If you are a homeschooler

You MUST read this article. This is probably the best thing I have read in 10 years.

I know that one of my personal issues with our homeschooling journey is that I am tossed to and fro by every wind of homeschooling doctrine.

I started this journey reading Ruth Beechick. I agreed wholeheartedly. I moved on to Sally Clarkson, same vein. I still pull out my very worn out "Educating the Wholehearted Child" When I am feeling burned out. It's been on my nightstand for a month, now. The old Elijah Company catalog was a wealth of information that encouraged me to continue on a simple path.

Then, I read The Well Trained Mind. I bought more expensive curriculum. Confusion set in, because my flesh and soul began battling. I was lured by the promise of turning out, well...well trained minds. James 3:16 says that where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil thing. yep.

I bounced from curriculum to curriculum. Disliking this and declaring that that didn't work. I spent three years loving the concept of Tapestry of Grace and finding it harder and harder to "do." Don't even ask how this year went. That rhetoric level is a butt kicker.

If you have read my blog for any length of time you know that Isaiah 54:13 is my go to verse for our homeschool. "All your children will be taught of the Lord and great will be the peace of your children." My back up verse is, "Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you." Shoot! I just quoted it to someone the other day, when we were talking about order in the home.

It's no wonder my kids are way off base and out in left field (I can use that metaphor because it's baseball season - which btw, I am so done with, not that it's over, I am just done.)

For the last two years, I have been more focused on getting N through high school and into a "good college" than I have been concerned about his character, or worse, his soul. In turn, I have neglected his brothers. I have been shocked on more than one occasion this year to find that Q has been failing math lessons. He's a math genius, I tell you, this should NOT be happening.

I encourage and exhort you to read this article.

Steadfastness

Marked two more things off my To Do list this morning. And I've started several of the other things. I have to wait on other people for some of them. Waiting on other people can be frustrating, but I am starting a campaign of not being so easily irritated by people.

Thursday morning, I felt so beat down, mentally. I had really wanted to HEAR FROM GOD on Wednesday. And it just did not happen the way I wanted it to. I knew that what was going on in my heart was "there is no peace and well being because you have left teaching your children of the Lord (Is. 54:13.)" I knew that. But there was no peace in my heart and no will to move forward.

You know those FB status updates, "If you have brothers you love blah blah blah...post this. X% won't."? Those irritate me. So I posted, "When is it going to be tired moms' week?" One of my IRL friends, said take your coffee and Bible outside. So I did. Sitting on FB one more minute was not going to energize me. Every cell in my body was saying, "Please, do what Mrs. Lucy says!" (They talk to me in a Bill Cosby voice.)

I have a little book called 101 Devotions for Homeschool Moms. I bought it as a door prize for our homeschool group. I had a copy of my own a long time ago, I gave it to my sister. Sitting around our house, the back cover got creased, so I don't feel like I can give it away, now.

The devotional didn't speak to me. Devotionals rarely do, anymore. Nothing wrong with them, at this point in my life I just need WORD. But I took it outside and opened it up anyway.

The verse that day was Psalm 51:10. Create in me a clean heart O God, and renew a steadfast spirit in me.
I whipped out my iPhone (I took it for the iPod for some worship music!) and opened the dictionary app.

Steadfast - fixed in direction, firm in purpose, unwavering, firmly established. 

Ugh! I am so wretched! Why do I waver so? Why do I entertain fantasies about sending N to a private university model school? That is not the direction God said to go! You are feeding a monster. Tear down those thoughts! At what point did I leave off teaching God's ways to the boys? Did I really think that by virtue of having them at home that their lives would be peaceful? (I think I did.)

And note that spirit in that verse is not capitalized. It's MY spirit that needs to be renewed. I also note that this verse is a petition, a request to the Lord to renew a  steadfast spirit. I don't have to do it myself!

The verse in today's devotional (do what works, huh?) was 1 Cor. 3:5. Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God. ...sigh... His grace, His power, is sufficient to renew a steadfast spirit in me. It really is. I need only to believe.

Botox Anyone?

Yesterday we had park day with our homeschool group.
It was cloudy, but so wonderful. There was a breeze, it was so nice.

I was supposed to be meeting a couple of ladies who want to join our group.

I told the boys to take some kind of sports equipment so they wouldn't be buzzing around me and nagging me to leave.

There were a couple of families at the park with small children.

My boys tumble out of the car, bat and gloves in hand. Instantly, the bat became a weapon, meant for violence and destruction. I took it away. They began chasing each other, in and around the playscape where all the small children are playing happily and innocently. I ran them off.

The first visitor showed up. She admitted to me that she was nervous about meeting us. That she'd told her boys (7 and 3) they better behave and not have any gun play. I grinned, "They'll fit right in."

So my boys put on a little folkstyle wrestling show. I stopped them.

Some of our moms showed up, the other visitor showed up.
Two of the kids came with baseball equipment. Everyone go play ball. Whew! I think, a break!

"Uh, Christy..." I follow the pointing finger. My boys are on top of the backstop. I walk halfway across the park and gesture wildly for them to get down.

Minutes later. "Uh Christy..." Not again...sigh... Now they are on top of the dug out.

Why?Is?This?Happening?

I walked all the way across the park. "If this isn't acceptable at home..." You know the rest. Including , "I dunno..."

Is this a test for the whole goodness vs. Godliness lesson?

I'm going to need some botox for the ditch that's being created between my eyebrows.

Some things make you stop and think about busyness and life.
Busyness is hard to stop. Not even sure it's necessary to stop.
But we sure need to make sure that in and amongst the busyness, we are telling and showing the people we cherish that we love them.

Raising Boys or Berserkers?

At this point, I am convinced that I am just not very "with it," as a mother. 


Case in point:


Wednesday, I decided we would take the day off and go to the lake, cause we can. We went to the dollar store and bought drinks and snacks and water toys. I bought my 12 and 10 year olds blow up pugil sticks. In case you don't know what those are, here is a definition from Dictionary.com, "a long pole or stick with padded ends used to carry out mock combat."


We took them to the lake, where the boys used them as buoys for the sinking rock. 


The next day, I hear them talking about jousting on their bikes with them. "Well," I think, "that's what they're for. I think I'll go take some pictures."

Here they are:

It's cute and fun and educational. Never-mind that we are studying the middle ages next year.


I got done with picture taking and came inside. Minutes later, I hear screaming. I am not a mom who jumps every time I hear screaming. Q isn't having fun unless he's screaming. So, I waited for the offendee to come inside and report the offense. 


And here comes Q. "Why is your brother screaming?" 
"I told him I was done and he wouldn't stop and he made me fall down and almost smash my head on the concrete so I was calling him to me to tell him something..."
"Hang on, you and I both know you were not simply calling him to you to tell him something. Don't give me half the truth." 
"Then (Q almost always insists on continuing with his version of the story, I don't even know why I try) then I..."
M bursts in now, "He threw a rock at me!"
A huge no-no at our house. Not because M is covered in scars from rocks (although he is), but because we have had to replace two windshields due to rock throwing.  
"And he jerked the seat off my bike and the chain too!"
"No I didn't."
"Yes, you did."
Q, go put M's bike back together. M go get your brother's bike and bring it in. 


Sigh...I am so sick of playing turning into fighting. I am weary of it. I have done everything. But I am powerless to stop them.


Later in the day, we went to the pool, where the pool attendant told them to calm down, after I already told them to once. So we left. 


I called SB, "Why Why do they do it?" They can't just play calmly, it's always full-on violent and physical. Someone always gets hurt. It always turns into an argument.


SB's answer, "I grew up in a house of girls, maybe this is normal behavior for a house of boys." 


Dear God, NO!


Maybe I need to go read Bringing Up Boys again?


Wait until we get around to studying Vikings. They'll be so happy to learn about berserkers.


I'm going to need more wine, I think. 

Elementary Science This Week

This week, I started clearing out this year's stuff to make room for next year's stuff. School stuff, that is. I found that there were several experimenty things that the boys haven't done, yet. Can't have that. This week, owl pellets. 

Owl pellets are both gross and fascinating. If you don't think too hard about the fact that they are hairy, compacted, regurgitated owl dinner, and you kinda unfocus your eyes for the initial breaking up of the pellet, you can get through it. 

It didn't bother M and Q at all. 

Owl pellets are cheap. They don't require any specialized equipment, some tweezers and some tooth picks. You can print these charts for the price of ink and paper. And here's a funny video that we enjoyed a lot. 

This kept M and Q busy for more than an hour. I even left to go get N part way through, expecting to return to scattered mouse parts and the two of them fighting over the computer. It did not happen, they were still at it!

M

Necessary Repairs

My camera has been telling me, occasionally, that there is some kind of lens problem. When that happens. I usually take the batteries out and put fresh batteries in. Sometimes it works. Sometimes I don't have a full set of AA's charged up.

That's why there are only two pictures in what would have been a great set.

I LOVE it when the boys go out to work together. Mind you, it's a kind of indentured servitude. Q thinks up the plans and tells M that he will pay him a Monster, or not beat on him, if he works X number of hours. Q has finally learned that while M is initially excited about the project, he soon tires of the work and of Q's perfectionist demands. At that point it gets on my nerves, because Q comes stomping in, yelling at me to tell M to...fill in the blank. I don't do it, btw.

The tree house is about 8 years old. The boys have gotten a LOT of use out of it. It makes me so so happy because I had a treehouse (not nearly as nice as theirs) when I was a kid. I lived in it. Well, I played in it a lot. M and Q literally live in theirs on occasion. They have installed bunks and fold down tables. It's quit the little hut. They are currently planning something called Hobo Fest, where they will live outside as hobos, for a week.

As I was saying the tree house is about 8 years old. It has some rot. There are places that are coming apart. It needed some repair. I was beginning to think it needed to come down. So their last big project was to make some necessary repairs (before Hobo Fest.)

This is all I got before my camera pooped out on me.

We are letting him use the power tools now.

Make note of Q's "toolbelt." It is a holder for paintball speed loaders. :)

Oh Foolish Woman

It used to be that I could go sit in my lake chair, Bible, notebook and pen in hand and hear from God. I would get all my little kidlets in their swimming suits, pack up towels and water and head to the park. I would tell the boys, "Up to your chest." That indicated how far they could go into the lake. There was a roped off area for swimmers. They would play happily, and non-violently. I had very few worries.

Now that the boys are older, they want to take "sinking rocks" with them. For those not familiar with the geography and geology of my area I will explain the absurdity of this. We have about half an inch of topsoil and then, solid limestone. Rocks are everywhere. Big rocks, little rocks, every.where. I feel sure they could find a sinking rock AT the lake.

But let's talk about what a sinking rock is for. It is to tie a rope onto. You toss it out into the lake, hanging onto the rope and let it pull you down. Crazy children, I tell you.

The presence of "sinking rocks" is not conducive to my being able to be still and quiet before the Lord. Neither is the fact that they are all great and competitive swimmers and want to try to swim across the lake.

After two hours, calling (screaming because the wind was carrying my voice away) them back to shore, fighting with the dog to stay out of the car, fighting the wind, and telling them to leave the rocks alone, we came home.

I didn't get anything new. I guess I don't need anything new. He already told me that I had left Isaiah 54:13. All that is required is that I be obedient. That is what I require from my children. I do not reason with them, or give them choices for obedience. Obey now, obey cheerfully (or at least silently ;-p.) What did I think I was going to get?

another plan?? fool.

The True Purpose of Summer

I wrote the longest, ramblingest, most boring post on doing school vs. having summer. Lucky you, I deleted it. I lost track of what I was talking about, it was so long. And it started out with me saying that I didn't want to get to the end of homeschooling with regrets. 

At what point did I become so locked into the world's way of doing school? Surely there are basics that one needs to know. But homeschooling was supposed to be about freedom and retaining curiosity and  the natural love of learning that kids have. 

Not only that, but specific to our family;  I believe God led us to this lifestyle because we are supposed to be discipling our kids. The discoveries I made last week are the fruit of what we've been doing. And it ain't Godly discipling. I don't want to have regrets there, in particular. 

I guess I need a come to Jesus moment. 

Proverbs 16:9 (nasb) The mind of man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.

Proverbs 22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go, when he is old, he will not depart from it.

This Sunday, I had a moment of clarity that I had left the verse that God gave me for our school.

Isaiah 54:13. All your sons will be taught of the Lord, and the well being of your sons of your sons will be great. 

The next verse says this, "In righteousness you will be established; You will be far from oppression, for you will not fear; And from terror, for it will not come near you." 

In righteousness you will be established. Not in doing school, not in not in requiring good behavior, not in expectations. But in righteousness. Then it says that oppression, fear and terror will not come near. That is where I am right now. Fear that the boys won't measure up, that I won't measure up. 

I made school in our home. I left the words I have been speaking for years, "Home first, school second." I let school become my identity, instead of being identified only by Christ. And my children see that and imitate it. We have all been striving for outward goodness. For people to look on us and be impressed. We have left the inside to grow dark and dirty. 

Maybe we do need a summer break, in order to air out these vessels. God help me to not waste summer break. But to build relationships with You and with the boys. 

Dreaming of Peace and Quiet

School has pretty much consisted of math, spelling, read some history, write an outline and a paragraph, for weeks. And I intend to keep it that way until the last Friday of May. I am determined that Rome will fall by then.

Q has the understanding that the sooner he gets school work done, the sooner he has free time. M and N have yet to get that. They like to take their free time throughout the day. Not that I approve.

The problem with this is that Q has never been able to entertain himself. So he spends a few hours everyday distracting his brothers. Not that I approve.

Yesterday, in a monumental effort, M was able to get his school work done in about the same time as Q.

I ordered them outside. Where they proceeded to bicker and argue.

And now I remember that I said, last year, that I would never take the summer off again. Sadly, I have that big, long To Do list that I created with no school in mind. Besides, I think they will commit mutiny if I insist on doing more than math. I can work on being sneaky about learning. But that will take some planning. Sorry, I can't help myself.

I posted on FB yesterday that we had 10 days left of school. To which one of my friends replied. "I thought you LOVED your job?" I do love my job. Very, very much. But I also love free time. I also love peace and quiet.

I know! I'll go charge a laptop and figure out how to tether my iPhone to it and we'll spend all day every day at the pool.

I can dream.

And they will be gone for 1/3 of the summer. There is hope.

Summer To Do List

My aunt posted on my Fb wall yesterday. She said, "When are you coming to Fort Worth?" What I told her was that the summer is shaping up to be as busy as the school year. And that is the truth. Of course the road does go both ways, but I suppose that is a post that will never be written.

I have a list in my head that I really need to get out, so that I don't forget anything.

First of all, N will be gone the first and third weeks of June.
Q and M will also be gone the third week of June.
N and Q will be gone the last week of July and the first week of August.
I may be going to KS with KC, HRL-B and 6 of our 8 kids. (I do like doing that, typing in initials, that is.)
So, in no particular order (even though I really should prioritize,) here is my summer To Do list:

• sew patches on Scout shirts and blankets
• 9th grade transcript
• talk to homeschool football coaches
• read homeschool lab science book
• lesson plans (to include printing and binding of various books)
• plan homeschool group meetings
• plan homeschool yearbook class
• Key to Algebra series w/ N (when he's home) (Check out this online video series that I'm going to have him use)
• start homegroup (I know, seems kinda insane)
• update calendar
• beg someone to be the Yahoo! group moderator
• do more begging in terms of our homeschool group (this will take the form of carefully crafted emails so that I am concise and not wordy, because that apparently confuses people)
• get the second computer online (buy a wireless card or a wired router)
• Sort through pile of loose paper that I hid in the school room/lounge/in-house storage unit
• encourage N to finish his Eagle project
• Scrapblog OKC trip
• get my 50 free prints of the Big Bend trip from that photo storage place online (can't remember the name...U-something???) (Shutterfly! I knew there was a U)
• Register the boys for classes
• Review IEW DVDs
• Print out high school tips from IEW group
• Mail friend's books

(this list keeps getting longer)

Last week, several semi-serious things happened which have me examining the difference between goodness and Godliness.

Goodness comes from within the self and Godliness comes from God, Himself, within me, in the person of the Holy Spirit.

I can clearly see that what I have been doing for years is practicing and thereby teaching goodness.

And as SB and I sat all three boys down for a discussion the other night, I could hear the call to goodness coming from him as well.

Goodness is not so concerned about what is on the inside as what is viewed by others on the outside.

We know that God does not look on the outside, but at what's on the inside. In several instances, Jesus took a legitimate command from the Father, "Don't commit adultery," and stressed the heart component, "If you look at woman and sin in your heart, you have already committed adultery."

My initial reaction is to drag out a Bible study and drill the boys on Godliness. But the Spirit is fairly screaming in my heart, "Don't do it your way! Just practice Godliness." So, I will pray for SB to practice Godliness and I will pray for myself and I will pray for the boys.

I have messed up, but God is good. His Name is on the line and He will see His Word, in us, to completion.

Homeschool Mom Confessions

One of my imaginary, URL friends posted her homeschool mom confessions. I had been thinking the last two days of making a similar post. Homeschooling at the end of 10 years is certainly not what I envisioned (or was lead to believe) 12+ years ago. I told K that my confessions would be pretty raw. We're going through some stuff that I was lead to believe I would not go through via the homeschooling route. So be prepared, pick your feet up so I don't step on crush your toes.

~~~In the spirit of another of my imaginary, URL friends, I am also going to tell you about another post I've been thinking about, but probably won't write. The idea is that I take all the popular, Christian homeschool mom "beliefs" and tell you what really happens. (Can you tell I am feeling a little ...uh... disappointed? Maybe not disappointed, just ready for this year to be done already.)~~~

On with the confessions:
1. I don't get up early.
2. My kids don't get up early.
3. I don't make my kids do chores every day before school commences.
4. (As a result) our house is not terribly clean.
5. I yell...a lot.
6. I let our kids play a lot of video games.
7. I do not cook breakfast or lunch. I make the kids cook their own.
8. 2 of my 3 kids hate to read. (Is this a result of 6? Who cares?)
9. I feel frustrated, exasperated and overwhelmed every.single.day.
10. I spend free time thinking about educational alternatives for my oldest son.
11. Our family is not very harmonious.
12. My oldest son does not feel close to me and does not want to "share" with me.
13. Boxed curriculum looks better and better every day.

Home School Highlights, 2009-2010

Since we are looking at 2 weeks and 3 days left of school at the Liberty Academy for Boys, I thought I'd make a few highlight posts of our year.

This first post is about the movies we loved from Netflix to supplement out study of ancient world history.

• David Macaulay: Roman City (available free online here) 

• Hands down favorite: Drive Through History

• Jim Henson's The Storyteller: Greek Myths

• Egypt: Engineering an Empire

• David Macaulay: Pyramid (sadly, not available online)

Outdoor Home Decor

I came home from my 4-day mini vacation to find out that SB had paid all the bills in the bill basket. Great. And not left enough money for groceries, gas, his birthday or mother's day. I am totally not complaining. This is simply an example of how men and women think differently. There are bills to be paid. Let's pay them all right now, including ones that aren't due until the end of the month.

And according to him it was ok that there wasn't enough money for me to get him a birthday present, because he bought himself one. A gigantic, plastic ashtray. For real.

He sits on the front porch to smoke. He tosses all the butts in a neat little pile in the flower bed next to the porch. It doesn't bother me. It's unsightly, but I don't really mind. There was a can. Cans are disposable and we have plenty of them. But he thought a giant, plastic ashtray would be better, as in more attractive than a can or a pile of butts.

So the box came via UPS yesterday, addressed to North Shore Repairs, because SB didn't think the company would sell it to an individual. Because normal people don't buy giant, plastic ashtrays for their homes. The box was enormous. I am thinking of shipping one of the children somewhere in it.

He took it out of the box and assembled it in our bedroom. I asked him where he was planning on putting it. In the flower bed, he tells me. I told him that I thought it would be better on the side of the house. Or on the back deck. But that would mean he'd have to get up off the porch and walk around the front of the house to dispose of his cigarette butt.

He left early for work this morning. He didn't have time to take his birthday present outside. So I did it for him. I'm a good wife, like that.

I won't ask what you think. Because I feel sure that you think the same thing I do. "REALLY?! For REAL!? A giant, plastic ashtray? I thought only businesses could have those."

This is one of the places I thought it could go. There are several things wrong with this location. Including the fact that it will tempt the boys to pick it up and carry it around, using it for some kind of target practice.

Here it sits on the pile of existing butts. Nice, huh? Klassy, I think.

Turned sideways for easy access from the top step of the porch.

At least the color is right.

Baseball and Big Bend

We had a baseball game this afternoon. Our boys have played one kind of sport, or another, every season since N was in the first grade. Q is the only one playing baseball this season. Which is kinda nice, then we don't have to split up when games are in different towns. I have never been into sports. at.all. I have to admit watching your kid play sports is kinda fun, though. Don't ask me what's goin' on though, 'cause I don't have a clue. Today's game was different, I payed attention. Man! It was close! Then, our super-awesome, Cuban pitcher collided with the catcher, so they put in another pitcher. This kid takes everything seriously. He did a fan-tab-u-lous job! I wish I had a video. When he's nervous, he adjusts his hat, spits a lot, adjusts his cup, stands there, adjusts, spits. Love it! We did end the game losing, in an extra inning, by one point. But, man! it was a good game!

But that's not what this post is about.

I finally got SB's Big Bend pictures uploaded and fixed, for the most part. I'm no expert at editing photos. But I do know when something is washed out and awful looking.

He took two waterproof, disposable cameras and bought an extra disposable camera while there. Guess which one he dropped in the water? Yes, he did. Can't fix those.

Here are some of my favorites.

N

M, Q & N
The lady in the front of the canoe on the right is S

Q

N & Q, posing for a hiking magazine...I don't know...

Q & N in a cliff cave

M cooling off, because kayaking is hard, hard work, I tell you

N

All my guys

Q

M

N, You can see his knees! shh! don't tell him

Another shot of all my guys

M and Q, shooting  one of his "make you sick to your stomach" videos

Q

The Hot New Homeschool High School Curriculum

This is my first-official-homeschool-post-on-my-non-homeschool-blog-since-I-am-going-to-shut-down-the-homeschool-blog-sometime-this-summer.

I came across this article two days ago. It was one of the many distractions that kept me from my "work." Gary North attributes the list of courses and texts to Ron Paul, whom I love. I am unable to find the actual Dr. Paul connection. Of course I haven't done any in-depth investigation. I looked at two of RP's websites, under "education" and did not find this list.

What I find a little crazy, is this: "That's the main problem. This curriculum does not exist yet. But it could. Two years from now, it could be on-line." Crazy is not the word I'm looking for, uninformed. I dunno...help me.

Here's the thing. By publishing the list of courses and recommended textbooks, the curriculum now exists. Any enterprising, creative homeschool mom, like myself, could take this and really run with it. And I intend to. This summer. While my people are galavanting around the country, disguised as Boy Scouts.

It's a good list with solid suggestions. I even have an idea, or two, floating around for a co-op class. God help me. That is happening more and more. I guess I am over the burn out I suffered from doing Apologia science for an entire year in my home with a dozen kids.

Irony

I have been working feverishly for the last two days on our homeschool group's meeting tonight. It's my first official meeting as president. I want to do a good job. I have some ideas to do it like we've never done before. Not in a huge break out of the box sense. Just small changes.

I haven't gotten dressed for two days. Which means I haven't bathed in two days.

Here's the ironical part (is that a word? It is now.) The boys haven't got hardly any school work done because I have been too busy working on the meeting. (Yes, I intended that sentence to be all crazy grammatically. It's to show how very uneducated we are because I am too busy helping other mommies teach their little darlings at home.)

Wanna see what my kitchen looks like?

Here's a peek:

Yes! I did!

In case you are wondering, that pink bucket is an ice cream maker. It is Q's. He has been nagging me all day about getting a bag of ice so he can make ice cream.

I think I might just go take a shower and run out now, before the sink caves in.

All is not completely lost, though. Q and M have resurrected their lawn business from last summer. They took flyers to all our neighbors and already have one customer. That's educational. Everyone did get in their math, spelling and reading. I'm not sure about N. He went to his room with a book about Romans. Maybe he found a Roman Empire App.

Haha! I just had an idea. I'm going to have a support meeting called "Creative Ways to Teach." I think I'm going to give them a list of educational apps.

See what a good leader I am?

What One 4-Day Weekend Will Do

I posted and posted about my week alone and my family's trip to Big Bend. It was awesome for everyone. They had a fabulous time and I got to clean without interruption. Of course then they came back and in about 4 seconds it looked like they'd never been gone. I love them. For real. I missed them while they were gone. I had been falling in love with my beloved all over again the week before they left. I don't want to sound like I was ecstatic over their being gone. But seriously, sometimes a break is in order.

What I didn't tell you was that I was also in the midst of planning a little 4 day, out of state, girls' weekend with some of my oldest (I'm the oldest, but people I've known for a long time...you know what I mean) and closest friends.

 (insert gleeful sounds)

I don't even know how long I have known KC. We went to church together when we were little. I can remember going on an Acteens trip in the 8th grade, to Waco and crying to KC that I missed my boyfriend. We were not super close then, or in high school. But we ran in interlocking circles. It wasn't until we started having corresponding babies that we clicked. And every time I am with her, I think to myself, "And why don't we spend more time together?" It is so easy to be me with her. No masks. And I think that is because she refuses to wear a mask and refuses to put up with masked people. She loves people very deeply and that is serious balm to my soul. 

KC and I rode 6 hours to Oklahoma City to meet HRL-B. Six hours sounds like a long time, but I tell you, the time flew and before we knew it, we were pulling into the hotel. 

I met HRL-B in 7th grade. Maybe in 6th, at a slumber party. We did not go to the same elementary school (This was in the olden days, when 6th grade was still considered an elementary grade) but I knew who she was. HRL-B is friends with everyone. (I can hear you saying you're not, but you are.) In 8th grade we were in pretty much all the same classes, along with about 20, or so, other people. Our friendship grew into one where I was at her house every weekend, or at least I said I was. We have so many memories of walking home from school, handcuffing my sister to her bed, running through shrubbery, early rising to get to the beach before we had to work, calling in sick to work to go to the beach...so so many. She was in my wedding, I was in hers. Just always there. Oh! and she saw my middle child being birthed. 

HRL-B currently lives in Kansas. The plan was to meet somewhere in the middle. I'm so glad we did. Not that visiting her house would have been boring. But you can't beat hotel life. 

OOH! Hey! I just had an idea! I wonder what it would take for us to get an invite to Pioneer Woman's for the next girls' weekend? 

The rough middle worked out to be Oklahoma City. Not really a destination city. But we had fun. Because you can't not have fun when you're with your bff's. The theme was doing stuff we wouldn't normally do. There were tattoo plans. But we are already all tatted up. So we got fake ones. 

We went to Shawnee in search of lavender and wine. 

We did finally find it. In a town called Prague (rhymes with Craig) where they were having a kolache festival. We come from a town that has a yearly festival, called Frontier Days. There's a parade, booths, dancing, I'm sure there's a queen, but I could totally be wrong. We joined the residents of Prague in celebrating their Czech heritage. It was serious fun.

We went to a casino. I've been through casinos, but never to a casino. I left with $15 more than I came with, thanks to KC. And I have decided that I do not have a gambling problem. I like puzzles and games, I do not like random chance. 

We visited the site of one of our nation's most tragic events. The pictures speak for themselves

We ate until we had stomach aches at Toby Keith's I Love This Bar and Grill. 

Eating until we have stomach aches is something we would  normally do, but not at Toby Keith's. 

Then we entered the Twilight Zone and walked into Coyote Ugly Saloon. Here's the thing...hardly anything is open on the weekends in and around OKC. Shawnee was shut down and most of the establishments along the um..."riverwalk" in OKC were shut down. And besides, if visiting bars were something we'd normally do, Coyote Ugly would certainly not be one of them. 

The next day we got up late and went to IHOP (IHOP = normal, getting up late = not normal,) where we waited 40 minutes for our food and drank cold coffee because the waitress could not remember to bring us a bowl of half and half while the coffee was still hot. I needed the caffeine to drive back to Texas. 

Right now, I am supposed to be working on the agenda for my first meeting as president of our homeschool group. I can't concentrate until I get this post up. Funny thing is that I couldn't concentrate on this meeting last week because of my anticipation of our trip. The meeting is tomorrow. I'm not ready. I need to buy paper and door prizes. I need to email people and ask them to come. I need to email people and remind them to be ready to speak at the meeting. The list goes on and on.

A four day weekend will refresh, renew, and cause you to be totally distracted for a couple of weeks.