HOW....did I get here?!!

Rural living has a way of sucking you into animal-ownership.  Empty space = room for critters.  It's as simple as that.  I recently took stock of our current situation and this is where we stand:

* 3 cats (about to be 4....more on that shortly)
* 1 dog
* 3 chickens (and 2 more coming next month)
* 2 goats

And that doesn't even include the 3 mice in cages in my sons' room......*sigh*

The other day my youngest son appeared at the front door with his hands cupped.....
"Mom, I saved a bird!" he proudly exclaimed.

He had found it floundering around in the water at the edge of the pond. It was a very young bird, but had enough feathers that we could tell it was a Chickadee. We went back to where he found it, but saw no nest in any of the branches in the area. The poor little thing was wet and cold, so we brought it into the house and I set it up on some fleece scraps and put it in a box under a desk lamp. It warmed up and dried off fairly quickly. I did a quick search with Audubon on-line and discovered it was most likely a fledgling....a young bird that had left the nest but really didn't have its act together yet! So, on their advice, I got a hanging flower pot, filled it with hay and a scrap of fleece, and went out to hang it up outside, like a "nest" for the bird. It was due to rain hard that night so I hung it up inside our pop-up camper, with the door open. The next morning the bird was on the floor, so I put it back in the "nest." The next day it was gone, so I have to assume it finally found its wings and went on its way!

Phew.....such drama!

But it's not over yet, my friends! Oh no. The night before last, my oldest son came home with a kitten.....

He found it up the road, in the road, and picked it up and brought it home. The poor thing was NOT well. It was sneezing and had a goopy nose and runny eyes. Never mind the horrible sore on the top of its head (I'll leave that one as-is.....trust me you don't want more detail!!!!). Yesterday hubby took it to the vet. I was ready for the worst (Feline Leukemia or some other awful, fatal disease). But it turns out he just has a bad upper-respiratory infection and CAN be treated!! Cat-sap that I am, I was thrilled. Not so thrilled with what this is going to cost me, but I couldn't just leave this poor creature to fend for itself out in the wild. He wouldn't have made it out there and the end wouldn't have been quick. Poor baby! So he spent last night at the vet to get cleaned up, neutered, and started on antibiotics. Should be ready to come home some time today.

Which brings us to 4 cats....

*sigh*

It's a good thing I love animals!....

.

It's official...

I am burnt out.  Completely.  On what? you ask....   Home schooling.

Awwwww.....not this again??!

Yep.  Every time I try to deal with some issue, or even just to try to get a schedule in place for the day, it's like my brain just wants to shut down.  It's at the point of just doing busy-work in the work books to make it "look" like we're accomplishing something, and so that I "feel" like I did something "school" that day.  In reality I'd like to toss in the towel for this year and call it done.  Kaput.  Fin.  But then I feel guilty and tell myself that the schools around here (public and private alike) all go until the end of May, and so should we.  But right now I'm trying to finish this week and cannot see how we'll make it that far!!

I need a WHOLE new focus for next year.  I think I still want them home, believe it or not.  We just need new curriculum, more of a schedule and more clearly defined expectations of what should be accomplished in a day, a month, a semester, etc..  I'm NO good at drafting our own plan.  I have proved that without a shadow of a doubt.  MOM needs the structure as much (more!?) than the kiddos!

Anyway, I just needed to say that. 

Carry on with your day!....lol!

Well this is just wrong....

Why can't I have a NORMAL cat?!!......LOL!!!!!  Oh the shame....

Another earthquake....

Is anyone else going through the "things that make you go 'Hmmm...." bit??  This is unprecedented, really - this many large earthquakes in such a brief span of time.

I'm not an alarmist, but as a Christian, you bet I'm keeping my eyes and ears open to what's happening in our world.  I believe we're seeing the "birth pangs" that Jesus speaks of in Mark 13.  You can agree or disagree, but I'm not afraid to say it.  This world is getting more and more secular.  It can't go on forever.

"He who has ears to hear, let him hear!"

Homeschool.....*ugh*

So today is definitely one of "those" days....It's funny, moms with kids in school usually say they can't wait for vacation weeks to be over.  I, on the other hand, can't wait for them to begin!!!  Because that means I get a break from teaching!!

This year has really been about de-schooling.  It's April and we're still trying to find our groove!  Yikes.   Well, the workbooks are nearing the end so I know at least they've been doing something.  I need to regroup and come up with a different plan for next year.

I am actually going to tour a local Christian school tomorrow.  No commitments, just to go see and talk with someone.  They are very affordable as private schools go, but since DH and I work in ministry, the paychecks are modest and it will really be all about the "bottom line."  Right now I can see my youngest being interested in going there.  I was hoping maybe the middle son as well, but we'll see about that.  Oldest is making noise about the nearby public school.  Since our zoned school district is very bad in every way, shape and form, we can petition to go to the next one over.  It's a very small district and is only comprised of an elementary school and a combined middle/high school.  I think the grades have an average of only 30-40 kids each!  That's grades, not classrooms.  I'm not into public [read: government-run] schools at ALL right now.  Neither is hubby.  But, oldest son will be 14 and in 8th grade next year and I feel it deserves a family discussion at the very least.  He would never, ever go for the private school option, so I'm not even exploring that.

But!  If youngest and oldest go off to a school next year, then that leaves me with just middle son, who I think might actually benefit from some real one-on-one mom/dad time.  So often that middle kid sort of gets lost in the fray, y'know?  He's the quiet type, too, so you never really know what's going through his head (that was me as a child so I can totally relate!).

At any rate, I do know that who ever is here for home school next year, we need a much more organized curriculum....I love the idea of "natural" learning but my kids just aren't catching on to it and we end up either arguing or doing not much of anything (outside of the workbooks for math and language arts).

It it something that will be getting lots of prayer!

Christ is risen indeed!

I just want to wish everyone a BLESSED Easter......  HE is the reason that we live!!

AMEN and AMEN!

So I bought....

a new computer yesterday!  That's a first for me.  All my previous computers were pass-alongs from my dad, except for the last one which was bought new, by him, for me.  He's a computer whiz so I fully trust his judgment on these things.

But alas, the time had come where I needed to put my big girl panties on and step out into this unknown territory alone!...lol!  Now, I'm not completely computer-illiterate.  Far from it.  Actually, years ago I worked for "PC Connection," which is a very large mail-order company.  Back then I could tell you anything and everything about computers.  But given that the industry changes almost faster than you can change your mind, it's hard to keep up once you get away from it.

My last computer I'd had just about 4 years.  It's not a dinosaur, but it's far faster and more advanced than the oldie that my 13-yr old son had.  And this son is an up-and-coming animator, I'll tell ya!!  He's really into making little movies (stop-motion, no less.....where is all that patience when we're doing school?!!...lol!) and he's GOOD at it.  But his poor computer couldn't keep up with the graphics demands and kept crashing or freezing.  So, I gave him my computer.....*sigh*

I had thought I'd use my laptop, but after one day I knew that wasn't going to fly for a long-term solution.  I wasn't looking to spend money on a computer right now, but since we use it so much for home schooling, I justified it as a "need" and plunked down the bucks.  But I actually got a good deal, and only plunked down a couple hundred bucks as opposed to many hundreds! ;)  It's not a top-of-the-line model, but it's made for home & student use and has everything I need and plenty of memory and a large hard drive.

I'll let you know how it works out!