And now it's time for -

- you guessed it - another questionnaire!


1) Who is the last person you high-fived? K16 in the front seat of the van.
2) If you were drafted into a war, would you survive? Doubt it.
3) Do you sleep with the TV on? NO
4) Have you ever drank milk straight out of the carton? Nope
5) Have you ever won a spelling bee? No, I was knocked out on the word “moat” in sixth grade.
6) Have you ever been stung? Stepped on a bee once and stung on the arm by a wasp.
7) How fast can you type? Around 90 words per minute if my nails are short.
8) Are you afraid of the dark? Love the dark. Don’t like nightlights.
9)What is your eye color? Hazel
11) Do you ever wear the same clothes twice without washing them? Yes, if I have stayed home and done nothing.
13) Are you drinking anything right now? A Crystal Light “On the Go”
14) Favorite animal as a kid? Monkeys

15) Can you hoola hoop? YES, but only about four hulas.
17) What do you want for Christmas? An MP3 player. Everyone else in the family has one; why shouldn’t I?

18) Favorite cereal: Grape Nuts with brown sugar added.

19) Do you talk in your sleep? I don’t know; you’d have to ask R.
21) Have you ever flown a kite? Of course. We used to attach ours to the fishing line of Dad’s fishing pole. Easier to bring it in.

23) How many people are on your contact list of your cell? Around 80

24) Have you ever asked for a pony? No.

25) Plans for tomorrow? Finish school for the week, work, maybe rest some.

26) Can you juggle? Only thing I can juggle is my time.

28) How are you feeling today? Not well. Must be allergies.
29) Have you ever been suspended or expelled from school? No, but I went to detention once for mimicking the principal.
30) What are you looking forward to? LABOR DAY and the end of the busy season.

31) Have you ever crawled through a window? Not that I can remember. Have crawled under many bathroom stalls in my lifetime, though.
32) Have you ever eaten dog food? NO WAY

33) Movie you can quote line for line? My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Apollo 13, Moonstruck, every Star Wars movie, and more.

34) Favorite fast food breakfast? Scrambled eggs

35) What 3 things can always be found in your refrigerator? Diet Dr. Pepper, eggs, juice.
36) Any cool scars? Nah, just ugly ones.

38) What do you do when no one is watching??? Not sure how to answer that one.
39) Do you like dancing? yes
40) Who did you last talk to on the phone? R called to tell me he was on his way home from work.

41) Where was the last place you ate? The Nook for lunch
42) What is the last movie watched? Pleasantville

43) What song did you hear last? Cha Cha Slide.

44) How many emails do you get a day? Around 20 personal. About 40 business.

I tag Kim in Tx, T, and Txartcgal.

~so long~

I'm Waaaaay Behind

Awhile back I told you that my job is to empty tubs. I now have 86 tubs or boxes (ran out of tubs) to empty! I have never been this far behind, and it scares me.Above are photos of the tubs awaiting me. This picture was taken two days ago (three rows of tubs). There are now 3 1/2 rows of tubs.I say this not to ask for your pity, but for your prayers.

~thanks!~

Top of the List

I'm in total boredom tonight and don't have a way to download pictures, so I did a mindless blogger search of the words "Reverse Skate." Much to my surprise, there were 3,904 items found, and I was #10. Now, it seems to me that because my blog is actually called Reverse Skate, I should be at the top of the list! And I didn't show up on a Yahoo search at all!

Heading into our second full week of school. All my lesson plans and check sheets are done, tests are typed. K16 and K13 start sewing/quilting lessons on the 7th, and then we will be in full school mode. K13 has been asked to help with the children's choir and will be an LIT again this year in AWANA. K16 is reserving her Wednesday nights for church group activities. R is going bowling Tuesday night with men from church, and we signed up for a small group today. Don't know how we're going to fit it in, but we need a night out together during the week.

When one teaches, two learn.
Robert Half

~'night all~

What a life

Meet Lily. She is two years old and loves to "hang out" over the staircase. Sometimes I wish I lived the life of a cat - being lazy, having your every need met by someone else, not a care in the world. You only have to interact with the people you want to and can ignore everyone else.

Yesterday was actually a pretty good day. The cash registers were working, all the computers were working, the DSL was working;my labelmaker, printer, and fax machines were working. We actually got things done in a timely manner. Now if only my brain were working!

"Of all God's creatures, there is only one that cannot be made slave of the leash. That one is the cat. If man could be crossed with the cat it would improve the man, but it would deteriorate the cat." - Mark Twain

"With their qualities of cleanliness, discretion, affection, patience, dignity, and courage, how many of us, I ask you, would be capable of becoming cats?" - Fernand Mery Her Majesty the Cat

~have an awesome weekend!~

Cooking Tip #1

Here's what happens when I'm not quite awake in the morning. I took the eggs out of the pan, turned and walked away without turning off the stove. Cooked the end right off the spatula. Funny thing is, no one downstairs smelled the burning plastic. When I got back downstairs, it was in flames. Maybe I should stop cooking until I'm not so distracted. On second thought, maybe I'll just stop cooking altogether. I would gladly turn in my chef's hat with no tears whatsoever.

School is going VERY well! We moved all our school "stuff" to the store. We have a small room upstairs (wish it were bigger) with a window where I can look out over the entire store. There is just enough room in there for the girls' two desks, a small shelf for my things, and an area to put a dry erase board on an easel. We are a bit cramped, and I miss reading on the couch. But the girls have been focusing really well. We are taking them out to dinner tonight to congratulate them for a full week of schoolwork completed!

I don't even butter my bread; I consider that cooking. Author: Katherine Cebrian

My mother's menu consisted of two choices: Take it or leave it. Author: Buddy Hackett

~off to celebrate the end of our first week of school~

Hold it, please!

This is, by far, the strangest thing a customer has ever called and requested that we put on hold - a hand pointer! But there it sits on our "holds" shelf, waiting for its new owner. The name has been hidden to protect the customer's identity.

Strange as it may seem, my life is based on a true story.
~ Ashleigh Ellwood

~have a pleasant evening~

This Year's Curriculum Choices

At this time of year I remember how BLESSED I am that I have lots of curriculum choices for my kids. If you have kids who learn differently, you might find something here that suits you.
I made a BIG MISTAKE this summer. I broke one of my famous rules - "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!" I chose Teaching Textbooks for my child.
Why? I thought it would make her more independent. What I failed to realize was that it is EXACTLY like Saxon, which SHE HATES! So back to Math U See which was working just fine for us. For grammar - The Great Editing Adventure. My kids learn grammar better by giving them real life examples. No fill in the blanks for them. For Science - Rainbow Science. All the experiments have worked so far exept for one. For vocabulary, Vocabulary Cartoons - hilarious cartoons based on SAT words. For writing - we were using IEW which I loved but have no time for. I am putting them both in a basic paragraph writing course. Next year they will be in an essay writing course. For geography - we are continuing to map each state in the United States. For history - I am switching from TruthQuest, which I loved to Beautiful Feet. We are simply going too slowly. K16 needs to get to government and economics in two years. We are also using Cornerstone books. They will read about events and fill out an information sheet and put the event or person on their timeline. We are passing on spelling this year, as they have done terrific on spelling. They will continue their weekly Bible study, take sewing/quilting and music lessons. I guess that wraps it up. Oh, yeah, couldn't find a photography class for K16, so she will start doing the book work for driver's ed. I will be glad when we start back up, as my kids need to be on more of a schedule, as do I.

~c'ya~

Rascal Flatts

We've been tremendously been enjoying Rascal Flatts. Here's a cute onesie we're buying for our wonderful, adorable friend, S's new baby boy. He'll look really sharp in it! Below is a song that that Rascal Flatts sings that has touched my heart. Hope you can hear it sometime. My thanks to K16 for typing it all out for me. I am swamped at work.

He Ain’t The Leavin’ Kind
By: Rascal Flatts

They tried their best to drag Him out
Of courthouse down in
Montgomery
And now they wanna kick Him out of
School
And take Him off our money
They can take those words off of
Paper and stone
But He ain’t gone No

Chorus:
He ain’t the leavin’ kind
He’d never walk away
Even for those who don’t believe
And wanna leave Him behind

She stayed mad at Him for a lot of
Years
For takin’ her husband
Started losin’ her faith
And thinkin’ her life meant nothin’
But when she looks at those kids she raised all by herself
She knows she had some help, Yeah
She knows

Repeat chorus:

No matter what you do
No matter where you go
He’s always right there with you

Even from those who don’t believe
And wanna leave him behind
He ain’t the leavin’ kind
No, no

He ain’t the leavin’ kind
He ain’t the leavin’ kind
Woo, woo
He ain’t the leavin’ kind

~May God bless each of you tonight~

Know You What It IS To Be A Child!

This is taken from the book Life's Greatest Treasure. It was written by Francis Thompson:

Know you what it is to be a child? It is to be something very different from the man of today. It is to have a spirit yet streaming from the waters of baptism, it is to believe in love, to believe in loveliness, to believe in belief. It is to be so little that the elves can reach to whisper in your ear. It is to turn pumpkins into coaches, and mice into horses, lowness into loftiness and nothing into everything - for each child has his fairy godmother in his own soul. It is to live in a nutshell and count yourself king of the infinite space; it is
To see the world in a grain of sand,
Heaven in a wild flower,
To hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
And Eternity in an hour.

~blessings to you today~

Droodle Day #5

Today's Droodle is titled "Fried Egg, Sunny Side Down."

"Put all your eggs in one basket, and -- watch the basket." - Mark Twain

~later gator~

Losing Your Head

This picture gives new meaning to the phrase of losing one's head!

~b~

Can You Believe Another Questionnaire?

Hey, did any of my friends ever figure out how to spell it? When I tried spell check on Blogspot using both spellings, I get nuttin. I could get up off my butt and walk over to the resource section of my store and check it out in a dictionary, but I'm too lazy.

Haven't been here in awhile. You probably think that all this blog is is questionnaires; don't you? I've been really occupied and preoccupied. I won't be back much during the summer. I am just not that motivated right now. Okay, below is a questionnaire that I got from an unnamed source, unnamed because I am embarrassed that I do visit her site. A double fudge brownie goes to the person who can figure out whose site it is! Again, I tag whomever reads it cuz I don't know how many people read my blog. If you read and never comment, how about leaving me one today so I know you have been here? Just hit "0 comments" to post a comment.

1) What country/region/state do you live in?Texas – yeehaw!

2) How long have you been homeschooling? Just getting started, old pro or somewhere in between? 7 full years

3) Write a little something about your family. Ages? Stages?
Daughter K16 who is – you guessed it – 16. Daughter K12 who is – you guessed it again – 12. R, my husband and Dusti my doggie.

4) Share some good homeschooling advice you've run across.
Don’t make your homeschool like a school, make it like a home.

5) Tell us something you're passionate about (besides your family and homeschooling, those are givens!).
Helping people and saving them money.

6) If you could take the ultimate field trip, where would you go and why?New York – I’ve always wanted to go there! Washington D.C. would be my second choice.

7) What is a resource you can't do without?
My store because I give myself a nice, big discount.

8) How do you homeschool? Classical, Charlotte Mason, Waldorf, Unschooling, Eclectic?
I have no idea what we are called. Relaxed homeschoolers? Eclectic? We use very few “textbooks", and we are NEVER up early! Okay, LAZY, relaxed (except during math), eclectic homeschoolers, that's us!

9) Share a website or two that you visit often - can be your favorite blogger or a curriculum supplier, just any sites you really like.
http://www.teachingmom.com/ and get images for your timeline free at http://www.google.com/. Hit “images” to search. Be careful! Make sure you’re with your children if they are searching. You might get some bad pictures!

10) Tell us about one of your favorite projects/activities/trips you've had in the past few months.
Watching the girls do their Texas history projects. See photos down the page a bit.

11) What is a current/previous homeschooling challenge you've faced?Running two businesses and homeschooling at the same time. WHAT was I thinking????

12) Share an accomplishment, something about you or your children. Come on, brag about it!
My daughter K16 can crochet practically anything! My daughter K12 can sing practically anything. My husband, R, can fix practically anything.Me? I can burn or ruin practically anything!

13) What are you looking forward to over the coming year?
The end of the busy season. The start of school where we actually have a routine again and know what to expect. I’d like to go to the beach next week. T's pending visit!

14) Name three things you like doing in the summer with your family.
barbeque outside, swim, go for an evening walk, watch movies and stay up later than we do during the school year

15) Have a favorite homeschooling quote? Share it here.
It may not be a homeschooling quote, but it's true for homeschooling >>> “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!” I should have heeded that advice last month. Mmwwahhhhhhhh!

Perseverance is failing 19 times and succeeding the 20th.
-- J. Andrews

~nice to see you here again!~

Questionnaire or Questionairre?

I absolutely CANNOT remember how to spell that word and am in too much of a hurry to look the thing up today! Here's another one of "those" for my friends who love to answer questions. Enjoy!

1.What was the first thing you thought of when you woke up this morning?
Not again.

2.The last person you talked to?
My kids.

3.If you wrote a book about your life, what title(s) would it have?
Reverse Skate, although the real Reverse Skate is not about me.

4.And if someone made a movie out of it, who should play your part?
Oh, please! Someone beautiful, I hope! Okay, get real… Stockard Channing.

5.Is there a movie you feel close to?
Nuts

6.A movie that makes you cry everytime you see it?
Ghost

7.A movie that makes you laugh everytime you see it?
9 to 5. I absolutely love the hospital corridor/corpse scene.

8.Sandra Bullock or Julia Roberts?
Sandra Bullock

9.If you could go back in time TWICE, where would it be?
My wedding, the births of my girls. Oops! That’s three!

10.Can death seem like a dream?
No, it’s very real. BUT you live forever if you’ve accepted Jesus!

11.Is a thought a hard thing to control?
Okay, now that is a VERY stupid question to ask someone with OCD!

12.Is there life after love?
Of course.

13.What is your favourite song at the moment?
Any song from Grease. The Christian song about “You are my strong tower.” Don’t know the name of it.

14.What is your lucky number?
9

15.Do you have a middlename?
Yes, but I changed it to my maiden name, much to my mother's dismay.

16.Do you bite your fingernails?
Not anymore.

17.What is on the walls of your room?
Just paint. I hate hanging things on walls.

18.What are you looking forward to?
The end of the busy season, a relaxing 4th of July.

19.What would you do with a million dollars that you could use only for YOURSELF?
A thousand massages, another set of braces, and a motorcycle complete with leather jacket.

20.What will you do when you have posted this questionnaire?
Answer an e-mail that just came ine.

I tag whomever reads this post, and I doubt there are many.

Save the Earth, it's the only planet with Chocolate

~ttyl~

Completed Projects

Here are L and K12 with their completed Alamo Project.



S and K15 with their completed Texas Cattle Ranch project.

Droodle Day #4

K15 drew today's Droodle. Doesn't she do awesome work on the computer? Today's Droodle is titled "Elephant giving an Ant a friendly Pat on the Back."

"There is no creature among all the Beasts of the world which hath so great and ample demonstration of the power and wisdom of almighty God as the Elephant." Edward Topsell, The Historie of Foure-Footed Beastes

Laundry Excuse

As mom, I was not "allowed" to do my laundry yesterday or today. This is the sign I found on our utility room door when I got home from work last night. Sometimes when you are the youngest in the family, in order to be heard, you have to make a sign! This is from the same daughter who said yesterday that she saw a dead "amarillo" on the side of the road. Always keeps me smilin'.

If you can give your son or daughter only one gift, let it be enthusiasm.
Bruce Barton

~outta here~

Person of the Week, Month, or Year #6!

I'd like to introduce y'all to my friend, D! She works in our store! I knew her before she started working here, but now I consider her a really good friend. She is a hard worker and very creative. She is definitely a "take charge," "let's get in there and get it done" type of gal. I am blessed to have her in my life.

Customers love D's friendly smile and helpful attitude. And her northern accent is a delight! Thank you, D, for being my friend!

Some blessings from friends this week were:
1. One friend called me every day to check on me.
2. One friend took my daughters to history class and to the library and helped with the Texas history project.
3. One friend invited my daughters to an awesome Bible study and let the girls stay at her house all day yesterday while I had to work.
4. One friend gave me several cards this week that lifted my spirits.
5. Another dear friend sent me an email card for our anniversary!
6. Another friend is helping me sent up new credit card processors to save me money and is helping get our shopping cart on our website ready!
I LOVE ALL MY FRIENDS!!!

"Don't walk in front of me, I may not follow.Don't walk behind me, I may not lead.Walk beside me and be my friend." - Albert Camus

~have a great day!~

More Project Photos

The Alamo without a face.

Edible grass made from coconut.

It's shaping up!

K15 constructs a barn for the cattle ranch.
Will post final pictures soon! K12 has to write a 3-page report. K15 has to write a 5-page report.

When you want to test the depths of a stream, don't use both feet
Texan Proverb

~y'all come back now, ya hear?~

Texas History Project

Yesterday the girls started on their Texas History projects. Above are K12 and her friend L plastering the Alamo!

This is K15's friend S. L above and S are sisters. S is modeling the proper way to close your eyes when someone is taking your photograph.

The above photo shows how the Alamo appeared originally, as a plain, cardboard box.

K15 is enjoying making a barn for her Texas cattle ranch project. Ah! That floor looks mighty comfortable!

Never trust the man who tells you all his troubles but keeps from you all his joys
Texan Proverb

~more later~

A Manly Man

How do you embarrass a manly man? Give him a manicure and pedicure for Father's Day! Above, the hot wax!!

"Hope this picture doesn't end up on someone's blog!"

"What have I gotten myself into?"


"Please, don't let someone I know walk through the door!"

The true man wants two things: danger and play. For that reason he wants woman, as the most dangerous plaything. -- Friedrich Nietzsche

Masculinity is not something given to you, but something you gain. And you gain it by winning small battles with honor. -- Norman Mailer

~see ya~