Oh, the snow was soooo awesome before it started to rain yesterday! The husband and I kept telling the kids legendary stories about how it would snow when we were kids but I'm not sure they believed us. The truth is that it hasn't snowed more than a few inches in my oldest's lifetime. This is the biggest snow they've ever encountered. Not that it was all that spectacular, but it was pretty good.
Before the rain came that is. Man is it nasty out there. We've been hearing trees fall all night and the electricity threatened and flickered many times. So far we've been lucky and we still have power. The sleeping bags and emergency heat are at the ready though.
We're supposed to get another 4 inches tonight and again on Friday. Be careful what you wish for huh?
Many forts were built yesterday. The snow was PERFECT for it. It just stuck together like play dough.


The chickens didn't leave the coop all day. Poor birds.

These days when our schedule is so out of whack, it's really hard on the diet. I just want to sit around, drink hot chocolate and eat cookies. But this is what got me into this mess right? So I persevered I didn't eat a bunch of junk, I stayed on track. Today is day 16 without one flub up. I've stayed within my calorie allowance for 16 days. For quite a few days in a row my weight stayed steady and I didn't loose an ounce. I stuck in there though. I reasoned with myself and said "it's impossible for a woman your size to eat this many calories a day and not loose weight eventually" Well, this morning the scales told the tale. I'm down another 2lbs. Whoo hoo!
Well, it's early and cold so I'm going back to bed! Stay warm and dry!

Stop picking on me! Whaaaa!

The maker of Beanie Babies can forget about getting a fist bump from the first lady.

Michelle Obama has issued a statement about Ty's newest dolls for their TyGirlz Collection, Sweet Sasha and Marvelous Malia. The plush pair are named after her and President Barack Obama's daughters, Sasha, 7, and Malia, 10.

"We believe it is inappropriate to use young, private citizens for marketing purposes," said Michelle's spokeswoman in a statement.

Guess that's one purchase the trendsetting first family won't be making...

story link

Nope. This doesn't fly with me. Barry said "Get over it, I won" Now I say "Get over it, people are going to merchandise your family". It's still a free country I hope. These dolls are very sweet and very well done unlike the incredibly tacky B.O. plates and coins. How is this different? I don't wanna hear any crap about how "it's the children, it's inappropriate because it's the children" Many a candidate has dropped from the running because he knew it would be too much for his family. The Obamas decided that no, it would NOT be too much for their family when they stuck in there. Now,, you don't get to control what people do because it makes you uncomfortable.
Get over it.

moar funny pictures

Friday

We had a meeting we the 4H director today about our group. I knew I was getting into a government program when we started so I didn't go into this blindly.
I couldn't help but get a "yuck" feeling when we were filling out some forms.
I guess I'm just going to have to suck it up though because they're providing us with such a fabulous building for EAGLE .
I still feel really icky about it though. Will we agree to anything so long as it gives us something in return? When we become increasingly desperate, how quickly will be cave?

On that topic... Here's some reading for you to ponder this weekend.

$600 million to prepare our country for universal healthcare
COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS ^ | Thursday, January 15, 2009 | DAVE OBEY (D-WI), CHAIRMAN

Posted on Friday, January 23, 2009 9:24:56 AM by jasoncann

Heard this on Glenn Beck.

Training Primary Care Providers: $600 million to address shortages and prepare our country for universal healthcare by training primary healthcare providers including doctors, dentists, and nurses as well as helping pay medical school expenses for students who agree to practice in underserved communities through the National Health Service Corps.

The document is located here: http://appropriations.house.gov/pdf/PressSummary01-15-09.pdf

You'll want to check page 10 for the placement of the exact quote. I just want to know how you borrow money for something that hasn't been approved yet? Arrogant?
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I'm happy to say that my diet is coming along fabulously and I've no need for decaslim!
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I don't wanna fuss.

Some friends and I were talking this morning and one mentioned that he passes a cemetery every morning by the interstate. The interstate has gradually grown wider over the years and now one of the headstones is falling into the culvert. He commented on how your eternal resting spot should not be that way.
This prompted me to think about my own relationship with graveyards.
hmmmm.... that was a weird sentence.
Anyway.. I grew up with a large graveyard literally right in my back yard. The cemetery never seemed weird or scary to me. It was like having a huge back yard with a bike track.
We played kickball in "the field" where they had not yet started using plots. There were streets to ride our bikes on that were devoid of traffic. There was even a great hill to sled on when it snowed. They always kept the grass cut and it was nicely decorated! Who could ask for more?
My mom and dad often said we had the best neighbors. They never bothered us! I wish I could say the same for our living neighbors!
When we were a little older, the weather was nice and it wasn't a school night, we'd play spotlight. More than once we were run out of the cemetery by either the security guard or the cops. We'd also dare each other to climb into the freshly dug open graves. Now I never did this. Not that I'm chicken! I just have never had any upper body strength and I can't imagine trying to get back out if one of the ornery neighborhood boys wouldn't help me out. Oh man,, the trouble we'd be in!
There was a more sinister side though. There was a man who worked in the cemetery that we all knew. He was not a horribly creepy person to us children but we still got a "bad vibe" from him and tried our best to stay away from him. As far as I know, all but one of us (a boy on our street) was successful.
There was a strip of wooded area between the interstate and the graveyard that we called "Terrabithia". This was named after the book but LONG before the movie! One day we were exploring these woods when we came across an overturned trailer. It was the type that a construction worker might pull behind his truck. This wasn't an odd sight. There was lots of construction junk dumped in this area. But this one drew us to it. There were weeds all around it except for a beaten down path right to the door.
We looked at each other.
"Dare you to go in!"
"I'm not going,, you go!"
"Not me, you're older!"
"You do it,, I can run faster to get help if something gets you!"
Well, if we had only known how close we had come.
We decided to retreat a bit from our position and throw rocks at it from a concealed location. Nothing came out. No rabid dogs. No snakes. No hobos.
Over the next few days we ventured closer and closer to the trailer. When we finally went in we found that it had been frequented not by animals but by SOMEONE. There were blankets and candles and lots and lots and lots of pornography. At the time, this amazed us but it did not interest us. I wish I could recall how old we were but I would say we were about 12. We knew what we'd found was wrong so we gathered it up and flung it into the River. We also knew that whoever it belonged to would be mad so we staked the place out. Partly to see what kind of person would look at dirty pictures in the woods and partly because we wanted to see him get mad!
It wasn't long until we found out who the trailer trash was. It was The Man. The same man that the little neighbor boy did not escape from that day. Bad things happened to him. As far as I know, he never told anyone except us kids. He and I had both been chased by The Man that day when the bad things happened. I ran like the wind and didn't look back, he wasn't as lucky. I didn't know he wasn't right behind me.
Not long after that, a very scary thing started to happen. Not minutes from my house, women were getting raped. This was the first time I'd ever heard that word. Some of the details make me shiver to this day. I seem to remember that the man hid under the women's cars late at night when he knew they would be getting off of work. It still makes me tense up to walk alone to my car at night and I always try to see the underside of the car from afar.
The Man was convicted of these crimes. He spent 5 years in prison and was later released because of faulty DNA evidence. I cannot say if he did it or not. I do know that the place where the crimes were committed was only seconds from where we saw what we saw. We knew his character.
So, I don't want to be buried in a graveyard. I'd like to be cremated please. I don't want to waste any more space on this planet when my soul has moved on. I've an interesting relationship with cemeteries. On the one hand I have lots of great memories but on the other hand I think the greatest evil I have ever known lurked there.

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Some Goals for the Week.

This week at Backyard Academy will be a busy one as usual.
Monday- We have Band practice and I'd also like the boys to start a new project for next months project day/speech class. We've been waiting until the last minute on our projects and it really shows. This month *I* will pick because when I leave it up to them they change their mind 40 times.
Tuesday- Book work as usual but then we have roller skating. I'm sorry for those home schoolers that are coming from the far end of town but I'm loving it now that skating is like 10m from my house!
Wednesday- Science Club and Library day. We rarely get any actual book work done on Science club days but come on.... we're extracting DNA!!! that's some good stuff!
Thursday- Blissful nothingness. Lots of bookwork, maybe watch "My Side of the Mountain" since we finished the book. YAY NETFLIX!
Friday - bookwork and we have a 4H meeting at 3pm.

Then you know what? It'll be the last week of January. I can't tell you how happy this makes me. I do so HATE winter. I mean, I could list you a bunch of reasons why it's wonderful that we have winter and all that jazz. My brain knows winter is God's design and it kills bugs and etc but I despise it. It's not the cold, it's not the snow, I rather like those parts. It's the MUD and the GRAY and being cooped up. BLARGH!

The diet is going exceptionally well. It hasn't been hard at all yet. If we can get over the crud I'd like for us to start walking/running every day. The guys are trying to eat better too but they're just clueless. I went to the store to get a few of their favorite pizza's last night and they were bragging that they didn't eat the entire thing so that's good right? Well they ate half (each, I bought 2 pizzas) and for this particular pizza that's 1200 cal. and a whopping 60 grams of fat.
HO-LEE MOLE-EE. That's an entire day's worth of calories and WAY too much fat for one setting. I'm not saying I haven't done it, obviously I have but they're going to have to start paying more attention to their portion sizes.
They were stunned. If it tastes really good,, chances are it's REALLY bad for you! LOL

Buckle your seatbelts

Did you know we needed a NEW Declaration of Independence? Here's some Sunday Morning reading for you. Thanks Robbie!
Link

WASHINGTON (AP) — Invoking hope and history, President-elect Barack Obama rolled into the capital city Saturday night after pledging to help bring the nation "a new Declaration of Independence" and promising to rise to the stern challenges of the times. He kicked off a four-day inaugural celebration with a daylong rail trip, retracing the path Abraham Lincoln took in 1861.

Obama began his day in Philadelphia, where he said the young nation had faced its "first true test" as a fragile democracy. He ended it in Washington, where his own tests await after his inauguration on Tuesday.

The president-in-waiting drew on a grand heritage of American giants as he appealed "not to our easy instincts but to our better angels," an echo of Lincoln's first inaugural address. He took note of the enormous challenges that lie ahead and promised to act with "fierce urgency," a phrase often used by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

Riding a vintage railcar on his whistle-stop trip to Washington, Obama carried with him the hopes of a nation weary of war, frightened of economic chaos and searching for better days. Vice President-elect Joe Biden joined the journey en route, from his home in Delaware, and spoke for many when he said he was excited and ready for Tuesday.

Then, sobered by the challenges of governing, Biden added: "I think it's Wednesday we need to be ready."

Obama was smiling and confident throughout the day and across the miles, reaching at each stop for history's lessons. In Philadelphia, he noted the risks taken by the men who declared America independent from Britain. In Wilmington, he applauded the state that first ratified the Constitution. And in Baltimore, he hailed the troops at Fort McHenry who beat back the British navy and inspired the poem that became "The Star-Spangled Banner."

Tinfoil hat anyone?

Please tell me, drop me a comment or an email or whatever if you're browsing my blog from a government computer/ ISP. If you're from the Washington and looking for people in Huntington WV that are concerned about NAIS, please,, don't be a stranger. Click the picture to see the entire thing.


You're freaking me out and I'm starting to look for Black Helicopters. Just sayin.

I'm Mean.

The boys are signed up for a Running training class. Their assignment this week is to run 1 minute and walk 2 minutes for 30m every other day. This is going to be really good for them if we can overcome a few obstacles.
When we got up this morning, I still felt pretty crappy. It's amazing how much snot a body can produce isn't it? I'm also pretty weezey so I didn't need to be out in the cold that's for sure. I needed somewhere we could get some excersize without having an asthma attack.
So about 8:30am I packed the boys up and took them to the mall. I thought, if it's crowded, we'll just walk really hard, if it's not then I'm make them do a light jog while I walk really fast. Well the place was deserted. "This is perfect" I thought.
Midway through our second lap a mall cop struts up hiking his pants by his belt and says "YOU BOYS WILL NOT RUN IN THIS MALL" real belligerent like. Well, I expected to get some flack from somebody for what we were doing but there was no need for that because I was standing right there with them. RIGHT BESIDE THEM. I put my hand on T2's head and on T1's shoulder and said "They're with ME, I have it under control." Well he "hrrummph"ed , nodded and walked away.
This was just about more than T1 could handle. T1, my child that has an overactive sense of what is right and wrong, a child who I've never caught in a lie, a child who blindly respects anyone in a uniform was devastated that someone with a belt and a badge had yelled at him. He was so embarrassed. A few moments later I told him "Don't you let that mall cop intimidate you, he can take it up with ME" and I thought he was gonna shrivel up and die.
About this time T2 starts crying and complaining that I was killing him. I start getting scornful glares from old lady mall walkers and I even heard one mutter something about torture.
What the heck ever.
I was walking faster than they were jogging and I have a good 170lbs on him! I asked him if he was sick or hurt and he said "no" so I made him keep on amidst the judging eyes of the elderly and pseudo authority.
So yeah,, I'm mean.
Here's the thing,, if I let these kids grow to be like 700lbs people will say "she shoulda made them excersize!" and if I make them excersize then I get scornful glares. I guess I'm just a meanie pants because they're going to keep it up and in the mean time I'm going to get some excersize too!

Day ONE.

Today was the first day of our new EAGLE homeschool classes!
It was a thing of beauty, it really really was. I'm so happy. We had a spectacular turn out. I counted 40 children.
I'm teaching 2 sketching classes, Spanish and Algebra. The kids paid attention, were curtious, and most of all they had fun.
I still have a massively nasty, vile illness. I sounded like a frog all day and we barely understandable but T1 was in most of my classes and took over when my voice gave out.
Yep,,, my KID helped teach my classes and I couldn't be more proud.
Also today is the day that a bunch of us started eating like normal people in the hopes to win the grand money prize in May! (diet is a bad word)
I think I've mentioned that we've started a Homeschool Biggest Loser group.
We weighed in (scary) had our body fat tested (even scarier) and took some before pictures.
You hide and watch,,, we're gonna look awesome come summer time!

Some Knitting- A Quick Post.

I have the crud. The really nasty yucky crud. This is probably the most virilant cold I've had in years. I laid in bed for most of the day today. Good thing it was a Sunday. I did get some knitting done while propped up in my death bed. I think I'll send it to my niece,, whaddaya think? The pattern is from the Fall/Winter 2008 Knit1. It was a quick, enjoyable knit but it was hard on the hands.

That's all I know that's new.

Happy Birthday

To me.
Man I'm old.
I don't guess I really am but I sure feel it.

Tuesday is the first day of my annual diet. I'm not going to be able to get out of this one though. I have a dozen other people doing it with me and watching my every move. They've promised to scorn me and make fun of me if I quit.
.... whatever it takes.... right? ha ha ha
We're going to have what we call HOMESCHOOL BIGGEST LOOSER. Catchy and original, no?
We're going to each put $5 in a hat each time we meet and weigh in. We'll have a cash prize each month for the person with the biggest percentage of weight lost. Not the most pounds. The prize in May will be somewhere around $400. Worth the effort!
I'm going to use the weight watchers plan again. I know it works and it's easy.
Tuesday is also the first day of our new homeschool group classes. (not coincidentally) I'm ready but I'm really nervous about how it'll go!
Today our brown chicken escaped from the chicken yard and made a nest in the snow and laid her egg right out in the yard. That bird is nuts. I think we're going to get her some real fertilized eggs to sit on. She might be ready.
The boys did some a few things for Project Day today. T2 did a survival kit and T1 did a homemade compass. We've been reading "My Side of the Mountain" so this went right along with that.
Other than that,, nothing really to speak of.
Stay Warm!

Awesome Blog, Stupendous Givaway!!

About 2 weeks ago I came across a blog that really caught my eye. The Fun with Food Storage Network.
I've vowed that this year we will work towards a sustainable pantry system. We will eat what we save and $ave while we eat! So this site was a real Godsend and came right at the right time.
The girls over at Fun with Food Storage are having a launch party this week and are giving away some rockin' prizes!!! Go check 'em out. You won't regret it!
Also, I'm really jealous of her beautiful well contrived web layout. I LOVE it. I'd love to have a site like that!

January 1, 2009

"We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day. " ~Edith Lovejoy Pierce

Happy New Year everyone!