Checked It Out

My two younger boys are totally enthralled with the Mythbusters television series. They record it and watch it almost daily. Lately they've even taken to trying out some of the experiments they do on the show, they safer ones that don't require hi-tech equipment or gun powder, thank you very much. Today Ethan had Rob help him modify one of their Nerf guns to make it shoot farther. First he checked with me if I didn't mind him taking one apart, "you know, ma, we've got plenty of them and really don't need another one" was his sales pitch. I gave the ok and he explained to dad what to do which basically entailed taking out a couple parts. They put it all back together and man oh man did it work! Those bullets now go I'd estimate four times farther than before the modification.....oh joy.

The photo below is to show that mandalas can be found anywhere and to lead into our next check out....

For the past few years since the boys are getting older I thought it would be cool to take them to the annual Auto Show but because of time or money it never happened, well the other day while checking email what before my wandering eyes did appear? a message on my homeschool co-op group offering free tickets. Woot! [yes, I still keep a toe in the homeschool world] So I made a quick phone call and snapped them up. Friday I pulled the boys early from school (because educational opportunities don't just happen in the building from 8am-4pm) and we headed down for Family Day. It was overwhelming all the cars that were there, I hadn't been to the show in maybe 20 years but it was still awesome. Ben and Ethan ran around and pushed every button they saw, jumped in any car that was open, and played every game they could stand to wait in line for. Fox had a little bit more subdued approach but thought it was quite intriguing nonetheless. He spent a lot of time checking out the all-electric, part electric, and natural gas vehicles. Plus there was one high, high, high end luxury car he drooled over for a spell, you know the one that for price says 'inquire for information' but really should have said 'in your dreams'. The Prius Swagger Wagon was also ogled over for some time by all the boys. It's a stretch limo van with all the bells and whistled, big screen, computer, etc. The Smart car exhibit hooked our attention for quite awhile and I was really digging the eBike. The latest thing seemed to be hooking your iPod, iPad, Blackberry, etc into your car, bike, whatever and then being able to access info and apps to the car. I'm not there yet, we still drive cars from the '90s.

Alex's new employment quest hasn't been going as hoped but she did get a new opportunity. Over the past couple months she's been "farmed out" to other Burger King's and has been called and begged to work closing at the Orion store many times. She recently talked to the manager about transferring since she's only been scheduled one day a week in Lapeer. The manager said they'd love to have her and to talk to the district person about a transfer. It's not exactly the ideal situation but you've got to work with what you've got and if it means they'll give her more hours she felt it was worth the drive....and they'll work with her school schedule. Nice.
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Fox brought home his paperwork to prepare for getting scheduled for classes next year at the high school....yes, it's that time already. He'll be doing Geometry, AP Prep English, and AP History we already know and for electives he's talking about doing Intro Business, Forensics and/or Speech for sure and he's not sure what else. He also signed up to do Forensics this year and will probably work on a Sales presentation or a Persuasive speech. I had a brief phone conversation with the coach and I like where he's coming from so far, hopefully this will be a good experience for my oldest son.

Finished Amy Yasbeck's book this week, With Love & Laughter John Ritter. Excellent, I highly recommend it especially because you know this person from all his work on television (plus her's also) and to get an idea of the man he was 'behind the scenes' is really cool. Amy has a very relaxed and humorous writing style that brings you along for the ride. It is commendable that she took her tragedy and turned it into a positive by bringing forward awareness on aortic annerysms (which is what caused John's death as well as his father Tex's). I am still in my multi-title mode so the side bar has morphed to a Reading List instead of Now Reading...
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Found a cool website to share for those adults who like a break from their grown-up-ness. Click Here for some coloring pages to help you de-stress. Blessings everyone and don't forget to bundle up!

Back to Life

This morning I was finally back in regular church service and was just in the congregation. A couple services I missed because of prior commitments and then I was also back in teaching the kids so it felt really good to just be there to worship and receive the message. I have been attending this church for so long the people are really like family to me, which really hit me hard this morning when I realized how much I missed them. Perhaps because we have common beliefs, perhaps because in reality I see them more than my regular family, but either way they really mean a lot to me. The lady I sit next to in my 'regular spot' is a woman that is a pillar of the church, everyone calls her gramma and I am no exception. When things were really out of hand at home and I wasn't around for a time she called and checked in on me just to make sure I was still hanging in and keeping the faith; that meant the world to me. The women there are like sisters and aunts to me, they've seen me through good times and bad and I never felt judged or condemed by them no matter what I confessed was going on. The P&W leaders as well as the pastors and have been supportive and encouraging as I work to follow God's call and lead the children in musical and dramatic endeavors. I never would have had the courage or motivation if it weren't for them, not to mention all the parents that loving let their children participate. We had a wonderful time of praise and worship this morning and God's presence was there very strongly. I had been going through a battle of the mind this week and during one song I just released it all to the Lord because I know it is not healthy or neccesary to carry those mental burdens around. When pastor got up to begin he started with a really strong Word saying that you can no longer be concerned with things of the past, what happened to you in the past, what someone did to you in the past, you must release and move forward into the destiny that God has set forth for you putting all your focus there and toward the future. Amen. When I left I felt so relieved and confirmed because I had already made that determination in my mind during worship, even before he spoke it. So what if someone didn't want you to have something, so what if someone didn't understand you or misinterpreted your motives, so what if you never got an apology when you felt you deserved one. If it is not blessed by God then I don't want it anyway. If it is tainted in anyway then it isn't worth it to have. The bottom line is even though there are things in the world and in people that I haven't gotten I know without a doubt God has given me much, I have all that I need through His riches and glory.

Bouquet Mandala, a digital creation by Sue O'Kieffe

Alexandra has now attended all her classes at least once and is really excited about this semester, most of all Intro to Screenwriting. She says it is going to be fun but also a lot of work. Keyboard class is a little challenging only because it is late in the day after having 3 other classes and her energy starts to wane. Her current motivation is to find new employment and she has applied at several places; she went from working 5 days a week to only getting 1 scheduled day and then thankfully picking up other people's shifts. She needs more than one shift a week, that won't even cover her gas expenses. I commend her for the effort and have also given her a heads up when I see signs for new hiring going on. Thankfully she has been blessed with another new/used vehicle which makes things much easier. It makes me laugh when she just calls me to fill me in on things even though she could have waited to tell me later, but that's good and I'm glad she wants to keep me in the loop and values my thoughts. I've become more aware of how I present my opinions to her as well. We've come a long way, baby!

I finally was able to attend an LCCC Board Meeting and will soon be a new VP focusing mainly on PR which is pretty cool. My section leader noticed an article in our school news about my work with the school choirs and gave me kudos at the meeting which was very kind. I'm looking forward to getting to know our director more to and possibly working on other projects in the future. Another exciting development is my buddy from GTC has forged out on his own and opened a gym in Orion Twp. called FlipShop The open house will be over the next two weekends so if you live in the area please pass the word and check out the facilities (they're offering homeschool classes too). Ethan is interested in joining a tumbling class and I may investigate employment opportunities there as well, we'll see.

Check out this video from a story done by CNN about Buddhist monks creating a sand mandala, pretty incredible in my humble opinion......nobody sneeze!

Another Year of Possibilities

Hard to believe the new year has begun. All the boys are back in school this week but Alex's classes don't start until next Monday. Our Christmas was probably the least stressful I've had in many, many years and we even started what we hope will be a new tradition for Christmas Eve. I finally finished Marlo Thomas' book which was absolutely fabulous. I knew she did extensive work with St. Jude's but I never knew her father Danny founded it. I'm now in the middle of several readings: Amy Yasbeck's book With Love & Laughter, John Ritter, Joyce Meyer's Battlefield of the Mind for Kids (research), The Four Agreements, and I finally bought myself a copy of Meditations from the Mat so I can highlight and make notes.

Don't ask me about resolutions because I don't make them. Each beginning of the year does prompt a resurge in heathly habits, kickin' up the yoga practice, I'm recording some Total Body Sculpt with Gilad to work in as well, and Pastor has called for a 21 day fast which I am participating in as well although I'm planning to go 30. I'm taking this one in stages, first no meat, then Daniel fast (fruits and veggies only), and at the end I'll do three days of juice/broth only.

My new interest lately is Mandalas, there are literally millions of them from various cultures. Over the course of 2011 I hope to increase my personal creation time through coloring mandalas, developing new collages, and writing; like creatively - not for work.

Fox's continued interest is running, he's becoming borderline obssessive about it. Even when we got the first snow he went out there and spent the afternoon shoveling his path in the back of the property so he could run, then later that day he went back out and ran. He tries to get out there everyday, even in the snow after school today he went out there. He's up to three and a half miles. When track season starts he's gonna be killin' in the mile run. He's also doing weights and calestenics but not daily. If he's not running he's usually playing some type of computer game. All the boys love their Wii and DS games but we're finally finding some semblence of balance. They know that in the morning they have to be dressed, have eaten, and gotten all their school stuff ready before they even think about sitting and playing a game or watching tv. It would be nice to downgrade all screen time in general over the next year (games, computer and television)....we'll see, it could happen.

Off we go again: 12 months, 52 weeks, 365 days, a clean slate, a new palete, endless possibilities.....so let's go color our world!

Namaste. Peace. Shalom. Godspeed.