Hectic Heaven

Pray Please

Posted by CandyFoote
12:32, Sunday, October 12, 2008 .. Posted in I'm a Grandma!! .. 4 comments .. Link

My daughter, Jaimie is at the hospital with her little baby.

He will be four weeks old tomorrow.

Well, when she went to change his diaper yesterday, she noticed a bump that resembled a boil on his bottom

It burst open and drained quite a bit of poison.

She rushed over to the hospital, and they kept him over night.

They are keeping him tonight also.

They aren't sure what is going on, but they want to get rid of the infection that is in it.

They even put him on IVs!

The poor little guy.

Not to mention, poor momma.

Please keep Jaimie and Gabriel in your prayers.

I'm sure Jaimie will be updating everyone when they make it home.

Be sure to check out her blog at http://www.homesteadblogger.com/JaimieBesaw/

A lot of work to get moved

Posted by Sharon
07:36, Sunday, October 12, 2008 .. Posted in About Me .. 3 comments .. Link

I've surely put a lot of work into this blog. I honestly hadn't realized how much until today while trying to save pages, pictures, html codes, ideas, etc.

So, getting my blog emptied out in a day just isn't going to happen unless someone can show me an easier way of saving everything at once. But, I'm quite sure no one wants to assist the "grammar police" anyway :)

I was sort of hoping I could find a way to simply transfer my blog and all the archives over but I can't find such a tool.

So, I'm just leaving a little note here for those who are reading my blog out of a sincere interest so they'll know why new entries are not showing up.

I'm not leaving here solely because of the current issues of being titled Grammar Police.

If anyone has actually been reading my entries, they'd know I've been considering a move since early September.

So, I think I was being directed to make this change a month ago, only I was a bit too stubborn to listen until now.

Sometimes things have to be sort of "confirmed" before we know we should make a major move.

The one person whose actions made me question being here in September was actually the same person whose actions are confirming my move a month later (not Sarah, oh and not the one who gave me my new title either).

Amazing how things tend to work out.

History does repeat itself.

Today's To-Do List

Posted by eileenb
05:33, Sunday, October 12, 2008 .. 1 comments .. Link

Things I need to do today:
1. Praise God
2. Finish mowing lawn (hopefully no more mowing this year!)
3. Get leaf mold for strawberry patch
4. Hike up to the springhouse and clean filter if necessary
5. Plant evergreens
6. Dig holes for peach & apple trees that I ordered
7. Go to town for groceries
8. Thank God for a beautiful productive day!

Now I will check back later and see what I've accomplished off this list.

Shayna and Jeffie

Posted by m j
06:51, 2008-Oct-11 .. 1 comments .. Link

Dora and her family from church came by last night for me to worm and give their dogs a set of shots. It is so funny how people see things . Dora was watching Jeffie how he was with Michelle (she stopped by for a bit) and she also watched how Jeffie is with Shayna.

Dora told me with tears in her eyes " Shayna is his mom" I gave a sad smile and said I know. She remembers them from church events and other home schooling events. Dora knows Shayna is his aunt (tea as he calls her) and that Shayna has raised him for a lot of his life.

We are blessed that Shayna at 15 years old took on the roll. They have such a strong bond. He cries every time he has to go.

Here are some of Shayna's senior pictures taken last year at this time. Shayna was 17 and Jeffie was 2.5. We bought the hole cd so we have the funny ones too:

Jeffie will be 4 in January.

God Bless, mj

The best plan is no plan at all.

Posted by eileenb
08:54, Saturday, October 11, 2008 .. 0 comments .. Link

Looking back at my blogs this week, it's funny how nothing turned out the way I planned....
Thursday I planned to go to work, eat donuts (Thursday is donut day), then leave work and go to Kohls.
Thursday I went to work. My boss showed up 3 hours late, forgot to get the donuts and was mad at me for not calling him up to tell him to get to work (LOL). He had overslept.
After work I did not go to Kohls because the weather was so beautiful and I just wanted to be out in the gardens.
Yesterday I thought it would be a typical Friday with me at the office alone getting a lot done..... Wrongo! My boss didn't go back to the main office in Pittsburgh like he always does on Friday. Instead he sat in his office sulking because the company needed him there to monitor testing.
But you know, things always happen for a purpose.....
I probably didn't need to eat donuts on Thursday. After all, I have finally lost the 10 lbs I needed to lose.
Bill probably needed that extra 3 hours of sleep.
And I am sure the Lord wanted me to spend time shopping at Kohls with my daughter instead of alone. She and I had a great time last night. She had gotten paid yesterday and bought herself a cute blouse. I had $5.00 and a $5.00 Kohls coupon and bought myself a nice beaded headband and 2 Yankee tarts in the Cranberry scent. After the coupon, it only cost me $1.26, so I left with change from my 5 dollar bill. After that we went out for breakfast for dinner at Denny's and then headed home to relax.
Today is absolutely gorgeous out there. I am cleaning out gardens in a tank top and shorts. I love it!
God is so good!

Jalapeno's

Posted by GrannyG
07:14, 2008-Oct-10 .. 0 comments .. Link

Benny made his famous "Hotter than Hades" sauce this week....the recipe includes habanero and jalapeno peppers...Of course he uses every bowl in the house, the VitaMixer, and of course there is the cooking...now the tasting is something else, "taste this and see what you think".......I tasted it and immediately the fire began to start on my tongue and smoke came out my ears, I could hardly speak..."hot....hot.....hot.....WATER QUICK"..so he settled for that batch. We still had a bucket of jalapeno peppers left, so he reminded me we needed to do something with the peppers..I had to go to work, so I told him to make a T with a knife in each pepper, put them in a pot, add water, and bring to a boil, let them cook till they lost the green gloss on the peppers and shut off the stove. I walked into the house to the smell of hot peppers...I almost needed a gas mask....the smell was overpowering, my eyes were burning, but I managed to drain them and let them cool. I would start the deseeding in the morning, so that was my job today. The peppers are all deseeded, and they are stuffed with cheddar/colby cheese. I put them on a cookie sheet and froze them...tomorrow I will put them into bags to keep frozen till we grill them...I will then wrap a slice of bacon around each one before they go on the grill....wait for them to cook, and the feast will begin. Next will be Jalapeno Macaroni Salad...this is another one of our favorites...

JALAPENO MACARONI SALAD

12 oz. medium size macaroni shells or elbows,
cooked and drained

Fresh green onions --I use about 3 or 4

I also add a little sweet white onion to this,

4 jalapeno peppers (deseeded) and diced fine
I use more because we like ours hot to the taste

salt and pepper to taste

garlic powder to taste (just a dash )

1 pint Real Mayonnaise--make it good and moist

Dice onions fine (I cut mine with the scissors)
or chop onions and peppers till fine in a food processor.
You want these in small pieces, not liquid.
Mix all together and chill overnight. So good !

And there are still some peppers left, so they will be used for breakfast, scrambled eggs, cheese,jalapenos, bacon and rolled in a warm flour tortilla.

You can also make Armadillo Eggs....a good recipe also..

Armadillo Eggs

1/2 pound grated Monterey Jack Cheese

(Strips of Cheddar cheese as well to stuff with)

1/2 pound bulk Hot Sausage (Owens)

1 1/2 cups buttermilk biscuit mix (Bisquick)

15 medium canned Jalapeno Peppers (or do your own)

Shake and Bake for Pork

2 beaten eggs

Slit and deseed the peppers. Mix together the cheese and sausage. To this, add the biscuit mix. (It is easier to divide the biscuit mix into three parts, adding each part separately, as the dough becomes very thick and stiff, and will require some kneading). The cheese and sausage will hold the dough together.Set aside. Now, stuff each pepper with a piece of cheese and pinch the pepper closed around the cheese.Pinch off some of the sausage/cheese mixture and pat it into a flat little pancake. Put the stuffed pepper in the middle of the dough and wrap it completely with the dough, seal the edges.Roll the dough covered pepper back and forth in your hands and mold it into an egg shape. Roll the pepper in Shake and Bake for Pork, coat it good, then dip it in the beaten eggs and put in back in the Shake and Bake mixture. Bake the "eggs" in a 300-325 degree oven for about 25 minutes. You can also freeze these till you are ready to bake them.

We never tire of Jalapeno Peppers......

A New Homestead Blogger

Posted by CandyFoote
05:40, Friday, October 10, 2008 .. 2 comments .. Link

My daughter is a homestead blogger!

Make her day by checking out her site.

Don't forget to leave her a nice comment.

http://www.homesteadblogger.com/JaimieBesaw/

Thanks,

Candy

Selling Used Books

Posted by CandyFoote
04:25, Friday, October 10, 2008 .. Posted in My Other Sites .. 0 comments .. Link

Boy, do I ever need some help.

We are moving to Alaska. That's the good news.

My New York home is overrun with books. That's the problem.

I have decided to list them on my website http://candyfoote.com/

That could take me a while!!!

Well, I have managed to put a few of them on it.

It seems to take quite a bit of time.

I have included shipping and handling in the listed prices. Not one item is more than $5.00.

Please, please, please check it out!

If you don't see something you are interested in, then check back another day.

It will take me quite awhile to list all of these books.

I really can't take all of these books to Alaska with me.

Thanks,

Candy

Why My Teens Are Homeschooled

Posted by Sharon
08:04, Friday, October 10, 2008 .. 6 comments .. Link

This is somewhat a subject I have tried to avoid, simply because some extremely personal issues occurred in our family in September of last year.   (This may be the post where you see the evil cat come out of me, God be with me while I find the correct words today)

I will do the best I can in answering this question that morningsunshine asked:

"Would you share why you took your children out of public school? I am always interested to learn other people's motivations.
You have 3 children, correct, 2 boys and one girl? or is it just one of each? "

I do have 3 children. James is now 20, graduated from public schools. He is the son I will not talk about much here or anywhere on the net. Period. He's not gay, has never been arrested, does not do drugs or drink. He is my private child and that's all there is to it. Please do not ask for explanations. I will say, he is one of the biggest reasons my other 2 teens are now homeschooled, but not the only reason.

Okay, in September of last year, we had a deal with an extremely close family member (ugh). I'll try again.

Back in 1999, my mother's live in boyfriend died. She was left alone. I'm the only child she has. She called me. At the time I was buying a house in WVa. She wanted us to move to NC and buy a house with her. So we left our country house and we moved to a ritzy brick subdivision in NC where the county commissioner and all the school teachers and even the music star Tony Rice (often visited by Ricky Scaggs and Dolly Parton) were my neighbors.

It was okay. We had a hard time paying the bills. They were split, we'd pay half, mom would pay half.

(I don't want to do this)

Well, we all lived there in the house (if you can call it living) up until 2007. Mom found a man she liked. That was pretty much all it took for her to decide she wanted to move in with him. She said she'd continue helping pay on the house but she stopped paying her part. We couldn't pay $1,000 a month mortgage, $400 a month light bill, $200 gas bill, $100 water bill (get the idea here?). The house was in her name. They foreclosed.

My kids didn't want to face new kids in a new school.

They were already being teased because we didn't have enough money for designer clothes.

My daughter has a learning disability and her teachers never minded making it known to the entire class that Savannah just didn't understand today's work.

One teacher always verbally abused Curtis. Once, to the point that he was screaming and spitting in my son's face. This of course, drew my husband into the picture and inside the school building where he approached the teacher with a physical confrontation on the verge of explosion.

One teacher called me one day and said, "You need to get some pills for Savannah".   To which I replied, "You were educated to teach children with many levels of learning abilities, put your skills to use"!

I won't medicate my child to appease a teacher who chose this profession and then decides she can't handle the one child in her class that needs further explanation.

Savannah was suppose to receive (this was approved through the school board) extended time on class room assignments, extended time on tests, or alternative tests. The teachers never followed through on these agreements which in turn caused my daughter to receive failing grades.

My oldest son pretty much hates people now. Why? The teens he went to school with were mean.   The teachers were disrespectful and hateful and rude.

I told multiple teachers multiple times, you will not gain any respect from my children by disrespecting them.

My middle son watched other teen boys at the end of the hall, hiding behind their locker door, doing drugs.

In 8th grade there were several girls already pregnant. Why? Most of them were pregnant because they wanted to be the most popular girl in school. What better way of getting your name out in a public school than by answering the call of young boys who love to gather up in the locker room and share notes?

So, you can see that throughout the years, home schooling sat in the back of our mind. It was discussed often. It just happened to be that when we were moving here, it was more convenient for all of us to make the change at that point.

Why do I home school?

So my children will no longer be abused by teachers or principals or their own peers.   So my daughter won't enter the popularity contest. So my son can avoid drugs.   So I don't have to worry daily about their safety and their sanity.

In Response to the Home School Discussion

Posted by Sharon
07:24, Friday, October 10, 2008 .. 3 comments .. Link

This is the comment I left for Sarah

If Curtis (http://www.homesteadblogger.com/MtAiryMom/108463/)

or Savannah (http://www.homesteadblogger.com/MtAiryMom/108407/)

had written that final statement you wrote, this is what I would have taught them.

Proper Grammar:

"So yeah." (This is not a complete sentence.)

"Thoughts, anyone?" (This is not a complete sentence)

I know most people here probably lean toward homeschooling; are there any proponents for public school out there? (This sentence contradicts itself. Are we "here" or "out there"?)

I am eager to here both sides, as I am currently extremely disillusioned with both.

("Here" is spelled incorrectly. The use of the word "as" in your sentence is incorrect. As does not mean because. The correct word in that situation would have been "because". I am eager to "hear" both sides "because" I am currently, extremely disillusioned with both.)

Now, those corrections were not to tease you about your writing skills. They were not meant to demean you in any way. I was making a point.

Would a high school teacher have truly taken the time to pick out those errors in your final statement at the end and give you a full explanation of the errors you made as well as instructions for making corrections? Most likely not. The typical method of the teacher is to read and grade only. With a classroom of 20 to 25 students, the teacher does not have the amount of time it takes to show direct corrections to individual errors such as these. The essay would have received a grade based on these errors without explanation.

This is why we home school (well, at least one reason). Our children do not receive the individual attention they deserve in public school.

When blogging, I use caps in many areas where they are not necessary, I use incorrect grammar, etc.

But, if you are calling out home schooling parents, be on the lookout for the one parent who will grade your essay because it is instinctual behavior of a home school parent to be constantly teaching our children.

Anyone here will tell you, I never approach a blogger with anything but kindness so please do take this as a kind plea to accept each of us as we are without questioning us or the nature of our children. Please do not ask us to explain ourselves with implications that our children are not socialized. In turn we will not ask you to explain yourself or anything you may have been exposed to while attending public schools. It's all about respectful acceptance.

I'll add this to my blog simply for comment purposes. I'd rather not have comments pertaining to this ending up on my entries about my father.

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