Coffee Talk 2.25.11

Good morning, Company Girls!

Last week was one of "those" weeks and I never got around to posting. I tried to visit a few of you but didn't get far. I look forward to visiting this week! Grab a bottle of water and try to ignore the stink. I just finished shredding and I wanted to get this up quick before the kiddos wake up...they will be so thrilled when they see I let them sleep in a bit!

Last week was purely awful around here and by Thursday, I was in a bit of break down mode. In fact, I may or may not have hidden myself in the laundry room for a good cry. The fact was, that there were lots of little circumstances that were TOTALLY out of my control. I couldn't fix anything and that is a very frustrating feeling. In the midst of my breakdown (okay, temper tantrum) I remembered the words of my verse I am working on. It is really simple, but oh, so freeing.

"The Lord will fight for you, you need only to be still" Exodus 14:14 Isn't that beautiful. I don't HAVE to control everything, I just need to be still. And that is just what I did. By Saturday, most of the little things had either worked out or I had a peace about them. Y'all, ONLY God can do that!

Anyway, this week has been better. It has only involved a couple of minor breakdowns over the fact that my 13 year old will be in high school next year (gasp!) and he is still struggling mightily with math. After a lot of prayer and deliberation, we decided to continue home schooling him through high school and I would be lying if I didn't say I am TERRIFIED! From now on, all my mistakes will be on HIS permanent record! As home schoolers, we tend to take a lot of blame and responsibility on ourselves and I have to keep reminding myself, "be still".

Our biggest issue is math...and the fact that we have to get FB through four year of H.S. math that even I don't understand. We are struggling and I am stressing about curriculum and meeting his needs and not putting him into therapy when he is older. "Be still."

In other happenings, we are in our final week of Upward. It has been a fun season as Dancer has been cheering with one of her dearest friends:

And BB has been showing out with some mean defense. On the whole...their team is AWFUL, although, two weeks ago, they didn't have to erase the score at half time and last week we WON!!!

Next Thursday, that little guy will turn 11 years old. ELEVEN...I can hardly believe how fast the time has gone. He has convinced Tigerfan to take off work so he can skip tutorial on his birthday and we will celebrate at the Chinese Buffet. He is SO excited about this birthday...and I better treasure these moments, because all too soon they will be gone. Last night, he decided his career ambitions are to be an animal photographer and travel around the world taking pictures of exotic animals. You know, he just might do it.

Next weekend, we will be the host home for 10th grade boys for a youth event at our church. Any advice is welcome!

Not much else to say around here...I need to go wake the troops and feed the dog (unless someone would like to volunteer to take her...I am accepting most offers). I'll leave you with a little laugh. Last week for Bible, we made a laugh medicine jar. The children were looking for jokes to put in it and these were a couple of their favorites. (Yes, I realize they are a bit on the tacky level, but if you could have heard the giggles of BB the rest of the day as he thought of them, you could overlook that ).

Where does a bee use the restroom?

Answer: The BP station

What is green and has wheels?

Answer: Grass...I lied about the wheels

Have a great weekend and don't forget to check out Home Sanctuary.

Coffee Talk 2.11.11

Good Morning! I hope you all are warm and toasty because we are FREEZING here in West Tennessee. Several years ago, Tigerfan and I started saving to purchase new windows for our house. Each time we seem to have a little built up, something more pressing comes along...usually in the form of water leaks. This winter, we are feeling the lack of good windows. The thermometer says the house is a toasty 72 but my body's shaking and shivering says that 72 is leaking out and being replaced by the 4 degrees outside...and I don't like it!

As a result...I have found myself to be a bit of a slug this week. What is it about cold that makes you crave carbs? And if I am freezing and I know exercise will warm me up, why would I rather just sit under a blanket and freeze to death? It doesn't make sense...and yet, that is where I am!

So, grab a cup of hot chocolate, or I can even offer some powdered cappuccino for you coffee (and sugar) lovers! As for treats...I am trying to keep only healthy options around here...but hubby snuck in some chocolate last night and the grocery store had some DELICIOUS strawberries on sale yesterday, oh the joy!

Now, onto what is happening in the Tiger den...Last Tuesday at tutorial, Tigerteen got an assignment for Science. He had one week to build a balloon powered vehicle that will travel 5 meters (about 15 feet). Usually this would not be a big deal, but we were leaving Thursday afternoon to go to Louisiana and would not be returning until Monday. That gave us Wednesday to plan, buy supplies and build the car, which also could not have real wheels (it had to be non traditional, milk caps, cd's, etc.). By 10:00 Wednesday night we had the third model that would travel approximately 1 inch. I might have had some unkind things to say.

We left Thursday and drove out of the clear but cold weather in TN, straight into an ice storm in Louisiana...because who doesn't do that. We spent Friday iced in. However, the house we were staying at was blessed to have power all day, most of the town was not so lucky. By Saturday, the weather cleared and we were able to go visit Tigerfan's grandmother at the nursing home and get in a bit of shopping. Sunday, I was blessed, after church, to be able to visit with Mrs. Lea from CiCi's Corner. I had such an amazing time! In the true southern way...she had a "happy" for me that I totally have a picture of, unfortunately, it is locked in my camera and I still have not learned how to put them on here! One of these days, ladies, one of these days. Dancer went with me and while we visited, she was treated to rides around the neighborhood on the golf cart. She is already begging to go back! I was really blessed by the sweet fellowship. One of the "hazards" of home schooling is a tendency to become a bit isolated and when you are an introverted home body, it is even worse. The chance to just visit with another ADULT lady was AMAZING!!! Unfortunately, I didn't even bring my camera...but of course Mrs. Lea had one so go check her out, I am sure she has posted a picture or two.

We drove home Monday. Before we even got out of town, we began getting calls form home warning us about the weather. Jackson had been hit with another snow storm. Schools were being let out and the roads were awful. We began to wonder a) would we be able to GET home and b) why do we keep driving INTO the bad weather? We made it safely home and got to work on improving the car that was due the next day (the lady we stayed with had helped us a little and we came home with a new model that had potential) we got it to move a whopping 6 feet. I must admit to wishing tutorial would be cancelled giving us an extra week to work on it...and lo and behold, about 9:00 we got an email saying that due to the icy conditions, we would NOT have tutorial. I might have done the happy dance! Wednesday, it began snowing again. Thursday, tutorial was cancelled again. It has been a glorious week for a home body. However, this morning, I am COLD and ready for spring again!

This weekend will be packed with guitar lessons, basketball games (4 of them) and a party for a friend. Dance and an overnighter have been postponed so at least we can check a couple of activities off the list. So how about you...any exciting weekend plans? Oh, and if you happen to be a physicist and can give us a pointer on how to make this dadgum vehicle move farther than 6 feet...feel free to give us advice! Everyone else, have a great weekend and I look forward to visiting with y'all! Don't forget to check out Home Sanctuary for more Coffee Talk.