I probably should have said my husband “cracks me up” instead of “kills me”, but you get the idea. I never ceased to be amazed at the complexities of the male psyche. People say that women are the complex ones and we are hard to figure out, but I beg to differ. Men can be quite unique in their own right as well.

It never fails, anytime we have bought something that has to be put together or anything that comes with directions as to how it should be done, my DH will inevitably say, “This thing is crazy, who writes this stuff, I wonder if they have ever put anything together in their life”. Well, the other day we were watching, Jon and Kate Plus 8 (I love that show), and Jon was putting together some new bunk beds and the same thing happened. He exclaimed, “These directions don’t make any sense. I can do it better without any.” There it was, the male psyche at work. They hate following directions, they are so sure that they know how to do something and reading and following the directions would be some sort of blemish in their armour. God love ‘em!

Well, getting to the point of my husband killing me. He recently got a gps. We have affectionately named her, Doris(I can’t really remember why, but we did have reason). Whenever we are going anywhere and we aren’t really sure how to get there, we will plug her in and let her lead the way. Well, more times than not, she will send us down roads that don’t really even exist. Sometimes they are gravel, sometimes they are just plain dirt. My DH heads down these roads, against my urgent protesting, and doesn’t think a thing about it. Why is he so quick to follow this “thing” down an unknown road into who knows what, but he refuses to read directions? I don’t get it! They are definitely unique creatures!

Is it permissible to profile people based on geography!?!

I have been working on the lesson plans for my daughter’s Geography course next year, and I started thinking about how where you live, determines so much about who you are.

Having always lived in the south, I have a pretty good idea of what us southerners are like.  We are probably thought by some to be a little slow, a little behind in the grand scheme of things.  But in reality, we are usually very down to earth people who take things in stride.  That is unless you cross us on something that we feel very passionate about.  Then LOOK OUT!!!!! 

Now Yankees, is that politically correct, do northerners mind be called Yankees?!?  Well, until I find out, I will refer to them as Northerners, and by Northerners, I mean anyone living north of the Mason-Dixon line(where actually is the Mason Dixon Line? I have no idea)  Northerners are a different story.  They give the impression that they love a good fight and will gladly debate you on any issue at any time.  The Northerners I know are a bit loud and can, on occassion, come accross as a bit rude.  I’m sure this is not a flaw in their character at all, it is just the way that they perceive things.  We have some New Yorkers in our extended family, and my girls love it when we have big events that include them.  They think they are awesome.  They are quite unique and very interesting to observe.  Northerners can definitely get things done and they are usually go-getters and will succeed at any cost.

Now, Mid-Westerners, I really have no clue about them.  They are a true mystery.  Are they just a culmination of south and north or are they totally different?  I’m not really sure.

Californians and Floridians seem to be extremely diverse.  I once heard someone say that these two states are just melting pots, so they have no true profile of their own.  I’m sure native Californians and Floridians would disagree.  My best friend lives in Northern California and has her whole life, and my husband has family in Central/Southern California and both these families are as different as night and day.  I think California is definitely the most diverse region and can’t really be pegged as a certain type of people.

I am proud to be a Southerner.  I like the way we think and I like how we see life.  Sometime our southern slang makes teaching phonics a little difficult though.  We southerners do tend to make up our own language sometime .  I have told my girls that no matter where life takes them and no matter what state or even country they might live in, there are certain “southern heritages” that they simply can never lose:

1.  We southerners are never “about” to do anything, we are “fixin’ to”.

2.  At the grocery store, we push a “buggy”, not a cart.

3.  We NEVER say “you guys”, we say “ya’ll”.

4.  Southerners do not “carry”, we “tote”.

5.  We aren’t “related”, we are “kin”.

6.  And last, but not least, “boiled peanuts” are modern day manna from God.

I heard this question the other day and I have been tossing it around in my head every since.  Are we products of nurture or nature?  I know the Bible says we are sinners and basically wretched people in need of a Saviour.  I don’t really mean that.  I mean, are we who we are because it is in our nature or because of how we were brought up or what we were exposed to? 

In families, you see children that are as different as night and day.  That would make a strong case for “nature”, but also, kids within the same family do tend to be similar.  That would make a case for “nurture”.  I guess, it is just a mixture of the two. 

We are who we are based on so many things I guess.  Upbringing, I’m sure, has a great deal to do with it.  Values that are instilled in us by our parents will most assuredly affect who we become, but I also know that we end up as adults being extremely different than our parents in a lot of cases.  Environment is another biggie.  What and who we are exposed to definitely affects us in tremendous ways.

The Bible talks in great lengths about how we were formed by God and how He knew us even before we were in our mother’s womb.  That alone is a strong argument for “nature”.  He made each of us in His own image and He knew who and what we would be even before we were conceived.  I think that is a lot to take in.  He made us the way He intended us to be.  Although, we fail and even sin, that doesn’t change the fact that we are still created by Him, for His purpose.  We are each unique and designed by God.  Wow, that’s good stuff! 

I’m not sure though, that we can use that as an excuse when we fail to be all that we can be or when we aren’t loving or giving or patient, “Well, God made me this way, so I guess you just have to accept me the way I am”.  I think He expects us to still try to be the best “us” that we can be.  It bugs me when people say that it is not their “temperament” to be able to help people or to be kind or patient.  I hear alot, “It is just not my “gift”.”   I don’t buy that.  I think being “spirit filled” can make up for a lot of missing “gifts”.  If you don’t like the term “spirit filled”, even a willing and giving heart can make up for missing “gifts” or talents.

Well, that sounded a bit harsh and I’m not sure where it came from.  I guess it was just my “temperament” coming out.(just kidding!)

Nature or Nurture, that is something that I would love to really dive into and really do some exploring about, but this is not the time.  This is just a blog and not a thesis paper, aren’t you glad?!?

Thanks for stopping by

I wouldn’t call myself a “big” fan of reality shows, but I do find them to be a bit more interesting than a lot of stuff that these TV writers can come up with.  The problem is, the more reality TV shows I see, the more I question just how “real” they actually are.

Some of these game shows that they have been putting out there lately, completely annoy me.  I don’t even watch them, I just see the commercials and that is enough for me to realize how “unreal” they really are.  Unless they just happen to find the most charismatic people on the face of the earth, I highly doubt that any of it is in reality, reality. 

 That show, Deal or no Deal, is one example.  All of the contestants on that show are so, I don’t even know the word for it, I guess “out there” would be a good term.  I don’t see how it could be real.  They have to have been coached so much to make them actually react they way they do.  And another one is that newer show, I can’t think of the name of it, but you know, that one where you sit in a chair and they asked you all those “truth” questions.  Moment of Truth, that is it.  Either that show is not real or they have found some of the stupidest people on the face of the earth to compete.  Who in their right mind would agree to such torture?  It appears that they are willing to totally flush their whole life down the drain in order to try to win a certain amount of money.  Who would actually do that?!?  Maybe the world does have a lot of people that are crazier than I give them credit for .

We do happen to watch Survivor.  As a matter of fact, it is our favorite show.  We have watched it from the beginning and have followed each season so far.  It does appear to be completely spontaneous, but I’m sure it really isn’t.  We saw a special one time that showed how many takes they actually do in order to get some of the scenes just right for camera.  I am willing to put that aside and just enjoy the show though.  It may not actually be completely “reality” but it comes across as pretty close. 

I have been noticing that I have written frequently about TV lately.  It may seem that I watch a lot of TV, but in reality, that is not the case.  We usually turn it on at night once the kids are in bed and we flip channels and try to find something worth watching.  This time of year seems to be especially bad for TV, but every once in a while we do find something worthwhile.  The Braves are on pretty much every night, so that is my DH’s pick, and I am starting to get to learn some of the players, even though I totally hate professional baseball.  He will occasionally watch Hallmark with me, so I feel it is my duty to try to enjoy his baseball as well.

Well, that is about it.  I guess maybe I have turned to “TV talk” to try to get the ole’ brain working again.  Maybe soon the cobwebs will clear out and the brain will be totally unclogged(I think I just mixed a metaphor?!?).

Thanks for stopping by

It seems like I have been struggling to come up with anything to write about lately.  I feel like I have a “clogged brain”.  I hate it when that happens.  I have so many things on my mind lately that I can seem to get anything out.  It is definitely “clogged”.

I think the biggest “cloggers” for me are these:

Thinking about past mistakes.  I hate the idea of regrets.  It is not really in my personality to let this consume me, but on occasion, I allow myself to start thinking, “What if…”  It is usually about things that I should have done, but didn’t do.  I guess, as long as we can learn from our past mistakes and let experience be our teacher, then all is not in vain.  We can just move on from where we are and try to not repeat the past.

Another “clogger” is worrying about things that you can’t change.  I am not a worrier, by nature, but again, on occasion, this can be something that I have to fight my way through, especially lately.  We have been going through some tremendous stresses and upheavals and I know how I want things to be, but see no way to get those things to come to pass, so it is very frustrating. 

I love the old saying;  “That which does not kill me, makes me stronger.”  Well, I’m not dead yet, so I must be getting pretty strong!

Hello Friends!  I hope everyone had a nice long weekend.  I love it when there is a holiday on Friday or Monday.  It seems like you have so many days off.  I know it just adds one extra day to the weekend, but it always seems like more to me.

We had a pleasant time, pretty uneventful, but nice.  We had a small family thing on Friday at my in-laws and then had some friends over on Saturday for grilling, swimming, homemade ice-cream.  I so enjoy just getting a few families together and just “hanging out”.  We really have some great families in our life to socialize with.  

We live very close to a “celebrity” that has his own fireworks show on the 4th, so we were able to watch his big display on Friday night from our bedroom window and we also live across the street from a park that shoots their fireworks off on the 5th, so we were able to watch them from the front porch on Saturday night. 

I like fireworks, but since we practically lived at Disney for a year, and saw their indescribable fireworks a multitude of times, it kinda puts all other fireworks in a whole different league.  Nothing can compare to the nightly fireworks, “Wishes”, that Disney puts on behind the castle. 

We also were at Mount Rushmore one year at night and they shot fireworks off above the giant carvings, and that was truly spectacular.  It was one of those moments where you hope you can somehow manage to never forget the emotions that come welling up inside you.

Don’t you just love it when you are experiencing something and you know that it will turn into one of the memories that you just look back on in the many years to come with such nostalgia.  That sounds kinda lame, I know, but I love “making memories”.  I guess it is because you can take them with you anywhere you go.  No matter where you are or what you are doing, you can find a moment of solace and quiet contentment just from bringing back a memory of good times past.  Man, I sound like a sap.  Oh well, what can you do!?!

Thanks for stopping by

You might be thinking, from the title, that this is going to be cynical, but don’t worry it’s not.

I have had the privilege of traveling over much of the United States.  There are only 5 states that I have not been able to visit yet, but maybe one day.  America has so many breath-taking sights and I love that.  You know my tag line is “Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take but by the moments that take our breath away”.  I guess it could say “sights” that take our breath away too.  I could start naming some of my favorites, but it would probably take too long.  I will say that NOTHING compares to the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific coastline.  I saw the Rocky Mountains first as a 10 year old kid, and the feeling of awe has stayed with me.  When I saw it again at 35, the same sense of overwhelm returned.  Tears come to my eyes at the sheer beauty of it.  I saw the Pacific coastline for the first time in 2002 and it was almost the same feeling.  It is truly magnificent.  God sure is talented .

Anyway, I got an e-mail from my cousin the other day,(one of my favorite people on the planet! “Hey Sha-She”) and it had this website attached to it. It is absolutely beautiful and I thought I would share it.  Make sure you have your sound on.

http://oldbluewebdesigns.com/mybeautifulamerica.htm

Hello friends!  My blog-buddy, 2 Kid Schoolhouse, tagged me today.  I must admit that I have never been “tagged”, but it looks like fun, so I will surely give it a try.

The Rules:

1. Post the rules at the beginning
2. Answer the questions only about yourself
3. At the end of the post, tag five people and post their names, then go to their blogs and leave them a comment so they know they’ve been tagged.  Ask them to read the sender’s blog.
4. Let the person who tagged you know you’ve posted your answer

What were you doing five years ago?

5 years ago, well let’s see.  Pretty much the same thing that I am doing now.  I was living in a different house, but in the same town we live in now.  I was helping my DH run our own landscape business, and back then we had 7, 10, and 12 year old daughters.  Wow, that part has changed ALOT.  It is amazing how only 5 years can make a huge difference in kids.

What are five things on your “to-do” list for today?(Unlike my “tagger”, I love “to-do” lists.)

1. Do laundry
2. Work on my lesson plans for this upcoming school year
3. Help DH haul off old scrap-metal
4. Cook supper(Mexican is on the schedule for tonight my favorite)
5. Try to find some brain power so I can start writing some “read-worthy” posts again.  It was been a while and I am starting to get withdrawals.  I think my brain has taken a leave of absense in the writing dept.

What are five snacks you enjoy? 

1. Boiled P-nuts! Oh my goodness, don’t even get me started
2. Granny-smith apples with caramel dipping sauce
3. Cotton-Candy
4. Toasted coconut clusters
5. Creme’ Brulee

What are five things you would do if you were a billionaire?  (First of all, I don’t want money.  From what I can tell, it causes too many problems and some people tend to become something “ugly” once lots of money is involved.) But………..

1. I would definitely give most of it away.  I would love to start and fund orphanages in many foreign lands around the world
2. Start a reasonable trust fund for my girls education
3. Pay off any debt for me and my immediate family
4. Buy a new camper
5. Invest some for future use

What are five of your bad habits?  (These may not actually be habits, they may be character flaws or down-right sins )

1. I don’t like to clean.  I love to organize and straighten up, but not clean.  So this means that you would rarely find my home in disarray and things out of place, they just may be covered in dust
2. I tend to be a bit cynical
3. I am not very patient with others
4. I tend to not forgive very easily or at least not “forget”.(You know the saying, “Hurt me once, shame on you, Hurt me twice, shame on me.)
5. I don’t think of myself as being very friendly.  I don’t really enjoy too many people and I rarely just start up conversations with people.

Okay, hold on a minute.  Give me a second to recover from all of that confession.

What are five places where you have lived?

1. Austell, GA
2. Crown Point, IN
3. Dallas, GA
4. Davenport, FL
5. Powder Springs, GA

What are five jobs you’ve had?

1. Bank Teller
2. Nurse’s Assistant
3. Sales Rep for a children’s clothing line
4. “Office Manager” for home business
5. Housewife/Homeschool Mom

Well, that ’s about it.  Now I have to tag 5 people.  Let’s see…..Who to tag?  Who to tag?  I will pick the five bloggers that I actually know, but if you are reading this and want to play along, feel free, just leave me a comment and let me know to read your answers on your blog.

Little Sanctuary

Little Matters, Much Faith

Learning As I Go

Sherri’s Thoughts

Sonflower

No, this is not an ad taken out by my husband

We sometime watch the show “Wife Swap”.  I’m not sure what day or what time it comes on, but I know it is on ABC.  Anyway, it isn’t really what it sounds like. It is not an immoral show where people actually swap wives.  It is really more like “mom-swapping”.  Each show two moms from across the country swap lives for 2 weeks.  They usually pick moms that are quite different, to say the least.  I have two big problems with this show. 

They often pick a “home-school” family to be one of the families.  The problem is, they rarely pick a typical HS family.  And by typical, I mean HS families like mine and most I know.  They get families that really don’t teach at all.  They are usually very lazy and dirty and never really get anything done.  Is that how society views us?  Are we lazy, careless, mindless freaks in their eyes?!?  No wonder there is so much controversy now days about home-schooling and people thinking that the government needs to raise it’s control over it.  If the world sees us as most shows portray us, then yes, we are definitely freaks to them.

 I think some of the greatest misconceptions about homeschoolers are these: 

1 - We are lazy, and we rarely actually teach our kids anything.  We keep them at home so we don’t have to fool with the school system. 

2 - Our kids are seldom exposed to those outside our home, hence the whole “socialization” issue. 

 3 - We aren’t really qualified to teach our own kids.  Do we even have a certificate proving that we are qualified?  Let me just “camp” here a bit.  Don’t most parents teach their own kids to talk, eat, dress themselves, walk, run, ride a bicycle, swim, play sports, hygiene, health matters, acceptable behavior, etc?  Parents teach their kids the most important things in life, the things that they truly need to succeed in their futures.  Why is it so absurd to think that they actually might be able to teach them how to read and write, how to do math, work on a computer, history, geography, nature and so forth? 

 In rebuttal to the first two misconceptions as well, homeschoolers are some of the hardest working people I know.  It would be a lot less trouble to just put our kids in school and not worry about it.  And 2nd, most homeschoolers I know are extremely involved in outside activities.  Not to the point where it diminishes the family time, but outside involvement and time with friends is rarely an issue that needs attention. 

The second big problem I have with this show is that they always portray the SAHM as some sort of slave that needs freeing.  I know that sometimes as wives and mothers we need a break and we need to have some interests of our own, but what is wrong with enjoying just taking care of your family?  On TV, they seem to portray it as a negative thing like we are forced to just be “barefoot and pregnant” washer women.  I happen to consider it an extremely high-calling to be the keeper of the home and I take great pride in my work as a wife and mother.  I think it is a learned craft to be able to successfully run a home, and have it run smoothly and efficiently, and it is an extremely fulfilling and rewarding occupation too.

I know with all of these negatives, you are probably wondering why I even bother to watch this show.  Well, it really is an interesting show, but also I do enjoy having my feathers ruffled sometime, it gives me material for my blog .  Has anyone seen that soap-box!?!

I had the strangest thing happen to me yesterday.

I was at Sam’s buying some groceries. They had a display of these stoneware pots, like you would put out in your yard, sitting at the end of one of the aisles.  They  had them stacked sitting on a wooden pallet, so they weren’t very sturdy(I didn’t realize this until later).  My mother wanted some to put around her pool, so I was trying to get some down.  They were 16 inches in diameter and they were stacked in each other in about 5 feet tall high rows.  They were stuck together, I guess because of the weight of each one, so when I tried to pull out the top one, the whole row came crashing down.  I tried to balance myself and I reached for another row and ended up pulling it down too. 

Long story short, I am laying on my back on the floor of Sam’s with about 20 stoneware pots scattered all around and on top of me.  It was such a surreal moment.  I was embarrassed, shocked and in pain all at the same time.  The first thing that I heard was someone saying, “Are you okay, because you could probably get a settlement out of this.”  That made me quickly jump to my feet and say that I was fine.

I’m not sure why it upset me so much, but the thought that someone would immediately go to that, made me feel sick at my stomach.  I’m not saying that in a very serious circumstance getting a “settlement” wouldn’t be necessary for some people, but the fact that people immediately jump at the chance of suing someone in hopes of getting money for just a simple accident, is beyond me.  I don’t think it is right when there is some sort of “incident” and the first thing people see is $’s.

I wonder if that is part of the reason that our society is in the shape that it is in today.  What kind of values and character are we teaching our kids that they will someday spread to their kids and on and on? 

Well, I am fine this morning.  I have a few black and blue spots on me and I feel pretty sore, but that is pretty much the extent of it. 

This may be a little controversial and you may feel completely different from me, but I hope that we can succeed in trying to live our lives by a certain standard and suing people to get something for nothing is not the way that I want to live or teach my kids to live. 

I would love to hear your thoughts on this, I know you have some!