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Showing posts from May, 2013

{Review} The King's Deception

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What it's about:  Cotton Malone is back! Steve Berry’s new international adventure blends gripping contemporary political intrigue, Tudor treachery, and high-octane thrills into one riveting novel of suspense.   Cotton Malone and his fifteen-year-old son, Gary, are headed to Europe. As a favor to his former boss at the Justice Department, Malone agrees to escort a teenage fugitive back to England. But after he is greeted at gunpoint in London, both the fugitive and Gary disappear, and Malone learns that he’s stumbled into a high-stakes diplomatic showdown—an international incident fueled by geopolitical gamesmanship and shocking Tudor secrets.   At its heart is the Libyan terrorist convicted of bombing Pan Am Flight 103, who is set to be released by Scottish authorities for “humanitarian reasons.” An outraged American government objects, but nothing can persuade the British to intervene.   Except, perhaps, Operation King’s Deception.   Run by the CIA, the operation aims to solv

{Memorial Day 2013}

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It was an eventful Memorial Day weekend this year. I tried not to be too sad and snotty because my dad's birthday is the 26th and my sisters is the 27th. I miss them both dearly. We started the weekend bright and early Saturday morning - with our Scouts, placing flags on the graves of our local veterans. We had one of our best turn outs that I can remember. I love the fact that we get to teach these young men {and boys} the true meaning of this holiday and what freedom really costs. To make this weekend even more awesome, our small slice of South Carolina was honored to host the Traveling Wall. Even in small scale it was heart stopping, one day I hope we make it to D.C. to see it full scale. What another great opportunity for teaching history up close.

Impatience {or why I made my own planner}

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This past year I discovered The Well Planned Day planner. I fell in love with it too. So much so that I ordered one for next year for both my son and I. And I waited for them to arrive and waited and waited And while I was waiting I came across New Bee Homeschooler and their free curriculum planner. And I thought about it. and thought and thought Then I figured "what the heck?" I mean if I don't like it, I still have my Well Planned Day, you know? So I started printing out forms and putting them together. Then I let it sit for a few days and took a bunch of pages out. In the end, I ended up with a planner I'm pretty happy with. It feels like it will fit my needs. Some pages I got from New Bee Homeschooler and some I tweaked from Donna Young .  So here is my finished planner. I hope it works out as well as I think it will! But now I needed a new way to schedule. This year I wrote weekly assignments in my planner, copied it to my sons planner and erased like crazy whe

{Mother's Day}

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Happy Mother's Day! My mom has been gone for almost 7 years, and I still miss her a lot ~ but it feels like it gets easier every year. If you watch any TV you know what Mom "wants" this year. Chocolate diamonds, a new car, flowers, blah blah blah. Well, as a mom I know what I want - and believe me, it's none of those things the commercials are touting as what will make mom happy. I barely wear jewelry, not even my wedding rings {gasp!}. I have a van that I love. My husband knows not to waste any money on flowers {a lesson I taught him early in our relationship!}. So, what does this mama want? I'd really like to not cook dinner OR do dishes for the day. But, I scared my husband away from doing dishes by rearranging all his hard work too many times! So I will end up doing dishes (and probably cooking dinner too - who goes out to eat on Mother's Day? Imagine the crowds, ugh). I can't say "nothing" because that's not an appropriate answer

~ Waiting ~

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I pre ordered my favorite planner The Well Planned Day , a long time ago. Actually, I ordered two - one for me and a student planner for my son. And I've been waiting for it to come in, but the shipping date keeps getting pushed back ~ and even though I learned a long time ago to never  plan more than a week at a time, I still want to plan the first week of school for next year! I know, we still have 9 days left this year - but we take a super short summer break and I don't want to spend the whole thing planning! So I started searching online for forms I can print out, just to get the first week (or maybe two) in writing. In my many searches I found New Bee Homeschooler  which gave me a whole new way to look at planning my homeschool year. By day - not date. As in day 1, 5, 180 (not Monday - Friday). What a concept! I'm completely in love with her make your own planner and I spent a few hours trying to figure out how to print it correctly. I still haven't figured it out

{Pour Your Heart Out ~ In Laws}

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I wish I could tolerate my mother-in-law. She's the only grandmother my son has left - and to say we don't get along would be one of the biggest understatements ~ ever. Although she won't agree with my point of view I spent many years (about 13) trying to be the good daughter-in-law. Supporting my husband because I know she's his mother and he loves her. Enduring things like: hearing about his old girlfriend (whom she wanted him to marry) watching both his parents treat him like crap (and keeping my mouth shut) being obligated to spend Christmas with them every year (even though we literally lived across the country) And yes, the year I decided I wanted to spend Christmas with MY family (husband was gone) I started getting locked out of their lives. Or should I say we - because she's also locking out her son and grandson. And I've never told my husband he couldn't take the boy to go visit his parents, (they live about two hours away - and t