Spolied Rotten

This year Serona and the kids decided to spoil me. Today I received a beautiful raw emerald necklace. Emeralds are my favorite stone, my birthstone, my favorite color, in my wedding band and remind me of being Irish. I love emeralds but never before have I seen or received raw emeralds - I think they are lovely.






Getting into the car to drive Serona to work and I had another surprise waiting for me! We are music lovers, we listen to music nearly all the time. When we spend a lot of time in the car we will also listen to audio books. A few months ago Serona and I purchased Zunes and love them. I listen to my zune in the car all the time. I sat down to plug in my zune and found this:






That was another nice surprise. It is a much nicer and safer way to store my zune in the car and navigate to different songs. Plus it charges while it plays another nice feature. What wonderful and thoughtful gifts my family gave me this year. Some years we don't buy anything at all but this year we decided to exchange gifts and what fun and special gifts they are. Thank you Serona and kids!

As an added bonus we had someone come to help clean my house today as well! I feel so blessed and loved. Of course truthfully I feel that all the time with my kids hugs, the special pictures they draw for me and their many ways of expressing their love. Serona too - he is very loving and caring for me all the time. In many ways today is just another day for us with an excuse to be extra kind or special to one another. Truly though it is the every day things that make me know I am loved and blessed by my wonderful family.

Tenniel

Life Happens

I have had many things I want to blog about but have had little extra energy lately. Life is happening in full force at our home, seems there is no time for the extras - even the ones we enjoy. I have been coping with chronic pain since late September and we are all learning how to adapt to life this way.

Overall I am amazed at how well my children have done. They have picked up slack and taken on more jobs around the house to help out. They pray for me each night and are very loving an supportive to me during this time. Serona too has taken on much more even while work ramps up for him. I know I am truly blessed with such a wonderful family. My friends have surrounded me in prayer, encouragement and support. Overall I know I am loved and blessed and that has been one of the positive outcomes of this experience. At times I am tired and weary but mostly I have been encouraged by the support of my loved ones and the faith I have. Someday this will end (I pray) and then I will be able to look back on this time and all the growth that came from it.

still even in the midst of all this life goes on and we somehow manage to do the things we love. My kids are out enjoying the snow as I type, Ciaran on a snowboard, Sirah on the swings and Rhiannon sledding down the hill. We are involved politically of course, somehow we just can't seem to stay away. As we get closer to election day activities will ramp up I am sure. Wonder if you can guess which candidate we are supporting?

Our homeschool cooperative is ramping up. This semester Rhiannon is taking classes in clay and history as well as PE. Ciaran and Sirah continue with Five in a Row, crafts, music and PE. I am teaching two classes once again. I love the opportunity to teach. This semester I am teaching two really fun and enjoyable classes.

The first Rhiannon is taking as well it is a history class for 2nd-4th graders based on the book series "If You Lived..." I have a passion for bringing history alive to young people. This class offers a perfect opportunity to do so as we dive into different time periods. This semester we will look at the time of the knights, the American revolution, the trail of tears, women's suffrage and civil rights. Each week we study one time by learning a bit and experiencing a lot.

My second class is really fun and easy to teach - what a perfect combination! Teen Christian music. The kids pick the music, we listen to the songs, read the lyrics and discuss the music. We are going to talk about different messages in music such as music as worship, praise, dealing with the world, faith strengthening and evangelism. The only boundary I gave was the music must be on a Christian label - any style will go - and we have some hymns, contemporary, rock, rap, hip-hop, pop and punk all in there. Should prove to be interesting!

We are still doing some field trips - though I have to cut back quite a bit as it is more difficult for me to attend them these days. Still just recently the kids had an ice-drilling class where we looked under the ice and checked temperature and played with kicksleds and snow snakes on the ice. Rhiannon went to see a local history museum and learned about Native Americans and archaeological studies. Ciaran and Rhiannon participated in the MIA Art Adventure program where they studied 9 pieces of art over several weeks and then went to see them at the museum and discuss them with the curator. This was a favorite of both kids this year.

So we are still doing lots of interesting things - I just have less time and energy to write about them. I hope to be back up to full speed soon - especially so we can take part in lots of activities for the 2008 election.

First Lost Tooth!

Ciaran lost his first tooth tonight. Serona helped him pull it out - he was very excited.

Diving Into American History and Geography

We have been studying history chronologically since prehistoric times. I recently realized we were having a problem. Ciaran is in 1st grade and Rhiannon in 3rd. I placed him with us starting history this year in Story of the World Vol 3. - the problem is it isn't as interesting as prehistoric, Egypt and Rome. Since he had missed out on a lot of the interesting time - he was finding it hard to join in. When we got to the colonies and anything American history related he was suddenly interested so we adapted. I have paused our Story of the World probably for the reminder of the year.

Rhiannon has now had chronologically world history up into the mid 1700's. Now we are going to study American history for the rest of year then pick up next year with Rhiannon in the middle of vol 3 world history and start Ciaran and Sirah together in Story of the World Vol 1

The kids are LOVING the American Revolution. We are reading "Why America is Free" as a spine and filling in with a ton of library books, both fiction and non-fiction from and about the time period. We will continue at a pace the kids want moving as slow or quickly through a topic as we need.

I am continuing our US geography by learning the states, capitols and interesting facts about them. We do this in a simple yet engaging way. We print out maps of regions, the US and then each individual state. We begin by reading about the state in our Time for Learning States book. In addition, when available from the library (so far each state has been she reads the corresponding state book from the series Welcome to the U.S.A. These books are filled with interesting, silly, fun and useful facts and pictures from the state. They are easy to read with good pictures and follow a relatively consistent format. They really enjoy them and looks forward to this part of our lessons.

As they read them they keep pausing to share interesting facts like how many times you can make it to the moon and back with the oranges grown in Florida or carpet made in Georgia. Then they find the state on their regional map (less states to choose from and more room for writing than a plain US map) and write the state abbreviation on it. I have agreed to write the capitol for them but they need to find it in the book and spell it for me. After the capitol and state are written they need to draw or write several facts from the state. For example for Florida Rhia drew a picture of an orange, mickey mouse ears, a rocket and manatees. In Georgia she drew peanuts, carpet and a mud hole (for the games described in her book). In Kentucky she drew horses and mammoth cave. Now when she looks at her sheet she can jog her memory about what that state is known for as well as the state name and capitol.

After they finish the regional map they need to find the state on the US map and color it in. We also discuss if someone we know lives there or has lived there. On the individual state map we paste printouts of the state flower, map, bird, fish, tree and sometimes other interesting facts from the state. We also mark the capitol and any relatives or friends that live in the areas.

We are working through one region at a time. This allows us to focus on one regional map at a time and that area of the bigger US map. My plan is to discuss the region as a whole when we complete each state in a region, then we can compare and contrast the states from each other and from where we live and see if any of the interesting facts had similarities. Then after we complete two regions we can compare and contrast these regions.

In addition to the books sometimes we may look at other resources about states such as 50States.com and Enchanted Learning State Resources. This is easy and fun and offers a real visual tool in the end to jog our memories. You could make it easier for other children by just picking something yourself to have them draw to remind them of the state. Though I do think if you have readers that making them read and discover it themselves has more impact.

This parallels the American history study nicely and so far we are all enjoying history and geography this way. Part of me wishes we had started the beginning of the year with it so we had more time - we may just continue through the summer or into next year to complete the study as well.

Forecast - COLD

Don't you wish you lived here - the forecast from now until midnight

4pm
Mostly Sunny
1°F
-13°F 10% -15°F 44% From W 9 mph
5pm
Mostly Sunny
0°F
-13°F 0% -16°F 44% From W 8 mph
Sunset 5:03 pm
6pm
Mostly Clear
-1°F
-13°F 0% -16°F 47% From W 7 mph
7pm
Mostly Clear
-2°F
-14°F 0% -16°F 49% From W 7 mph
8pm
Clear
-3°F
-16°F 0% -15°F 56% From W 7 mph
9pm
Clear
-3°F
-14°F 0% -14°F 56% From W 6 mph
10pm
Clear
-5°F
-17°F 0% -14°F 59% From W 6 mph
11pm
Clear
-5°F
-15°F 0% -14°F 59% From W 5 mph
Sun, January 20
12am
Clear
-6°F
-17°F 0% -15°F 59% From W 5 mph
1am
Clear
-7°F
-18°F

Recent Roundup

I am out of the blogging groove lately. I am having to make a lot of changes here and that has kept us busy. We are also enjoying all our new games and toys etc.

Today we played board games for most of the day. Ciaran beat me and everyone else at Star Wars chess. We played Leaping Frogs, Blokus, The Ladybug game, and a new family favorite Triple Triumph.

We also spent some good time reading together and some history. It was a much needed relaxing and reconnecting day. Sirah even beat everyone at Wii bowling while I made dinner. Believe it or not Rhiannon left the Wii game to come help me cook - that was nice. We also had an interesting discussion about what spies do.

The kids have had a recent interest in all things Ancient Egypt again, especially as it relates to King Tut. Ciaran asked if we could take a family field trip to Dallas to see the King Tut exhibit when it is there. Sirah said it would be more fun to go to Cairo! Yes, yes it would. Unfortunately neither is likely. When I asked for field trip ideas for this winter and spring Rhia shared that she wanted to go to Mt. Rushmore and the caves out there. When I raised an eyebrow she said "What, I was going to say London, but I thought you would say no." Help us as we raise children who want to travel :)

We had a great school day yesterday when I let them each pick a non-fiction book they wanted to learn about and share with one another. Sirah picked up a geography book and asked to learn about Oceania (New Zealand and Australia area). That was fun because we just had dinner guests over the week before who spent the past year in New Zealand.

Rhiannon picked up our Ancient Egypt book (big surprise) and we read the story of the founding of King Tut's tomb and some of the transitional tombs of other famous pharoahs as well as the embalming process. This is particularly interesting seeing as how she could not handle hearing, seeing or reading anything remotely related to mummies, death, etc just a year ago - now she is fascinated.

Ciaran chose the human body book (also not surprising) and picked the chapter on the skeletal system. I got to make a living science example when we discussed the bones, spine and nerves. Was able to explain to the kids just what is going on with me now and we had fun feeling and finding all the different bones in our body.

Then the kids had to write/draw on the chalkboard things they remembered from each lesson. Today as part of art they had to paint or draw pictures related to our topics. The kids really enjoyed the discussions and reading time. I think I will incorporate that atleast once a week into our curriculum. The freedom of choice and sharing that with others made it more interesting and personal and fun.

We are bracing ourselves for a very cold few weeks coming up. A reminder we do indeed live in Minnesota. Driving to my prayer group yesterday I realized gloves were not optional - I could not hold the steering wheel without them it was so cold (and my car was in a garage overnight). It is what we call nosehair cold. When you walk outside the nosehair freezes. And we have not seen the worst of it yet. The temps are heading to teens BELOW zero BEFORE windchills and expected to stay that way until the end of the month. Lovely. The only thing that can make it better - yes we are in fact going to get some snow that we get to shovel in that chill.

Ciaran's snowboarding lessons are simply going to have to wait an extra few weeks I think. We want him to enjoy the sport after all, not have only freezing memories of it. Ciaran and Rhiannon are enjoying basketball right now. They are both able to play because the time is the same night at the same location - wonderful when that works out.

Stay warm,
Tenniel

2007 Year in Review

It't that time of year again for an annual recap of this year. It was a fun year filled with a lot of enjoyable events and memories.

We begin in January with Serona's birthday which of course involved wine. Our new homeschool cooperative classes began. Rhiannon and a friend created a fairy book.
Field trips this month included: the The Physics Circus, a visit to the Science Museum for the Vikings display , a tour of a bread company and a whole foods cooperative store, a homeschool sledding day and a trip to Pump It Up.

February was filled with a typical Minnesota nosehair chill and little snow that kept us indoors for much of it. We played a lot of board games, Sirah informed us that she has 22 babies in her heart, and Ciaran shared his personal talents. Rhiannon and I snuck away for a Mother Daughter Retreat during one of the big snowstorms. We experimented with YouTube schooling in addition to our normal coursework. Field trips this month include: Laura Ingalls Wilder class, High School Musical play, police station tour, maple syruping class and an annual favorite Mall of America Scavenger Hunt.

We started March with a big snowstorm and my homeschool moms retreat. Here are some samples of the months artwork from Rhiannon, Sirah, and Ciaran. I used a lot of web resources to supplement curriculm. We began nature walks and study and wrote my history in Five Year Glimpses. Serona and I hosted a We celebrated Ciaran’s birthday with a Board Game Party. Field Trips this month included: a day at the MN capitol with other homeschoolers, pump it up, feed my starving children and a visit to the planetarium.

We entered April with more freezing 4 degree windchill MN weather and ended with a spontaneous family camping trip that included the infamous 8 mile walk we accidentally made the kids take. In between my life was filled with Easter and all our family Easter traditionsforts and bugs, trees, reading, and lots of other random facts I learn in a day. Field trips this month included: the MN history center to study immigration, an arboretum class on botany, Feed my Starving Children, Fort Snelling and a few Lowry Nature Center classes.

May is one of my favorite months in Minnesota as the weather is beautiful and the bugs have not yet arrived. We typically finish school within the first two weeks and this year we finished on May 11th the second Friday of May!!! Hooray. The day before was a joyous one for Ciaran as the first toad of the season was found. Mothers day was a very special day as we planted trees together, I blogged about my Mother and .my other mothers. May was a service month for our family. Rhiannon donated her hair to Locks of Love. We created and mailed care packages for the soldiers, and our last Feed my starving children for a few months. The kids participated in their first ever spelling bee and we began our Young Nature Explorers summer group. Field trips this month included: railroad museum, como zoo, gale woods farm, the arboretum and lowry nature center classes.
The month ended with the 30 year anniversary of Star Wars, a perfect weekend and my 33rd birthday.

The summer takes a more laid back and fun rhythm for us. We had a wealth of beach days and days to explore the parks and nature, our young nature explorers group continued strong. We played in our yard and with friends, went to the pool and the beach frequently and just relaxed and enjoyed ourselves. We also took up geocaching as a family. This was the main rhythm of the months of June –August (and even some of May) for us.

June also saw a lovely tea party with Sirah. I wrote all about my father. Grandma joined us on a nature walk and found the first frogs of the season. I took a knitting class to learn how to knit socks and have not stopped yet. The end of June saw an extended visit from grandma and grandpa from Maine who watched the kids as Serona and I headed to IRELAND to celebrate our 10 year anniversary.

Ireland was amazing. I have always wanted to go and it lived up to the expectations and hopes I had for it. I would love to go back and explore all the places we did not get to see. Serona surprised me on Valentines Day sharing with me that he was taking me to Ireland in the summer. I was so excited! I was also thankful to have some time to plan as I knew our time there would be limited. Our time there was wonderful! It was great to be away with just Serona for such a long time for the first time since we had children. And to such a beautiful albeit rainy place. If you are interested in hearing much more about our visit to Ireland you can read all the lengthy blog posts I wrote about our time in rainy Dublin, exploring the history of Dublin together (including seeing the Book of Kells), New Grange and Knowth, the abbeys and high crosses, travelling the country by car, the Aran Island of Inishmore, Galway, and hear more about why I love to travel. Ireland was obviously the highlight of the year for me as it was a place I always wanted to visit and we loved every minute of our time there. In case you are wondering the kids loved being with grandma and grandpa too. Rhiannon said it was one of the best weeks of her life.

Coming back to reality we continued with our summer rhythm with the month of July – now with unwelcome Minnesota visitors. This fourth of July we took some time to reflect. We played some new fun water games, began Weight Watchers together. We celebrated Rhiannon’s 8th birthday with a day at the Mall of America and a gift of horse back riding lessons.

August rounded out our summer nicely. We continued with the beach, nature hikes, horseback riding and had a garage sale in order to purchase a GPS unit so we could begin geocaching. I wrote up a review about some of my special retreat places. The kids surprised me by asking if they could start school soon. I laid out our third grade and first grade curriculum for the upcoming school year and I reluctantly began homeschooling the last week of August (I usually wait until mid to end of September) and got ready to start another semester of book recording. Serona spent three weeks in Asia visiting China and Japan for work. The highlights of the month were celebrating Sirah’s 4th birthday and having a dress up tea party with her little friends. Rhiannon and I also took a short trip away with one of her good friends and her mother to visit Plum Creek. We waded in Plum Creek right by Laura’s sod house, we stayed in a sod house (not the original one) and spent hours in the museum and small building exhibits the town had to offer. We had a great time running through the tall prairie grass, waking to birds and experiencing just a glimpse of what Laura’s life might have been like. . The four of us had a wonderful time all dressed up and enjoying the time together. It was really cool to stand where she stood and have that connection with history.

September is my second favorite month in Minnesota. The bugs are dying and the weather is still lovely, the trees change color and it is the perfect time to be outdoors. Since the kids had us start school early this year we went into full swing school with the following field trips: Canterbury horse race track, Theodore Wirth park and quaking bog, apple orchard, feed my starving children Alexander and the terrible horrible no good very bad day play. Serona and Ciaran took a boys camping trip and had a great time. We had our annual homeschool coop kickoff picnic, a favorite event. Serona and I hosted a couples wine tasting. Serona’s sister and her youngest son came out for a wonderful week long visit. The month saw us enjoy some fun lesson moments and read the Giving Tree to very mixed results from our kids. Homeschool coop started up again. This semester I am teaching a nature notebook class and a Star Wars Character study class. The younger two continue in Five in a row style and Rhiannon took classes in K’nex engineering, cooking, and a class about the ocean. We continued to be outside as much as possible knowing what was coming all too soon in Minnesota.

October was a very busy month for our family. The month opened with the start of a new moms prayer and encouragement group with some lovely ladies, our homeschool family bonfire, a field trip to a clay and pottery studio, and a tour of the fire department. Then I headed to California to visit my brother, his wife and my new niece. Being in sunny California, walking on Laguna beach and seeing my cousins and brothers was wonderful. It was a fun getaway and enjoyable to get some last sunny and 75 degree days in. Serona and the kids enjoyed being together, daddy school and all the things they did together, including these amazing pumpkins. I arrived home and my parents arrived nearly immediately after I returned for a lovely two week stay. They helped out at Feed my Starving children, apple cider class and horseback riding. We enjoyed being all together and the fun things we did including the zoo and of course the Mall of America rides. After they left the month was nearly over, Serona and I hosted a Star wars trivia night for my coop class that was fun and we went to a professional unicyclist show.

November seemed to come and go in a flash. Serona went paintballing for the first time and recovered just in time for his big week long conference in California. The kids and I went to the Raptor Center, probably Sirah’s favorite field trip this year since she loves owls so much. The kids had their annual testing and we went to visit some friends about an hour away. Spent a quiet Thanksgiving at home with just us and went on a tour of a local Christian radio station. Our house started to have “issues”, a new range microwave, garage door and opener, and water heater and car repairs – lets just say it wasn’t a cheap month. In addition I had some testing and began physical therapy for some back, leg and foot problems I had been having since September. I have a pinched nerve but am on the road to recovery. Rhiannon had a major highlight this month as she rode in her first ever horseback riding show. She took third place in both of her classes and seemed to really enjoy the experience. Horseback riding is a hit and here to stay for her. Sirah also had a big month as she began reading this month. We have started Bob books with her at her request and she is doing wonderfully. Ciaran also had a memorable moment this month.

The year ended with December and two plays, Serona and Sirah went to see Madeline and the kids and I saw Frog and Toad all Year – both were hits all around. We began a two month long series of field trips learning about different pieces of art and spent an afternoon at the art museum. I updated our family bio on our blog and the kids enjoyed lots of playdates in the snow with friends as I went from doctor to PT appointments. We headed to Maine a week before Christmas for a wonderful 16 day vacation to end up our year. The time in Maine has been awesome. Christmas was special with the grandparents and I surprised the family with a Wii. Our days have been filled with snow boarding and sledding, family games and movies, relaxing with the grandparents and playing some Wii.

Quite a year filled with lots of good memories and moments. If you made it this long thanks for reading. Hope you and your families have a wonderful new year filled with the memories and moments that are important to you. Hug your kids, read to them and treasure all these moments as you make memories for years to come.

Blessings,
Tenniel

Rubik's Cube

Anyone else use instructables or google to solve it this week?

Wii wish you a Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas. Hope you took time this year to reflect on Christ our Lord. We have had a wonderful time in Maine including a beautiful Christmas eve service.

We are enjoying the family in Maine. After a LONG plane ride which involved arriving at the airport at 5pm and arriving at our final destination at 5am (this is just Minnesota to Maine) and dealing with some cockroaches in our plane we arrived and put the trip behind us.

Now we are here for the holidays and a nice long visit. I suprised Serona and the kids with a Wii for Christmas. For the many of you who were in on the surprise and helping keep it a surprise - Thank you! They truly were shocked.

To those of you wondering - no I did not go crazy locating one. I purchased it back in the first week of August! Yes I kept it a surprise for that long!!! Thanks to showing up at one of Serona's best friends houses with box in hand asking if he would keep it until Christmas. A whole bunch of friends and family members were involved allowing me to keep the whole things a surprise.

Now the whole family from Sirah age 4 to grandparents in their 50's are enjoying playing games like bowling, boxing, Dance Dance Revolution and Guitar Hero to name a few current favorites. We have to dodge Ciarans remote control car to do so sometimes though.

We are doing much more than playing Wii. For one thing enjoying this lovely Maine high 30 degree weather! Sledding, Ciarans snowboarding and just being outside in the sun. Playing Carcassonne with grandma and grandpa last night was fun too. Hope you are enjoying your Christmas week.

Merry Christmas
Tenniel

Christmas Shopping

1978 Lucas Film Christmas Card

Our Family

Looking at my sidebar I realized I have not updated our family bio in almost 3 years!!! Some of this will be repeat information for some of you. For the others, welcome and enjoy visiting with our family.


There is Serona (the dad), soon to turn 33. He is a director of product management for a software company. He has two undergrad degrees in Political Science and Philosophy and a graduate degree in Communications, and is also a former debater. His interests are reading, writing and blogging, keeping up with current events, technology and politics, wine tasting, anything and everything Star Wars, and of course his Xbox 360.

Then there is me, Mother Tenn, also 33 and a Stay at Home Mom. I am fairy active in our homeschool co-op especially in planning field trips. My undergrad studies were in Environmental Politics and I have an MA in Communications with an emphasis on Social Movements and Argumentation. My current interests are: reading, blogging and writing,journaling (I maintain 4 journals actively: a prayer journal and a journal for each of my children), research (especially technology, current events and homeschooling), knitting and crocheting and when I find time water aerobics.

Next come the children: Rhiannon, Ciaran, and Sirah.

Rhiannon is 8. She is an avid reader and at times it is difficult to get her head out of a book. She loves horses and her horseback riding lessons. She has recently taken up sewing and 9 patch quilts. She enjoys history and hates long division. She is developing her friendships and doesn't understand why boys and girls don't want to be friends anymore. Her current favorite music is Relient K and Vivaldi (interesting mix). She is a very inquisitive and intelligent child and always keeps life interesting.

Next meet Ciaran, 6 and a half. Ciaran is full of energy and has a passion for nature. He still loves frogs with a passion, though his interest in nature has expanded to include other creatures and nature in general. He still prays at night "God thank you for making all things good and for this world you created. He enjoys video games just like his dad. His current favorite is Disney Extreme Skate for his Gamecube. He will do anything for a half hour of video game time. He is getting ready to start basketball and snowboarding this winter. He has a wonderful personality and is always smiling that contagious smile he has.

Then there is Sirah our four year old. She has a personality all her own and a comfort with that. She asks me "Is today a matching day?" She can often be found wearing multi-colored stripes, with a clashing shirt and something sparkly or shiny on her had - somehow it works on her though it would not for so many other people. She is the kind of kid that makes all adults want to have another one like her. But she has her fiesty and stubborn side too that she saves just for me and Serona, complete with hands on hips and sighing. Being a third child she is very content to do her own thing and just be around us. If a disney princess is involved she is all over it. She also loves her sisters horses, fairies, Bitty twins and being read to all day long. She enjoys playing "foods food" where she makes us cookies, tea, etc while we do school. She also really LOVES being my assistant in the kitchen and has the biggest servant heart of the family. She has been known to get up and make everyones bed in the house, or clean a room and then tell us about it. She has a genuine, loving personality and another great smile.

Rounding out our family are our Australian Shepherds, a five year old male and a 3 year old female. They are loving, patient with our children (I am amazed at what they tolerate from them, especially Sirah) though these same dogs are fiercely protective of the kids and very loud barkers. They love to run ruts and spend time in the yard.

We are Christian environmentalists, social justice advocates, vegetarians, right-leaning, techies, outdoors loving, geo-caching, non tv watching, attachment parenting, extended breastfeeding, crunchy granola, readers, researchers, life-long learners, Guinness and wine drinking and sometimes funny and enjoyable to be around. So come get to know us and stay awhile. We love having you.

Bills...Papers...More Bills...

This blog post actually started as a comment over on Phil's blog. But it started to get too long for a comment and I figured it made more sense here. In his list of chores he dislikes his number one is paying bills. I can relate as it used to be very near the top of my list as well.

I used to make a pile of bills to pay, and another pile of things to do, people to call, etc. Then I had a pile of things to file and I had stacks of paper and it seemed to take hours and I was grumpy about my bills and making ends meet and would worry and tie myself in knots. Serona and my kids could probably have told you the day I did bills as I was unpleasant. I went to a friends house one day and saw she had some folders on her kitchen counter I asked about them and she told me it helped her stay organized for kids activities. I thought I can do that and with my bills too.

About four years ago though I started a new system and it REALLY worked for me and now not only do I not mind paying bills but it would not even make my "chore" list because it never piles up. I share it because it is easy to use, I have recommended it to many friends who now use it and it is very simple. Also it is a great time of year to consider starting.

I took my friends idea and went another step further. Being a former debater I immediately think of these 32 pocket expanding files. when I think organization. So now each year in December I purchase a new one for the next year. I tape a piece of white paper to the front and write the year. Then 32 numbers. Next to each number I write the title of what will go in that slot. I place this on the center island in my kitchen where it stays year round.

When mail comes. I stand at that island counter - I throw out all catalogs, junk mail, credit card offers, etc right to recycling (behind me) or trash (next to me). Then I open all important mail and sort as I do. Anything that needs to be filed, paid, dealt with immediately etc. I immediately file anything that needs to be in its slot (medical statements, insurance statements, kids new calendars, church stuff, etc) - next I look through my need to deal with if I can't get to it at that moment it goes in my number two file which I check every few days when I have some spare time. If I can deal with it I will. Last I have my bill pile. I log onto my computer (also right there on the counter) and into my online bill pay. I open my bill pay and pay all my bills then.

Wait you say but what if you can't pay them all now but need to pay some after next paycheck (say in two weeks) or in a month. Well we are in that position too but my bill pay lets me postdate any payment I want. So I log in fill in the payments and type the date I want the money sent out of my account. I can even write checks to individuals and small companies and my bank sends them a check for me at no additional fee.

After all my bills are "paid" at least my responsibility for paying them is done. I file them in their slot. Done. Now you may cringe at the thought of doing "bills" every day but really that all together takes me 5 minutes, maybe 10 if I happen to get a lot on the same day. That is just a few more minutes than most people take to do their daily mail. And I no longer have really long grumpy bill times. Occasionally I really can't get on the computer and pay, or I want to question a bill, or check where I am going to get the money to pay for it, then I toss them in the front slot for bills and pay them next time I get my mail.

I have done this faithfully for 4 years now. The key to this working is two fold. You MUST keep it in a central location and you must use it regularly. After all this time I can tell you a few of my favorite things about this

1. Bills don't feel like work
2. I have a better grip on and understanding of my finances because I am in them daily
3. I am surprisingly organized now
4. I can find almost anything paper related in under 10 minutes. We recently had to find a credit card we opened in 2003 for just a single purchase. I went back to the 2003 file and found it filed under credit cards. I can find warranties, receipts, etc as long as I know what year I purchased it in - even I can remember something like that.
5. Taxes are easier
6. I save money because I have very detailed records of everything from cc and debit purchases to utility and energy use at my fingertips.
7. I am not grumpy about bills anymore
8. My kids are learning organization and how to use the system
9. I get rid of more junk mail because if I don't have a place for it - it goes in the trash or recycling
10. It is really easy and quick. This post is long and detailed so it makes it sound complicated but it really isn't.

When I shared this with my friends several asked for my folder list. Yours will look different based on your paper use in your life. But this can give you an idea of what I use it for and some of it does change from year to year. Here is 2007

1. Bills
2. To Do
3. Taxes
4. Homeschool
5. Active Kids file (I put church, current sport calendars, etc) then move them when season is over to trash or individual kids file
6. Serona Work
7-11 individual credit card and banks (citibank, discover, etc)
12 - Student Loans
13 - Mortgage
14 - utilities (water, trash, electric, etc)
15 - Phones (home and cell)
16 - Auto and Home Insurance
17 - Medical
18 - Household Expenses
19 - Serona
20 - Tenniel
21 - Rhiannon
22 - Ciaran
23 - Sirah
24 - Stationary, Envelopes and Stamps
25 - Craft/ Activity Ideas
26 - 401 K
27 - Stocks
28 - Travel
29 - Legal Records
30 - Warranties
31 - Receipts

So now I don't mind doing bills and we are fairly organized.

Blessings,
Tenniel

Online Coupons

I am not a thrifty person. I am not a coupon clipper or much of a deal shopper. My mother is and she taught me how. I am just too lazy and not convinced it is generally worth my time and effort. With one major exception - online retailers.

Every time I load my online cart up (for me quite frequently) I stop and open a new tab and do a Google search for coupon codes, discount codes, etc for the store I am shopping at. Why on earth not? It takes me seconds maybe a few minutes at most and at least half the time I come up with a coupon that saves me money.

Just tonight I was doing my grocery shopping from an online grocer and started with a cart full of groceries at 123.45. I found a $50 off orders of $125. I went back to my cart and added a two dollar item in order to save $48. Another quick search brought me free delivery for the remainder of the year (retail value on the site of 50). Saved me another $7 off my current order. Grand total 68.00 - I saved nearly half my grocery bill plus I now have free delivery for rest of year. Say I order 3 more times that is an additional $21 saved. And because I don't need to worry about shipping costs I can make small orders in the middle of the week if i need to with no penalty.

Now that was worth a few minutes of my time. While that was one of my best deals in recent times i almost always manage to find anywhere from 10-20 off an order or free shipping - often both. Take a few minutes to Google coupon codes - it is usually worth your while.

I am nearly done with Christmas shopping. My personal goal is to be done each year by December 1st so I can just enjoy the month of December. This year, just like the past few years has been done almost exclusively online and with free shipping and no tax. Have to love that :)

Boys Will Be Boys

There is just something innately different between boys and girls. An interesting thing that they both like at my house is hammering rocks. There is something about banging a hammer on a rock sitting on another rock that they all seem to like. However the play ends differently.

When the girls do that here they tend to either examine the insides, notice the sparkles or find the pretty parts. They make fairy dust or collect the little bits. But boys - well boys find different things more fun.

Today Ciaran had two little friends over and they asked if they could hammer rocks. I said yes as that is not that uncommon, reviewed our safety rules and let them play. I checked on them regularly as I was watching the two year old year today. After awhile of doing this I checked on them again and noticed they had figured out how to use the back of the hammer and scrape it to make a spark or two. Next thing I knew there were piles of leaves on top of the rock as they tried to make sparks. The hammer was confiscated and they were quite unhappy their fun was over.

I reminded them about the danger of fire and how a little boy contributed to the large wildfires in California and how fire was nothing to play with. How their minds work that way amazes me. They did not mean anything bad by it - really just curiosity that left unchecked can go too far. Everyone is safe and it will be a long time before Ciaran can use a hammer for anything other than banging nails in.

Meanwhile my two little girls here have spent the day in dress up costumes, playing horses, princesses and tea party. The biggest dispute was over which pair of dress up shoes they got to wear. On the other hand I have had three boys playing together all day without a hitch - now three girls together? That might not have gone as well. So Boys will be boys and I am just thankful Ciaran has other boys to be boys with.

Reading Habits

Lately I have noticed I have been doing a lot less pleasure reading. I read atleast an hour out loud a day to the kids so it is not as if I was not reading but I have just not gotten into any good books lately. It is odd for me. Then today when reading my RSS feed I clicked over to look at my statistics. That is when I discovered this

"From your 82 subscriptions, over the last 30 days you read 4,860 items, starred 0 items, shared 227 items, and emailed 1 items."

So I have been reading a lot online haven't I? In 30 days I have read almost 5000 articles and/or blog posts on the computer. To be sure I just skim many of these - some only the first paragraph or so others I fully read. Usually everything I share I read in full. So even just that is about 8 articles a day in full. When I do the math for those my RSS feed says I read that would be over 150 a day. There is no way that is accurate. I guess maybe I read that many headlines in a day and decide what to read in more detail.

So in the past month I have added over 200 items to my Tenniel's read list over on the right hand column. Guess it gives you a peek into what interests me the most. It also gives me an easy place to store all my favorite things I have read in the past year or so. When I wanted to buy Serona a pair of headphones I went back through my shared items to find the Cnet review of the pair he liked. Useful for someone whose brain tries to keep up with too much information.

I recently read the article about how my generation is reading less but I really wonder if we are or if our reading interests have just shifted? As winter settles in there is nothing like a good book on my lap to read through. Though I would be willing to consider the Kindle if the price ever comes down to something more reasonable. Each winter I read atleast a classic a month - usually I start with Austen helps me think about the finer things in life during a season when it can be so dreary here in MN.

How about you? Do you read news online? My kids asked the other day why the paperboy never comes to our door and I explained I do everything on the computer for my news. That did not surprise my kids since I spend a decent amount of time on there.

Do you have an RSS feeder? If you use Google Reader you too can look at your statistics and be amazed at how much you read. Do you read a lot of books for pleasure? I find often after reading to the kids all day I just don't want to pick up another book but I am happy to read about what is going on in the world.

I also find I go through data fasts. I need to just disconnect for awhile especially after there is a lot of depressing news. Sometimes I just say nothing on the computer but email and that is good. Other times I will only allow myself to read my rss on my blackberry when I am otherwise waiting or wasting time. Sometimes I limit which subscriptions I will read - only blogs of friends and family, or only tech news (my single biggest time suck - I subscribe to lots of tech and science blogs that I find interesting). Anyway I was still surprised at quite how much data I actually peruse over the course of a month!

Peace,
Tenniel

When NOT to turn out the light

One of the results of raising readers is a tough bedtime. Maybe not for everyone but I recall as a child as does Serona that it was tough for him. As a parent I am raising kids who love books and have learned quickly the one thing we have a hard time turning off the light for and making them stop doing is reading. So what do they all do the moment they get into bed? You guessed it pick up a book.

We go through phases of how much we push turning off the lights, stopping reading and how much we allow this time in bed. Generally if it doesn't affect them the next morning I can't say I mind. However if they are crabby because they are not getting enough sleep that is another issue all together.

Well tonight - it is now an hour after bedtime and two out of the three are awake still reading in bed. I was all set to turn off the light when I discovered Ciaran reading (not looking at pictures) but actually reading a Magic tree house book all on his own. There is NO WAY I am going to turn out the light on that one. He has been struggling with confidence on reading quietly alone and still prefers to read out loud which we are happy to help with. But if he wants to read until 11pm tonight that will be just fine by me. Given that he wakes up around 6am each morning I am guessing he will be asleep within a half hour but I won't be turning the light out tonight.

Return of Bob

We have an old friend in our house that alternates between being very loved and completely neglected. At times this friend is with us every day to the point we tire of him at other times he is tucked away on a shelf gathering dust wondering where all the love went and hoping that soon another child will discover him.

He is getting old, worn, and torn in some places. He has lost pieces and been replaced numerous times and will be looked back on with fond and unhappy memories by all. He has been in hiding for over a year - almost two now I guess. Today we had to do a major search to locate him - can you tell we love him?

Are you curious yet? Our friend Bob has returned this time into the hands of a very eager Sirah. This is Bob of the Bob books fame. Today we looked for over a half hour to locate the book Mat for Sirah who insists she is ready to start reading. She was very excited and climbed into Serona's lap very proud of her first turn with Bob.

Together they turned the familiar pages once more. This time for Sirah's very first time. As I watched Sirah in Serona's lap I was filled with joy and anticipation at what is to come. The time of teaching a child to read is so precious. It is an ongoing journey as we introduce them to more and more of the literary world. But there is something so very special about teaching them to turn individual letters into sounds and words and watch those ever important light bulbs go off in their cute little heads for the first time.

Just this morning I listened as Ciaran read Frog and Toad and Little Bear to me without assistance. As I listen and help him through the Magic Tree House books and the plethora of non-fiction books Wonder series books from the library he is rapidly devouring I can still remember the first time he climbed on my lap with a Bob book insecure about if he could read it.

Today we help Rhiannon understand a difficult word or concept or struggle to find reading material that is at her level but also appropriate for her reading level and substantial enough to fulfill her voracious appetite for books. We look forward to the days we can introduce her to Tolkein, Shakespeare, Dickens, Austen, Heinlein, and yes even Rowling. But for now we continue to watch her enjoy Bibee, Lovelace, Barrie, Ingalls-Wilder, and really any book she can get her hands on. Still it was only 4 years ago when she first climbed into our laps with a bob book with as much confidence as Sirah that she was in fact ready to read whether we were or not.

It all started in our house with Bob. Bob is out again and will be strewn through our living room, library, family room and bedrooms. He is here to stay for awhile until Sirah is ready to move beyond him. A funny thing happens with Bob. When he comes out suddenly the other kids pick him up again and visit their old friend. Maybe they are remembering how hard he seemed once to understand but mostly they just notice how easy it seems now. They will read to Sirah and with Sirah and maybe in their own way remember their reading journey.

This time when Sirah is done I have no logical reason to keep Bob around with no other youngsters in the house. Still somehow I know we won't be parting with him. Always good to have an old friend around. Maybe some day a niece or newphew or even grandchild will meet Bob and experience their first moment of climbing into a lap with trepidation and confidence all rolled together as they turn the pages for the first time and meet a familiar friend to so many.

Welcome back Bob! Happy to see you again old friend. Thanks for being the same after years on the shelf.

My TV made me want a Wii!

We have an old pair of rabbit ears to attach to our television that we keep in storage. We take it out a few times a year. To watch presidential addresses, the Olympics, thanksgiving day parade and a few other random things. In general though we just get static, movies and video games on our TV. Our reasons are plentiful and we have been tv free our entire marriage.

Recently with TV seasons coming out on DVD, Serona and I have watched a few shows we were curious about and from time to time I watch some reruns on the computer. Nothing is yet to convince us to get TV back into our home. The invention of DvR technology might one day allow for it - but nothing has impressed us enough to deal with the downsides for our family.

Anyway I digress. Thanksgiving morning we watch the parade. This year Serona and I were up late the evening before so we set everything up and allowed the kids to watch it together without us. About an hour or so after they started watching I came downstairs and said "Happy Thanksgiving" they responded in kind and then nearly immediately Rhiannon said "can we go see National Treasure II and Enchanted" and Ciaran pipes up "I want a Wii!"

I actually had to hold back a laugh because I realized this was all new to them, commercials. We talk about advertising a lot in stores or when we watch films. What makes you want that and why. It actually is a game we play. So we talked about their requests. In reality that wasn't too bad because we already planned to take them to see those films and as for the Wii well who wouldn't already intuitively KNOW that Ciaran would want a Wii?

So in a way I did not feel too bad about their requests because really the only commercials that seemed to stick with them were things they were already prone to prefer. I asked if they saw any other commercials they liked and wanted something from? It was a good discussion. Then we did an experiment with turning off the sound on commercials. A funny thing happened - they stopped watching them and started talking to each other. Even commercials they watched before. We talked about that. Anyway it was interesting to me to see their reactions to commercials.

I am thankful I don't deal with that on a daily basis. I know DvR eliminates some of that - but still it is one battle I don't need to deal with as frequently. So will they go see the films and get a Wii? Well our decisions on those questions have nothing to do with the commercials they watched.