A Modern Day Essene

Well, its Friday again. Another week has come to a close. As I look back on this week I am filled with a sense of disappointment. Disappointment that I didn't achieve what I set out to do on Sunday. But then again, maybe my expectations were too high? Maybe they were never achievable in the first place. This is something that I am going to think about over the weekend. In many ways I feel like a failure because all the goals that I set for myself and my family seem to be crumbling.
My Weight Watchers is just not going in the right direction. I am going round and round in circles! I stopped tracking my food and consequently the weight has gone up and I am disillusioned. Instead of 'fighting back' I am eating to comfort myself "sigh".
The homeschool plan that I set up for this term isn't working out as I would have liked. Gosh, that is hard to admit. It isn't that the program isn't good, it is excellent! but I just can't cope with the workload. It only requires about two hours of my time per day which doesn't sound like much, but in this house 2 hours is a luxury that I just don't have. Because I am so frantically trying to fit everything in I haven't been to the gym all week. That is very upsetting because the gym and exercise has been the saving grace for me (mentally and physically) this year. I just can't afford to let it go.
My toddler is teething and all he seems to want right now is his 'booby'. To be honest with you I am tired of breastfeeding. I have been breastfeeding on and off for 24 years! Then at the same time I know that Joel is my last baby and I will be sad when these days have passed. On top of all my workload I am carrying a 20month old around on my hip for most of the day..........another 'sigh'.
I know how to 'perk' myself up these days. That was part of the reason for writing the list in my previous post. But this is a time when I really need to reflect on the priorities in my life and get some order back in to my day. Something in my head is telling me to stop and if I do nothing but read a book with my kids each day then I am achieving enough. The other side of my brain is telling me that I am a useless mother, a terrible teacher and my kids would be better back in school.............'big sigh'.
I hope you guys have had a better week than me! I'll pick myself up and be on track again next week but right now I just need a good nights sleep :-)

I am a simple girl. It doesn't take much to make me happy! I don't have expensive taste in clothes or ornaments. I prefer 'natural' timber with knots and blemishes. I love shopping for clothes in op shops where I can spot a bargain a mile away. There are lots of little things that I love and I  thought I'd make a list to remind myself of just how blessed I am and how good life is.
1) Cupcakes with pink icing
2) Fairies
3) pink Christmas trees!
4) A parcel arriving full of books, secondhand or new, I don't mind!
5) Sweet dolls
6) Candles
7) Aromatherapy 100% oils
8) Old toys
9) Lindt chocolate
10) A bottle of wine
11) Cookbooks
12)Christmas
13) Birthdays
14) Celebrations involving feast
15)Art
16) Beautiful illustrators
17) Gardens
18) painting
19) craft of all kinds (although I am no good at any of them!)
20) Poem by W.H Davies "Stand And Stare"

O.K, so now I have exposed my little secret about collecting vintage toys and dolls I can reveal to you all my latest craze!
The Pullip Doll!

When I first saw these strange looking little dolls I thought they were totally ugly! But I kept going back for more looks and the more I looked the more I fell in love with them. They are the same size as a Barbie doll but what makes them unique is their flexable bodies and their amazing HUGE eyes! If you do a Google Search you will find many avid collectors of these dolls and the photo shoots that they do of their dolls. It really is amazing how grown up woman never really grow up when it comes to dolls! (well, some of us!)
Steve, once again, is scratching his head with confusion at my latest hobby. He has, however, agreed to put a display shelf up in our bedroom where I can proudly display my first Pullip. I don't have her yet! I can't decide which one to buy. There are so many to choose from!

A dear friend has passed on an award for me! Thanks Mel, I always love reading your blog. It is so full of positivety and encouragment. If you haven't checked her out then please do so at http://sweetblueskydays.blogspot.com/2009/10/blog-award.html#comment-form

To claim this award I have to tell you six things about myself that you don't already know (being a blabbermouth that is slightly difficult!)

1) I was born and bred in England and moved to Australia when I was 15 years old in order to 'save' my parents marriage (they divorced after 40 years of marriage but at least it saved it for 20 years or so!)

2) I went out with a boy in Adelaide who is now one of the 'top bosses' of the Hells Angels in Adelaide.........thank God for saving me from that!

3) I met my future husband to be because my parents were friends with his girlfriends family. He got saved and decided to contact me six months later. His girlfriend hasn't spoken to me since!

4) I collect 'children's toys' like Fisher Price old toys and dolls and all sorts of other lovely things that take me back to childhood

5) My life long desire is to visit Claude Monet's garden at Givenchy in Paris............I will do it before I die!

6) I am addicted to the internet!

 I would like to pass this blog on to Sarah at Eternity in Your heart.........her faith and love of God is truely inspirational to me! http://eternityinyourheart.blogspot.com/

Also Susan at Kerugma who continually amazes me with her passion for life and her long time  online friendship with me!http://kerugma.net/

I am on week five of Weight Watchers. I have been doing good but this week has been terrible. The sun is shining, Spring is in the air (almost Summer) and my favourite thing to do is eat...........and drink. When it comes to food I have very little willpower. My favourite thread on the weight watchers forum is the "wine" thread.........honestly! It is a little discussion going on as to the points value of certain wines. I found out last week that I can drink a whole bottle of Lindeman's Early Harvest for 5 points. I am not an alcoholic..............really! but the European in me thinks that wine and food go together..........no argument! So when I found that out it put the biggest smile on my dial and where do you think I headed? off to the wine shop of course!
Then on Saturday night Steve and I went to the movies and for a treat we upgraded our tickets to "Le Premier" which means luxury armchair seats, a fully licenced bar and grill, popcorn unlimited, soft drinks unlimited..........bliss! so obviously you can't just sit there and not take advantage of all that? so we did! 100% . Then yesterday it was a lovely sunny day and I had one of my brainwaves "Let's take the kids out for lunch to "The Last Drop", an English style country pub in Perth. So off we went and my eyes were bigger than my belly  (almost) and we ordered two huge woodfired pizzas, wine, three plates of wedges, three plates of garlic bread and a Greek Salad (to make me feel better). Even when I was full I had to keep eating so that I could mop the excess food up (can't waste it).
Today I have put on 1.2 kg and I am not happy! But I know why how where and when I did it!
Gosh, why do I have to love food so much?

I just wanted to add a few pictures of the books that I am using with Preparing Hearts For His Glory. I most probably have a book addiction of sorts, so forgive me if this post bores you to tears! There is nothing more comforting (to me) than an overflowing bookcase or four. Together with a cup of Chai Tea it is about as close to perfect as you can get!!

Yesterday was our first day back at 'school'. I decided to take an extra week off 'just for the sake of it'. It was a bad idea, by Tuesday the kids were already turning my hair a darker shade of grey. By Wednesday they had nearly killed each other. By Thursday I had nearly killed all of them. By Friday I had a bad headache.
Anyway, First day using the Heart Of Dakota "Preparing Hearts For His Glory" with Ben (9). Thankfully I had a wonderful brainwave idea during the final week of holidays (well something good had to come of it) and decided to use our 16 year old daughter to teach Ethan 5 and Leah 4 using Heart Of Dakota "Little Hands To Heaven". To be honest with you I didn't know how I was going to combine the two without having another nervous breakdown. I take my hat off to anyone who can juggle the education of four children at the same time (including a mischievous 20 month old wandering around aimlessly without supervision), personally it has never been something that I am good at. Little Hands To Heaven only takes about an hour.......if that .....but with all the other things in my day it was just looking too hard.
So, having got 20month old off for a morning sleep I took Ben into the Lounge room, shut the door and opened the first page. By that stage it was 11.00 a.m, a late start but I spent way too long on the internet searching for a pink Christmas tree (that is a whole other story and one that I won't bore you with right now, Steve thinks it is the worst idea I have had since buying a toy poodle, or even a giant 7ft giraffe for the lounge room) We read the first chapter of "Grandpa's Box" and did an oral narration which was great. I'm always worried that Ben isn't absorbing the book because he spends so much time grunting, blinking and snorting (three of his very bad habits at the moment!) Then Ben had to look up information on "Coat Of Arms" which he happily did and reported back to me in an appropriate manner! We then had to cut out a shield shape and he had to talk to me about symbols of the Christian faith (cross, fish, dove etc) so he decided he wanted his shield to have four squares with the fish symbol and a giant cross in the centre. He has to paint the shield today so that was good because all over it wasn't very time consuming. He then had to do some drawing using the 'Draw And Write Through History" book which, to my utter amazement, was VERY good! After that he had to read Psalm (can't remember which one!) and that is his memory verse for the week (Even mum can't remember it!!!) For Science we read "One Small Square.......The Tundra" and he had to do some copywork from the chapter and also draw the map of the Tundra (Or Trace It). Our English component is "English for the thoughtful child" Which I thought after should be called "English for the lazy mother who hasn't got more time in the day for more extensive programs".I love it! That was all we ended up doing. By that stage we had broken up for an hours lunch, resuming at 1.00p.m, by then it was 2.00p.m and I wanted to go shopping and continue my search for a pink Christmas tree (glad to see that my priorities are right) I found a white christmas tree, a purple christmas tree, an upside down christmas tree and even a black christmas tree but no pink...............
I thought this morning that even if I did half the amount of work in the Heart Of Dakota program and it took two years then that would be FINE! Ben does a lot of self learning. He is always picking up books that I sneakily place around the house and giving me oral feedback on them! He loves watching "Animal Planet" and "The History Chanel" so this kid is never going to starve for education.
Yes, I'd rate it pretty well so far! but then again we still have 364 days left to go..........

I have just returned from the movies with my husband. We watched the most delightful movie, "Julie And Julia" starring Meryl Streep. It is based on a true story, that of famous American Chef Julia Childs and writer, Julie Powell who wrote the book that the movie is based on.
Julia Childs was a character! One of those people that everyone would want as a friend, her personality was infectious. She was probably the first famous T.V chef, long before the days of Jamie Oliver and Gordon Ramsay! Julie Powell worked for the government before taking on the challenge of keeping a 365 day blog dedicated to the recipes in Julia Child's famous cookbook "Mastering The Art Of French Cooking".
The movie cleverly intertwines the two tales, both decades apart.
Meryl Streep does an amazing job of portraying the rather eccentric Julia. There were many  moments throughout the movie that I laughed out loud...........a good feeling!
There is a little bit of swearing, but nothing that offended me. It really is one of those feel good movies that I would highly recommend. My husband and I thoroughly enjoyed it!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julia_Child

My weight today has dropped by 500grams. Slow and steady wins the race! I am currently 88.2kg
My goal is to lose 10kg by Christmas which will take me to 79.9kg. Oh, how lovely that would be!
I had a few bad days with Weight Watchers. I got slack tracking my points and probably went over by quite a bit. Portion size is oh so important!
Me and my darling girls are planning a long weekend away in Melbourne after Christmas as a treat for losing some weight. I am so excited about that and it is a huge inspiration for me to continue.

The school year has been going well. The jump into a more delight directed approach has suited our family down to the ground. However, after starting the little children on The Heart Of Dakota kindy program, "Little Hands To Heaven" I was completely taken with the concept of this wonderful program. I started looking on the web site at their program for older children. The more I looked the more I became convinced that I wanted Ben (9) to use this. It isn't that I am unhappy with his learning this year, he has had a great time, but I felt that I needed a slightly more structural approach to his learning. You see, on the days when "I" am not feeling the best Ben tends to suffer. I am not prepared, not organized and therefore little work gets done. Oh yes! I know that learning happens regardless and there have been many instances where I have been delighted to watch my son choosing his free time to read a science book, grab the microscope and check out spores, salt or other interesting finds. But I wanted a little bit more than this, a little bit more structure.

The thing that I love about The Heart Of Dakota is the simplicity of the plan! It works so well with my heart desire to still have a certain amount of freedom! Although they may recommend Rod And Staff for the English component the reader is still free to choose whatever English program they prefer. I am not forced in to doing what I really would rather not do. The same goes for math and science although I am happy to continue using Singapore math and the science is using living books which suits me fine.

The program is set out as a four day a week curriculum. Each day is separated into nine boxes of work covering each subject. You are encouraged to work through one box, then maybe take a break for some play, lunch whatever, and work through the remaining boxes throughout the day. The work is not tedious or long! in fact the role model behind this curriculum is Charlotte Mason so anyone who is aware of her teaching will have an immediate 'aha' moment when I tell you that! The emphasis is not on written work but on oral narration first. The book I bought for Ben covers introduction dictation work using "Dictation Day By Day' Book one by Kate Van Wagenen (1916) The short sentences are ideal and an answer to prayer for me in regards to introducing dictation in small, simple steps. The History component uses the classic "A Child's History Of The World" but also some amazingly beautiful books, most of which I have not heard or seen before (Unusual since I have been homeschooling for 11 years). I will have to take some pictures of the books and add them as some of the artwork within is simply breathtaking. "Grandpa's Box" is one of the History books and It is a beautiful, God glorifying Book! "Draw and Write Through History" is another book that I already owned but am thrilled to have as part of a curriculum.

The independent reading books was the thing that finally drew me to purchase the curriculum. I was having trouble finding books for Ben to read that he was interested in. They either seemed too old or too young. The books in this program include "The 5000 year old puzzle" "Miriam of Galilee" "Leif The Lucky" "Minstrel in the tower" "William Shakespeare and the globe" "Mozart The Wonder Boy" and many many more!

I am really excited about starting this. It is not too much work for 'me' but enough work to satisfy my need for slightly more structure in my son's life.

I ordered the math curriculum, Life Of Fred at the beginning of term two. We had decided to let go of Math U See and my dream was to start Teaching Textbooks. The program was expensive though and until I could save up the money we decided to use something for the interim period. I heard about Life Of Fred on the Aussie Homeschool site and for $40 a book (in the lower levels) thought it would be a good gap filler.

Two terms later and we are still hooked on Life Of Fred. I can't tell you how much the children are loving it! I never thought Math would provoke such excitement in our home. Both Mike and Rach tell me that they are learning more using Fred than they did with any other curriculum we used before! There are no complaints about math each day, no temper tantrums when they just don't 'get it'. They happily take their little book and work merrily with five year old Fred teaching them their lesson. Fred is five years old? Yep! and that is part of the funny little story that goes with the curriculum! it actually brings humour into a subject that  normally has little to joke about!

So, are we going to purchase Teaching Textbooks? No! I can't see why we need to. The children are happy, they are progressing, the remaining text books are affordable, why would we want to change?

Sometimes the simple things in life are the best!

I had a hard week with dieting due in part to our 25th wedding anniversary celebrations! But at the end of the week a gain of 200grams didn't seem too bad considering all the food that I consumed. So my weight is settled at 88.9kg this week and am hoping to see a loss for Friday.
My goal is to reach 10kg loss for christmas. Whether or not that is possible, I don't know, but it is something that I would love to achieve. My mum and her husband are travelling across the Nullabor on their way to Adelaide to visit some family friends. They should be home by Christmas and it will be a lovely treat for my mum to see me 'smaller'. Keep smiling!

Steve and I celebrated our 25th Wedding anniversary this week. Our three eldest daughters surprised us with a special treat! They paid for us to have a weekend away at the Esplanade Hotel in Fremantle. It was so nice to have time alone together without the children demanding our attention. Steve and I wondered for hours around the back streets of Fremantle. We feasted on food, supped on chai latte's in little quaint cafe's and snoozed for naps whenever the desire took us!
We have both come home feeling refreshed and ready for another busy week ! I think that we will have to do things like this more often.......

I have discovered something else that I love! Chai Tea. O.K, it probably isn't the 'real deal' but Lipton's Chai Latte Vanilla Flavour is my favourite thing to drink right now. On Weight Watchers it cost me 1.5 points so I am not going to over indulge, but at 3.00p.m or thereabouts in the afternoon it is a welcome sight to weary eyes. I love the aroma of cinnamon that drifts up from the cup. I'm quite sure that the ingrediants are artificial and on a healt concious aspect it probably benefits me little but who cares? It taste good........better than Green Tea!

I have been doing some Christmas shopping. Slightly early, I know, but I didn't want to get caught out in the Christmas rush like I did last year.
I decided to buy Ethan (5) and Leah (4) a wooden puppet theater. I have grand ideas of teaching my children to narrate well by performing plays for the family!!! (wishful thinking) The reverse side of the puppet theater is a shop front. I am thinking that the shop front might get more use than the theater!
Today I started looking for some hand puppets to use with the theater. I was frustrated by the size and quality of the items I saw. Then I hit upon the most delightful set of "around the world happy children" they are 36cm in height with big smiling faces. I think the children will be delighted with them.
Does anyone else have a puppet theater? I remember having one at primary school and absolutely loving it. Then again I was in love with Doris Day back in those days and dreamed of being a Hollywood movie star! I remember one day at school the teacher asked the children who wanted to stand up and sing a nursery rhyme to the class. I put my hand up and got up and sang a Doris Day song "Just got in from the windy city" from the movie "Calamity Jane". I was about six years old. The teacher managed to hold her laughter in long enough to stop my mother on her way out of school and re-tell the story!

I would like to say a very Big Thank You to Susan who has worked tirelessly on my new blog! Susan, you are a champ. I love it!