Mood:  incredulous

CurrClick is having a great fall sale including eight great freebees! Click on the banner below for more information. Hurry! The sale ends October 31!

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Mood:  happy

I've been nominated for not one...but two...homeschool misfit awards! Don't think I'm crazy, I'm really honored. These awards were created a couple of years ago as an alternative to some of the big homeschool awards that are featured on some of the large homeschool blogs. There for those who don't seem to ever fit into one of the categories of these other contests. Really, all of these blogs deserve an award. They are all great! I've been nominated in two categories...

7. The Meme Forgotten Award- For those who begin a meme, mentally commit to following through weekly, and then promptly forget or manage it sporadically at best.

And...

8. The Not Coming Soon Award- Ever write a post informing your readers of all the great upcoming posts you have in mind? Did these posts actually get written? This is the award for the blogger hanging their head sheepishly as they read this description.

There are some great prizes this year, so please vote for me. My friend, Lori, is hosting the awards this year, so just hop on over to her site at - Not So Superwoman - and vote for Families Again. Don't forget I'm in categories 7 and 8. While you're there, why don't you visit some of the other blogs. Many of them are written by some of my great blogging friends.

Thanks for your votes! I'll let you know what happens!

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Mood:  lazy

If there's a homeschooling problem Babs and Marge have been plagued with it. They always, however, seem to work together to solve it - usually with the help of The Old Schoolhouse (TOS) and the TOS Homeschool Crew. TOS and the Crew have even helped them with non-homeschool issues. In fact, the Crew has helped them so much that you'd think that would be the first place they would go when difficulty arises. Sometimes, though, they forget. Let's listen in on their discussion as they discuss their most recent dilemma.

Scene One - Tired Homeschool Mom - Visiting Her Next Door Neighbor

*Knock-Knock*

Marge (from outside the door) ~ Help! I've fallen and I can't get up!

Babs (hurries to the door and opens it) ~ Honey, your still standin', but you look terrible! Let me help you in! What in the world happened?

Marge (plopping down at the kitchen table) ~ I just carried in $200 worth of groceries.

Babs ~ $200 worth of groceries! What in the world did you buy?

Marge ~ Oh a little of everything. I couldn't stop myself! I just kept piling and piling into my cart. In fact, it took three carts!

Babs ~ Honey, you have got to do something about this spending. Don't you take along a grocery list or something?

Marge ~ Grocery list! Babs, I hardly have time to put my coat on as I go out the door let alone make a grocery list. You know with all of the kids to homeschool and a house to clean, I'm just barely keeping my head above water.

Babs ~ Oh, don't I know it! I always hear about these young beboppers who clip coupons, make out menus and shopping lists. Who has the time? Pretty soon it will be time for supper and I have no idea what I'm going to fix. The kids'll kill me if I open up another can of soup. There has got to be a better way. *sigh*

Marge ~ *sigh* Well, sister, if you can come up with one then I'm all ears. I've never found a better way and I don't know where we could find one.

(Babs and Marge sit dejectedly for a while but then excitedly look at each other.)

Babs and Marge together ~ The TOS Homeschool Crew!

Marge ~ They've never let us down before, I'll bet they've reviewed something that will help!

Babs ~ Where's that laptop?!?

Ten Minutes Later

Marge ~ Let's seen now... I know they just reviewed a new Latin program. I saw that last week, I'm thinking about getting that for the kids. Oh, and look at this, they're going to review another math program...do you remember that one last year that helped Penny? It was just...

Babs ~ Earth to Marge! Earth to Marge! We're looking for a way to help us in the kitchen. Give me that computer! Here's something called "E-Mealz". That sounds interesting. (Babs clicks on the website) Look here what it says..."Manage your food budget and enjoy delicious dinner recipes at home. Menu plans based on weekly grocery store sales, seasonal discounts
or diet preferences. Be meal-wise and money-wise with E-Mealz." This sounds really interesting.

Marge ~ And it's recommended by Dave Ramsey. Oooo...I've always thought he was good looking, but not as good looking as that hunk Tim Tinkel. He's back on the crew this year and...

Babs ~ Focus, Marge, focus! Let me see how this works. Okay...it says that you pick a plan, choose a grocery store, and they will base a week's menu off of the sales of the week for that store.

Marge ~ Well, that does it for my family. You know they won't have a gluten free plan. And you always shop at ALDI's. There is no way they are going to have that. You may as well turn...

Babs ~ Calm down, Marge. Let's keep looking...Well look here! They have a gluten free menu. As a matter of fact, they don't just have a gluten free plan, but they have a low fat plan, a low carb plan, a portion controlled plan...even a vegetarian plan! And they have plans for large families and small families.

Marge ~ Yeah, but what stores are those plans from? I'm not going to drive twenty miles to one of those specialty stores just to use the E-Mealz gluten free plan.

Babs ~ Nope, you don't have to! They have a gluten free Wal-Mart plan. There are Wal-Marts all over the place! And look at this...their regular family plans are available for Wal-Mart, ALDI, Kroger, Publix...even some store called "Ralph's" in California.

Marge ~ Yeah, but how do these meals taste? My family is really PICKY with a capital P!

Babs ~ Well, they have sample menu's. Let's print a couple out and try them for a few days. (*click-click*) AHHH! What is this!

Marge (Jumping up on her chair) ~ EEEEEK! Is it a bug?!?

Babs ~ No, it printed out two pages for each of our plans. Not only does it have a menu, but it also includes a shopping list! Honey, this is my kind of plan!

Marge (Getting down off of her chair) ~ Let me see that. Hmmm...Chicken and Black Bean Stew and Pork Chop Florentine sounds good.

Babs ~ My meals look good too, but...a weeks worth of meals for under $100! I'll believe it when I see it!

One Month Later

*Knock-Knock*

Marge (from outside door) ~ Quick, let me in, I'm worn out!

Babs (Quickly opening door) ~ What's wrong, honey? Have you been out buyin' $200 worth of groceries again?

Marge ~ Lands no! I've just completed my two mile run for the day!

Babs ~ Two mile run! Honey what's gotten into you? What happened to the "I barely have time to put on my coat"?

Marge ~ Sister, I've got gobs of time since I've been using E-Mealz! I just print out the menu, grab the shopping list and go! No more worries and no more $200 a week!

Babs ~ I know! It really has been a lot cheaper using E-Mealz. We've saved enough money to go on a real live vacation this year! AND...since I told Mom and Dad about the two person plan, they've saved enough to come with us! Hubby isn't too thrilled about that, but the kids are excited! And the food is delicious. We tried something called "Swiss Chicken" last night. It was to die for!

Marge ~ Ooo...that does sound good. We had Russian Chicken the other night. I just threw it in the crock-pot and was out the door for my jog! My family loves the meals. My husband was a little skeptical until I showed him the savings and told him that it only costs $5 a month to join E-Mealz! That's just $1.25 a week! And that's 28 recipes. You can't buy a cookbook with 28 recipes in it for $5, let alone the shopping lists, etc. Oh, and listen Babs...

Could it really be true? Could there be such a plan? Don't just take the word of Marge and Babs, try it out yourself. Just click here or on any one of the hi-lighted links above to find out. And, don't forget that some of the other TOS Crew members (other than that hunk Tim Tinkel) reviewed E-Mealz as well and you can find out what they had to say by clicking here. Happy Homeschooling...err...and Happy Eating!

As a Member of the TOS Homeschool Crew I was given a free three month membership to E-Mealz in order to try out and give my honest opinion on this blog.

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Mood:  happy

You all know that I am a big fan of Compassion International. Our family financially sponsors one child, Marcelo from Bolivia, and we are correspondence sponsors to five other children from around the world. A correspondence sponsor is someone who writes to children if their financial sponsor is unable or unwilling to write to them. Our correspondence children are: Feyber from Colombia, Somi from Indonesia, Emmanuel from Tanzania, Ismael from Nicaragua and Yvone from Rwanda. Each one is special to us. We write to them all at least once a month and, every year, we send them at least one package.

Today, I received an email from our friend Kees. Kees is the wonderful person who introduced us to Compassion International. He sponsors (financially and correspondence) over 20 kids himself and travels to Bolivia representing Compassion International almost every year. This past summer was no exception. He spent three months working with Compassion in Bolivia and taking pictures and videos of children to be used to promote the sponsorship of children when he got back home.

Attached to his email was a delightful video that shows what it takes to just get a simple picture of a child. That picture is enclosed in a packet so that Compassion can find a sponsor for the child. Compassion has rules for child photographs. There can't be another person in the background nor can there be an animal, like a dog or a cat, in the background.

Observe how hard it is to get one picture taken while a whole group of children are waiting in the wings for their photos.

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Mood:  incredulous

I know I have said this before - "You have got to see this!", and I always mean it. This time, however, I really, really mean it. You have got to see this and listen to it all the way to the end. I know it's long, but it is worth it.

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