The seasons, they are a-changin'

The pictures below are of our camping trip to La Wis Wis--probably our second and last of the year. It was peaceful, beautiful, fragrant, and restful. I didn't really want to come back--or else if I did, I wanted to bring back a walk in the woods with all of its accompanying smells and the way the sunlight filters down through the hanging moss in the trees. We stayed for 2 nights. I posted a lot of pictures, because I didn't want to leave anyone out!

After the vacation, I've had to really start changing gears in my mind--turn a corner, if you will. Summer is almost over, and the school year's about to start. Sometimes shifting gears for me involves being moody, grumpy, and sleeping a lot--how pathetic--like growing pains in an adolescent or something. Yesterday, I woke up sick--bad sore throat on left side, achy, and very tired. I laid(or is it lay?) down as much as I could between dishes and laundry and meals. I also called in sick to work, and felt guilty doing it, since I had just had all of last week off! I'm sure my supe didn't believe me. I started feeling better last night, but not so great this morning, after all. At least I don't feel like I need to sleep all day. Put a pot on to boil to make some tea--to which I am addicted. Any other green tea or black tea addicts out there? How about Karena, over there in Tealand? Me Mum and Dad(the way I phrased that sounds better with an Irish lilt) got back safely, in a way, from their cruise. Actually, my Mom is sick as a dog with food poisoning--painful stomach and weakness. Not fun! She actually reads everyone's blogs and enjoys them, she just doesn't comment.

Last night, with the first day of schooling looming fast, I found out what I want to do with Zach for his 5th grade year of homeschool. It's Dorian Holt's unit study called Learning Adventures. It looks fabulous, has won awards, parents seem to dig it, and kids, too. It sounds perfect for my active, non-academic, hands-on, project-oriented Zach! And it's very affordable--you supplement with a lot of books from the library or that you buy. Makes learning interesting, fun, and it covers Bible and everything else besides math. You have to have a separate math program, which I do--Math-U-See. I'm getting excited and praising something I haven't even tried, I know. Last year we did A Beka's DVD program--expensive, frustrating, school-at-home, the opposite of what I'm looking at in Learning Adventures. I'd like to say the Lord led me to this! I was getting a little worried about what I was going to do!

Ebay update: Have sent off three things--two of which I sold at a loss. I have received good feedback from two. One person has not paid for something I also sold at a loss. So....nobody seems to know my stores exist.....no sales there......want to ditch the whole experiment--a time hog.

I do believe William is ready to start potty training. He's 2 and 3/4 and has been using words and noticing relationships to do with "pot," "pee," "poo," etc. Plan to get him a used potty chair and pullups and/or training undies this week. Yay!