add, but I'm tired.

Frost and the Hare

It finally happened.  Our fat, lazy, arthritic dog killed a rabbit.  She proudly pranced up to Matt to show it off.  She seemed totally befuddled that he wanted her to drop it.  Oh yes, not only did she successfully kill the thing, she got it's fleas and brought them into our house.  I really hope I was able to kill them all.  I am totally paranoid now about every itch, tickle, and black dot on the floor.  I am sure tomorrow she will vigilantly patrol our yard for any other foul vermin that dare entire her domain.

I'm not lucky to get to homeschool.

I drove my friend to the clinic the other day and while I was waiting I went for a coffee.  I got to chatting with the older woman behind the counter when the topic of homeschooling came up.  She asked the old questions like, "Where do you get a certificate for that?"  "How do you socialize them?"  "What do you do all day?"  Honestly, I haven't been asked those kinds of questions in a really long time.  The perspective of homeschooling has changed over the years to a more positive one.  The woman was nice and we had a good time chatting, but it made me think about the types of comments/questions I've gotten in recent years.  Now it, "Why did you decide to homeschool?"  "I couldn't do that!"  "You are so blessed/lucky to be able to do that!"  "It must be nice to be home all day!"

First off, I actually like the questions.  I like enlightening people.  It's some of the comments that kind of drive me nuts.

The "I couldn't do that!" comment is understandable if you are a single parent and it's financially impossible.  However, I do know 2 people who are single parents that homeschool, so it's not all together impossible.  But lets be honest, that comment actually means, "I would never want to do that."  And that is fine.  Honestly, at first, I didn't want to either.

"You are so blessed/lucky to be able to homeschool!"  I am blessed in many areas, but usually they mean I'm "lucky" to homeschool and luck has nothing to do with it.  I work my ass off!  I gave up a career that would have doubled our income!  We don't live in a nice house, our cars are crappy, and our budget is tight.  There are days I feel like I can't do it anymore.  God always seems to remind me why I do as soon as these thoughts enter my head.  Teachers strikes and school lunch Nazis to name a few that have come up recently.

"Must be nice to be home all day."  Yes, the same 4 walls don't feel like they are closing in on me at all! *Sarcasm*  I'm thankful for homeschool co-ops!  I think I would go insane without them!

So why do it?  Because the benefits outweigh the sacrifices. I can teach from a Christian perspective.  I can adjust curriculum depending on learning style and or challenges. Examples: Sam is dyslexic and ADD, but because I can teach her in the way she learns best she is doing great!  Not lagging behind at all. When Zach was younger and learning how to write he treated ever letter like a piece of art. It took forever for him to write a sentence because each letter had to be perfect.  He's stubborn so no amount of encouragement, punishments, or bribing was going to make him go faster.  I wonder how that would have went over in a public or even private school - LEAD BALLOON!  Fast forward, he has excellent penmanship and writes at a normal speed...finally!  And lastly, he can be a proud geek/nerd without condemnation.

I love and loath homeschooling at times.  As they say in homeschooling circles, "The pay sucks, but the benefits are fantastic."  In the end, it's the right choice for us.  See that people, CHOICE not luck.  Thank God I have that choice and a great homeschooling support group.