SL Core 100 (American History) Week 10 A March 18-24, 2018 Dh in Italy

SL Core 100 (American History) Week 10 A 

March 18-24, 2018

Dh in Italy, Strings Group Performance, Garden Prep and First Day of Spring!!

Hello Friends!

Dh flew to Italy on Friday (16th) and returned on Saturday (24th).  His base was in Bologna, Italy, but he also went out to see: Florence, Verona,  and Vicenza.  He had a great time and brought home some great gifts!  The only place I haven't been to before was Vincenza and it sounds like a place that would be interesting to visit.  Poor Dd really misses Dh when he is away, so that part of our week was difficult.

Strings Group Performance:

On Sunday our Strings Group performed a few songs for our church. Our song list: Let the Lower Lights Be Burning, Send the Light, and Never Alone.  During the offering time, the strings part of our group played Mansion On A Hilltop. Dd and FA sang a little duet in one song and sounded lovely.  This was the first time Dd has done anything beyond pluck her ukulele in front of a church crowd.  Lexi came on Saturday and enjoyed our little church.  She especially liked the youth group classes.

A male Cardinal for Chelle--he's drinking water from the pool tarp.

Lexi:

We had one of Dd's friends stay with us Friday of last week, to Monday of this week.  The girls had a lot of fun together.

Garden and First Day of Spring:

Feels nice to once again list "Garden!"  Twice this week I went out, with a shovel, and turned over the dirt and started chopping up the old plants from last year.  I've had the chickens out and scratching in the garden some too.  

Ukulele Week:

This was a ukulele week for Dd.  I could hear her upstairs playing and singing her ukulele this week.  It is always fun to see how she spends her free time.  We've never had any video games so that isn't an option.  We don't have dish or cable tv, so that isn't an option.  I have stuffed our house with art supplies, books, and a small collection of musical instruments so she has some good options of how to use her time.

Chickens:

I used up a whole bundle of chicken fencing wire--not the normal kind that you are probably thinking of, a sturdy rectangle kind, and attached it around the upper run and inner sanctum to make it more difficult for predatory birds to get over and in. 

Before

After- another 2 1/2 feet of wire

 I've been wanting to give them a little more space without adding the potential for being attacked.  



I still have some open-air space that I need to figure out how to seal off, Dh suggested the fine netting we had put over our blackberry plants in Indiana as a possible solution.  

Ms. Lemon & Chicken Tractors:

Ms. Lemon has been dropping (molting) like crazy now!  She looks funny with her long tail feathers falling out, but unlike the other chickens she hasn't lost her back feathers enough to see any skin, so she is molting yet not looking worse for wear! 



 I've been able to pull up weeds and other green things for the chickens this week, plus they've been making rotating visits out to the tractors to eat grass to their heart's content.  I do wish we had more than two tractors----six would be awesome!  I'm glad they are getting a better diet now that the weather is improving.

Sofa:

Tuesday Dd and I picked up our sofa!  So exciting!  We are going to keep it in the basement Rec. Room so the kitties can't scratch it.  Our "nice" furniture is in the basement and our old furniture is in the living room---kind of backward! Dd has already taken over the sofa and enjoys doing her reading on it!

Photography:

I bought Dd a tripod (used, of course) and Saturday Dd bundled up and sat in a chair in our front driveway and took pictures of birds.  With her new (Christmas) camera she was able to get some really amazing photo's, her camera is really good, much better than mine!  She has always loved Photography and is thinking about taking a photography class next year.

Our limited academic progress this week:

Between Lexi's visit, the sleep recovery afterward, and Dh gone we didn't get a lot accomplished!

Bible:

Dd is really not liking the SL Bible Sample book.  I'm thinking of some new options, but haven't decided what yet.

Church, Sunday School, Wed. volunteer Games for Olympians, Youth Progam

SL History:

Sequoyah & the Cherokee Alphabet: Chapters 1-3

The Great Little Madison by Jean Fritz: Completed

Math: 
through Grace HS Academy

Saxon Geometry: Lessons 84-87

Writing:

IEW: Continuation B:

Clara Barton paper, next week she is scheduled to write the Introduction and Conclusion, this week was the five paragraphs.

Science: Apologia Biology

Test for Module 3: Completed

Music Classes:

Intermediate Orchestra: 1:30 hours Violin

Intermediate Band: 1:30 hours Alto Sax

Strings Group: 1:30 Ukulele

Music Lessons:

Piano Lessons: 30 min

Violin Lessons: 30 min

Music Practice during the week as well as our Strings Group practice on Thursday night.

Art Classes: Grace HS 

Painting Studio: 2 hours

Botany Art: 1:30 hours



Food:
Dd made Egg Salad!

Look closer, Honeysuckle is asleep in a kneading position...funny!



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SL Core 100 Week 9 March 11-17, 2018 Dh to Italy, Funeral J.Smith, Strings Group Performance

SL Core 100 Week 9 A

March 11-17, 2018 

Dh to Italy, Funeral J.Smith, Strings Group Performance

Hello Friends!

This was a hard week for our church.  One of the main pillars of our church, a mighty warrior for God, went to be with Jesus.  Like many churches we've gone to, our church has two families that make up around 75% of our congregation, and the man who died was the patriarch of one of those families.  Last Friday Dd and I went to the hospital downtown to visit with his family while he was unconscious and he died just a few hours after we left.  Church on Sunday was very difficult, not to mention so many empty pews, as his family had to plan all his services and begin mourning.  Dd also went to church Sunday night as we tried to let the loss sink in.  I think we all were having a hard time due to the fact that Mr. Smith had been the healthiest, strongest man around.  He had fallen; which caused a brain bleed.  Dd and I went to his viewing on Tuesday and we worked in the kitchen for his funeral.  There were around 300 people that attended his funeral.  Like I said, he was a pillar in our community.  Plus he had been a very active Gideon (Gideon Bibles) worker for many decades.  Now we are trying to lift up his family while feeling the loss ourselves.

Funeral:
Dd and I went to J.S.'s viewing on Tuesday and then we worked in the kitchen during the funeral.  Dd peeled potatoes for a whole hour and used up 10 lbs of potatoes making her awesome potato salad.  I was proud of Dd, she wanted to help out and be of service.  The teen girls at our church do such a great job of helping whenever they can.

Agnes was SO helpful when Dh was packing his bag!!!

Dh to Italy:

Friday Dh flew to Bologna, Italy.  Dd and I would have gone with him, as we had planned, but the price of the airplane tickets tripled in cost this year.  An Italian company is making Dh's company a very specific machine for a very specific purpose.  Dh has been working with the Italian company for over a year now as they have worked out all the details for the machine to be perfect.  He will be gone for eight days.

Dh's work:

I've asked for prayer for Dh and his work repeatedly and thank those of you that have lifted him up.  Well, this week his company made some big changes; all of which are not positive for Dh.  The man that was supposed to be his boss, though he worked miles away from Dh and didn't get along with Dh, has been replaced by a different man to be Dh's boss.  The new boss also works miles away, in a different building, with no work history on what Dh does.  Dh had been asking to hire more people to help him get the work done for over a year.  Not only did he not get any help, he lost one of the workers that were very helpful to Dh.  So, he lost help instead of gaining help.  To say these new changes are 'not helpful' would be an understatement.  The silver lining in all of this is that Dh can now see that this company is not seeing all his work, or appreciating any of it.  He had been working so much over-time every night, plus weekends, while other men that leave at 5 pm were all promoted!  He is seeing that they do not respect him or all his work and has decided to stop putting his work ahead of his family.  He decided to only work 43 hours each week--no more!!!  He hasn't been able to do that yet, but really is going to focus on setting up new boundaries.  Please continue to pray for him---and maybe for a local company to recruit him so he can find a company that is more healthy for him.  He has had offers from other companies, but they are all in different states and we hope to not move Dd away from her friends.

Music:

Dd has been having a lot of difficulty with her music classes this year through WMHFA--her Wednesday Intermediate Band and Intermediate Orchestra.  She is decided to NOT be in the Marching Band this summer, after three summers of doing it.  And now she is considering NOT doing WMHFA next year,  She is considering just continuing to take private lessons with Christie, at Meyer Music, for her violin; piano lessons; and trying a month of lessons with a cello to see if that might be something she'd like to learn next school year.  We are looking at our schedule this spring/summer to find a month that would be good to try out a rented cello to see if she likes it or not.  Remember she tried a viola for a few months last fall, but, in the end, she didn't connect to it as much as her violin so she switched back to only the violin.  Prayers appreciated as she decides how best to use her high school time.

Migraines:

Of course, I had to have four days in a row of migraines this week!  Monday's migraine was a massive one--vomiting and in bed the whole day; I was awful.  I am so thankful for my medicine--Maxalt--that somehow works to help take off the top tier of pain.  Maxalt isn't a pain medication, but some kind of med that interacts with my veins.  The weather probably exasperated my problem--it was cold and snowing the first part of the week and then by the end of the week I had laundry on the clothesline!  

New (to me) Sofa!

On Saturday, missing Dh, Dd and I decided to go thrift store shopping.  I've been looking for a sofa to replace our old ones.  Remember last month I sewed new covers for the cushions on our old sofa and love sofa?  Well, the other parts are starting to break down too.  Anyway, I've been looking for months!  Then this week we saw the best sofa at a thrift store.  It is in terrific shape and such a cute design and wonderful material....we bought it!  The store was closing for the day, so we couldn't go home and get the truck and pick it up, so we paid and they put a "SOLD" sticker on it for us to pick up next week.  So exciting! 

Sharpening Saw and building wooden boxes:

Dd has been working with Dh to learn different things in our shop.  Dh has been building these "french cleats" to put on the walls so he can get some of the tools off the table top and ordered on the wall.  Dh taught Dd, they built one box and sharpened the chainsaw blade on the chainsaw.



Hoop House:



Dh made a hoop house for our garden this week!!  This will let me plant seeds very soon!  Yay!

Chickens:
Dd picked wild onions and gave them to the chickens, so perhaps next week I'll be able to pick some greens to feed them.  Dh bought two heads of cabbage this week for them, and I bought some big heads of Romaine lettuce the week before.  All the chickens seem to be doing well.  Ms. Lemon has been out of the nest box more and more; actually hanging out on the rungs of the roosts!  The Buff Orpington's do seem a bit broody this week; hoping that doesn't continue!

We've begun pulling weeds, and wild onions, for our chickens to eat.  So glad they will be getting fresh, wild greens into their diet again.  They really don't like their bag crumble and/or pellets as much as greens.

 

Taxes:
So glad to say we got our taxes done before Dh went to Italy; such a relief to not have that hanging over our heads.



Lexi Sleep-Over:
We had planned to have some of Dd's friends spend the weekend since Dh was in Italy, but only Lexi could get off from work.  Lexi came on Saturday and we took her home on Monday.



It was a big week, with LOTS of life crammed in.  One viewing, one funeral, sending Dh off to Italy, violin lesson, band, orchestra, piano lesson, Grace art and math classes, migraines, Strings Group practice...

Academic Progress:

Bible:
Church, Sunday School, Youth Program and Volunteered to run Games at Olympians.  

Dickens helping Dd work on her IEW paper.

IEW Continuation B:
Lesson 10 Continued: Draft on paper on Clara Barton
Dd has always had a hard time accepting suggestions or editing advise and so this year she has been doing a better job of accepting suggestions and making changes to her papers.

Math:
Through Grace: Saxon Geometry: Lessons 79-82 plus class
Although this has been a hard class for Dd, she really has done a great job being on top of it.  She does one lesson each day and is making a solid "B."  One of her BFFs has dropped out of the class last week.  The three math musketeers is down to two.



History:
A History of Us, Book 3: Ch's 27-42

The Great Little Madison by Jean Fritz
Ch's 1-8

Science:
Apologia Biology: Study Guide completed for Mod. 3 

Sewing:
Dd has been watching some YouTube shows on how to alter clothing to fit better.  This week she did some alterations to some of her pants.  She is doing a good job teaching herself, through YouTube, how to sew well.



Cooking:
Dd filled three metal 9X13 metal pans with her potato salad for J.S.'s funeral. 

Dickens and Honeysuckle snuggling in a chair.

Life Lessons:
Attended "Viewing" and Funeral - helped during the funeral.  I'm so glad Dd is happy to step up and help out when needed at church.  She has been volunteering to do the Nursery (with friend H) as well as co-leading the Games portion of Olympians, for the second year, on Wednesday nights, throughout the school year.



Art Classes: 

through Grace Academy at Homeschool Building



Painting Studio: 2:00 hours



Botany Art: 1:30 hours





Music:

Strings Group Performance:

On Sunday our Strings Group sang with our church, it was a scheduled performance, but very difficult as J. Smith was one of our most enthusiastic singers, and he passed away on Saturday.  His wife and two daughters still had the strength to sing/play.  We had a few ukuleles's, guitars, bass guitars, piano, and singers.  Dd played the ukulele and I sang, or tried to sing!  For the first time Dd and another teen girl, FA, sang a duet!  Here I had been encouraging Dd to play one of her instruments for the church and she felt more comfortable singing instead...I was surprised and delighted!

Private Music Lessons:
Violin with Christie Wiersma: 30 minutes

Music Classes: Missed b/c funeral (band & orchestra)

Strings Group: Thurs. Night: Ukulele: 1:30 hours
(Strings Group Performance this Sunday too)



Music Practice each week--

Dd has been practicing her piano, especially two songs by Scott Joplin: Maple Leaf Rag and ....oh, I forget the name Silver something.  She is still working on perfecting the theme song to the movie, The Sting titled The Entertainer.  She has also been enjoying a hymn piano book that is old and has some classic's in it, like God Be With You (a camp favorite of mine!).

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