She's BACK!

.

My beloved camera!





Thank you, so much, dear blog friend who provided the funds to repair my camera! Such generosity overwhelms me.

I am greatly looking forward to begin blogging more in earnest again. Things are quite busy, and only going to get busier as spring approaches. Spring is probably going to be coming on this year like a whispery little butterfly, battered about by icy chunks of air, but it will come eventually.

In the mean time, here is what a portion of our schedule looks like this month. See all those highlighted circles?



Those are merely the continued rehearsals, classes, and set work for the ballet Michael is in. As you can see, we are doing a lot of running around. But that's another wonderful thing about home schooling; all the really cool learning experiences you get to share together as a family, and with friends.

So, dear friends, thank you for hanging around and cheering me on, despite being without my precious picture box now for three months. It felt like a lifetime.

I'm photographing items to sell on eBay today, what a chore! But a nice way to spend all this indoor time.

Busily working,

~Faith

.

Hangin' Out and Big Lots Whatevers

.

Enjoying the outdoor holiday setup while we can. I'm not sure this canopy will ever be able to be reused again.

Doing our algebra.





Notice the little firecrackers within easy reach.





The smell of BBQing burgers.





Also a little cleanup duty.





We went blueberry picking last week as well. We all look forward to the season, meeting at the farm and enjoying searching out the perfect berries. I didn't take the camera, but I got this photo of some delicious muffins that were presented at our get-together on Thursday night.





You know what I love about Big Lots? You can just stop by for an adventure any time you feel like it. There is almost always something you can find in there that you've never seen before and have a little fun with it.

This is plain water, but flavored with honeydew and hibiscus. It reminded me of the islands so I grabbed an old painting of mine and posed it. You don't notice anything until after you swallowed. Then the aftertaste is mildly sweet and floral.





We seem to have won the Japanese beetle war, but now grasshoppers are all over the fruit trees. Good thing I found this warrior there. I'm not sure I liked the way he turned his head to follow me as I walked all around the tree...





This may be why the grasshoppers are in the fruit trees. This is the lawn.





Can you tell the spigot leaks?





We caught up with our friend and gun instructor this week at a slab-laying party, who gave Michael a quick lesson on cleaning and troubleshooting (no pun intended) this old rifle. So we had some target shooting practice.









The drought is getting pretty bad. This is the first cutting of the year, and the neighbor barely got anything from the field.





We finally got a couple of tenths yesterday. Just a teaser.

Hoping for more!

~Faith

.

Puppies - Oh, No! April 13, 2010

.

We've been getting of double donations from the hens lately.





Doing schoolwork by the orchid I bought for Mother's Day coming up in May.





And yet another drop off puppy here. I will refrain from going into my tirade about people who allow this to happen.





Well, maybe just a short one... Because of lack of spaying and neutering, puppies and kittens by the millions are killed every year. Most of them suffer. I try to do what I can when we get drop offs, our own dog was a drop off, but I can't take on everybody's dogs and cats. So far we have been lucky, but it takes a lot of work. Work and cost that should not have belonged to us, but to those who did not spay and neuter their pets.

If you love pets, please spay and neuter them. Thank you!

~Faith

.

School and Vineyard Labors April 12, 2010

.

Spring days are just too wonderful to do school inside. So Michael brought out his work to do while I pruned and tied grapes.









That's the kiwi arbor.





Sun, cool breezes, blues and greens...

~Faith

.

Modern Snowmen and Bees

.

February was to be a month of getting a lot of outdoor work done. What with the weather and an uncertain future here, none of that has been happening. Otherwise this post would be filled with images of getting our greenhouse going and building some rock-lined beds.

What we have been doing is housework, continued homeschooling, and several field trips.

Didn't there used to be a rapper called Ice Cube? I think this is where he retired.





We went to the local ballet, where several of our friends were performing and working...





And the next day, Michael worked as well...




A group of us have been waiting for just the right time and a clean movie to go see together. We finally had success with "The Tooth Fairy". I thought it was hilarious. We all enjoyed it, and it was clean. Yay!





We've had a lot of wintry weather of late, so not a lot of outdoor events. But Michael, on a field trip to a Russian Folk Ballet performance,



tried his hand at dancing.





I cooked up this sandwich for Michael's breakfast one day. I didn't notice until I'd loaded the image that that it looks like a guy in a hat, with a goatee, a long nose, and sunglasses.



They were delicious! Not having an egg ring, I fried some beaten eggs in a wide mouthed canning jar ring, melted cheese on them, topped them with bacon, and served inside well-buttered and toasted sourdough french bread.

This might look odd, but it's my young son's weapons cache for Airsoft.



"The children were snuggled all safe in their beds, while visions of machine guns danced in their heads." Hmmmmm...

I received a wonderful surprise from a friend I met through this blog, some delicious honey! From their own bees! We have had a beehive in the past, but it did not last. I believe a raccoon got the hive. But we are hoping to try again. We've had our eyes on building our own hives for a while now, and we even attended a local bee meeting with some friends of ours who said they would donate some starter bees.

We've looked at several alternative methods of keeping bees, but the Top Bar method is the one that is intriguing me right now.




http://www.bushfarms.com/beestopbarhives.htm

The object of a Top Bar Hive (TBH) is to be easy and cheap to construct, easy to work and having natural sized cells. A Kenya style (sloped sides) is so that the combs are more naturally strong and less likely to break and collapse when they are full of honey. This hive worked very well with no comb collapses. The small combs are easy to handle and not nearly as fragile as large free hanging combs. The pictures are, from left to right:

1. Kenya style Top Bar Hive being constructed. The sides are one by twelves 46 1/2" long. The bottom is a one by six 46 1/1" long.
2. The ends are one by twelves 15" long. None of the boards is ripped or beveled. They are just cut for length and nailed together.
3. The sides are spread to where they fit the ends and the ends are nailed. I ended up using deck screws on the end because when I pried the bars over I would pry the end off of the hive.
4. With bees. The top bars are ripped from one bys with a beveled comb guide glued and nailed on. You can see a bar on top of the hive on the right end. The brood nest is 1 1/4" wide bars and the honey is 1 1/2" wide bars These bars are 15" long.
5. Comb from the KTBH. Can you spot the queen?
6. A close-up of the queen on the KTBH comb.
7. See through drawing of KTBH (thanks to Chris Somerlot).

The entrance to the KTBH is just the front bar back from the front at least 3/8" The top sets on top of a 3/4" top bar so the entrance is 3/4" high and 3/8" wide and is really just the gap in front of the first bar.

Parts List:

• 2- one by twelves 46 1/2"
• 2- one by twelves 15"
• 1- one by six 46 1/2"
• Any kind of lid 15" by 48"
• 16- bars 15" by 1 1/4" by 3/4"
• 18- bars 15" by 1 1/2" by 3/4"
• 34- triangular comb guides cut from chamfer molding or the corner of a one by 3/4" by 3/4" by 1" by 13"
• 2- four by fours 16" long cedar or treated for stand.

All cuts except for the triangles are square cuts.


Here's a link to a video about how to build one.

And a link to images of several Top Bar hives and pages.



Watchin' the snow melt...

~Faith

.

Kitchen Organization?

.

Yes, just as soon as I have time to finish!

We did the freezer outside.




And the canned goods cupboards.








And we started on the rest, although there is no photo of the badly-in-need-of-cataloguing spare bedroom which was taken hostage last year by filled canning jars and equipment....








But have been so busy with school that we haven't gotten any further.

I am adjusting to the fact that Michael's boots, which are now too small for him ---- Are too big for me. And I have big, size 10, feet!





I have been initiated into the world of eBay. I've probably put in a total of 40 hours and made about 10 bucks.

It gets better. I just know it does!

Got rid of this movie.


A lot of legal books...


An old joystick. And thanks to a special family who went out of their way to test if for us on their old computer.




And Michael, who seems to know things without being taught, took over installing our replacement ClearPlay set.




Ask me how your family can watch formerly unwatchable movies with this neat set up. We bought one about 5 years ago, but let our subscription run out. We are up and running again.





And Michael is really happy over this sitar case he was given to use as he pleased. He made it into a case for his airsoft gun.





The testing we are going to have done for Michael is the 1970 CAT. California Achievement Test. Its standards are higher than school standards for today, so we've been busy preparing for that. It's nice to have something different to do.

We are also taking a class together on the founding of the nation and, more specifically, the Constitution. They give these classes all over the place, and free; a 12 week, one night a week class with a little homework. So if you are interested, look up the IOTC, Institute On The Constitution, and sign up.





Enjoying snippets of spring-like weather,

~Faith

.

Lemons, lots of them.

.

I have never wanted this blog to be about my problems, but rather how to rise above adversity and move on in my life, relying on the Lord for my provision.

That being said that, no one can know about the lemonade if the lemons are never seen. It just looks like sugar water. And my life is definitely not made of sugar water.

I had mediation on Thursday and it did not go well. It was many hours of things that I never thought I would hear my husband say. That should not surprise me, as he continues to live his life in a way that I never would have believed he was capable of when I first began a relationship with him at the tender age of 15.

I don't want to go into all the gory details, but the upshot of the whole thing was, he walked away from mediation because I would not agree to his final offer:

Sell the property now. Give him all the money which he will use to pay off all his debt (the mortgage and his 50,000 dollars in credit cards, his name only) leaving Michael and I with nothing and no place to live. Get a full time job. Put Michael in public school. He would pay 1400 dollars a month for four years and then he's done with me. Keep in mind, his tax returns for the last 6 years have been a gross of 155,000 dollars, and he retains the ability to continue on in that work. Me - I get to start over with no education.

We will now go have this settled in court.

Among the things I realize I will have to deal with are his accusations that I am unfit to teach Michael. That he never wanted Michael to be homeschooled. That I am lazy and do nothing to educate him. That he is deficient educationally, probably several years behind his peers, and that I break homeschooling laws. That he is socially deprived.

There are many other things that I will be having to deal with concerning this in the months to come. I won't blog much about them, as that is not my focus in life. However, I want any reader to understand that my blog name isn't a flippant title, but reality. Each day the Lord helps me to give the lemons to Him and watch Him make lemonade for us.

He prepares a table before me, in the presence of my enemies.
My cup runneth over.
Surely, goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.

Today, however, is Shabbat. A day of rest and focusing on the Lord's goodness, and the joys of life he has given us in family and friends; what is truly important. We have had some great phone calls with family today and we have some friends coming over to play games and visit.

May your day be blessed!

~Faith

.

A Long Shot

.

I am trying to find another set of God's Design science books. These are the ones sold through Answers In Genesis, in the apologetics store.

http://www.answersingenesis.org/PublicStore/catalog/Gods-Design-Science-Curriculum,153.aspx

We've gone through the green set already, and I'd like to get another set.

They are really expensive and I'm trying to be creative. Anyone have any they want to sell, or know anyone that does?

Or how about a trade? My green set for your _______ set? Mine have no writing in them, though Michael just found a page with a stain on it. I have always tried to save money by having the kids work off-book, so they can be reused.

We've got the three main titles, The World of Plants, The Animal Kingdom, and The Human Body. No supplements or TM, though.

Or I'd even be interested in going in with someone. The sets are 80 dollars each, but we could each buy a set and trade them off when done.

Michael is right at the end of using these great text books, as they are pretty much 1 through 8th grade. I'd always hoped to be able to get the others these last two years, but life sort of interrupted that plan. I'd love to be able to do them really quckly in this last half year of school.

Hopefully three of you have the other sets right now and I'll immediately be swamped with, "Yes, perfect! Let's trade today!"

'Cause she's got... HIGH hopes... she's got... HIGH hopes..."

~Faith

.

A Civil War Ball Workshop

.





Our homeschool group brought in some experts on Civil War reenactment dances to fine tune our dancing and etiquette at our balls. The workshop consisted of class from 9 to noon, then time to eat and dress, returning at 3 for a practice ball.

It was very warm, a sunny Saturday, and the ambiance of the gymnasium was not quite as lovely as it was at our Spring Ball which was held at a Country Club, but we did learn new dancing and were given a better idea of proper clothing than we'd had before.









Some people are SO camera shy.





And some are not.









Michael and Ashlee.





We saw some clothing examples. This is a man's cutaway coat. I can't wait to sew one for Michael.






Here are the Grand Marshalls, the couple who taught the workshop.





Many scenes form the practice ball.





This was so sweet. These little girls were just jabbering away, all excited about the ball, while the little boy was seeking adventure, stealthily spying through each curtain opening, and completely oblivious to the constant chatter behind him. Give him time...













A parade of gowns...

















Michael and Daniel.























Michael and Ashlee; Waltzing and Virginia Reel