November 13th

Twenty-three years ago today one of my closest friends committed suicide. We were fifteen years old. It was the day that my family and I moved from Florida back to Connecticut. In other words, the day that I left her. Try dealing with that as a fifteen year old. Recently in a casual conversation someone was commenting on how difficult it is to be an adult and how in comparison their teenage problems seem so minimal...mine weren't. I think about Janine all the time. She only lived on this earth for 15 years, but she lives in my memories still 23 years later. After her death I had thought of writing a book about her and our friendship. We only knew each other for nine months, but she affected me in a profound way. I was just telling Jonathan and Madison about her today (something that was hard to do because as a parent you don't even want your kids to know that that kind of thing happens...Janine was only 2 years older than Jonathan is now). She was hurting and unhappy, but when she took her own life, she left her friends and family to deal with a hurt and unhappiness that was never going to go away. Janine died long before the internet and modern life as we know it, but just by chance I tried to do a google search of her name today...nothing. That made me sad, it seems like there should be something out there to memorialize a young girl who meant so much to me.

Last night the man who lives upstairs from my brother and his family took his own life. Rob, Kim and the boys were evactuated from their home which was surrounded for hours by the police, and Kim didn't even have her shoes on or her pocketbook. They only had the clothes on their backs, and they had to go sleep at our cousins' house. Rob was on the Connecticut news last night. Today when they went back to survey the situation...all the windows were blown out of their home and all of their stuff was sprayed with tear gas. They didn't have renter's insurance and they aren't sure where to go from here. They live in a quiet, safe, small town and the police don't usually have a lot going on, apparently, they used excessive measures in their treatment of the situation. Rob, Kim, Zack and John need our prayers.

This feels a little like on of those "tag you're it" kind of blogs..."23 years ago... last night..." But these are the things that are crowding my mind today. I don't feel like I've given either point in my story the justice it deserves.

And if Jake has said "Mom" once today, he has said it 1,000 times! I probably should give him some attention. So I'm going to have to end here.

Something fun

I found this on Cindy's blog and it is really fun...just watch out when you're doing those google image searches because you never know what you might get. There's more to it and I'll do the rest later, there're too many other things going on right now...

The way to play is you put the answer to the statements into Google, search images, and pick a picture.

My Name




My age



My first job



Pets I have Owned






My Grandmothers' Names

Veteran's Day

Thank you Grampa Carlie!




Have you thanked a veteran today?

Daybook

FOR TODAY November 10th...

Outside my window...The sky is clear and blue, it is starting out chilly.

I am thinking...that I really enjoy Monday mornings.

I am thankful ..."blogger" automatically saves posts because we just had a power surge and I was afraid I'd lost all of this!!

From the learning rooms...Jonathan and Madison are on week 12 of 1850-Modern times, looks like we'll be learning about James Garfield, Chester Arthur, Grover Cleveland, and Benjamin Harrison. I also plan to do a lot of art this week. Jonathan is on target to finish his math book by Thanksgiving, so he can get the last two Singapore Math books done this year. Jake is on Day 54 of MFW 1st grade.

From the kitchen...Salmon tonight, although I'm not sure I really like it and don't know how I'll cook it. I also plan to make some bread and pumpkin muffins today. I'm not thrilled with my bread yet. For the rest of the week pork tenderloin with a new kind of green bean casserole that was the Publix advertised meal this week, tater-tot casserole, and lots of other options, our freezer is stocked up!

I am wearing...Red flannel jammies that I bought a Goodwill this summer and can finally wear.

I am creating...arts and crafts with the kids this week (at least I plan on it).

I am going...to try to go nowhere today...we'll see how long that lasts!

I am reading...Rome Sweet Home by the Hahns, The Gift by Richard Paul Evans, The Witch of Blackbird Pond (still), and Junie B and still lots of Berenstain Bears with Jake.

I am hoping...I can really stay home today.

I am hearing...Jake and Jonathan eating breakfast and sneaking in a few minutes on the Wii.

Around the house...there's always lots to do.

One of my favorite things...a calm week.

A few plans for the rest of the week: Jake and Jonathan desperately near haircuts, Today I hope we stay home and get tons of work done, Tomorrow same as today plus Theatre, Wednesday night is our marathon bring Madi to Theatre at 4, bring Jake to AWANA at 6, Jonathan to Youth Group at 6:30, pick up Madi at 7 and bring her to AWANA, pick up Jonathan at 7:30, pick up Jake and Madi at 8:00...only a few more weeks like that thankfully! Thursday we babysit and get our teeth cleaned (at the same time), Friday night I am helping out for Madi's AWANA sleepover-spa night, should be fun.

Here is picture thought I am sharing...

Our "great grandmothers" in 2006...they are all in Heaven now.



To particpate in the simple woman's daybook, go here to this new location.

My teenager

I was just sitting on Jonathan's bed "tucking him in" and he says, "Where's the toy hall of fame?" "Why do you ask, where did you hear about that?" I ask him, intrigued because Tiffany just posted about it on her blog. "I heard about it on the radio, just like Miss Tiffany," he says. "Do you read everyone's blog?" I ask. "Well, I saw Miss Tiffany's picture of Wyatt with a stick, so I wanted to read and see what it was all about". Now he'll be making plans to get us to take him to the toy hall of fame...thanks Tiffany!!

On another note, Jonathan's latest interest is this website where you can track where your money has been. Did I mention the thing that most interested him at the resort in St Petersburg two weeks ago was the fact that one of the elevators could hold 2000lbs and the other could hold 2500 lbs?!

Even when we try to slow down, we're busy...

Yesterday, we were supposed to go letterboxing with some friends from our homeschool group, but I wasn't feeling well, so Madi was the only one from our family to go.




Last night we were supposed to go camping with OBM's family, but she and I both weren't feeling well, and when Mike and Jonathan got there to set up camp they were swarmed by tons of mosquitoes. They hung out for a while and came home. We did head back to the campground this morning though for a yummy camping breakfast (cooked by OBM's husband...who did camp all night with three kids) and a hike to the 5th largest oak tree in Florida...



Our "little homeschool group" as we used to so affectionately call it (which started out with about 4 families and now has over 150), actually planned 4 different field trips between Wednesday and Friday. Pretty amazing huh?

Symphony

Yesterday was our annual Symphony field trip. Today Jonathan said, "I love the symphony", and Madi said "I like it better every year, it was too short". They both want to go more often. Maybe in our "spare time"--hahaha. So often when we do things that only happen once a year, I think 'we should do this more often' (like decorating gingerbread houses or carving pumpkins), but there's always something else going on. Busy busy!



Here's last years symphony picture. I wanted to find some older pictures too, but can't justify spending anymore time on it right now.