I am so very excited with the results of our test scores...UP TWO grade levels. It's not where we need to be just yet but we are on the right track!!! 
Around these parts public school has already let out for the summer but as home schoolers we will continue on through the summer. We take plenty of breaks here and there but the easy weekly pace really works for us and as the test scores prove....it it working in our favor.  

We didn't really get to do too much with our school group this year and it's tradition that an end of the year trip overnight is planned. Last year we went to New Orleans. Lack of fundraising and mostly lack of planning and time resulted in us just having a day out at Cypress Bend Park. It's a nice Golf and Fishing Resort on Toledo Bend. We went the cheap and fun way and just paid the $2.00 a person to access the park and boat ramp side, brought the portable BBQ grill, and enjoyed the swimming while catching up with the other families.

The sand felt sooooo wonderful between the toes!!!




The girls couldn't resist the pretty blue water a minute longer.



The fishy was a feast for the eyes as we left for home.



I couldn't have planned a better start to the summer. We all came home tired and bit sunburned but ready to do it again at a moments notice.

Earlier in the week we started out our second day of testing being silly while we waited on the rest of the group to show up. No reason to be anxious. I have taught my daughter that's it's a testing of knowledge and progression NOT a test of what we don't know YET. 



It wasn't long before it was time to get to work. I left her with our group of high schoolers and went to give our only second grader her test. 




Testing was over at noon and we were blessed with a gorgeous day to enjoy stress free. Now we just wait for the results and see how our studies are coming along and what we are doing great on and what we need to work on.



Saturday was iNSD (international) Scrapbook Day. I save my pennies up for all the stuff I add to my wish lists at my favorite scrapbook stores. This year I used my funding to pledge to a dream because I believe dreams help our light shine from within. I am excited to say that the bit I pledged will help make the Artspiration Studio a reality. I have had to pleasure of taking classes with Tangie in real life and the passion and generosity she shares will be a gift to the art community that is priceless. 



I did sneak in a few purchases from Tumble Fish Studios. I just adore her kits and there was NO WAY I could resist such a wonderful sale. Now the challenge it to use them and not hoard them on my hard drive. Anyone wanna come be my maid for a couple of months?!?!?!?  

I sit here tonight watching Sunday night television. I have Vikings being DVR'd  while I watch Game of Thrones and The Borgais. I will catch Nurse Jackie after The Bogais'. I find that I can go days of no television but when I get caught up in a series I get obsessive about keeping up with the story line. I don't think I would be watching Game of Thrones if I had not read the book many years ago. I was immediately sucked into the intricate plot line and very impressed with the writing and how George Martin interweaved all the characters together. I am equally impressed in how the series follows the book and does not take off in any weird directions. It's one of the reasons I believe I have continued to watch it.

Tomorrow starts day one of two for my DD's IOWA testing. We don't stress it too much but I have had a heart to heart with her about how important it is for her to do her best. It's the basis on which I choose what levels her school studies get chosen. She is however testing for 10th grade and I am expecting geometry on it. We have done no geometry this year and I have prepared her for it. We unexpectedly decided to redo algrebra. I chose Switched on Schoolhouse algebra last year and it does not do a very good job. This time around I forked over $185 for Teaching Textbooks Algrebra. AMAZING!!!! Also over this past year I have finally broke down and faced the fact that she has ADD and we medicate for that. Not everyday. It's not needed. But when she struggles with comprehension it's like a light bulb gets turned on for her. We will both be saying prayers tomorrow and facing these tests stress free. What will be, will be....right?

♥We won't mind if you say a small prayer also for us.♥

Adjustment is hard. I never knew how used I was to not having a time clock to punch into daily. It's not like I sat around and ate bon-bons everyday. November 2012 I started a part-time job. It started out as just two days a week and has now jumped to three. Sadly just six weeks after starting my boss's wife passed away (quite suddenly). Three days may not sound like a lot to some people but with homeschooling duties and church activities, it becomes a balancing act. My boss is a member of my Sunday school class and very much understands my other commitments and hired me on knowing them.  God has blessed me but at the same time challenged me with learning how to balance my time.  

It has come a big blessing that half of the store I work in is a jewelry store. The other half is a Radio Shack and we also process bill payments. The Youth Minister at church has been doing lessons on "Pure Love" and what it means to remain pure until marriage. The lessons included both physical and spiritual repercussions. My boss has been very generous and donated the rings for the Purity/True Love Waits Banquet we are giving the teens. It was never really an issue when I was growing up but it seems now that kids have sex like its no more important than changing into clean underwear.  I have studied a LOT of purity type ceremonies where the girl makes a promise to her physical father here on earth and that is not the way we are conducting ours. It's a promise made to our Heavenly Father and the parents are here to support the decision. Will some make a mistake? I am sure they will. I have discussed this with my DD. Bottom line is that it will be okay and that God will forgive if forgiveness is prayed for. Start the next day anew with a renewed commitment.  I am proud of her for deciding that she wanted to take part in the ceremony and taking a stand that is not the norm these days.

A big event like that required dress shopping. It's a much bigger deal for two of them since they are homeschooled and don't go to proms and other school type dances. I had so much fun with them and the other mom that was with me just watching the excitement of picking them out and trying on all the pretties. The big event is this weekend....please pray for all of our young people as they embark on this stance. No need for names, God knows who they are. ♥


And on that note I bid you a goodnight, work is waiting in the am. 

Oh what a relief today is! Even though I home school I still have my daughter tested to make sure she is mastering basic skills. It's actually more for me than for her. With the scores in hand I can know where to put more focus on in our studies.  Today marked the final day of our 2 days of testing. This does not end our school year as we are basically going year round. Now don't freak out about that idea. We school 3 days a week at the very least with one day for her volunteer service at the local library and one day to catch up if needed.  
In between we catch all the breaks the local public schools do and if something else arises it's no biggie to take another break. I find this way we don't ever really get behind nor do we get burned out. We enjoy the wonderful days of nice weather and hunker down inside for school when it's too cold or unbearably hot.



So now we play the waiting game~but we are not worried at all. In fact, we are busy planning our end of the year home school group trip to New Orleans. I am so excited!!!! But before we go we have one more big car wash/bake sale   that (fingers crossed) will keep us from having any out of pocket expenses.


I am definitely thinking that at this point in the day that it's time for a tiny little power nap before I get to the neglected laundry and bit of house work waiting on me. :D Wish me luck in waking up and not sleeping the day away!!!!

I am so very excited to say that we are all caught up with our home school assignments!!!! It's been a very big worry for us because I did not want to have our school year run too much into the summer. It's all good though now as I have seen what and how our days get disrupted with errands/family visits/the odd emergency and last but not least by our monthly field trips and library days. Seriously though, it's just an UNBELIEVABLE feeling to know everything is back on track as it should be. 


I have not scrapped nor art journaled since October of last year. I am realizing now that I had a severe case of burn out and needed the break. In fact, I took a break from all my scrap forums and other favorite haunts. I just checked emails (barely) and posted on FB. So I am excited to share my new pages. The first I created for Project: Love, Me over at Scrap Orchard. I have linked the image to the gallery so that you can view the credits. I already have this one printed and in my album. I just LOVE how it turned out! 



This second page evolved from a prompt from the Art Journal Caravan 2012 over at Scrapbookgraphics. If you are remotely interested on in art journaling esp digital....I HIGHLY recommend this year long journey. This is my third year signing up and I can honestly say Tangie Baxter is the most generous teacher I have ever met and the work and passion she puts into the year long caravan is nothing short of amazing.  This page is also linked to the gallery so that you can view the credits if you so wish. It took me awhile to get my thoughts around how I wanted to journal this but I am more than pleased with it and now it's time to take another step forward in my life journey.

It has been a couple of crazy busy weeks. I have successfully went through every single bit of old mail, magazines etc and have gotten myself back organized where all incoming mail is to be sorted into bills or junk. I am still sorting through boxes of items still packed from my divorce from my ex 16 years ago. I am finding things long since thought lost and other items I am like....really...what did you save this for?!?!?!? In between all of that I have been playing catchup on home school studies with DD.  We have gotten behind with all the holiday running around we did and right when we were to start back I stayed sick a good 2 weeks. All in all January has been good to us so far.

Last Friday we took our first field trip of the year with our home school group. The first part of the day was spent at the
R.W. Norton Art Gallery. We could not view the gun nor the book exibitions because of remodeling. The curators were absolutely wonderful in interacting with us and all the kids. I will definitely be sure to go back in April when the remodeling is done to peek at the rest.
 
The second part of our day was spent at the 8th Air Force Museum on the Barksdale Airforce Base. It's one of those places I have seen the signs for it seems like forever but have never made time to go.  It's not a large museum, it's actually just more of a building that holds some pretty awesome pieces of history. Outdoors there were several different types of aircraft. I think that was the kids favorite part. It was especially nice with the weather being just perfect for an outing.
 

This week will start us out bright and early with some algebra fun. Wish us Luck!!!

It's just really hard to believe that Congress cannot get it's act together and balance a budget.
If there is no money to spend well don't spend it. I have listened to the bickering about it on 
TV until I finally just turned it off for over over week. Through the carelessness of our political leadership
the United States has lost it's Triple A credit rating. The Dow has been bouncing up and down worse than a rubber ball and the morals of our country seems to be slipping away faster than the sand through and hour glass. I worry about my mother's 401k and I worry that me and my husband don't even have a retirement plan. I worry about my kids and how are they even to afford the day to day living. 
I can only put my faith in God and pray daily that we can survive these turbulent times and maybe live to see a brighter day. With all this in mind this is the art journal page I made this week. There's to be a second part to it but that's for next week. 



I was the appointed photographer at my brother's wedding this morning. It was not a fancy affair. Family only, outdoors and casual dress to Sunday best if you wanted.
Out of all the 450 photo's I took this was my very favorite one and I was very lucky to get it. They don't even know I took it.....yet anyway..LOL!
I used M4H's First Kiss action on it from her Love Bird's collection. I wanted it to have a bit of a retro feel but not too much.
My Dad took the casual route and my Mama took the Sunday best route. =D




This week also finished up our first week of home school. A super big success. It was a lot of redoing assignments, sometimes me being very stern and unyielding and other times being the cheer leader.  It's been hard and easy all at the same time. But I can say without a doubt it's the best thing I ever did for my daughter.
Thanks for taking a peek in with me today!
Balinda

This week wrapped up the last official days of Shaina's summer vacation. Monday marks the first day of 9th grade for us. I spent today getting all of her subjects installed on her new laptop. At first they didn't wanna go but after being a little bit persistent it all got placed properly where it belonged.
I am still trudging along with my Project 365. I know I have not shared photos for that in what seems like forever but let's remedy that now. These are not in any particular order and just a sampling of my past week.


Shaina's new laptop.



I was given the total gym to keep for awhile so it's going to good use next to the treadmill. I learned a long time ago that out of sight is out of mind so in the living room it stays. And that's how it gets used daily.



I had been wanting to try this brand of water flavors. Today I picked up strawberry watermelon. It's pretty darn good!





Shaina opening her laptop.





Seriously! Could it get any hotter!!!! And that's how hot it was at 5:30 in the afternoon.



I cross stitched before I scrapbooked (paper scrapbooked). There was a shop in Bossier called Knots-n-Needles and I had thought it had went out of business when I went hunting for it again about 6 months ago. I had not made a thing in about 10 years but had seen the shop open but never stopped. But like I was saying about 6 months ago I went to go to it and it was GONE! I was so heart broke. Just by chance I had to turn around  in a parking lot and it was their parking lot!! It was Serendipity!!! I bought me a small kit to get me back in the groove with linen fabric. I have never cross stitched on linen so this should be quite the adventure!





This is my fattest cat, Ghost. I was up late on the laptop with my feet up in the recliner. Since he usually sleeps with me and I was not in bed yet he made himself comfy.


Are you doing Project 365 or any variation on it? I would love to visit your blog. We have made it halfway through...so yipppeee!!!! I absolutely adore this project!
Thanks for stopping by!
Balinda

There's been a ton of activity at the house this week. It's the weekend that the hubby is home from work.
Sometimes it's a good thing and sometimes we drive each other bananas. So far, so good though.
Wednesday we had a really good prayer meeting. The pastor really got fired up and gave some really good scriptures to follow up and review the sermon with. I am a big note taker and I like the ability to study a bit further if I have some questions about the where's and why's of a particular subject. Then Thursday was
the WMU and Pastor's Conference at the church. I have never taken part in WMU (Women's Missionary Union) but am really feeling the calling to do so. It's about mission education, awareness and involvement in the church. The conference was nice and very informative and not at all like I expected (boring and drawn out).
Afterwards, I picked up my wonderful DD to go laptop shopping. I do the picking out and the ex pays for it. I was doing my best to be fair and keep the price about the same as I have spent on the curriculum. So 500 dollars was about my limit w/tax if I could swing it. And I did. I found lovely little 15.6 screen size HP with 4 Rams of memory and a 500 GB hard drive on sale at Office Max for $399. Add a $99 warranty on it and well we are pretty much even steven. It did not have the 101 key board like I would have liked but she doesn't care and it will more than work for daily school work. It is still sitting on the kitchen table in the box. I am thinking I am not even going to open it up until Monday. I don't want to be in a snizzle and rush or be bothered when I go to install the software for the school year or when first turning it on and just getting set up period.
This Sunday is 5th Sunday dinner on the grounds. It's something I asked if this church did when I joined and they said they used to but sorta fell out of the habit. So with a little nudge from me, it's started back up. It's nice to fellowship with my new church family and I am still getting to know some of them but before the year is out I will be more than in the swing of things and be an old hand at know what goes where and when and how..etc.  So first thing in the morning I will be getting up and making some dirty rice and hot water cornbread for our noon meal. I really do hope we have a full house.
And on that note, I will call it a night as I still have a few things I need to do before heading to bed.
Thanks for popping in to see me.
Balinda

I must make a confession. I have peeked at my blog numerous times, thinking to myself that I need to post something. Mostly because I use it as a way to document my days, the normal day to day routine that afflicts us all. I also use it to document my growth in skills as an art journaler and and revel secretly inside when I conquer a new skill or stumble upon an effect that takes a page from just ok to me to "wow, I am really diggin' that!".
Eventhough I have not posted any Project 365 photos I have been taking them. I have tried to scrap them digitally but that is just not working for me. I had thought about having them bound into a book but for some reason I am resisting that idea also. What I did think about doing with them is being all art journalesque (slap some paint, scribble about the day etc) with  them. That idea made me smile. I am "documenting" my life and the quirkiness of it and I am still enjoying being crafty. I know some paper scrappers would cringe at the idea of paint and markers and possibly other NON-archival media touching a photo. I mean, that is what was DRILLED into our heads back when 1999 when I went to my very first OFFICIAL scrapbooking party held by my then SIL. If it was not acid free then it could not touch thee, seemed to be the motto.  After a very long 8 years of not scrapping and a lot of that time not even having a camera, I guess I am just over it. I have tons of photos that do need to be scrapped and am more than making up for it now with my ♥iPhone♥. I do need to document memories before I get senile or something for the kiddos though. So get ready to see that project shared.
Oh let's see what else...hmmmm...getting ready for school. I am entering in to the first full year of home schooling and it's also 9th grade. Oh what a challenge. The Switched On Schoolhouse curriculum was very highly recommended by another mom from church (who is also studying to be a teacher) and she even brought it up for me to peek into the program. I really liked the format and the fact that I could load it into a laptop and it be super portable. It's very interactive and has a Bible study class which I might do along with her. In addition to all of that, I have loaded up on the art supplies and twice a week we are going to have art class. That and music is was not offered at her school. She loves to draw and I really want to feed that passion. No it's not fine art, it's more like cartoon drawings but that does not matter. I got a book that will teach us both perspective and shading and if anything she will have an appreciation of art and will be having fun.
So with the curriculum purchased, it's now time to go laptop shopping. That is on the agenda for Thursday. I go and pick it out and then let her father know which one is acceptable since he knows NOTHING about computers. Does not even have internet at his house. So I am hoping to find something around $500 so he does not have a stroke. That will make us even on what we will have spent on her for school since he pays no child support.
Another goal of mine for the second half of the year is to do some actual scrapbooking. I have done mostly just art journal pages but now it's time to balance it all out so that my babies will have memories to revisit and not forget the stories of their grandparents or parents for that matter.
****And you might see me posting tons more, I have just really been busy but I do love to blog, it gives me a place to vent, share, cry, praise God or just to say I had an ordinary and perfect day.****
So I hope you will stay with me on my adventure through the rest of the year.
Balinda

It has been quite the exhausting week! Not to mention emotional and downright scary with the horrible storm that has blown through the southern United States. We got the IOWA test done and out of the way. Now we just wait for the results to see what we might need to work a bit harder on or where we can continue to work at a steady pace or even work on a more advanced level.

Today is a very big day in our home....My DD is taking the IOWA test. For those who don't follow my blog regularly, I pulled her out of school back in January to home school. Nothing preplanned. It just happened to be last straw and the last time I would let her go there and be bullied. This was not the first time this year. No one deserves that and it's something I have wanted to do for a while anyhow. I could just never sway my ex to my way of thinking. Long story short..she is thriving. She is a little bit lonely with it only being me and her most of the time. But it will get better when I join a home school group. Her friend Kristy is home schooled and her father is an approved tester of the IOWA exam which Louisiana will let us take instead of the LEAP and iLEAP. The schools around here teach to pass the LEAP exams and it so aggravates me. What happened to old fashioned teaching? Educators are being forced to push ahead when the kids are barely grasping the basics. So I was a bit nervous that I was not covering the correct material to give her a chance to test well. She did good and finished in the alloted time and even told me that the things we did study did help her on the test. Tomorrow is day 2 and the final day. I let her stay with her friend Kristy so I would not have to drive her down so early in the morning. I figure at this point the best thing to do is let her have some down time so she will be relaxed and not nervous tomorrow. I think I am more nervous than she is/was though....I just don't want to let her down by not covering the correct materials for her to succeed.

My Friend, Samantha had called me on Sunday evening to ask if I could have lunch with her on the coming Friday. I said sure but told my DH that I wondered what she wanted as she was very specific about if I could or could not come. Fast forward to Friday morning and she calls me and wants to know if I could meet her at 11. I could not as I had some things to do before meeting her. She then said to meet her at 1. Mind you, all very specific on the time. Well to make a long story short (cuz I will blog about this more later) she suprised me and our friend, Joni, who I did not know was going to be there...very pleasant surprise...with one of those open heart necklaces that Jane Seymour designed. After all the ooey gooey girly hugs we attempted to take a photo together but the lighting was HORRID. That's Samantha in the back, Joni on the right and me on the left. Girlfriends are just pretty darn awesome to have!

I was playing with my Hipstamatic app on my iPhone for these next photos.