The Latest Children's Book Series

The current book series Kitty is reading is Around the World in 80 Mysteries from the Carole Marsh Mysteries Collection.

Through these books, children can travel along with the kids in the series, to places all over the world - England, France, Rome, Egypt, China, Australia, Japan, Romania, Greece, South America, Germany, Africa, and Antarctica!

Each book has at least five SAT words, which are highlighted within the chapter and further defined in the glossary. There's lots of neat activities and challenges on the publisher's website, which adds even more fun for readers!

#1 The Mystery of Big Ben - Completed Summer 2009

#2 The Mystery at the Eiffel Tower - Completed Summer 2009

#3 The Mystery at the Roman Colosseum - Completed Summer 2009

#4 The Mystery at the Ancient Pyramid - Completed Summer 2009

#5 The Mystery on the Great Wall of China - placed an order at our local Barnes and Noble (they only have one of the CMMs in the store) - Completed Fall 2009

#6 Great Barrier Reef - Completed Fall 2009

#7 Mount Fuji - Completed Fall 2009

#8 Amazon Forest - Completed Fall 2009

#9 Dracula’s Castle - Completed Fall 2009

#10 Ancient Acropolis - ordered

#11 Crystal Castle - ordered

#12 Icy Antarctica - ordered

#13 The Rip Roaring Mystery on the African Safari - ordered

#14 The Breathtaking Mystery on Mt. Everest - ordered

Redesign Satisfied

I was talking to my husband today about eating healthy, cooking healthy, snacking healthy etc. and one interesting thing we discussed is the tendency to drop healthy eating goals when we become stressed.

Something occurred to me during the discussion and I said, the solution is that we need to redefine satisfied.

Many of us are so used to expecting not only a full stomach after a meal, but also a feeling of mmmm that was so tasty! It's almost like a lust, and in many ways it is a lust. I'm sure you can relate. There are some meals that can just pop into our minds and all of a sudden we have to have it, no matter the cost. The danger is when we move into do this daily and even planning our weekly meals based on the need to satisfy the mmm-mmm-good feeling.

The concept is actually quite powerful and can be applied to many aspects of life.

With our meals, as we redefine satisfied, we will begin to plan based on the desire to eat good, healthy foods, to feed our body's need to grow, sustain strength, and maintain stamina. Our body's desire to live longer and enjoy life.

In our marriages, as we redefine satisfied, we will begin to give (and PLAN) to give based on our spouse's need. We will begin to appreciate a loving healthy relationship based on commitment, through Christ, unconditional love and fulfilling God's desire for us to be together longer, enjoying marriage for life!

Redefine what you call SATISFIED in your eating and in your relationships!
(more to come, just had to jot down the thoughts I had initially)

Yogurt, Granola, Paper Towels, Bleach

I hate being sick, I hate feeling blah, bad, blue, ..... blah blah blah!!!!!

Well, that's what I've been dealing with the past couple of days, especially when I go to bed and when I wake up. Part of it is physical (headache, allergies) and part is emotional/spiritual, I know.

And I also know what I need to do for the emotional/spiritual part but it's so hard sometimes to push through all the junk and trust God. It's definitely a stronghold. I am determined to conquer it though. Oh did I say "I am"? Big mistake! Okay... I am determined to trust God to conquer it and inject me with his strength.

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What else is going on today?

The two oldest are working on math, which will be followed by spelling, then independent reading. Three year old is working with her shapes poster and building things upon it, one year old is playing with everything he can find, pulling papers off the wall, which I had posted there for CC class this week, eating crackers, etc. I promised them they could watch Dinosaur Train at 1:30, if they finish all their work and have good behavior. After that, we'll review our CC memory work from Week 3.

I hope to at least feel up to stepping out of the house this afternoon and maybe attend a class at 24 Hour Fitness. That may be pushing it today. If not today, then tomorrow. I planned to take a hip-hop class last night but I didn't know that class fed from the previous class and when I walked in a couple of minutes before the posted class time, they were already about four 8-counts into the routine. I said "oh no, I can't keep jump in here." Maybe next time.

Why this title? On 9/15/09, I decided to add an entry from time to time titled based on the thing that I just noticed we're out of and need very soon....

.... laundry detergent
.... lunch meat

Laundry Detergent and Lunch Meat

I haven't taken much time to blog lately and among many other reasons, one is that I am not sure what to write about. Lots of ideas come to me throughout the day but I rarely sit down to develop further them.

So I decided to add an entry from time to time titled based on the thing that I just noticed we're out of and need very soon....

.... laundry detergent
.... lunch meat

I'm home for a couple of hours while the kids are away and I'm preparing for tomorrow's class. Hit the store, bought several things, some of which I really need, about the same amount that I didn't (necessarily) have to have today. Neither was laundry detergent or lunch meat. LOL.

Took the puppy outside to potty and run around a bit, gave her a new chew bone, fought to get her leash off her neck without her running all over the house (she's getting really big), before getting her back into the kennel.

Now back to work. I only have about 30 minutes left, yikes!!

Homeschool Update: This week we're one week 3 of Classical Conversations and I absolutely love it. In addition to CC, we're doing AVKO Sequential Spelling, Saxon Math 5/4, Story of the World (History) and literature from the Robinson Curriculum.

Church Fellowship Update: This past week our discussion was life-changing (as most of God's word is). The topic was the Fruit of the Spirit. Jeoff facilitated, the children participate and we had several family members share testimonies and encouragement from the word and real life as well. Rich rich rich!