School For Us

I found this meme over on Barb's Harmony Art Mom blog and really enjoyed it. If you decide to use it, please leave a comment so I can read your list!

Items I have completed are in purple.

1. Started your own blog.
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band (junior high band)
4. Visited Hawaii (Maui - twice)
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland/world
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo (part of a duet at a friend's wedding, but part of it was a solo)
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty (I've seen it, but haven't been to the top)
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort (in elementary school at lunch time - well, the "big boys" built it, but I got to go in it - it was kind of like an igloo)
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a Marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person (as a teenager with my family)
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke (only at home!)
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling (SCUBA diving in Maui last December - one of my greatest thrills!)
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud (many times as a child)
54. Gone to a drive-in theater (my husband and I went to these quite a lot when we were dating)
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching (off of Cape Cod about 6 years ago - Alex was so small she fell asleep)
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma (and then promptly fainted and was out several minutes)
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten Caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper (in High School when our academic team went to nationals)
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House (I've seen it, but never went in it)
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating (yikes! no thanks!)
88. Had chickenpox (and measles at the SAME TIME - I ended up in the hospital)
89. Saved someone’s life
90. Sat on a jury (I've been rejected for a jury)
91. Met someone famous (Barbara Bush and Alex met her, too)
92. Joined a book club (started one for girls)
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee (only when I stepped on one while barefoot!)

I read about Jamie's "labor day" over at Rose Cottage, and thought I'd share my own labor day story...

How long were you in labor? Almost 21 hours!

How did you know you were in labor? Labor pains woke me up at about 1 am.

Where did you deliver? At the hospital as planned. We called my doctor early in the morning and she told us to meet her at her office around 7 am. Then, we went next door to the hospital. Unfortunately, it was a very busy day in the delivery area and I didn't have a room at first. They had me in a wheeled desk chair at the nurses station and they kept rolling me out of the way - right during contractions!

Also, it was neat that every family member had enough time to get here... even from several states away. My brother even had a flat tire, but made it just in time.

Drugs? Yes, I had drugs and an epidural. The drugs helped me sleep some during the day, but I don't think the epidural worked - I felt a LOT of pain. Also, I tried the "breathing" you are taught in Lamaze class... and it wasn't working for me. I worked through the pain by squeezing my husband's hand. :-)

C-section? No, but it was a possibility. I pushed for 1.5 hours and Alexandra's heart rate spiked twice. They said if it happened again, we needed to do a C-section. I did get an episiotomy and they had to use a suction cup to help pull out my average size baby. (7 lbs 2 oz)

Who delivered? Thankfully, my own doctor delivered. I love my OB-GYN. :-) In fact, it's quite a drive to go see her, but I will stick with her as long as possible.

If you'd like to "play along", copy the questions, post your Labor Day experience, and link up to Rocks in my Dryer.

Jimmie over at One Child Policy tagged me for this meme. You are supposed to write a six word memoir of your life. I actually thought of one almost immediately, but it's taken me a little while to get it posted. Here's mine:





I actually have played the piano for about 30 years, so I am in no way new to this. But, I haven't played much in the past 15 years. Piano was definitely my passion as a child! I would play for hours.


I'm hoping my new teacher hasn't given me something more than I can handle. She is having me learn the First Arabesque by Debussy. It's beautiful!!! And, it's a lot harder than anything I've ever played before. I posted a YouTube video of someone else playing it. Hopefully, several months down the road (maybe even half a year down the road) I can post a video of ME playing it! I will be thrilled if I can learn it. And, I love that my teacher tells me about the composer, etc. Did you know Debussy was an Impressionist composer? I didn't even know Impressionist music existed! So, I'm off to do some research... Well, after I practice a little bit more.


Oh, and I'm supposed to tag 5 other people. If you don't do memes, just disregard. And, take as long as you like, but please leave me a comment when you're done so I can read about your life!

1. Robin over at Martin Zoo
2. Rhonda at Alston Academy
3. Melissa at In the Sparrow's Nest
4. Barb at Handbook of Nature Study
5. Teacher of One at Boys+ Academy

Dawn over at By Sun and Candlelight came up with this fall meme that I really enjoyed. If you'd like to join in, consider yourself tagged and let me know you posted! Hapy Fall!!!

When does fall begin for you? Hmmm... I guess the 1st of October. It's just so warm down here in Texas that we don't feel it until the end of October or so. But, I can still dream of fall!

What is your favorite aspect of fall? I love watching the leaves change colors, which takes a long time around her - some have barely started to change, but others won't change until around Christmastime! I also love getting pumpkins and candy corn.

What is your favorite fall memory? My sister, brother & I used to make "bird nests" of all the raked up leaves back in Kansas. Then, the whole neighborhood would get together and we'd pretend to be birds. It was nice and snug! A wonderful memory and I got to make my daughter her first "nest" while visiting my brother last Thanksgiving.

What do you like to drink in the fall? Hot apple cider and hot chocolate with marshmallows. Yum!

What's your favorite fall food? My mom makes wonderful banana bread in an old coffee can - without the nuts just for me! And, I love her homemade caramel corn, too. Oh, and candy corn!!!
What is fall weather like where you live? Not much different than summer. :-) We are still usually wearing shorts on Thanksgiving Day.

What color is fall? Brown & Orange.

What does fall smell like? Fireplaces (though not around here!)

Holiday shopping in fall: yes or no? No. Let's wait until December. :-)

If you could go anywhere in the fall, where would you go? The East Coast!

What is your favorite fall sport? High school football. Another fond memory from childhood.

Do you have a favorite fall chore? Planting mums & impatiens! My daughter was born near Halloween and I planted some flowers just days before she was born.

What is your least favorite thing about fall? That we don't have much "fall" here in Texas! (But, I love Texas!)

What is your favorite fall holiday? Thanksgiving Day.

What's your favorite kind of pie? Either apple with vanilla ice cream or pumpkin with CoolWhip.

What was your favorite Halloween costume? My mom made me a flower costume when I was little - maybe about 7 or so. I wore a green leotard & tights & she used some kind of wire to make loops around my head and a thin fabric for the pedals. She made 3 homemade costumes that year and we accidentally missed the judging! My cousin won dressed as a clown - and his dalmation was a clown, too.

What was your favorite Halloween candy? Candy Corn - have I mentioned that before? :-)

What was your least favorite Halloween candy? Mounds

Which do you prefer, the Farm or the Fair? I'm not sure what you mean - we go to a pumpkin patch this time of year and it's a lot of fun - you get to take photos with the pumpkins, have a hayride, and ride a few rides.

Do you have a favorite fall book? Too Many Pumpkins

How about a favorite fall poem? No - I guess I need to read more poetry!

Happy Fall!

Robin and Christie have both tagged me for this meme, so I thought I'd play along. Here are the "rules":

Each player lists 8 facts/habits about themselves. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning before those facts/habits are listed. At the end of the post, the player then tags 8 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

1. I have a degree in secondary science education but I think I was a lousy middle school teacher.
2. I have since taught 3-5 year olds and love it (and think I'm pretty good at it).
3. I have lived in 3 houses each for 9 or more years, including our current house.
4. I LOVE genealogy research and used to spend 8 hours a day (some days) at the research library before I was a mom. (I worked temp jobs and would do research like crazy in between jobs.)
5. I took speech therapy in kindergarten so I could pronounce my R's correctly. (We had to crow like a rooster, but I enjoyed being pulled out of regular class and being with one of my friends.)
6. I am married to my high school sweetheart.
7. The only sports trophy I ever won was for jump roping.
8. In 5 years of college, I only missed 1 class and was only late to 5 classes.

Well, I'm not sure who has been tagged, but it seems like most of the blogs I regularly read have already done this. If you read my blog and haven't participated, just let me know and consider yourself tagged! - Dana

Robin tagged me for this reading meme. I LOVE to read, but so much of my reading is just school related - both Alexandra's read-alouds and blogs for friendship and inspiration! Anyway, I'm glad Robin tagged me as I decided I had to start the new book my daughter gave me a few weeks ago for our wedding anniversary.
I don't really read a lot of books at once, so I'm currently reading one fiction and one non-fiction book (and I'm reading the latest Old Schoolhouse, which I read for about 2 hours today - I love it!):

• The Five Love Languages of Children by Chapmn & Campbell - I'm really enjoying this book and putting it to good use!

• Beyond Thursday Morning by Karen Kingsbury - this is only the 2nd book I've read by this author, the first being Tuesday Morning. It is Christian fiction, my favorite genre, and these 2 books are about September 11th. I love how one of the main characters (who died) kept a detailed journal and wrote notes in his Bible that his wife was able to read after his death. What a legacy!

I'll tag Sherri over at Our Place and Christie over at Boys+ Academy

Dana over at Rare and Beautiful Treasures tagged me for my very first meme! (It's been so nice to be have so many people reading and commenting on my blog lately!) (By the way, what does meme mean?) So, here are 5 reasons why I blog:

1. I blog to keep a scrapbook/yearbook of our homeschooling experience. I love to scroll back through the pages and see what we've done. I especially love looking at the photos! And, I did print off all the photos from last year and put them in a "Kindergarten Scrapbook", although there aren't any words in it at this point. Someday...
2. My blog is where I can go to look up resources we've used. For example, with St. Patrick's Day coming up, I went back to last year's posts and read about what we did and, especially, what books we enjoyed. I've checked them out to read again this year.
3. I blog in the hope that other people who read my blog find my resources useful. I try to post book lists, websites, even photos, in the hopes that others can use them.
4. I blog because I love to get inspired by other people's blogs. I'm hoping someone might get inspired by mine!
5. I blog so our school can touch more than just my daughter and myself. I want to share what we're learning! And, share that learning can be fun! And, that there are so many ways to learn!

I'm not sure who to "tag." I've just started reading so many new blogs in the past couple of weeks and am enjoying them all. So, if you read this consider yourself tagged and let me know if you post something on your blog!