Since when does 10+49+61 = 1? (Hint: Contest with GREAT prizes to win!!!)

Those numbers add to something awesome!
Home School Share's Annual Blast Contest!


10 categories + 49 prizes + 61 Days = 1 amazing contest at

www.HomeSchoolShare.com !

Yep, this year's Blast is bigger than ever!  You won't want to miss it! 

Be sure to click on the link above and read all about it.   Even if you don't want to write a unit, you can win a prize for helping to promote it!  See the webpage for all the details!

I can hardly wait for all the units, lapbooks, notebooking pages and more that are being done for this year's Blast!   Join us for the fun!


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Look what we got today!

10 girls and 1 boy.  Rhode Island Reds.  Their names:

Billy the Boy
Banana
Tweety
Rhyme
Reason (can you tell we recently finished The Phantom Tollbooth???)
Flitter
Flutter
Peep
Lily
Zannie


Now, don't ask me which is which--ask the girls!  Billy's got a band around his leg, that's the only way I know him!  And Banana is the one that is more yellow than anyone else.

What have we got ourselves in for???!!!!!???

DD10's latest drawing: Days Gone By

She'll enter this one in a local contest this fall.

My Uncle Odell: Oct. 21, 1926 - Apr. 20, 2008

A birth date, a dash, a death date.   There was much in that dash, more than I could write here, but I'll mention a couple things special to me.

I remember summertime in the mountains of North Carolina with him and my Aunt Nita.  I looked forward to those vacations, and still reminisce about them.  Man, what a breakfast those two could prepare--you couldn't help but stuff yourself silly.  Could have lived on those biscuits alone, they were perfect.  I wonder how many folks ate them at his Granny Squirrel restaurant and still think on them?

One thing I will always remember was his bear hugs.  Big, enveloping, loving.  I shall miss those.  Even the ones over the phone.

The last time I saw Uncle Odell was three years ago this month.  Skinnier, shaky from Parkinsons, but still my Uncle Odell.  Still gave great bear hugs.  Still liked to eat.  Still laughing and joking with everyone--family, friend, or stranger.

I'm so glad my girls got to meet him, got to experience those bear hugs.  They were young, but they still talk about going back to Florida. 

Here are some pictures from that trip.

Odell going for a ride

Nita and Odell


Me and my favorite bear-huggin' uncle

And this one's another favorite memory, when Nita and Odell came up to visit us and we went to the park and fed the ducks.

Bear hugs and love always, Uncle Odell.



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Our New Car

That my honey bought while I was at a homeschool convention.  I can't even drive it --it's a stick!

It looks black, but it's really a dark blue.  When the sun shines on it, it's so pretty and sparkly!  It's a Ford Fusion.



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Note to self for next year's convention

First, tell dh you plan to buy two really expensive curricula--then don't.

Second, make sure dh is planning to make a really large purchase "sometime soon" right before you go to the convention.

Me:  Oh honey!  I didn't spend buy those really expensive things I told you I would!   (As you sneak by all the bags of things that weren't on your list.)

DH:  That's great, honey!  I've got something to show you.  Out to the garage we go--as I hang onto his muscular arm--Todd Wilson would have been so proud ;)....I bought a new car while you were gone! 

Me:   Oh, it's beautiful, honey!  I really like that new car!   It's perfect!  (Secretly thinking, whew, that was a close one....he spent way more than I did!)

Third, be sure pockets are full of Kleenex each day.

Fourth, take the shopping cart to haul newly purchased books in!


Yes, I recently returned from the Midwest Homeschool Convention.  This was it's second year and it was just as awesome as last year!   More special this year, because I *finally* got to meet my dear friend, Ami, of Home School Share!   After more than three years of e-mailing, unit writing, and talking on the phone together, we finally met in real life.  I had a blast!  (Which reminds me, I need to tell you about the Blast contest....I'll try to do that this weekend!)

Anyway, it was wonderful!  My friend Rebecca who went with me last year got to go again, as well as her friend Patti.  We were out the door at 8 a.m. each day and in workshops almost all day until 8:30 p.m.  We stayed up until around 1:00 (or later!) each night and hashed over what we'd learned or just learned about each other.  Some of the workshops were emotionally exhausting (hence, the need for more Kleenex next year), but they were very much needed workshops!

Anyway, I'm glad to have gone, but I'm glad to be home.  I missed my honey and the girls soooo much!   But I also look forward to next year's!