I Bought A X-Box Kinect For $90

I found a GREAT deal on an Kinect for X-Box this week.  Daeton has been waiting since his birthday (in September) for one.  The game systems are just so darn expensive.  I often sell books and educational games on a few 'used curriculum' chat groups via Yahoo Groups but seldom look on them or read them.  Most of them I am no-mail on.  For some reason I read one last week and found a homeschool mom selling a brand new Kinect game system for the X-Box for $90 and it included one game.

Timing between her and I was hit and miss so last night was the first time she was home and I was able to go get it.  So, I drove to her house about 1/2 hour away and meet her family and picked it up.  Her husband explained to Daeton that they bought it for their son but he has the older version of X-Box and it won't work.  They were going to buy something to upgrade the whole thing to make it comparable but their their son's X-Box broke and they just decided to sell the Kinect.


I am super happy!  The cheapest one I have found, even used, was approximately $150, plus tax so this is a great savings to pay only $90 for it.

Daeton is happy to finally get the game system he has been waiting over a month for.  We got home late last night so he woke up early today to play it.

The system takes photos too (shows a camera on the screen and a 3-2-1 countdown).  These photos can be uploaded to a PC or Facebook to be shared.

I walked onto the screen, next to Daeton and the X-Box automatically added me in the game as a two-player game.  I'm liking this already!

Homing Pigeons- Homeschooling With Animals

My dad has been racing and breeding pigeons for about 20 years now.  Daeton has always been fascinated with the pigeons.  From when he was an toddler and my dad let him hold an egg, while it hatched, to him bring a box of baby pigeons to 'show and tell' in preschool.  Daeton is always quick to show friends the loft when they are at my dad's house too.  So, it comes as no surprise, besides that it didn't happen earlier, that Daeton now has his own loft at our house.

It is a small cage that they hooked up to the side of our fence in the back yard.  They put a long table in front of it for the birds to be able to sit on.  This is so they can hang out by the loft.  Once they get a little older and know to go straight in when they get home the table will be removed.

They started with three birds that were a gray/blue color and a few days later my dad gave him three more that were white.  All six of them were quiet young.  Old enough to be away from the nest but not really knowing how to fly yet.  Daeton is learning how to feed and water them, how to let them loose and how to whistle to get them to come in and land.  In the first week he lost one pigeon (it just never made it back to the loft).  My dad said this was probably due to Daeton letting them out so late in the day.  Pigeons can't see good at night and crash into things like power lines or get eaten by owls and hawks.

Right now when they are released they come back in a few hours later.  Daeton is teaching them to be used to being in a crate (special one for the birds) too.  Last week they were crated a few times for about an hour and released.  A few days ago Daeton and my dad crated them, drove them a few blocks away, and released them.  They will take the pigeons farther and farther away and get them used to finding their way home.

Taking care of them is a daily job.  Daeton has to check their food and water in the morning and release them after they see they have food but before they eat it (so they are trained to come home to eat).

He has names for some of them and was worried today when he thought one was grabbed by a hawk (4 were flying in a circle for a while and we didn't see the fifth).  The kids had enrichment classes today but when we got home the fifth one was in the cage.

Loosing them when racing often happens, even under the best circumstances.  This will be another life-lesson.  Some get lost in races, get eaten or even follow a group and go to someone else's loft. .

We Have Kittens 'Twin Boys'

Okay, it has been a few weeks and I keep forgetting to post this but we adopted two boy kittens.  They are brothers and look like twins.  The kids can tell them apart from the markings on their faces.  I tell them apart by the tip of their tails.

Cheetah (Daeton's kitten) has a black tip on his tail.

Pumpkin (Kaela's kitten) has a orange tip on his tail.  He is also a little bit more orange and this color is showing more the older they get.

We got them at 8-weeks-old.  Staci's friend had them.  There was a litter of '6-8'  (she wasn't sure) and these were the last two.  Staci said her friend was going to drop them off at the animal shelter if she couldn't get someone to adopt them and I gave in and said yes.  I knew the kids would love them and with two they wouldn't fight so much.

We also still have Jett.  She is 3 1/2 years old now.

So, am I a 'crazy cat lady' or do I have to have four or more to meet that criteria?  I'm not sure but I KNOW that three is the limit.  The litter box is crazy and if it isn't emptied EVERY SINGLE DAY Jett decides it is 'too full' for her and she will poop in the corner of the living room.

All I keep thinking is 'What did I get myself into?????'

But I look at them and they are so cute, love to cuddle and have great personalities.

I am making the appointment with the vet tomorrow to get them both fixed (I was told to do it before 4 months or they might start marking.).  The local animal shelter has a voucher for a $20 off and our vet has a voucher too, making it $20 each kitten to fix them.

Lets see if they still love me after I put them both through that surgery.

Embroidery 101?

I have not done any embroidery since, well, about Jr High. No, I'm not kidding.  I remember having a 'Home Economics' class where 1/2 of the class was cooking and 1/2 of the class was learning different ways to sew, embroider, knit, crochet, etc.  That was about 27 years ago!

Can you guess how much I still remember, or for that matter, use?

Zero.

My friend, Kim, taught me how to knit (again) about 5 years ago and I can make a scraggly looking scarf. But we never got further than that, and she moved to Ridgecrest so the lessons sorta ended.  I keep telling myself that I should start again, but I tried about 2 months ago and I couldn't figure out how to cast-on.  I need to see if I can find it on You-Tube!

I also remember, back in Jr High, making small embroidery squares that we would put cotton under, glue to a lid of a Mason jar and then put the ring on top of it to keep it on.  I gave one to my Grandma D. (as we called her) when she  was still alive with something like candy inside.  I can't remember what happen to the other ones.

So, I saw this website, Clover And Violet, on my friend, Janine's blog, and was fascinated with how EASY it looked and some was vaguely familiar.

Should I go buy the supplies and try to relearn?  Do I have time?  Ugh! I'm not sure. But I would love to be craft again.  These would be great for Christmas too AND I can teach the kids to do them.  Hmmmm...  I'll have to see if I can find some easy patterns and teach myself and then them how to do them!

:-)

Here is sorta what the ones I remember in Jr High looking like, but we put cotton balls under the fabric to make them soft and rounded.   Embroidered Jar Lids  I did a search on the internet and most were flat.  The puffy ones had pre-cut round cotton to put under.  I guess what ever is easier will work.

Quik Bebe, Reed This!

"Mom, why is this word spelled wrong?"
Anyone have an answer for this?
I explained that sometimes it is a matter of marketing, like Quik Market.  It is eye catching and one less letter to put on any and signs.  One letter might seem small but I remember it being discussed in a psychology class I had eons ago.
Another reason is to be different, just like Kaela's name.  :-)
It isn't easy for kids to learn to read, write and spell in English.

Coming Back, Again. Da Vinci Museum, Hollywood

Oh, my dearly neglected and almost forgot blog (I barely remembered the log-on password). It has been WAY too long since I have updated or posted on here! Basically since I became addicted to Facebook (FB) and started posting and playing on there all the time. Well, I've decided to try, again, to keep this up-to-date. I have long forgotten how to have the Google AdSense on the blog so deleted them. I might look into them and update at a further time. As for now, here is a brief update:

Still me in the same place, just two years older (my kids grew too!). Both of them are growing like weeds and I know it will be only a matter of time before they are both taller than me.

We have two weeks left of this current school year. Trying to do some fun things. On Friday of last week we went to the Da Vinci Museum in Hollywood. The kids got a kick out of the adults in costumes, posing with tourists with camera for a few bucks. I asked a StarTours guide if one of the local buildings paid them to be there. Her answer, "Noooooo.... they work as independents but they get in HUGE trouble if they go back without making enough money for the day." and then, as if she said too much, she changed the topic. Sounds like a new form of pimping to me! Just saying!

So, the Da Vinci... I had to DRAG the kids there! Not kidding. They both thought it would be stupid. Daeton thought he knew it all already. Kaela thought it would be boring. Well, they both really enjoyed it. We spent about 2-3 hours there. Daeton took about 40 pics and 8 videos of how some of the gears worked because he, 'wanted to buy the material and wood and use the ideas to build them himself at home.' Not sure it will ever happen but I love his ambition.

Afterwards we headed 3 miles away to Whimsical Alley (Harry Potter Store). It was open as we drove past it (big OPEN sign) but we parked on the side of the building, feed the parking meter (not used to having to PAY for parking everywhere- paid $2 after validation when we went to the museum). So... anyways, we get to the front of the building and it is 5:01 pm and the place is closed! :-(

Big MOM FAIL! I thought they were open until 6pm. That is only Sat & Sun. M-F they close at 5pm. So, we grab Indian food at a restaurant next door (took them 45 min to make it and we were the ONLY customers in the place) and Quiznos for Daeton and Kaela and we head towards the car.

The 6 miles from Whimsical Alley to the freeway on-ramp took 45 minutes and it took another hour to get home.

I let the kids watch tv in the car for the first time since we bought it (I told them it was for road trips only and not around-town-driving. It was QUIET in the car the whole ride as the munched on their subs and watched Freaky Friday.

Okay, off to cut coupons and get to bed.

My newest thing.... call me crazy but it works, is to get up at 5:30 and give Daeton his ADHD medicine and let him go back to sleep (and I do too). The meds kick in in about 1 hour and wake him up and I get up about 7am. In that 30 minutes of his own time awake he usually plays with Legos in his room or posts his own videos on YouTube (I'll share some soon). By the time I get my coupons done it will be after midnight so that is all for now! I have pics of Da Vinci Museum to upload too (I have to re-learn how). The place was suppose to close the end of May but they extended it until June. It is definitely a neat place to visit.