I've been tagged

Dawn from KnittinWolf tagged me:

1- What’s your staple meal (ie. what meal do you cook most often when you can’t be bothered to be adventurous) ? Something Mexican: Burritos, Tacos, Fajitas!

2- What do you want to be when you grow up? My Gram!

3- What book are you reading at the moment (if any)? I just finished reading Five Sacred Crossings. It was a great novel. A quick read and still lots of information. I'm reading Facing Your Giants with my couple's small group. And I've just downloaded Radical...it was $2.49 for the audio!

4- How do you relax? Relax, what's that? I copied that from Dawn. ;0) I knit!!! That's what keeps my sanity.

5- What color are the interior walls of your home? My kitchen is Sun Shimmer, my entry, hall, & living room are Mushroom Basket, the boy's room is Light Almond on the top third and Gristmill on the bottom, My girl's room is Delicate Vine, my bedroom is Dessert Fawn with Ravenwood on the wall behind our bed, the bathrooms are Hayseed and Sienna Sand, the Garage is Faded Jeans and Summer Fog (the trusses are painted Wayfarer Gray). All colors are Frazee Paint. ;0) Is it disgusting that I know all the colors still? I used to pick paint colors at work.

6- What is your guiltiest pleasure? Dove Dark Chocolate!

7- What time is bedtime and getting up time? Bedtime is 10:30pm or sometimes later....getting up time is around 7 am. I tried getting up earlier, but then I'd wake the kids and my quiet time is gone and they are cranky for being up too early.

8- How long do you spend reading blogs (per day or per week)? Right now, probably an hour every morning....that's going to have to change again when school starts in the fall again.

My selections for the next round of "tagging"are:

Well...I don't really know who I would tag. If you're reading this and feel like playing along please do...just leave me a comment so I know to go look at your list.

Cyberbullying

Yesterday we were at the park. Another mom thought she saw my kids hitting their friend with sticks. They boys play a game where they throw a stick and the doggie (a little girl) fetches the stick and brings it back in her mouth. Not my favorite game, but they are using their imaginations...they've played this game for a while now. The other mom, instead of coming over and talking to me about the questionable behavior, posted to a message board about the 2 boys that were harassing the other kids at the park. You guessed it...MINE. I really struggled with what to think. I asked the boys if they hit other kids with sticks. They confessed to poking kids and saying "Get Back!" when the other kids were throwing wood chips at them and at the girls my boys were playing with (my friend's girls). If the kids we were with had been hurt or offended, the would have stood up for themselves, or come and told me. I struggle with who to believe, my own kids or the observations of the other mom at the park.

After a night to sleep on it, I'm thinking that it's not just teens that need lessons in cyberbullying. Had this mom come to me at the park, I could have talked to my kids right then. Instead, her words are posted across the internet. I have a friend on that message board who lovingly told me what was being said about my kids. I do want to know if my kids are doing something wrong. But internet posts are not the way to accomplish that. In fact, her words were not directed to me, but to another group. In the same way that she thought my kids were harassing others at the park, she is harassing us in a digital medium. Gossip. She didn't come to me...instead, she told others about me.

What I saw was that my boys were constantly being bombarded with wood chips. At 7 & 8, they know that throwing wood chips or sand is not allowed and if/when I catch them throwing things, I'll load them back up in the car and take them home. What the other parents saw was not their kids throwing wood chips, but my kids yelling at them (after being pelted with wood chips). I'd yell too if someone threw something at me. Another small child yanked my 7's sunglasses off his head and broke them into 2 pieces. That mom just watched it happen and did nothing. I hate to say it, but I'm ready for those kids to go back to school. I miss the 9 months of the year when we homeschoolers have the run of the parks, libraries, museums, and such to ourselves.

My boys could have benefited at the park, learning that their behavior was scaring other kids and changing. This would have allowed them to grow their character in the situation. Instead, the conversation is happening without us. Ephesians 4:29 – “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.”

Beach Day!

I've been a bad So.Cal mommy. It shouldn't be possible to live 45 minutes from the water and not spend summers at the beach. However, until today I hadn't taken my kids to the beach. Well, we've been to the beach...but I'd find places like Santa Monica where we could walk on the grassy area, enjoy a picnic, and see the waves, but I didn't have to worry about my children drowning. Today we went to Corona Del Mar...one of my all time favorite beach cities. A friend invited us and she chose this little cove that I wouldn't have found without her directions. I'm sure I drove right past it a million times. We arrived at 9:30 and it was cloudy. I wasn't too disappointed because the clouds made the beach less crowded...and we were less likely to go home with sunburns. It was low tide and the tide pools were perfect for viewing. This area of beach is protected, so there were rules on not taking anything from the tide pools and being careful around the living things. Here's 7 looking for crabs and anemones.

I took my knitting...here's proof. M took this less than stellar photo of me, but I'll share it with you anyway. I cut my friend out of the photo for the blog...she looked great. Me...even the kids said, "What's with that funny face you're making mom?" M really should let me know when he's taking photos of me.

I'm making good progress on the shawl. I'm at around 225 sts. I need to be at 366 before starting the lace.

After lunch it started to warm up and the sun came out from behind the clouds. I took my sweats off from over my swim suit. I waded in the water and took a walk on the beach with 7. Then 8 borrowed this boogie board from his friend and fell in LOVE with riding the waves. I got a little wet taking this pic, but it was so worth it!!!

And yes, 5 is missing from the photos. She's vacationing in Napa again. I think I was braver about going to the beach since I was only watching 2 and they can swim.

Summer Reading

Today we signed up for the summer reading contest at the library. My favorite thing as a kid was the summer reading contests. I remember winning once for the most books read. I think now they award the kids for minutes read and there's not one big winner. In 4th and 5th grade it was hard to find me NOT with my nose in a book. This summer will be 8's summer. He's finally reading at a level that he doesn't want me to stop him in the middle of a chapter. In years past, he would read until the timer beeped and then stop. Even if he was in the middle of a short book. Just a few months ago, he was reading when I called him to dinner. He brought the book with and after finishing his meal...I found him like this.

7 is enjoying reading...but still prefers to read a book he's read before so he knows all the words. 5 is just learning to read, but already I can see how different it will be to teach a girl to read. I'm reading Little House in the Big Woods to her out loud right now. We're going to be doing a fun Little House Camp with some friends in July. And finally, I'm reading Five Sacred Crossings myself right now. I borrowed it from a friend.

So...what were your favorite books as a kid? What are you reading now? Anything I really should get my hands on to read to the kids? What should I pick as my next book?

Keeping it real...

It's hard to post when I feel pretty blah. I will tell you about all the good things going on. Making a list of the good things helps me to smile.

I've been knitting. I'm making good progress on the brown shawl. I decided that the little hole wasn't that big of a deal. Apparently it's not so hard to count to 4 when you're not taking pain killers. I took that with me when I was at the hospital last Wednesday for a test. I had several hours of waiting. I'm even able to work on my socks. I'm 75% done with the 2nd of my Spring Forward socks. I took those to the lab while I waited for a blood draw and to the bank while I waited to set up an IRA. I'm so encouraged by my progress that I'm going to pull out my Hoodie (I'm close to putting the pieces together and starting the hood). I've got an Ishbel that's already to the lace too. Yeah for some fun knitting. And yeah that I'm able to knit.

I came home from a Mary Kay meeting with 5 bottles of salad dressing. My director's DIL works for Bolthouse Farms and had tons of their yogurt based dressing to give away.

Yesterday, Marie Grace of Marie Grace Designs emailed me and I won the Summer 2010 issue of Living Crafts.

It's June. I actually love June gloom. I enjoy the 'marine layer' that keeps our mornings cool and allows for drinking lots of hot coffee. I enjoy that it heats up in the afternoon. It's not blistering like in August, and it cools off again in the evenings. I think June has perfect weather.

I have 800 Swagbucks. I earned 25 swagbucks for one of my searches today. Usually it's more like 6. It's slow, but I think I might just be able to buy each kid a gift by Christmas...and just because I use something other than google. If you'd like to sign up too, I can get bonus bucks for your searches. See the widget at the bottom of my page.

I'll keep it little at the bottom here, but I'm kindof sad (ok a lot sad) that M didn't get the job he interviewed for. Ok...my heart knows that this probably wouldn't have been the best fit for our family. I'm just so ready to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Blog reading and a cup of Joe...

This morning I'm starting my day with a special cup of coffee. My brother bought me 12 oz of Reservoir Coffee to go with the coffee pot for my birthday. My brother's friend from Kindergarten has started his own roasting company. They've been doing this for awhile, but this is my first experience with the coffee. They roast in small batches, and most deliveries are made on Sunday to friends at church. The coffee is fresh. This batch is organic and fair trade.

You can order from their blog. If you enjoy your coffee and can appreciate the taste nuances like some appreciate the subtle undertones in a glass of wine...then this is your coffee.

What I'm reading...well, that's changed a lot lately. I know I'm not always the best at keeping posts current. It seems like that's a trend too. Some of my old favorites aren't blogging anymore. Who I can count on...Karen @ Surviving Motherhood (a mommy blog), Channon (a knitting blog), Tammy @ Daisy Yellow (an art blog), and Ree @ the Pioneer Woman (a homeschooling/cooking/cowboy blog). But this doesn't express it all. My google reader has too many blogs. I read Christian Mom blogs to encourage me. I read knitting blogs because I have no local knitting group. I read art blogs to inspire me. I read homeschool blogs to gather ideas and so that I don't feel like I'm alone. I read cooking blogs because I'm bored with what we eat. So there you have it. My morning cup of Joe and some reading. Who do you read? Why do you read?