Brian Dennert Here... Ventura County Star Blog

My brother's blog about local politics going on in Simi Valley and the surrounding area!

http://blogs.venturacountystar.com/dennert

crazy day at only 9:30am

Okay, today was off to a crazy start.

Woke up to the dog having diarrhea on the kitchen floor. I was dry-heaving cleaning it up.

Kids clogged the front bathroom toilet with too much toilet paper.

Kids flooded the bathroom floor with water by overflowing the basin when taking a shower.

My sister let my son buy a rat last night at the pet food store. They called and asked and I told her and him NO!!!

AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

On the bright side. I had a garage sale this weekend. Saturday I did GREAT. Sunday was very very slow. BUT, I made aprox. $770 at the garage sale!

;-)

art ? toe-nail art.. ummmm okay?

I guess you can call this art. Folk art? Ecentric art? Crazy weird people? LMAO!!! Not sure I'd want to touch these if they had other people's nails on them. Other people's feet gross me out! Not kidding! Feet by themselves are okay. But, PLEASE, if you have sweaty, hot-in-the-shoes-all-day feet don't ever try to put them near me. And, if you have toe nails so long that a french pedicure would look nice, but instead they are all yellow and gross and cracked and have dirty 'stuff' under the nails, I just might gag!

So, with all that said, please check out this 'lovely' website.

http://rachelzcallahan.blogspot.com/2008/06/toenail-art.html

I have to thank Suzie for sending it to me! Sigh!!! What would I do without my friends?

;-*

Handmade soaps and bath products

This is anther great website. The woman that owns and runs it (and makes the products) is someone I know from a LLL chatgroup. These are great gift ideas and fun to enjoy at home. Very affordable prices too.

http://www.soaps-and-potions.com

:-)

Great meal recipes for free

My friend, Suzie, told me about this great blog. She has a friend that emailed out recipes all the time to family and friends and Suzie encouraged her to create a blog from it. So, she has an posts great recipe ideas all the time. They are in groups on the right to choose from.

Enjoy!!!


http://wfdamy.blogspot.com/

Christ's Birth- Merry Christmas

This is a great video to help us remember the reason we are celebrating Christmas. Not the tree, not the presents, not the eggnog or the photo Christmas cards... but for the birth of Christ the King.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_ypUnnqr8Y&eurl=http://co105w.col105.mail.live.com/mail/InboxLight.aspx?FolderID=00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000001&InboxSortAscending&feature=player_embedded

Christmas in Japan

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmCrIZeob4w


I have a friend that lives in Japan and she posted this short video on her blog. It is funny and reminds me of the guy that travels all over the world doing the stupid dance with the hand pumping motion.

;-)

Simi Valley Library needs repairs

I have seen the wall like this at the Simi Library for months and months now. I always forget about it and then the next time we are in there I am reminded. The yellow thing sticking out is a candy box and there is other trash shoved in there as well. The brown is a cardboard flap that was taped on and is coming loose. I am seriously wondering why no one is fixing this! I have to remember to ask the next time I am there!

Chistmas in the Attic at the Simi Library

I got a flyer for this from a woman at the library on Saturday. We went there for the Redbird annual Toy and Blanket Drive and Potluck. We hung out, saw some friend and chatted for a few hours.

Anyways, the flyer is for a free holiday movie screening of Christmas in the Attic. It is Dec. 13th. 11:30-12:30pm. For ages 3-9 yrs old.

I'm not sure what it is but might be cute. The small blurb about the story line is about three puppets that are forgotten in an attic and have to spend Christmas alone until they meet a girl.

Photos from Back to Bethlehem 12/06

Girls making pottery.


Girls were selling wreaths. The saw my digital camera and called it a 'lighting maker' and I told them if they hugged and smiled that I'd draw their picture. So, I took a picture and then put the photo on 'view' and they pretended to be memorized that they were in two places at once.














Baby K getting her 'sandals repaired for one coin'. She really enjoyed this! It was cute!












The Romans harassing a man telling people to not give money to Caesar. Little D LOVED this but last year it scared Baby K. It Looks like they are punching the man and Baby K didn't realize it was all pretend. Not nice at all and too violent for me but stuff like this, and worse, did happen and still does, right? His children raised 50 shekels to give to the Romans so that he could be freed.

















A Rabbi in his school quizzing the children on the bible.

Little D in the petting area, petting some goats and sheep. It was cute that Baby K pointed out (without jealously) that Little D is great with animals.







Little D with a donkey just outside the manger. Last year they had a camel too and they usually do. I asked and where it was and someone told me it was down the hill grazing. I asked if it would be here next weekend and they said (in time era-like dialect) that the camel-renting-business had rates that were too high this year so they had to walk on foot! ;-)

Rocky Peak Church Back to Bethlehem

The Church at Rocky Peak is doing their annual live interactive Bethlehem. This is the church we attend but I never brought the children when they were smaller because it was late and is often cold. This is now our third year going and they LOVE it. On Saturday we went to church, planning to go to the Saturday evening service but they were doing a practice run with people welcome to stop in so we went. We are planning to go next weekend with some family members too.

So, here it is;

Experience the first Christmas at Back to Bethlehem.

More than a nativity scene
and not a play...

Travel back in time and interact with villagers in our outdoor re-creation of the town of Bethlehem. Participate with town merchants and craftsmen. Avoid the Roman centurions and tax collectors (Little D loves being chased by them and tries to antagonize them). See for yourself an overworked innkeeper, excited shepherds, three mysterious travelers, angelic visitors and a young couple with a newborn baby. Back to Bethlehem is a Christmas event for the whole family!

Free admission!

Saturday and Sunday, December 13 &14 7-9pm.

Friday-Monday, December 19-22nd. 7-9pm.

22601 Santa Susana Pass Rd.
Chatsworth. 91311.
(818) 709-0113. (805) 522-5100. www.rockypeak.org

Sunflowers growing in our front yard

Gardening is such a fun way to teach about plants and when seeds that are planted do well they are a great reward too.

A few months ago I was weeding and planting some seeds in the front and back yard (mostly vegetable seeds). Baby K was helping me and I when we were in the front I gave her some Giant Sunflower seeds to plant herself. She planted them too close together but obviously did it deep enough.

There are about 5-7 plants coming up. Mostly small, it is December, ya know, but one of them is growing about the rest and right now it is taller then Baby K.

I think these are suppose to get 10-12 feet tall so we will see! Right now she is amazed and very proud of herself too!

:-)

Followers

Okay, I was goofing off trying to edit some things on my blog. I was TRYING to update the ads on it but for some reason can't do it. There are some new features so I clicked on the one that says 'followers'. I added it to the side of my blog but screwed up because now, some how, I am a follower of my own blog. So, someone, PLEASE add yourself too so that I'm not the only one reading it! lol!

:-)

Educational coloring pictures

This website has over 6400 pictures to choose from to print for children to learn and color on. Holidays, environment, geography, the presidents and other famous people, fairy tales, family and more. The 'Act Now' clip that I posted was from this site as well.

You can also sign up for the 'coloring picture of the day'. I printed a Topographic Map to show Little D tomorrow!

http://www.edupics.com

:-)

Act Now Global Warming Video clip

http://www.edupics.com/

German Fruit Cake Marzipan Stollen

Okay, I got some of this 'stuff' from Trader Joe's and haven't tried it yet (I'm a little chicken to try). It reminds me of fruit cake but is suppose to be some kind of sweet bread.

A friend told me that marzipan means 'almond paste' and that it is a type of German bread.

So, I had to look on Wikipedia and see what it REALLY is! LOL!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stollen

Enjoy! Now you have learned something new too!

;-)

inspiring and humbling video

I found this video so incredibly moving. Great for us to reflect on our fortunes during the holiday season!

Debbie


http://www.cnn. com/video/ #/video/us/ 2008/11/22/ jaffe.wa. boy.dying. wish.obit. komo

Commercial Free childhood

I got this from a post from Tonya. Many things to click on. Learn and be informed!!!

Tv has WAYYYY too many commercials and I even notice a huge increase in the 'I wants' and the 'Will you buy me' after my children have watched tv with commercials. This group has done some great things, like getting Scholastic to remove Bratz from thier school sales!!

:-)

Debbie

http://commercialfreechildhood.org/issues.htm

discount tickets for Renaissance Faire

For a limited time, 11/19/06 - 1/7/07, you can buy tickets for the Ren
Fair half price! (Online only, it's easier to buy tix online and just
hand them at the gate vs. waiting in line.)

The Original Renaissance Faire
2009 ** April 4 - May 17 ** 2009
Saturdays & Sundays 10:00 AM - 7:00 PM
School Day is Friday April 24, 2009
Location: Santa Fe Dam Recreation Area - Irwindale, CA
Santa Fe Dam is a unit of the United States Army Corps of Engineers,
maintained and operated by the County of Los Angeles Department of
Parks and Recreation

http://www.renfair. com/socal/

Regular Gate price
Adult (13+) $29.50
Child (5-12) $15.00

OFFER ENDS SUNDAY, JANUARY 4, 2009, 11:59pm
Adult $12.50
Child $7.50
Children under 5 are always free.

Kids lunchbox cards

I meet these people at Whole Foods a few months ago and signed up for their email list. I have not ordered yet but they do have very cute cards. It is a family business and the prices are reasonable. Even though we homeschool I thought these would still be a nice 'I love you' to slip in lunch bags when the kids are at their enrichment classes!

Here is the link!

http://http//kidsfuncards.com/default.asp?id=638

:-)

Thursday 25% off for educators at Borders

On Thursday, December 4, 2008, Borders Books will be having its first Educator Holiday Savings event at all Borders stores. For this one day only, all current and retired educators and homeschooling parents will receive 25% off the list price of nearly everything in the store including books, music, and DVDs. The 25% off also applies to gifts and stationery and Café items. When you get to the registers just mention that you’re an educator or show your ID to get your discount. J. K. Rowling’s The Tales of Beedle the Bard will be released on the December 4th as well, so customers can reserve their copies now for pick-up on Thursday.

I'm thinking of going to get a present for the family member I picked for the Christmas exchange!!

:-)

Bottle Village Open House

The Open House at Bottle Village was great. We forgot to count but had about 500-700 people there! A sidewalk artist, Ruth Villa, did a drawing of Grandma Prisby. We had some musicians playing. A few tables selling Bottle Village keepsakes. I set up and was suppose to run the snack table but Baby K just took it over and did it all. Once in a while when there were other children around they'd start talking, become instant friends and would help her out until their parents told them it was time to leave. The whole event was 4 hours and it was packed the entire time and we were cleaning up with flashlights (damm that daylight savings).

Here are some photos from my camera;

Baby K removing a pebble on the sidewalk by sidewalk artist Ruth Villa.

From entrance, looking in. People milling around and checking out everything there is to see.

Picture of Joanne and Helen (my mom) at the front taking money and selling books and other BV cool stuff.

Baby K showing off an oreo cookie at her snack table.

She collected over $60 dollars in donations!!!

LOOK at all the people and cars!! WOW! This is the front gates. It was busy like this all day long with no parking on both sides of the street!!

Ruth Villa's finished artwork! I am amazed! I've never seen a sidewalk artist and this was the first time she had done a black and white drawing (she based it on a photo of Grandma Prisby). I hope she comes back again!

Nativities Around the World, No Room at the Inn

I'm passing on info on this nativity called "No Room at the Inn." I have not been to it but I have heard it is wonderful. If you go to the website there is a list of similar ones from all around.

This one is in Agoura and it is next weekend, December 5th - 7th. http://www.noroom.%20org/contact.%20htm

EXHIBIT HOURS Saturday, December 6 and Sunday, December 710:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.

Donation $5 adults, $1 Children

St. Maximilian Kolbe Catholic Church
5801 N. Kanan Road, Westlake Kanan & Lindero Canyon Road

Xerox free greeting cards for soldiers

Something cool that Xerox is doing. If you go to this web site, http://www.letssayt hanks.com/ Home1024. html you can pick out a thank you card and Xerox will print it and it will be sent to a soldier that is currently serving in Iraq. You can't pick out who gets it, but it will go to some member of the armed services.How AMAZING it would be if we could get everyone we know to send one!!! This is a great site. Please send a card. It is FREE and it only takes a second. Wouldn't it be wonderful if the soldiers received a bunch of these? Whether you are for or against the war, our guys and gals over there need to know we are behind them.

eBay going paperless

eBay sent out an email with 'new great updates' again. Funny how this always seems to benefit them but they act like it is the seller or buyers best interest.

The biggest change is they are going 'paperless for payments'. They will no longer allow a seller to accept cash, money orders or cashiers checks as forms of payment. The only exception is for items that are pick-up only.

The new acceptable forms of payments are Paypal (which eBay owns stock in), credit cards or ProPay (not sure what this is).

Funny how I was informed about this by Auctiva via newsletter and I contacted eBay's live chat to ask about it and the live chat person told me,.. "No! Check your source of information because this is wrong." Less then a week later eBay notifies everyone about it.

I wrote a letter complaining (enough people do it and they might change it back, right? It has happened before).

This is what they said;


Dear Deborah,

Thank you for writing eBay in regard to your concerns.

I apologize for the misinformation you received regarding the Paperless
Payments policy. I see that you have been able to connect with live chat
since then and received the correct information.

However, I will go ahead and include that information here, as well.

Starting October 20, 2008 only permitted payment methods will be
displayed in the payment details section of listings. Sellers will need
to remove all references to non-permitted payment methods from item
descriptions. We know that this is a busy time of year for sellers, so
to allow sufficient time to change templates, we will wait until January
15, 2009 before we begin taking action against sellers soliciting
non-permitted payment methods within the item description of listings.


Here is a list of the accepted payments:

PayPal
Credit or debit card processed through an Internet merchant account
ProPay

Sellers may in addition offer to accept:
Payment upon pickup

For more information on this new policy, please visit the following
link:

http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/accepted-payments-policy.html


If you need further assistance, please don't hesitate to reply to this
email and let us know.

Sincerely,
Ashley Cu.

eBay Customer Support





So, there you have it.

Please tell me what you think!!

EEG for baby K

Update on Baby K.

The pediatric cardiologist has decided her fainting has nothing to do with heart and can not figure it out. So, the pediatrician ordered an EEG and after he reviews the results is probably going to send us to a nurologist.

We had the EEG at Simi Hospital on 11/13. The technician said the hospital nurologist should call the pediatrician and then I will get the call with the results. I was told it should take one day but it has now been 1 1/2 weeks and nothing! I've called twice. Last time I was told the hospital still hasn't told the pediatrican the results. I'll be calling again on Monday!

Baby K was brave for the whole thing. She had to hold very still for about 20 minutes for the technician to put all the sticky probes on and then had to hold her eyes closed and hold still for about 30 more and breath deep. The night before I was supose to keep her up the whole night or most of it. They said sleep deprivation stresses the brain and can cause abnormalities to show up better. So she went to bed at 11pm and I woke her up at 4am. It was hoped that she would fall asleep during the EEG but that didn't happen!

A Faery Hunt Fairys in Simi Valley

Twice a month there is 'A Faery Hunt' in Simi Valley. We went recently as guests from some of the actors in it (our friends). It is at Corriganville Park in Simi Valley the 1st and 3rd weekend of the month on Sundays (pending weather and major holidays). Starting time is at 10:30am. Tickets are $10 each (adults and children).

We went and the kids had a BLAST! Little D went into it expecting it to be for 'babies' or really younger kids and for it to be boring. Although he wasn't as enchanted as the younger children he did enjoy it. Baby K, of course, loved the whole thing and actively participated the entire time.

The whole thing has a theme of looking for the queen of the Faeries with a few sub-plots. It lasted about an hour.

Tickets are not cheap but it is a non-profit corporation. We will be going again next month as guests for a birthday party. I'm sure it will be just as magical.

I'll post pictures later.

http://www.afaeryhunt.com/ (818) 324-6802 or email is afaeryhunt@yahoo.com

Update... the reason it is spelled Faery and not Fairy is because the first was is the Gaelic way to spell the word! ;-)

:-)

Coupon to save $5.00 at Whole Foods

Just in case you shop there. This was posted by someone on a chat group and I thought I'd pass it on!

:-)_

http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/pdfs/coupon_5off.pdf_

Bottle Village Art Outreach SImi Valley homeschool groups field trips

I have decided to step up and volunteer with the Art Outreach program with Bottle Village. The president of Bottle Village, Joann Johnson, has been doing so many different things with Bottle Village that this area needs help.

Starting soon, as the weather cools down, I will be organizing field trips and open days at Bottle Village.

The cost will be aprox. $7 per person.

The families will have have a tour of the grounds, learn more information about Bottle Village and get to make a mosaic with misc. small objects that they can bring with them. Beads, old keys coins and other items that are not perishable are great to put in the mosaics. Last time we did it the children each made two. One to bring home and one to leave with Bottle Village for Joann to sell as a fundraiser.

The whole field trip will be aprox. 1 1/2-2 hours old.

Please email me if you are interested in being on the list to be contacted when I get some dates.

For more information you can Google 'Bottle Village'. There is a children's book that Joann has available for purchase too that was written about Bottle Village.

:-)

Strathearn Historical Park Ghost Tours Bottle Village Grandma Prisby

Right now through The end of October the Strathearn Historical Park in Simi Valley will be having Ghost Tours.

It is their scary Halloween fundraiser for people to come and see.

It costs $8 per person and guests go on a tour visiting ghosts from Simi Valley's Past.

Including my favorite, Grandma Prisby, the founder and Creator of Bottle Village (a historical landmark in Simi Valley).

The Ghosts Tours is open October 24,25 & 26th. Friday 7-10pm, Saturday 6-10pm and Sunday 6-9pm.

Docent-led tours depart every 10 minutes.

I am planning on going next weekend. Last year I wanted to go but thought it might be too scary for Little D and Baby K but I asked this year and I was told it is a whole-family event and that it is child-friendly.

:-)

Strathearn Park is at 137 Strathearn Place (805) 526-6453.

Somis Home Study SPA Days Halloween Homeschooling Open House

Somis Home Study will be starting their SPA (Student Parent Appreciation) Days this week.

They are once a month on Fridays. This one, on October 24th, will have the theme of Halloween.

It will be a fun day for the children K-8th to wear costumes, do crafts and other Halloween activities.

Since we are here today for the K-3rd enrichment classes and we plan to come on Thursday for the tutoring it will be three days this week to trek out here. Since I have been able to use a computer and go online it is making my day more productive but the cost of gas still sucks right now.

Next month's SPA Day theme will be Thanksgiving.

Also, Tuesday of next week, at the same time as the Parent-Child week, Somis Homestudy will be having an Open House. It will be on the 28th at 6:30 pm. Families that are thinking about homeschooling or want to learn more are welcome to come down to check out the classroom and ask questions.

:-)

:-)

Great free learning homeschooling websites

I'm going to try to make a list of websites for homeschooling. Please let me know if you have an good ones to add. They can be good for teaching online, free lesson plans to print or games for kids to play.


http://www.helpme2teach.com/ This one is not free but they do have a free 3-day trial without using a credit card. Type in 3DAYSFREE (all caps). I have not checked this one out yet but have heard it is great.

Brainpop or BrainpopJr (just add dot com to either). They do have accounts that you can subscribe to as a yearly membership but some of the videos and exercises are free.

http://www.wecansolveit.org/ Great for environment and recycling.

http://www.starfall.com/ Great for reading, spelling, phonics. A few different grade levels.

http://www.bookitprogram.com/ Sign up your children to receive coupons for a free personal pizza each month as part of a reading program. They have a section for homeschooling and for public schools as well.

www.mhschool.com/math It was hard to navigate but we found the exact same edition of the math books that Little D and Baby K have and there were games and some interactive activities that related to some specific chapters of their math books. They had other sections besides math as well.

The following few I got from a magazine as the 'top five sites for kids to grow on' I have not seen them all but the ones I have previewed were great.

http://www.homeworksport.com/

http://www.ology.amnh.org/

http://www.scholastic.com/

http://www.studyjams.com/

http://www.webwisekids.org/

http://www.studyjams.com/

Free Pepsi... customer service

I have called the (800) number before when I have gotten an item at the store that I have a problem with. They are usually very accommodating and happy to help.

When I had a bottle of hair detangler for Baby K and the plastic of the bottle was too thick to squeeze it out once I got 1/2 way through the bottle I called. It was a brand new product and they were very happy to know this. On top of that they sent me coupons. Two were $7.99 coupons for any product they make and a few more were $1.00 coupons.

So, recently I did this with Pepsi. I did not have a problem with their the Pepsi but with their contest. I had a bottle cap that said 'buy one 20 oz get one free' and I took it to three different places and no one would take it. They all said, "We don't participate in that program." Even the place that I bought it from.

The Pepsi customer service rep. told me that it is up to the places that sell the Pepsi if they want to participate or not. BUT.. they mailed me some coupons for the inconvenience.

I got two coupons. Each good for one 2-liter bottle of any Pepsi-Cola product.

Well, this only gets better. I went to Vons to shop and they were having a sale. 'Buy One Get One Free' on the Pepsi products.

So, I got Four 2-liter bottles of Diet Pepsi for free!

:-)

Del Taco Free Tacos club

EVERYONE wants your address or email address to try to solicit to you, right? But sometimes it is rewarding too.

Sign up at www.deltaco.com for their Raving Fan Club and you will get;

Two chicken soft tacos.
1 shake on your birthday.
And coupons for other offers.

:-)

recycling for art

We have figured out a great way to recycle with out just throwing something in the recycle bin.

Old tv trays, trays from Lunchables and similar plastic trays work great for art work. Especially the ones that have separate sections.

They can be used as paint pallets. I pour some paint of different colors in each section and the kids can choose to mix them up or keep them separate.

We have used them to put beads in the separate by color.

To squirt some glue in when we are using q-tips to glue objects together.

I'm sure there are lots of other ideas too.

When we are done with them we can choose, depending on how dirty they got, on weather to throw them out or rinse them out to use them again.

:-)

Free money and balloon from Toys R Us

On the same thread as the free ice cream, I registered both kids for the free birthday club with Toys R us. This was easy and is actually cute and fun.

About a month before their birthday I got a birthday count down list with ides, suggestions and reminders with a check-off list.

The kids got a gift card for Toys U Us. It says 'Good for $3 off any purchase of $3 or more'.

We had some birthday returns so with the store credit I used this too to save on their new purchase.

Last, they got a post card that said to present it to an employee at the customer service desk for a birthday surprise.

This was adorable! Little D was slightly embarrassed but still young enough to enjoy it. Little K was glowing.

The customer service person gave both of them a birthday crown to wear. Gave them a helium balloon that said Toys R Us and Happy Birthday on it. And announced on the loud speaker both of their names, their ages and a very loud Happy Birthday to both of them!

They got extra smiles the whole time we were browsing the store.

:-)

Cold Stone & 31 Flavors Free Ice Cream for Birthdays

Two years ago I went online and registered Myself and both kids for 'a free scoop of ice cream for your birthday' club. I did this with both Baskin & Robbin's 31 Flavors and with Cold Stone Creamery. When I got the email to print the coupon I was surprised to learn that the coupon was for a little over a week and then it expired. Since Baby K's birthday is in August, Little D's birthday is in September and mine is in November it meant we'd be going there too much AND when one kid got a free ice cream the other one wanted me to buy them one. So, I changed the dates of their birthdays. Now both kids get a coupon the same week so they can use them together and both get a free scoop without me having to spend money (unless I want to buy one for myself).

The kids love getting it either way!

Mystery Shops work at home

Yes, you can do mystery shops. They are not all a hype. However, you will not make a living doing them. If you want to do them, consider them an extra perk. A little more money or 'things' that you purchase and get reinbursed for. I like the part of being in disguise. Most pay $10-15 and for restraunts will reinburse about $25-50.

I used to do them with about 5-6 different companies. Furniture stores, fast food, banks, retail stores that are high-end selling clothes, purses, etc. It is a blast to do them.

I have stopped because there is a limited time to sign back on and do the report (which takes about 30-60 mintues). It is more profitable for me to list online to sell rather then do an hour long report that I got $10. for.

If you want to do them, ask around or do a Google seach. Two that I liked were Sassie Shop, www.sassieshop.com and I Shop For You, www.ishopforyou.com


My friend, Susan, has done them as well. She told me about a car trip she was going to make and needed an oil change. She emailed a shop that has done oil changes before and asked if they had one and they did (but hadn't posted it yet). She has done that with airport parking as well.

So, she got to do mystery shops that were not even posted by just asking. She got a free oil change and got reinbursed for her airport parking!

:-)

Field Trips Week Guitar Factory JPL Painted Horse Pinki the Clown

We went on three field trips in a row this week. WHEW! It has been a very busy week.

Monday we had enrichment classes at Somis.

Tuesday we had a field trip in the afternoon to Larrivee. It is a factory in Oxnard that builds guitars. They make, on average, 16 guitars a day and work M-F. The normal prices are about $1000-3000 each but our tour guide said with special things, custom things and upgrades they can go a LOT higher. He said one sold recently for $45,000.

I will post photos later but overall it was a neat place. We got to walk around to all the different stations viewing the employees sanding, gluing, painting, etc.

The total field trip was a little long for the younger ones and it was hot. Normally it is in the low 70's in Oxnard but on this day it was 86. They have special rooms that have temp and humidity controls but the rest of the places was all open, HIGH ceilings and it was too hot!

This would be a neat place for adults to go and learn about guitars too. They actually make a few other similar instruments but the majority of sales are guitars.

Wednesday we went to JPL and had a tour of the grounds. We went with two other families so it was a nice, small group. We were there for about 2-2 1/2 hours. The kids go to see a new Mars Rover being built, satellites and more. The tour guides were great and friendly. Answered all of our questions and were very patient with the kids. This is defiantly a fun place. In May they have a two day open house that is open to the public too.

Today, Thursday, we went to The Painted Pony. It is in Santa Paula and it is a working ranch. The kids got to pick apples, pick one pumpkin, feed and pets goats, pigs, miniature horses, rabbits, ducks, chickens and I'm sure there are some I'm missing. They had a great time. This was with a group from Somis and it was huge. I guess everyone needed some fresh air and running around. The place is beautiful. Surrounded by lush, green hills and mountains. It was great to be there. In the spring they will be starting a gardening class and in the summer they have a camp for kids (too far of a drive for us but neat to pass on).

I have LOTS of pictures from all three of these places and they are all still on my camera. I will post them soon.

Tomorrow, Saturday, we are going to Lowe's for their free children' workshop and then we might go see Pinki the Clown at the Simi Cultural Arts Center.

On Sunday it is the 18th annual Japanese Festival Day at the Camarillo Community Center. We have made it 3 of the last 4 years and the kids think it is great. They have sword fighting, sumo wrestling, tea ceremonies, children's crafts like origami and they sell a lunch tray that has Japanese food. I'm hoping we make it there this year, after church!

Barack Obama has my vote in Simi Valley

Do you want the next 4 years to be the same as the last eight? Face the facts. The economy sucks right now. The war needs to end. WE need new ideas. McCain wants to do the exact same thing that Bush is now doing.

Barack Obama is the change we need... or it will be, "Same as it ever was." for 4 more years!!!

Funny blogs cakewrecks why would you knit that?

I have found two very funny blogs that I thought I'd share.

The first is www.cakewrecks.blogspot.com I have, not kidding, been laughing out loud so hard I was afraid I'd wake up the kids from some things that have been written on this one. It is a site of all 'professional' cakes and how wrong, ugly or crazy they can be. The typos are the best!!!

The second is http://www.Whywouldyouknitthat.blogspot.comI just heard about this one tonight. There is not a huge amount posted on it yet but there is great potential. Lots of funny stuff here too!

If it works, here is a video from the Cake Wrecks that is on YouTube right now. I have NO CLUE why someone would make it. A college assignment? The people that made it are definitely disturbed. I be going to bed shortly and I'm sure I'll have this stupid song stuck in my head! LOL!

NEW fees, again from eBay

http://pages.ebay.com/sell/August2008Update/MaxShipping/

Okay, check out the above link. eBay is changing their shipping fees. On certain items, like books and cd and computer games, they are putting a max. amount that can be charged for shipping. Even if there is 20-500 books. The prices seem WAY too low. BUT, you can avoid this constraint. You have to now use the shipping calculator. Down side, you have to have your item all boxed up and know the exact weight while listing so that you know what to input.

Two reasons that eBay is doing this. 1- So that buyers do not get charged too much for shipping. 2- eBay collects a fee on the final balance. So, if you sold something for 99 cents and charge $20 for shipping they'd only collect their fees off of the 99 cents. BUT, if they limit this and you sell the item for $15.00 and charge $ 5.00 shipping eBay will now make the % of their fees based on the $15.00.

So, bottom line is more money, again, for eBay!

Debbie

catch-up

Okay. I have a huge pile of things I want to post on here. Lots to share too. Since it is 1:40am I'm not sure how much I will get done but here is a start!

New of school year is going nicely. We turned in our work today at Somis. I think there is 9 times or 10 total that we turn in work so one month down! December is short due to the winter break too.

Enrichment classes for K-3 are on Mondays besides the last Monday of the month, when we turn in work and having our meetings.

The new park day that I created is going great. About 3-4 active families coming. I think the small size is great and the kids are having a blast. Due to the heat we have been meeting in Moorpark. It is a little cooler in Moorpark then it is in Simi. We found a nice park with lots of shade and have been meeting there on Tuesdays.

Wednesdays we are at West Vally Homeschool group in Tarzana. We have been having some problems with a few boys and Little D getting along but I'm hoping it will all smooth out. Baby K is in a great girls group. We had a potluck the first week and they made group t-shirts. Last week we made our scrapbooks that they will add to through out the year. I think this week's theme is 'old fashioned games' and we will be playing jump rope, red rover, etc. Baby K just loves this group and has meet a lot of nice friends in it. Starting this week Little D is giong to try out a brand new class, fencing. I will have to see how he does and if he can listen and not goof off to see if he can stay in it. I talked about it with him and he is excited about it.

Thursdays we often meet a friend and her daughter to play in the afternoon or we just play catch-up. There has to be at least ONE day that we are home all day so that I can do things like laundry and cleaning. Somis will also be having tutoring on this day. We went last week and right now they are testing all the kids for language arts and reading to see where they are at to know where to start. One of the teachers, Heidi, came up to me and asked if Little D is colorblind. I told her, yes, he is, but only a little bit. Colors like tan, faded yellow, off white and white might be hard to tell apart. Or he often gets mixed up dark blue and purple. WELL... she tells me that he told her that her sweater was white and it was a black sweater. He sure tricked her! Sigh!!!

Fridays once a month are SPA (Student Parent Apprication Days) at Somis. In Oct. the theme is Halloween. We often have field trips on Fridays too.

So, as it can be seen, we are getting busier and busier! I have been making sure that we schedule time to be at home too so that the kids get some down time to just play. We have been sucessful at doing our school work in the am's before ever leaving the house and sometimes doing a little bit on the weekend.

Some nice news, Little D won 3rd place for a book he wrote. It was submitted to the Ventura County Fair by Somis Homestudy. It was a nice surprise. They presented it (and for other kids as well) at the beginning of the school year picnic. He got a white ribbion that is one of the long, pretty ones. He is very proud of himself for recieving it.

Fridays

Somis Homestudy New year

The school year has now started. Our schedule is starting to become routine although new things are being added.

Somis Homestudy has a few changes this year. Two teachers have left due to budget cuts and a third might leave/might stay, depending on the total number of enrollment. I hope she stays! She is Baby K's favorite teacher (Baby K said she is the nicest).

Mondays are K-3 and Wednesdays are 3-5 so, technically, Little D could go both days, being in 3rd but I heard from another mom that Wednesdays are mostly 5th graders and the 3rd graders have to be mature and be able to keep up. I'm not sure he can do that. Plus Baby K has the Snow Fairies on Wednesdays in Tarzana. Not sure I want to do all that driving in one day.

New to Somis Homestudy is tutoring that they are offering on Thursdays for K-8th.

I'm going to see if I can get a laptop for cheap so that I can do computer work while I am down there. I asked and they said yes, that I can have internet access and even use a computer there but if I'm doing the Chacha work I have to have a Chacha toolbar on the computer. If I upload my photos before I leave the house I should be able to do my eBay work there.

We have already started our work at home and the beginning of the school year potluck was last week but the enrichment classes don't start until next week.

Something else new, I started my own park day/play group. There are 12 families online but so far there just a few actually chatting. Today there was 5 families at the park. We had a blast and stayed until it was time to come home and make dinner. Both kids fell asleep quickly! I love how much running around at the park tires them out.

Tomorrow is the potluck for the beginning of the school year party with West Valley and Snow Fairies. The girls are suppose to bring a plain white t-shirt to cut and decorate.

We are also going to try to make it to a silent auction that the La Leche League of Thousand Oaks is putting on.

In the am I have to run to my dad's before he leaves to borrow his camera. Little D was playing with mine on the playground 'to take just one picture' and fell off the playground with it and now it has sand in the lens, the lens is stuck out and it does not do anything and doesn't make any noise at all. I'm going to see if I can get my step-dad to clean it up and try to fix it.

Do you Chacha ?

I just signed up as a Chacha guide. Lots of small steps to get there but neat to do. Basically when people email or text questions (as if doing a Google search) a live person, a Guide, gets the question, finds the answer and send it back to them.

They pay 20 cents a question which does not seem like a lot but adds up to about $10-12 per hour. AND... it is fun. Lots of crazy, stupid, interesting questions. People asking for directions, places for cheap gas, relationship problems, history questions, sports statistics, etc.

I know I have a million and one things already going on but so far I like this. I might get burnt out or might get more efficient and make more money!

The link is chacha.com

my user name is Debbzs

:-)

Great auto mechanic in Simi Valley David Skinner

I found a great car mechanic last week. My front breaks were squeaking BAD and I figured they needed to be replaced but didn't have much money to pay. The actual parts have a lifetime warranty from Autozone but the person that put them on for me 2 yrs ago could not do it. But, he gave me the number for someone named David (Dave) Skinner and told me to call him. So, I did. I brought my van over to him a few days later, after we got back from camping, and he worked on it.

He ended up getting the new breaks from Autozone to replace these (had someone from there bring them to him) and then he did all the work removing and replacing the front breaks on both sizes.

The breaks now work great and he charged me only $40.00. WOW WOW WOW!!!

His place of business was by my friend's house so we walked over there and said hi and caought up on things then we walked to McDonald and they got a free snack (Little D got an apple pie and Baby K got a chocolate chip cookie and they both shared a small fry). These were free by using the coupons they sell at Halloween and Valentine's Day. They are a great deal. So, when we were about done Dave called me and said the van was done. We walked back to him. Paid him. and chatted then left.

So, since the serivce was great and prices wonderful I thought I'd share it.

DS Auto Repair.
David Skinner.
(805) 306-9894.
Davids@dsautorepair.net
Dsautorepair.net

:-)

Kids Talk Politics documentary

Check out Kids Talk Politics for great political views from small voices. For ages 8-10 yrs old. Children can tape their views and email it in as a link or on YouTube and they can be part of the documentary-in-progress.

Send to: ken@kidstalkpolitics.tv or visit the website at www.kidstalkpolitics.com

Baby Got Barack Obama

Great clothes for children with Barack Obama on them. I've seen lots around town (bought different places). "Barack-a-Mama" (for a mom). Barack Me All Night Long (baby shirt, like a lullaby) and more.

This specific website has "Barack-a-Bye Baby" and "Baby Got Barack" and more.

T-shirts, onsides, toddler shirts and adult tees. Shirts are $20 + $4 shipping.

www.barackbaby.com

Interesting but I'm not surprised Library vs video games

Library Fact:

Americans spend nearly 10 times as much money on home video games ($9.9 billion) as they do on school library materials for their children ($1 billion), according to the American Library Association.

I wonder if they compared books vs other multi-media (video games, computer games, dvd movies) and not compare it to a school library how the results would be different.

YOU have to think when surveys are done what they WANT you to hear!

Yes, I believe that people spend more money on video and computer and dvd (individually even) then books but is it REALLY double???

What do you think?

recycling ideas & websites

I just read about reusable bags and found a great link. These can be used in lunch boxes or just for left-overs. Instead of buying plastic bags, zip-loc bags and sandwich bags you can use these and RE-USE them over and over again. The website is www.reusablebags.com Now, if you are like me, you think these are cool but can't afford them, you can STILL do something. Wash your zip-loc bags and use them again. I do this mainly if there were dry goods in them, like chips or crackers. If it was something like meat or slimy stuff like pizza then I will throw them out. Due to the size, cost and how there is a few amount in the box, I tend to do it more with the gallon size bags.

Paid Per Post income at home

I've found a neat website for those of you that have blogs or have been thinking about getting one. I love having this blog but it is even better to get paid to have it. A company I just heard about, Pay Per Post (PPP) offers the opportunity for people with blogs to write about specific things (you choose what you want to write about by checking ones that are available). The company that you are writing about pays you, with Paypal. They start at $5 and some are $75 (maybe higher but this is the highest I saw).

My user names is: Debbzs if you join. Not sure if I get referral points but it doesn't hurt to ask! I'm sure there is more then I know so I'll repost as I navigate the website and learn more!

The link to PPP is www.payperpost.com

:-)

Butterfly at home??

Later in the week we were walking down the street and I noticed a Caterpillar on a Dusty Miller bush. On the walk home it was still there so we took it home as well as a few branches. It ate like crazy and two days later we went and got more of the same branches. Now it has made a cocoon and has been in one, in a vase (I couldn't find anything else to put it in). It is a little hard to see because the vase has stickers on it but the cocoon is see-thru and the body can be seen. Not sure if it is going to finish its process to become a butterfly or moth since now it has been over 2 weeks and nothing has happened. But, it is still neat. I don't think I've ever caught a Caterpillar that did anything but die before or we had it for a day or so and then let it go.

Butterflies at the Simi Valley Library

We went to the Simi Valley library about two weeks ago and they had a spectacular exhibit. Someone loaned the library some art from Africa.

It is hard to see but if you look close you can see the whole picture is a mosaic made out of butterfly wings. Not sure if I'd want to kill a few hundred butterflies to make one but it sure is exquisite. I've never seen art with butterfly wings every before. Baby K was bored by it but Little D loved it and was asking a million questions and asking me to read the markers.

Pictures from Vacation Bible School

1- Their group, all in green.





2- Queen Bee aka K2K (Kid to Kid).











A couple of cute pictures from Vacation Bible School (VBS). It was Monday-Friday from 8:30am to 12 noon. The kids had a blast. The theme this year was science lab which is just up their alley. They did lots of cool experiments. Learned new songs. Both made new friends. Baby K was hesitant every morning about being dropped off but she really liked the teen-helper, Rachel, and so I just had to make sure she was with Rachel and I had to walk them in and she was okay. I had them put her in the same group with Little D and that made it easier too.

Magic Mountain for $40 for 5 people

1-My nephew. Yes, my sister put blue spray in his hair!










2- Baby K with Bugs Bunny. We headed here straight from VBS so Baby K and Little D are both wearing their VBS t-shirts.











The three of us with a California bear.

:-)
















YES!!! We went to Magic Mountain and did not spend an arm and a leg! For our tickets, parking, food bought there..everything except the gas. We spent less then $40.00.

I went with my two kids and my sister and her son.

First, the three kids got in free. We had tickets from the school reading program. They were handed out to us at the end-of-the-year potluck. I thought we'd probably go with someone else so I asked for two extra tickets. But, they work for children only.

Second, my sister got an adult ticket for free. Magic Mountain sends coupon packages to places of employment all the time and with all the coupons is one free adult admission.

Third, I got my ticket on eBay for $23.00. I could have gotten a discount admission off of the children tickets for $29 but the woman lived in the valley and met me at my dad's work to bring me the ticket.

Fourth, we ate before we went and gave the kids snacks in the car. Walking in the signs said, 'No outside food or drinks' but they let us bring in water, gatoraid and soda. My sister also had bags with chips, grapes, nuts and other snacks. They confesgated the chips saying we were not allowed to bring those in. Not sure why that specific item but I guess because they could try to make us buy it there! ???

So, what DID we spend money on? $7.00 on two diet Pepsi sodas. Parking was $7.00. My sister paid for the kids to play the game where they shoot water into the clown's mouth. As a side note. Little D won. He got a Tweety Bird stuffed animal and every so sweetly he gave it to Baby K and said it was for her. We got to the park around 11am and left around 7pm. We planned to get fast food for the car ride home in case the kids fell asleep in the car. So, that was about $11.00 for the five of us.

There it is! We had a wonderful day. Lots of fun. Went on quiet a few rides. Even got wet on some. AAAAND we didn't go broke doing it!

Green Drinks Green People meetings

Okay, this sounds funny but is cool. There is a new group out called Green Drinks. The Ventura County chapter has meetings the second Wednesday of every month in different places.

No, you do not have to order a green drink (wheat grass?) nor do you have to wear green but it is for people that like to think green!

Meeting is for people to mix with other like-minded people, share info, make friends, develop new ideas, etc.

(818) 932-0037.

Maybe I can go and find some cute guys? Oh, I mean like-minded individuals!

;-)

Home Depot and Lowe's free crafts for kids

Both Home Depot and Lowe's have a free craft day on Saturdays all year round. I checked their websites and both stores do it nation-wide.

Home Depot does it from 9-12 noon on the first Saturday of every month. On August 23rd the craft is to build a wooden football goal to play paper table football with.

Lowe's has theirs a few Saturdays a month. at 10am.

Most crafts are seasonal. For Father's Day they had a little jewelry box that was lined with fake velvet.

These are for all ages. Both stores offer LOTS of assistance and the employees are great. A three year old can do it with help and a 10 yr old can do it by themselves or even get more creative with it.

We haven't gone in a long time and a friend mentioned it recently so I thought I'd share it too!

And, it is all free!

Portable EKG is okay

Dr. Leong called me last night. He said the results from the portable EKG were fine.

Without her complaining of her chest hurting, everything else on the EKG looked normal. Her heartbeat when she was sleeping was fine too.

So, the next step is a event recorder. On Monday morning we need to go to his office and they will show us how to set it up but basically any time she complains of her chest hurting her or that she faints we put it on her really quickly and it wirelessly sends a signal to the doctor with the results. If it is really high he will call me right back. If it is okay he will just call when he can. We are suppose to keep this for a month to see if we can 'catch' on the event recorder one of these, well, events!

He said camping is fine. The event recorder will work there just fine so we don't have to worry about that. And he said once it is on we don't have to restrict her activities in any way.

I'm praying we get some answers soon!

Portable EKG for Baby K

New update. The pediatric cardiogist, Dr. Leong, said the EKG in his office looked fine as well as the EKG that was done at the ER. So, he gave us a portable EKG to take home and she had to wear it for 24 hours. No symptoms ever happened in that time period.

When it all began, two years ago, I had noticed it used to seem to do with dehydration too, like from the time she woke up until the time she ate breakfast being too long. But at that time it happened about once every 6 months or once a year. But now it is random and is happening a few times a week.

I still have no answers. The EKG says she DOES have a heart murmur and she DOES have an irregular heartbeat. Both of which did not show up 2 yrs ago when we had Kaiser and saw a different pediatric cardiologist. BUT, the new pediatric cardiologist, Dr. Frederic Leong, said that neither of those should cause her to faint. He did an ultrasound of her heart and said it looked fine too.

So, I dropped off the portable EKG machine today. The doctor is supposed to review it and call me tomorrow or on Monday to tell me what it says and what we are doing next.

I’ve been checking her pulse all the time too. Tonight, at the dinner table, she was sitting down and said her chest hurt but only a little bit. I checked her pulse and it was faster then this am when I checked it after she had been doing jumping jacks. So, it might be that for some reason her heart starts to beat too fast and that is what is causing the fainting but then we have to figure out what is causing it to beat really fast at random times. This one, tonight, just lasted a few seconds of it hurting only and went away. No fainting or anything like that.

I’m hoping to have answers from the doctor soon. A dear friend is an occupational therapist and suggested calling the insurance or pediatrician and asking for a referral to a neurologist. She said I should do it now and not wait until it takes two more weeks to rule out the heart or not. So, I need to do that tomorrow (I should have today).

We are invited to go camping next week Tues-Thurs in Santa Barbara with my brother and sister-in-law so if we don’t have answers we might be mapping out where the closest ER is just in case! Since the doctor has not put limitations on things and wants her to do normal things I don’t want to just sit home and wait either but if we are going out of town it will be good to know where a hospital is at too.

half.com eBay changes in media mail and paypal shipping

It used to be that when I sold a book on http://www.half.com/ I would have to put stamps on it to ship it. THEN the USPS changed things and things over 1 pound can not be left in the mailbox unless a shipping label was printed. So, I had to take every text book that sold to the post office.

With the USPS website, http://www.usps.com/ I can print shipping labels but ONLY if they are Priority or Express mail.

With Paypal I can print USPS shipping labels that are Priority, Express, Parcel post, First Class or Media Mail... YEAH. But, for International I can only print Express or Priority. If I want to ship something international and I want ti Parcel Post I have to bring it into the post office.

Well, I just sold a book on half.com. I haven't sold on on there for a few months. My inventory was all messed up so I deleted all of them from online and I just now got to relisting the ones I kept after going through all of them. I am now down to about 30 and I used to have over 300.

So, I noticed something new. An icon to 'print shipping label' instead of it saying, 'mark as shipped'. So, I clicked. And it directed me to Paypal and, YEAH, I was able to print the shipping label and print it as Media Mail!!

This makes it soooooo much easier to ship from home!

:-)

Baby K keeps fainting

Okay, for a serious post. My daughter keeps fainting or almost fainting. She will come up to me and tell me her heart hurts her and twice now she has almost fainted and twice she totally fainted.

This has been going on for two years but only about once a year. Last year we did a EKG, chest x-ray, lab work, etc. an d all was normal.

We went to the ER on Monday, she felt woozy but didn't faint but had been complaining a lot on Sunday evening. Well, at the ER they said she had an irregular heartbeat (this did not show up last time) and everything else was fine. So, we got a referral to see a pediatric cardiologist.

That apt was suppose to be on Monday, the 18Th. They said they could not do it sooner since they usually schedule appointments a month out.

But, she fainted again, today. She didn't even put her arms out. Just turned, tripped on her dress and fell face first on a friend's concrete driveway. So, front tooth is loose. Nose, hands and knees scrapped up (but not bad) and we STILL have no clue why this is happening. The ER doctor mentioned that it MIGHT be gas and try to give her gas medicine and I got pissed at him for that. I asked him if he seriously thought that if her eyes were rolling back into her head, her head was lulling and she has totally fainted that I should give her gas medicine and actually think that gas would cause this. He gave me some stupid answer.

So, anyways, I called the office for the pediatric cardiologist today and said she fainted again and I didn't want to wait six more days for an appointment and they said to bring her in 'now' and they could see her before leaving for the day.

We went down there (in Thousand Oaks) and it took for EVER. We were there for over 2 hours but it was still great they squeezed is in.

The doctor looked at the hospital EKG. Did one again. Looked at her heart with a Doppler (like an ultrasound machine) . The doctor said it is very unusual that she is telling me her chest hurts before she faints.

Right now she has a thing on her that has stickers with wires all over them on her chest and all of them are attached to a little purse box thing that is over her shoulder.

She has to wear the holder for 24 hours (so 3pm tomorrow) and then we have to bring it back and give it to them. The nurse said it takes over an hour to read the results so we are just dropping it off and the doctor is suppose to call us when he knows something.

I also have to get a watch with a second hand tomorrow (if anyone reading this is close by, let me know if you have one so that I don't have to spend the money). I have to take her pulse 10 times a day and keep a log of it. When she is asleep. Resting. Running around. Fighting with Little D. and when she feels like her chest is hurting her. So, hopefully we can figure it all out soon!

Prayers are needed! When Baby K realized that all this might be related to her heart and that when someones heart starts beating they can die (I told her that that is not likely) she was totally unfazed.

She told me that if she died she'd be in heaven and that she'd wait for me in heaven for when it was my time too so it would all be okay because we'd be together again!

WOW, huh? Such wisdom from an almost 6 yr old!

I'll update on this when I know any more!

:-)

easy free breakfast recipe French Breakfast Muffins

I have been trying to get out of the rut of having the kids eat cereal and milk or hot oatmeal for breakfast and I came across this Delicious recipe from Family Fun.

French Breakfast Muffins.

They are great just out of the oven but can also be frozen so that you can grab them and just pop them in the microwave for a quick, easy breakfast when you are in a hurry.

Little D and two and Baby K love them too. Of course, saying they were FRENCH muffins some how made them more exotic and enjoyable! LOL!

Their main website, http://familyfun.go.com/ has lots of fun art projects, crafts and boredom breakers for kids of all ages. Some have video learn-how-to-do-it too.

We have made the French Breakfast Muffins three times now and it is an easy recipe that the kids can help with.
http://jas.familyfun.go.com/recipefinder/display?id=50342

Besides viewing the recipe you can also watch a video!

:-)

amazon.com support la leche league LLL support breastfeeding

I read this in a La Leche League Newsletter, League Spirit. Vol 105-No.3. July-Sept. 2008.

Do you shop www.amazon.com to buy new/used books or other items? well, if you do, here's a way that a percentage of your purchases can help LLLI (La Leche League International). Tell your family and friends that they can do it too.
1. Log on to: http:/lli.org/
2. Click "Store" which is one of the top tabs at the top of the screen on the right side. This will take you to http://store.llli.org/public
3. Look under Helpful Resources on teh left sidebar.
4. Under that list, click Creative Was to Shop and you will be at http:store.llli.org/main/creative
5. The screen will show this message: "Support La Leche League INternational while doing all yoru holiday shoping on Amazon.com. Begin yoru Amazon shopping session by using the link or search form below and Amazon will donate a portion of the proceeds from all of your purchases to LLLI."

The Forty-Acre Swindle Black history George Carver

I just finished reading a great children's book. I wanted to read it to preview it to figure out the general age level for reading it to see if it is okay for Little D. The book is called The Forty-Acre Swindle. It is by Dave & Neta Jackson. It is fictional but has factual information about George Washington Carver, Booker T. Washington and mentions W.E.B. Dubois too. On the back it is recommended for children ages 8-12 (which I agree with but someone as old as 12 can handle more truth then just prejudices mentioned vs racism and slavery).

A great quote that is in the book from George Washington Carver...

'Don't tell me it's about right," he'd say to a student who had just given him an inexact answer. 'About right might as well be wrong." And then he'd say, "If you come to a stream that's five feet wide, and you jump four and a half feet, well, that's about right. But you might as well just topple in at the near band and save yourself the effort."

homeschool free website thinkfinity.org lesson plans

I received a booklet from someone recently that looks neat. Fun, educational games and learning for kids. Materilas are targeted from early childhood, k-12, family, adult and English language learners. Reading, writing, science, math, etc.

www.thinkfinity.org

Lot of free lesson plans that can be printed. The meet standards too! Great for adults doing lesson planning or some games to let your child play online!

:-)

check it out and tell me what you think. You can post your favorite websites for kids, for you, for lesson plans, etc. too!

Sea Life Aquarium Legoland San Diego California

This is soooo cool! I wish it was closer. Just the gas would be a killer right now. There is a brand new aquarium that just opened. Legoland owns it. Not sure if it is at the exact same location or just right by it but Legoland is in San Diego County.

The grand opening was today.

I looked at the website and it is neat, fun and educational. I played 3 of the 6 games on the 'fun and games section'. Wasn't too thrilled to be a bird pooping on politicians but I'm sure the kids would love it. Collecting plastic grocery bags and other trash on the ocean floor while avoiding sharks was fun too. Website mentions endangered animals, WWF and seems very well rounded.

I emailed them asking if they plan to have a homeschooling day like the Aquarium of the Pacific does or if not what the rate would be for a large group.

http://www.sealifeus.com/

I will Survive- Homeschooling song

I found this on another homeschool blog and just love it. I can't get the (original) song out of my head! LOL! Guess it is better then other songs, like Strawberry Shortcake into song, that I've had in my head before!

Debbie

I Will Survive (the first year of homeschooling)

Originally written and produced by Freddie Perren and Dino Fekaris
Originally performed by Gloria Gaynor
Mercilessly altered with apologies by Natalie Criss

First I was afraid
I was petrified.
Kept thinking I could never teach
’Cause I’m not certified.
But we spent so many nights
Reteaching homework that was wrong.
I grew strong,
so now I teach my kids at home!
We study math
and outer space.
I just kept on despite the fear
with a big smile across my face.
I bought a set of Base Ten blocks.
I bought books with answer keys.
My parents think we’re nuts,
but they don’t even bother me

Come on, let’s go walk out the door.
We’re on the road now,
'cause we’re not home much anymore
My friends would laugh and say we’d be unsocialized.
I heard one mumble
that I’d give up by July.
Oh no, not I!
I will survive!
As long as I know how to read
I know we’ll be alright.
I've got all my life to learn.
I've got energy to burn.
and I'll survive.
I will survive.

It took all the strength I had
not to fall apart.
Decided to attend
a play date at the local park,
and I met oh so many moms
who offered eagerly to help.
They used to cry.
Now they hold their heads up high,
and so do we!
My kids are cool!
They’re not those chained up little people
stuck inside at school.
So if you feel like dropping by
and just expect us to be free
you’d better call ahead first
’cause we’re probably busy!

Vote for Barack Obama

Okay, I'm not really into politics and often consult my brother on things because I do not pay attention enough nor follow the news. But, I saw this on Yahoo when I logged on to check my email.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080731/ap_on_el_pr/mccain


I can't believe a presidential wannabe can actually compare Obama to some stupid, drug addict person that has lost all custody of her children.

McCain was trying to say that Obama is just a celebrity name but if McCain wanted to he could have used a more respected celebrity, right? The ad campain people didn't do it on accident!

I'm already voting for Obama but seeing how McCain keeps saying what he is against, not for and keeps slinging mud at Obama just means that he is being immature and is threatened by him. I'm thinking it is because Obama is a better person, no?

If you Google both canidates Barack Obama will pull up double the hits too! People just like him more!!!

HUGE garage sale

Okay everyone, the BIG GARAGE SALE is here. This weekend. Saturday
7am to-? And Sunday if we have lots left.

At Dennert Garage Door Co.
4785 E. Los Angeles Ave.
Simi Valley, Ca. 93063

Two drive ways to enter. Right on MAIN street with lots of traffic.

If you want to bring stuff to sell let me know. All I ask is that you
1- help make/put up signs. 2- pitch in for the ad ($20 in the Acorn,
already paid for by me). There were at least 5 families interested
before so the ad would be 1/5th of $20 if 5 people came. If you can't
afford to pitch in, that is fine too. 3- take home what is left since
the business will be open again on Monday and can't have clutter
everywhere.

There will be LOTS of stuff here that is mine or that we are selling
that is inside the offices.

Aprox. 15 boxes of homeschool books.
Aprox. 20 boxes of college text books.
Lots of vintage stuff like steamer trunks and small figurines.
Children's clothing.
Office furniture, cabinets, chairs, file folders, file cabinets (2
lateral ones).
Whole phone system. Paid over $25,000 for it (yes, that is the right
amount of zeros).
Forklift propane tanks.
Stained glass for garage doors (ones that they do not sell anymore).
Children's toys.
Couches and tables and desks.
Baby jogger.
5 bags of VHS movies.
Tv, vcr, tv wall mount stand.
Dishes and misc. utensils.
Tools.

PLUS what ever other people decided to bring to sell too!

Please email or call me if you want to bring your own stuff to sell!

colors that are good for you from Dr. Sears

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KIDS AND FOOD COLORS: THE NUTRIENTS THAT GIVE FOODS THEIR COLOR

ACTIVITIES FOR KIDS

Color it nutritious! Teach your children that a colorful plate means lots of "grow foods." What a beautiful array of colorful fruits and vegetables! You can use this eyeful of color to your advantage by teaching your child to choose naturally colorful foods. The brightest colors are found in produce that is in season, fresh, and eaten raw or lightly steamed.

• Play a color-matching game. What's in the reds? Why is it good for you?
• Send your children out on a color-finding mission. When you're in the supermarket produce section assign one child orange and green, and another child gets the job of choosing two yellows! This can also be an excellent way of introducing new foods and getting variety into the family diet.
• The vitamin game. When you serve fruits and vegetables, ask your children what vitamins and minerals they are high in, and why these are good for them.
• Have children color the fruits and vegetables. Then have them paste them on a sheet of paper in groups according to their colors.
• Have children draw pictures of food on paper plates. Are all the food groups represented? Use colorful markers.
• Ask your children what color foods they ate today. Talk about each food and its color. "Did you eat your yummy yellows and great greens today?"
• Create a "rainbow lunch," a tray full of colorful foods cut into bite-sized servings.
• Kids remember colors. To get your children to appreciate the nutrient value of foods, teach them that colors mean healthy foods, or, in kid-language, "grow foods." Remind them: "Did you get your reds today?"

HEALTHY COLORS

Colors	Food Sources	Nutrients	Health Benefits
Red	tomatoes tomato sauce ketchup watermelon guava juice red peppers	Lycopene Beta carotene Vitamin C	Lycopene is a potent antioxidant and is one of the top ten anticancer carotenoids. It has been linked to reductions in the risk of prostate cancer. Anthocyanins have anti- cancer properties. Red peppers contain much more beta carotene (and more vitamin C) than green peppers.
Pink	pink grapefruit	Lycopene beta carotene	Like lycopene, beta carotene is an antioxidant that is good for the eyes. It also reduces the risk of cancers and cardiovascular disease.
Orange or deep yellow	apricots and peaches (especially dried) sweet potato carrots pumpkin winter-squash mango yellow-peppers	Beta carotene vitamin C	Some orange/yellow vegetables, such as pumpkin and summer squash, contain the phytonutrient, lutein, which helps protect against degeneration of eye structure with aging. Carotenoids, like beta carotene, are the phytos that protect plants from sun damage. Perhaps they do the same for humans.
Dark green	kale, other "greens" asparagus watercress spinach broccoli parsley-fresh dill-fresh romaine lettuce zucchini green peppers	Beta carotene	Dark green foods are rich in antioxidants.
Blue or dark purple	blueberries bilberries cherries grapes red wine plums purple cabbage	Anthocyanin	The pigment anthocyanin has anti-cancer properties.
Black or dark red	black beans kidney beans	Calcium Iron	Black beans are higher in fiber and calcium; red beans contain slightly more iron.