The Inspiration (Embarassment??) That I Need???

OH. MY. WORD. I can't EVEN believe I'm blogging about this, but since I'd rather blog than clean, well, here I am. Actually, I'm hoping to shame myself into action. This is nasty stuff, y'all.

Below: This is our (potentially) lovely (ahem) schoolroom. Kids computer desk is in front of the big window. Usually the shades are drawn, to prevent the distraction of ultra exciting things like trash trucks going by. When we first moved in, it was the excitement of the dump trucks and excavators zipping down the road that kept them from looking down at their desks.
Below: This is my desk with windows behind it. I usually keep my shades drawn too ... I guess ADD runs in the family. Actually, I wisely got top-down/bottom-up shades, so I can lower the shades from the top and let the light in without any of us sitting there all day with our chin in our hands & elbows on the desk. Shoot - this just reminded me that I never fixed the curtains after the painters came back through for our punch list items. Guess it's one of those things that I just walk past and don't even notice anymore. Will fix that in time for our "after" shots.
Below: These windows face the front of our house ... the 8 shaped things above the whiteboard are from LAST September! Oh me, oh my. They are from the homeschool convention where we heard Dianne Craft's awesome seminars about boys & their brains & learning & fattening up their cortex with fish oil. Shame on me. I've forgotten all of her stuff - and it was SO insanely good. I need a refresher course at http://www.diannecraft.org/. The tall bookshelf on right has our history & geography materials.
Below: These are the shelves behind Pop Up's desk that house all of our science & math goodies. Under the window is the shelf where all of our library books are SUPPOSED to be.

Below: My desk with grammar, creative writing, Latin, some Bible and music stuff on the shelves behind it.
Below: Closer inspection of my desk. Oh, and just FYI, this is NOT the desk where I am currently seated -- all this stuff ran little ole me right out of MY desk and I have now taken over a spare desk in RV's office. When I worked full time I often had piles of stuff (not this bad) but I knew EXACTLY what was in them and could put my hand on EXACTLY what I needed in a nanosecond. Mmmm, it's not quite like that anymore. I'm older - maybe my reflexes are slower??
Below: Oh heavens!!! I actually had NO idea this little corner was THIS bad. Jeepers, what exactly were those kids doing when I was recuperating in bed for a week, post-surgery?? Goodness, they're not 3 & 4 anymore. This is just so wrong. LOL!
June? June!!? Really??? (gulp!) Well, I did have surgery in June and then July was a blur with our trip to Maine and Canada.
Well, June's over and it's (past) time to flip the calendar to August, boys. You know what that means!! Back to school!! I can never think of that without the old Staples commercial running through my head with Christmas music "It's the most wonderful time of the year ........." - the dad is dancing through the aisles and the kids are tripping over their pouty lips.

There. Now that I have thoroughly embarassed myself, it's time to dig out the shovels (and trash bags!) and get to work in here. My motivation will be to come back here and post presentable pictures. Oh - well, if that's all it takes well then maybe I should post a "before" picture of me and hope that I'll embarass myself into losing some weight so I can post a nice, beautiful "after" picture. Bahahaha. Oh, I tickle myself. Sorry - not gonna happen!

So, off we go to tackle this mess of a room and restore it to some kind of order. If you don't hear from me for several days, send in the cadaver dogs.

Update: Mercy. After looking at these pictures I needed some Zoloft. Actually, I don't really know what that is. Is it anti-depressant medication? (I don't have any). So I had to go in there and take a picture of one thing of beauty. May I present to you my favorite thing in the whole room? My red ceiling fan ........

After we moved into the house, we were at Lowe's looking at ceiling fans. I fell in love with this red beauty but was lamenting the fact that I had nowhere to put it. My very wise (at the time 7 year old) son suggested the schoolroom. Well, duh! I did have a red/white/blue Americana theme going on in our old schoolroom. I guess it's just a good thing that gravity prevents anything else from jumping up there and cluttering up my 1 thing of beauty, or else I'm pretty sure we all know what this picture would look like. Ok, back to the trenches I go ........

Farmer Pop Up

He LOVES gardening. Each morning he runs out to the garden to see if anything has grown overnight.
The first harvest of the season was today. We'll try the yellow tomatoes for dinner ~ they came in a "tomato mix" packet of seeds. I have NO idea what to do with banana peppers .... anyone? I guess they looked fun to grow. update: oh, my bad ... RV says he LIKES banana peppers. Who knew? He says he developed a taste for them thanks to Fuddruckers. And more recently, Subway on those rare occasions when I don't make his lunch. Is the sarcasm coming through loud and clear? Sorry honey, no lunch today - I was blogging last night. Shocking, I know!

Is This What a Tween Looks Like?

I took these pictures last night ... and it really struck me how grown up TT is looking these days ...

Here he is with his best friend (and mine!) in the whole wide world ......
He has such an incredibly close relationship with his Dad ... I hope it always stays that way!

My Little Thrill Seeker

Since I won't let him drive a Demolition Car or ride a Buckin' Bronco .... this will have to do for my little thrill-seeker. He's next to the guy in the orange shirt:

Afterward, telling Dad all about it .........
Could he look any happier??????????

Crockpot 365

This blogger posts a crockpot recipe every day of the year. (just scroll past the post where she uses it as a foot bath for the REAL recipes):

http://www.crockpot365.blogspot.com/

Just in case you LOVE cooking as much as I do ...... ;-)

The Rodeo ~ Coming to a Town Near You?

Jenny asked me to pass along other Rodeo info if I came across any. See yesterday's post for the awesome time we had. I'll keep looking and update this post when I find more, but for now:

http://www.loudouncountyfair.com/
Rodeo (2nd night): August 2

http://www.pwcfair.com/
Prince William County Fair
August 8-16, 2008
Rodeo: August 10 @ 7:30 pm

http://www.clarkecountyfair.org/
Clarke County Fair
August 10-16, 2008
Demolition Derby: August 12
Tractor Pull: August 13
Bull Riding: August 15 -- shoot! We'll be in Annapolis that day for Communicators for Christ. Darn the flies! (I have no idea what that means, I once saw someone write it on a Disney message board and thought it was funny. If it has an offensive meaning, please let me know ;-)
Bucky Covington: August 16 -- when they have David Cook, I'll be there!

A Rodeo That'll Preach

The boys and I had the BEST NIGHT EVER!!!! I don't remember when we've ever had that much fun, just the 3 of us. Poor RV had to work (still not home yet at almost midnight) ~ he's put in 18 hour days since Tuesday -- a project that has to be completed by Friday has everyone pulling double shifts. The boys miss him terribly, and no matter how many times I tell them how fortunate they are that their daddy doesn't have to travel for days, weeks or months at a time, like some do, it's not bringing them any comfort. On to happier stories .....

I've never been to a rodeo before, so if you've been attending them all your life, forgive me while I gush. If I wasn't a happily married woman, I'd totally be a rodeo groupie! In fact, as soon as I'm done with this post I'm off to find when the circuit is coming thru town again.

They announced all the cowboys: Then the announcer turned into a preacher!!! This was a beautiful sight! The announcer all but gave a sermon. He prayed that the Good Lord would keep all the riders safe tonight, that they'd hang on until the ride was over, then he said some other good stuff, and at the end of his prayer, he told everyone in the audience that one day, their ride will be over as well and that they need to be ready. Good stuff. There's a sermon in there somewhere. My sunglasses were hiding the tears that were welling up. Preach on, Mr. Announcer!!

Here's a closeup, just in case you can't believe your eyes. Beautiful, I tell ya!
There was one rider who tarried long after everyone else stood. He kept on praying for many more seconds. And throughout the night, every time he got off a bull, he'd take a knee and pray. Stay tuned till the end of the story .....


This rodeo clown reminded me so much of RV's brother. Actually, both brothers! And I mean that in the best possible way. His jokes and mannerisms were just like both of my BIL's. He totally cracked me up ~ just like they do. Some of the banter that went on between him and the announcer:

Announcer to Clown: "When are we going to get a real clown around here? Clown to Announcer: "When we get a real announcer."

Clown: Did you know WV invented the tooth brush? Yep. You know what it'd be called if it were invented in VA? A teeth brush.

Clown: You know why they call that bull Davey Crockett?
Announcer: No, why do they call him Davey Crockett?
Clown: Because that's his name, Dummy!

There were so many other jokes but I can't remember them. See the resemblance?

Adding to the fun of the evening .... as each cowboy rode his bull, they played some rockin' 80's music. So much fun to sing along and get my groove on. I knew all the words, not like that stuff they play today. And all the songs FIT the mood so well - singing about cowboys & rodeos! Wooooooo doggie! Who knew there were so MANY of those songs?

And this man:

The cowboy who prayed longer than all the others. The one who prayed after he was thrown off each bull. The one who had a big ole cross engrained on the side of his chaps. This cowboy won it all. Oh yes, he did! What a great discussion we had on the way home about that.

So, now I'm off to check all the other nearby county fairs and see if the rodeo is coming to them. Cuz if it is, so are we! Good, clean, family fun. Next time you have the chance to sit thru a rodeo -- do it!!!!!

Oh, and just in case being a Demolition Derby Driver isn't dangerous enough ....... yep, you guessed it ...... now Pop Up wants to be a Rodeo Rider. Sigh.

Welcome to the World, Little Chicky!

While walking through the Goats & Poultry barn tonight after the rodeo, we saw this little miracle. The boys were totally captivated - AND I didn't have to buy an incubator!





Crossing that off as part of science for summer school .......... maybe I'll get a few books from the library to complete our course of study. tee hee.

There was a sign nearby that said "Congratulations". Pop Up wanted to go hold it up for the little darling to see. Both boys were rooting for him for a good 30 minutes to burst out of his shell. Totally mesmerized.

Extreme Blog Makeover

I LOVE (love, love!) cute blogs. Mine's so blah. I think I'm going to get a blog makeover.

http://www.graphicallydesigning.com/ has the CUTEST designs. I'm hoping she'll create something adorable for me. When she has time. No rush.

In the meanwhile, I'm thinking "A Future And a Hope" doesn't really go with the "camping names/characters" on my sidebar. Nope, I'm not seeing the connection.

So I asked my very creative 10 year old for some help. He came up with some cute starting points:

We are Fun Finders (his favorite brand of camper - for those of you who are non-campers)

Campfires ... burning a hole in our pockets (uhhhh, yeah -- as we keep looking for bigger and bigger campers)

We weren't made for a tent 'cuz we use up a lot of electricity .... LOL!!! This is SO true on SO many levels - RV likes to hang meat in our house! And FYI, RV is an electrical contractor. And yes, we are not real campers. We're the fake kind. I hope we can still be friends. Give us our A/C, heat, bathroom and running water, please.

Can any of you creative people help me out? Or come up with another title and/or tagline for us? Or any part thereof?

Any Bible verses come to mind? Camp ... wilderness .... gypsy (I'd rather be out on the road than here at home). Maybe we could incorporate the title with a Bible verse ...... ? During our Memorial Day camping adventure, the pastor preached on how God liked to camp in the wilderness .......

Who in their right mind wants to be a Demolition Derby driver?

Ouch. I wouldn't want to be ANY of these guys when tomorrow morning rolls around. I mean, I've been in tiny little rear-end fender benders before and the next day it felt like I was run over by a truck. Nothing compared to this madness. I hope they have stock in Aleve or at least some good prescription pain meds. Mercy.

The man seated in front of us couldn't talk any of his co-workers into coming to this wonderful all-American spectator sport. LOL! He did have 2 friends with him visiting from France. I wonder what they thought?

There were 5 heats. During one of them, one of the drivers seats broke. Every time he got hit, his seat flew backward and he went sailing - parallel with the ground. I would have driven off the track at that point. It would seriously be a miracle if he doesn't have a broken back. It was THAT bad. I was gasping and oohing and aahing along with the rest of the crowd ~ grateful that it wasn't my husband or son getting tossed all around. One of them has enough good sense not to even think about it ... let's just hope (and pray) he can one day impart that wisdom to the other.


Then there were other cars that looked like 1 more hit would send the driver pancaked thru the engine. I mean these are just regular cars with no extra reincorcements. Once upon a time this one was a 4-door. Where's the fear? Yes, I know I'm old and sensible:
There were sparks under engines. I just knew at any moment there'd be a big ka-boom. I was trying to calculate whether or not the impending fireball would reach us in the upper stands.
At some point during all this craziness, Pop Up said "I'd like to do that one day!" Oh Lordy, I just KNEW that was coming. I said "Oh no, PLEASE don't!!!" To which he replied "Ok, I'll just stick to the eating competitions." Whew! Thank you, Jesus! I might even have to let him enter that messy (no doubt blueberry, chocolate or some other variety with equivalent staining compounds) pie eating competition on Friday, afterall. Anything sounds better than this! I wonder if that was his gameplan all along?

Fun Times at the County Fair

Yee Haw!

While waiting for the Demolition Derby to start, Pop Up decided that he'd enter the corn-on-the-cob eating competition for ages 12-under:

Carefully removing each silk. He has VERY discriminating taste, you know:
The emcee even commented on his strategy (eating & spinning the ear in a circular motion vs. the typical plow-thru-the-row-like-an-old-fashioned-typewriter (ding!) method:

He was ecstatic with his free appetizer and free bottle of water that he scored ~ we didn't have time for dinner beforehand and didn't want to lose our seats while waiting for Dad to meet us there after work. He IS pretty crafty (see today's earlier post):
He said "I didn't win, but I sure had fun!!!" and declared his intent to enter every year. He said he's been training for it all his life, since I'm *always* telling him to slow down and chew his food. LOL! He does have an excellent point there.

Please just don't tell him about Friday's pie-eating-contest - that sounds WAY messier!!!

Mission Accomplished

This is for you, Grandpa --

Pop Up started working on this 1,000 piece puzzle in Maine. He brought it home to finish. Thanks to Grandpa mailing 2 pieces (received today) that were left behind, he was able to complete his project a few minutes ago.


So many posts for one day ......... feast or famine around here ;-)

He keeps me laughing

Just got back from the bank. Travel Trailer ran in for me. I got $100 cash back. We're going to the County Fair tonight (yikes! $70 just for week-long admission tickets for the 4 of us). And gotta have a few $ to spend, while we watch the Demolition Derby ~ should be interesting. Yes, I'll post pictures - the camera battery is charging even as we speak. They'll either love it, or Pop Up will think it's terribly wasteful to destroy a perfectly good car, like that. Never can tell with him.

Anyway, as I pulled out onto the street, I asked for the $100 - just to make sure we had it. Once we got home only to realize that the teller hadn't given him the cash.

Pop Up (who now had possession of said funds) said "Oh. Sorry. I was starting to get evil and crafty." (oh those $20's are so tempting - just look at 'em). LOL!

Singing Sands Beach

Here are the boys with my Dad & stepmom at Basin Head Beach, Prince Edward Island, Canada. Home of the "singing sands" - on this particular beach, the sand "sings" as you walk on it. I'm not exactly sure how or why it does that.

** actually, I just googled it and found this article - click below: http://www.canadacool.com/COOLFACTS/PEI/SingingSands.html

I LOVE the red cliffs in the background but was very thankful that the sand was white - or we'd still be sporting henna feet.

Anne of Green Gables

Here we are at Green Gables. I can't tell you how much the boys have enjoyed listening to these books on tape and how thrilled they were to step foot into the setting. Anne's room is above the front door.

Anne's room:

A note about the PEI dirt shirts: The dirt on the entire island is the most incredible shade of red, however, once it gets on your clothes, it won't come out. Ever. So, some ingenious entrepreneur decided to make "dirt" souvenirs - permanently stained with authentic PEI dirt. Yes, we came home with the shirts, hats and even a golf towel or two.

The Snow Queen apple tree that Anne saw from her bedroom window ~ Pop Up was ecstatic to see it still standing (although it does look like it's seen better days) some 100+ years later and still producing fruit!

Going deep into the Haunted Woods:

For now ...

I still haven't loaded the software for the new camera into my computer, but thought I'd at least post a few pictures from RV's pocket camera:

Beautiful rocky shoreline in Maine:

Pemaquid Lighthouse in Maine - featured on Maine's state quarter:
Like I said, these are from RV's camera - if it'd have been mine, I'd have either waited until Travel Trailer was out of the picture, or at the very least, made him pose ;-)