Favorite Christmas Lines…

December 8, 2009 Leave a Comment

I love Christmas…ahhhh.  The smell of cookies baking, the sound of music playing, the twinkling lights.  Christmas is a feast for the senses!

But there’s something else I love about Christmas — all of the movies.  Actually, I’m more of a movie line gal.  My fab4 have been known to quote specific lines from Christmas movies year-round.  May sound strange, but that’s how we roll.

So, in honor of our love of Christmas movies, here is my family’s “Great Christmas Movie Lines” list (in no particular order):

* “Smiling’s my favorite!”  [Elf]
* “Bumbles bounce!”   [Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer]
* “Mousetrap. You roll your dice, you move your mice. Nobody gets hurt.”   [The Toy that Saved Christmas]
* “You’ll shoot your eye out!”    [A Christmas Story]
* “Make work your favorite.”   [Elf]
* “I’m going to be a dentist!”   [Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer]
* “Buzz-saw Louie!”   {The Toy that Saved Christmas
* “Did you accuse me of being ‘skillful and delicious’?”   [The Santa Clause 3]
* “…the Bumpus’ hounds!”    [A Christmas Story]
* “He’s an angry elf.”   [Elf]

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Praying for Snow

January 8, 2010 Leave a Comment

I know, I know.  Just yesterday I was lauding the fact that here, in Florida, we have been without snow while almost the rest of the nation has been inundated with the stuff.

I have always been content that Florida has remained as God has intended this state to be. Snow-free.

So it might be a surprise to anyone reading this that I now want snow.  Here.  At my house.

{{A surprise to everyone but you, Honey, since you know how often I change my mind. Wink, wink.}}

In fact, I’m so eagar for snow that I’m praying for it.  This is a surprise to me since snow has never been on my prayer list or shown up in my prayer journal.  Not once. 

But as the local weather forecasters have been dangling the idea of snow over my head for a few days now, I am very hopeful — prayerful — that the frozen precipitation will actually arrive at my house this weekend.

Notice that I said “arrive at my house“.  I know full well that any snowflakes in these-here-parts will melt as soon as they hit the ground, if not sooner. C’mon, I was born but not yesterday.

I also have previous experience with Florisnow — my own favorite new label for silly snowflakes that try to fall in the Sunshine state.  When I was a little cutie all of 8-years-old and living in South Florida, we were surprised with a mere shimmering of Florida snow in January.

I was home with the chicken pox and my mom called me to come outside.  As my dad was getting ready to leave for work, we caught sight of little Flori-flakes {hee hee} melting as they landed on his coat.  It was neato!  I’ll never forget that moment.

And so I’d love to share a moment like that with my chicklets and hubby.  We’ll see what God has planned.  Nothing is impossible with Him.  Even snow in Florida.

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31 Days to Make Your Marriage Thrive: Day 8 – Be Affectionate in Public

October 8, 2011 Leave a Comment
{Hey there! Thanks for stopping by to follow my new series 31 Days to Make Your Marriage Thrive.  Every day in the month of October I’ll be giving you tips and tricks on how to make your marriage spectacular. Feel free to follow me on Twitter @LilbearMe  for more #31dmymt, and check the bottom of this post for the beginning posts of this series!}
 
Day 8 – Be affectionate to your spouse in public
While in the course of every day life, we’re bound to see someone exhibiting PDA {public displays of affection}.  In movies, at the mall, or even in our neighborhoods, couples tend to show their feelings for one another.  Are you one of those couples? You should be!
Before you get confused, let me set the record straight.  I’m not advising you and your husband to step into the middle of a busy street and start groping one another.  The point is not for you to put on a show for passersby; it’s to send a message to your man that you love him, wherever you are, and you’re not embarrassed to show it.
Showing affection in public can be many things like holding hands, sharing a kiss, or just standing with your arms around each others’ waists.  Doing this solidifies the marital connection you have with each other.   And let’s not forget one ideal location to show your love: at home in front of your kids.
I remember in my childhood seeing my parents affectionate with each other.  Dad would come home from work and Mom would be there to greet him.  Even now in my mind I can clearly see his arms encircling her waist, her arms around his neck, and them taking a moment for a kiss.  And viewing this scene, over and over again, cemented in my young brain a positive marriage relationship.
That doesn’t mean life was perfect. My parents still had arguments and issues, but my sisters and I always saw how committed they were to each other.  It set the stage for things to come.
TechDaddy and I have always shown affection for each other in front of our kids. When the kids see us snuggling on the couch during a family movie, holding hands at a Disney park, or me resting my head on TechDaddy’s chest with his arms around me, they feel relaxed that their world is safe.
Whether we make out kiss, grope hug, or hold hands, we’re sending a sweet reminder to them: we love each other and we’re in it for the long haul no matter what.  Doing this accomplishes bonus points for parenting and marriage.  On our “parenting agenda”: (1) maintain a family atmosphere where the kids feel secure; and (2) mold in their minds what a healthy marriage looks like.
It also accomplishes one very important ideal for my husband and me: be loving to each other as much as possible. Yes, it’s great to set a positive example for our kids, but showing affection to each other speaks volumes!  It says “You’re important to me,” “I’m so happy you’re mine,” and “I’ll love you forever.”

So next time you and your man are out and about, show him some affection and let him shower you with love right back.  It will make your marriage thrive!

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Here’s the rest of the series “31 Days to Make Your Marriage Thrive”:
For more 31 Days series’ visit The Nester.

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Top 10 Reasons I Love My iPhone

August 16, 2009 3 Comments

Discussing the merits of my iPhone is not really something necessary to most homeschoolers. But this little gadget has made such a world of difference in the lives of me and my family that I just can’t resist. So here’s my list…

1. It’s a great flashlight at night. No kidding. And there’s even an app you can get for free called Just Light that will light your path even brighter.

2. The free app Google Mobile is the ultimate in, well, googling anything almost hands-free. I simply go to that app in my iPhone, click ‘voice search’, and then say what I want to search for. Isn’t that cool?! The voice recognition has been about 98% spot-on so that I’ll get my search info pretty much the first time.

3. The Maps app, which comes standard with both the 3G and 3GS, is GPS-powered and hooks up to your contact list. Driving to a friend’s new house the other day I hadn’t yet changed her info in my contact list. No problem. In the Maps app I added her address in the search line and set it to find a route from my current location (a stoplight near my home). Not only did my iPhone give me the route to take, but it also gave me a one-touch option to add this address to my contact list. Made my trip sooo much easier!

4. One of my least fave things to do is going grocery shopping. But with the $0.99 Shopper app that chore is now a breeze. I can make separate lists for different stores simultaneously, notate if I have a coupon by the press of a button, and it adds my list up beforehand. My kids can even go into the app and add an item we need to a list. Sadly, my iPhone does not go to the store alone while I relax with a pint of Ben & Jerry’s at home, but it makes shopping go much faster so I can get home to my frozen wonder er, family that much faster.

5. About a year ago, I fell in love with the blogosphere. Reading other blogs, as well as posting on my own, has been a sheer delight! And now with the iPhone I can catch up on my favorite blogs while I’m away from my computer. If you already use Bloglines to collect your RSS feeds on the ‘net, there is an iPhone-based view you can use. Point your Safari browser to https://i.bloglines.com/ to set it up.

6. Anyone who knows me well knows that I LOVE music. I love listening to it, singing, dancing, and signing along with it, knowing lyrics, and on and on. What I find frustrating is when I hear an awesome song on the radio or after a movie, but I don’t know who the artist is nor the title. That’s when iPhone comes to the rescue. One of the coolest free apps around is Shazam, a little gem that ‘listens’ to about 15 seconds of a song and then tells you its’ title, artist, and album. It’s spectacular! But don’t try humming or singing the tune to Shazam – it only recognizes recorded music.

7. Here’s another fave because of my love of music. The free app TuneWiki gives the lyrics to songs already in your iTunes catalog. While the song is playing, TuneWiki displays the lyrics so you can sing along with that new tune you love but don’t quite know all the words yet. Neato!

8. Five years ago I never would have been interested in bird-watching, but studying certain subjects with the kids tends to change our interests. Now that we enjoy spotting our feathered friends, the iBird Explorer app is a perfect tool on my phone. We use iBird Explorer South due to our location, but there are other iBird apps for different regions of the U.S. The regional apps are $9.99, while the Plus and Pro versions are higher in cost.

9. Two of my new faves I’ll combine into one {no, it’s not cheating}. The free Facebook app lets you stay in touch with your “facey friends”, and Twitterific lets you tweet to your hearts content. So convenient while waiting on your child’s guitar lesson to finish.

10. This little gem, LiveCams, lets you view the feed from a camera you have set up in your home. We have a camera set up just above the tv in our family room. When hubby and I go out, the kids have happily planted themselves on the couch with pizza in hand and some parent-approved movies to lull them into carb-blissfulness. Hubby just clicks on the live feed on the iPhone and voila! We get to see that the kids are safe and little brother is obeying his big sis. It’s great!

So those are my top 10. Some other apps I expect to be using more in the near future cover the topics of astronomy (Distant Suns; APOD), letterboxing (TrailsLite), and weather (WeatherChannel). I’ll add reviews on those apps, and maybe more, at a later date. Until then, enjoy your toy!

 

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How a movie can teach spelling

August 9, 2011 Leave a Comment

Photo credit: Disney.com/Tron

Are you in the middle of a spelling program with your kids?  Some of the exercises can be boring and monotonous.  However, if you inject a little bit of creativity with some of your child’s favorite things, you might just find a kid who’s learning and having fun.

This year we’re doing a bit of a spelling review by following Sonlight’s suggestions.  In their American History parent’s guide {Core 100} they list 500 of the most commonly misspelled words.  Each week we’ll be taking around 13-15 of them for a quick review.
The process is very simple and a great review for middle and high schoolers. It goes like this:
  • ·         Day 1: pretest
  • ·         Day 2 & Day 3: copy words 3x each
  • ·         Day 4: use each word in a sentence properly
  • ·         Day 5: posttest
So on Day 4, when my son was about to do sentences, I allowed him to say them to me instead of writing them.  Amazingly, this is what he came up with.  See if you can tell what his focus is on these days {the list words are in bold}:


1.       The absence of Flynn’s disc went not unnoticed by Clu.
2.       Sam’s academic degree was at CalTech.
3.       Quorra accepted the vial from Sam when she woke up on the solar sailer.
4.       Sam used his handheld computer to gain access to the Encom building.
5.       I don’t think Sam liked the cafeteria food at CalTech when he was a student.
6.       According to the digital calendar under Flynn’s arcade, the computer had been on for twenty years.
7.       After Flynn fled to the outlands, Clu began a campaign to create the perfect system.
8.       Rinzler, who is really Tron, is the most dangerous program on the Grid.
9.       Gem deceived Sam by pretending to help him.
10.   Sam was in ecstasy when he saw his father for the first time in twenty years.
11.   Never once while Sam was on the Grid did he need to use the facilities. {my personal favorite!}
12.   Richard Mackie, Encom chairman, had an attitude of ignorance when Alan asked him if they were going to make EncomOS 12 free.
13.   The Tron Legacy / Daft Punk soundtrack album came with a small digital pamphlet.
14.   The End of Line club was in pandemonium when Clu’s blackguards dropped in through the skylight.

I love his creativity here!  He used one of his favorite movies and spun it into a learning activity {though that was NOT his intent…he just wanted to avoid boredom}.  You can do the same with any age group and any topic.  You’re in charge of your kids’ learning, so make it fun!!

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Christmas Vacation: And So it Begins!

December 21, 2009 Leave a Comment

As last Friday was the end of school and work for my family for 2009, this weekend became the official beginning of our Christmas break.  Yay!!!!!  I know it’s only been a little over two weeks since we had our Thanksgiving break, but it felt like a month. 

So, in honor of our time-off, I’m going to hold “The 12 days of Christmas Vacation.”  There will be laughs, there will be fun, and most assuredly there will be chocolate!  Who knows, I may even have to extend this into 15 days.  It couldn’t hurt, right?

To start the whole shebang, my Fab4 broke out the cookies {okay, they’ve been out for a whole week}, fired up the Christmas movie machine {can ya hear the engines revving?}, and we did something amazing…we watched some Christmas movies! {That sound you hear is an engine sputtering.} Okay, maybe not so amazing but definitely a must on this family’s list. 

Anyway, the movie that started the marathon on Saturday was “The Santa Clause”, an annual fave, followed by “The Santa Clause 2″, with “Disney’s Prep & Landing” bringing up the rear.  After church on Sunday {and a fabulous dinner of breakfast and mac ‘n’ cheese at Cracker Barrel}, we ended the night with “The Toy that Saved Christmas.”  Sigh. I love Bob and Larry.  They’re so cool.  {Mmmm. That reminds me…I need to make onion dip.}

So that ends our first installment, okay kids?  Tomorrow is day three…are you up for it?!  Can’t wait to see what will be in your ‘sights’!

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A B See Photo Meme: D is for Darling Dress…a la LOTR

February 10, 2009 4 Comments

 

Seeing as Catz’s 13th birthday is coming up, I guess I can divulge one of my latest projects {and do the A B See Photo Meme, too}. Last summer my sweet girl requested I sew her a special dress for her special birthday. She chose this one {dress A} due to her love of the LOTR series of books and movies. And hey, it’s a pretty dress!
No, I don’t consider myself a seamstress. That term I save for those girls and women who can whip out a wardrobe in a week {or less}. They’ve got skills! Me? I feel very blessed if I can make a skirt. In less than a year.
It’s not that I can’t, it’s that I always seem to find other things taking up my time. Like homeschooling. And making dinner. And reading all the 119 blog feeds I signed up for. I really need to prioritize.
Anyway, as you see, the pattern pouch is sitting on some of the fabric Catz chose. It’s a deep olive/forest green and it is supposed to will have gold satin lining in the sleeves as well as something similar to shantung in the yoke.

For those of you who are saying “Shan-what?”, don’t feel bad. When I first saw the word I couldn’t decide if it was some sort of fancy cutlery or a disease of the mouth. Praise the Lord I have Google to define words or I’d have to walk to the bookshelf and crack open a book. I personally think using the computer to define a word is a lot like using a remote to change the tv channel. But that’s another topic…back to sewing.

In the above photo the pattern is also lying near my nasty Kenmore sewing machine. Yes, I am thankful I have my own machine. Especially when there are starving kids in…uh, wait. Wrong story. Anyway, I’m happy, even thrilled to have this noisy contraption device to sew on. But let’s face it. This thing is so ornery that it often times simply refuses to work properly. It’s like a toddler keeping his lips firmly shut when mom is trying to feed him. Veryfrustrating.

But I am determined to deal with it. So here I am. With a beautiful dress to make for my cutie. And a moody sewing machine. But I have one more thing that’s even worse…a deadline.
So before I get back to sewing, I have to ask…what projects are you trying to finish?

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Thankful

December 2, 2008 1 Comment

I know it’s not Thanksgiving anymore, but I found this at Bunny Trails and couldn’t resist. After all, I’m thankful all year long for what and whom is on my list (and not in any order). Enjoy!
1. My man, Spider X (such a great best friend)
2. Catz, my sweet girl
3. Mr C, my funny boy
4. afternoon sun shining in my bedroom window
5. music, preferably played loud
6. my home
7. the scent of a roaring fire
8. Krispy Kreme donuts
9. muffins, cupcakes, and all foods baked
10. our Nikon D70
11. my hubby’s ultimate computer intelligence
12. our quiet neighborhood
13. my mom (my prayer warrior)
14. homeschooling (What a blessing!)
15. Photoshop
16. my lost Ipod (I miss you!)
17. old movies
18. our cat-kids
19. my sisters
20. my brothers
21. memories of Dad
22. memories of my brother Roger
23. 2nd chances
24. the smell of cookies baking (or anything baking for that matter)
25. being sick-free since August
26. spending time with my family
27. Netflix (who knew?!)
28. yummy bread (Swedish coffecake…mmmm!)
29. my 3 oldest nephews and their positive impact on my kids
30. seeing bears walking in my neighborhood
31. traveling with my family
32. camping
33. Christian music
34. my garden
35. brownies (preferably made with Ghiradelli chocolate)
36. healing of Mr C’s former wart colony
37. Baby Blues comic strip
38. Mac & Cheesy (not-enuf) Ham
39. the smell of sweet alyssum
40. playing in the dirt
41. taking fun photos of my kids
42. Family Movie time
43. Rose is Rose comic strip
44. The Peanuts theme song
45. pizza (almost any kind, anytime)
46. baking
47. God, my heavenly Father
48. blogging (It’s fun!)
49. family-friendly movie companies
50. flannel sheets (snuggly warm!)
51. hot chocolate with whipped cream
52. praying in the shower
53. leftovers (I don’t like to eat ‘em, but I like to serve ‘em when I’m busy.)
54. the experience we had raising the squirrels
55. scrapbooking (Gee, I’d like to do that someday…it looks like fun.)
56. reading funny posts that make me LOL
57. crafts
58. JoAnn’s and Michael’s
59. getting nails done with Catz
60. swinging with Mr C (He’s so snuggly but almost too big for my lap!)
61. baking with the kids
62. my sewing machine (what is that racket?)
63. Belgian chocolate shake at Hagen Dazs
64. Spider X’s desire to make me happy
65. sewing
66. being married to my beloved
67. the nice folks at the supermarket (I practically live there)
68. Shoebox Heirlooms
69. cooking shows
70. when my family is happy
71. the Magnum
72. my MIL and FIL (’cause they raised my beloved)
73. buffets (I love a variety!)
74. God’s never-ending grace
75. Spider X’s vast knowledge of everything computer/electronic/gadget
76. wildlife in our yard

 

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