The Easel

I've been wanting an easel for quite awhile now.  I wanted to be able to prop up books of art like Monet and Van Gogh so the kids can become familiar with them.  I wanted to be able to prop up the white board for demonstrations, or to prop up other educational posters.  I had bought one at the office store.  The legs were made of aluminum, I think.  They were so thin and wobbly.  Clearly, it was meant for a nice calm office with a few calm adults and not a room full of homeschooled kids!  So I took it back before it got broken.  One day last spring, the kids made little table easels at Home Depot in the kids workshop.  I love them!  I can prop up small books on the table now!  Then I went to my friend's house and they had one just like it only bigger!  So I studied it and measured it and bought the supplies.  We finally got it built last weekend!  It wasn't as easy as I thought it would be, a lot of trial and error, but we did it and I love it!  Here it is, being put to good use:

A special thanks to Dancing Bear who perservered in finishing it for me in time for our first day of school!

We painted the girls' room!

I know I said I wanted to learn or do something new every week.  Ok, so that was a big order.  But, I am doing plenty of firsts this summer, and I will be posting them here. 

The first time I have ever prepared and painted a room! We had to remove the wallpaper, back in March.   Wallpaper Removal

It took a lot more time to scrape off the teeny tiny bits of stubborn wallpaper that you could hardly see, but would mess up a paint job.  I learned about TSP and that helped a lot, getting off more that I hadn't seen!  But, another delay in painting.  Then the taping, buying supplies, picking out paint, and we were finally ready!  Two coats of paint w/ the primer mixed in.  Here are the pictures.  My girls were so happy to get their room back in order.  Their stuff was in the closet for months!

 

The closet, a little darker shade:

Putting the bed together:

All done!

The purple came out a little darker than I had expected, but they love it.  We will be getting pretty curtains and bedding, and another bed for little sister, too! Probably bunkbeds, as a trundle would take up too much room in there.  It is only about 10 x 7 not counting the closets!

Yosemite 2009 Slideshow!

Going Camping

I haven't even posted our Yosemite photos yet, and we are going on another camping trip.  I did make a neat slideshow on Photobucket, and have tried to post it here, on Blogger and Facebook, but it just is not working.  Not only that, but my Nikon is still in the shop.  The good news is, the repair will be covered under the warranty!!  I am soooooo happy about that!  Thankfully, my daughter has a camera so we will at least have that and someday, I'll post pics of this trip.  We are going to Sequoia National Park, our first time ever!  We plan to go see General Sherman, the oldest living Sequoia, about 2000 years old!

I better get to packing, we want to get there before dark!

Homeschool Convention

Last weekend, I went to my first ever homeschool convention.  I can't believe it has taken me nine years since I started homeschooling, to go to one!  It was awesome!  Just being around so many homeschoolers was a great encouragement.  The workshops, with speakers on various topics, were informative, encouraging, funny...  I found some great deals in the used book area.  I got the A Beka Biology set for my high schooler for $12!!  It is about $150 new!  Walking through the vendors was fun and I spent a little more than I had planned, but I pretty much stayed on my list :)  It was very crowded, and  a little difficult maneuvering my small wheeled suitcase around, which  was very helpful in holding all of the books I bought!

What really struck me, was that I had never been with so many homeschoolers before.  And I don't think I  had ever heard speakers talk strictly about homeschooling.  They talked about the trials and joys of homeschooling, and were very encouraging and made me laugh and cry.  If you can ever get to just one homeschool convention, do it! 

 

World's Best Potato Salad

Sorry Mom!  :)  I was at my friend L's house last week.  I was watching her make potato salad for her family's camping trip.  When she was done, she offered me a small bowl.  It was sooo good!  For the next several days, I kept thinking about it, practically tasting it. I needed that recipe!!!  So she emailed it to me, and I made it yesterday.  It was a huge bowl of potato salad! DB loved it, too.  We had a little as a midnight snack.  As we were going to bed, he said, "I can't get over that potato salad!" :)   So I thought I'd better share it here.  Sorry, no picture.  You'll just have to make it yourself to see it :)

8-10 red potatoes (medium) or 5-6 russets
Medium onion chopped small  (I used a couple of green onions)
6 hard cooked eggs chopped
6 big dill pickles chopped  (yes, 6! the secret ingredient!)
4-5 stalks celery chopped, small
Squirt around the bowl of mustard J ( approx. 1 Tblsp.)
½ cup mayonnaise or more to make it nice and moist. (I needed more than 1/2 cup)
Salt to taste – start with 2 tsp.  (L used the kind you pick up with your fingers)
Pepper – 1 tsp.
 
Cover potatoes with water and heat to boil.  Cook for approxx. 20 minutes or until soft, but not mushy all the way through.  Pull out and cool on paper towels.  Peel russets, but don’t have to peel red potatoes.  Cube in bowl.  Add all other chopped ingredients, mix in mayo and mustard well.  Add salt and pepper.

Italics mine.

Happy 4th of July!!

Today, our beloved country is 233 years old!  Such a very young country, but with so much history!  I was telling my kids last night that I remember when we celebrated the Bicentennial way back in 1976.  I was in 8th grade.  I don't remember much except the special quarters with the patriotic symbols on the back.  Can anyone remember what that was without looking? :)  So then we started talking about the Tricentennial.  One of my dear, smart children  asked when that will be, but we won't talk about that :)  They were figuring out how old they will be, and realized that they could possibly be around to celebrate it!!!  (If the Lord hasn't come by then, of course). My oldest will be 81, then 79 (almost 80), 78, 76, & 74. Makes me shudder thinking about them that old!!

Ok, with that, here is our favorite patriotic picture, taken in Sept 2001, about one week after 9/11, while were camping in Mt. Shasta. The giant flag belonged to the campers across from us.