Fairy Tales

If you want your child to be brilliant, read them fairy tales. If you want your child to be a genius, read them more fairy tales. - Albert Einstein

What Happens When A Fairy Tale Falls Down the Stairs - It Fractures

Here are three of the three beautiful stars of the play from last night. From left to right - Evil Queen, Fairy Odd mother (oops God Mother) and Rupunzel. The play was a group effort between our high school co-op and our sibling co-op. The high schoolers, wrote and did the majority of the production of the play, and had some of the parts in the play, while the elementary students made up the remainder of the cast. It really turned out so well. It is amazing what a group of motivated homeschoolers can do with a little ingenuity and almost no money or supplies and a boatload of talent and energy. Four directors from the Center for the Arts were invited to watch and critique and they had soooo many postitive comments for the cast. It was very uplifting and rewarding and the cast all to a person want to do another play soon. It was a lot of work, but a great way to end our co-op year. Below Fairy Godmother chats with "Grumpy".

Progress

I am starting again today. I have been doing much better at exercising, but I have to cut back on the eating again. It is hard work, but I must get going. The problem with being too busy is that we don't take the time necessary to take care of ourselves. So today I am starting again....to take care of myself.

Synchro Suits

Here are the fruits of my labor for my daughter's synchronized swimming teams and her solo. I designed these suits and also the matching headpieces. It was a very long road, but I think they turned out nicely. And she did very well in the competition. She placed in all the events that she competed in, and qualified for regionals in team, duet and solo competitions. She placed 5th in the state in figures in her age group - 13-15 yr. olds. She is on her way to Illinois this week end to compete in regionals. I am very proud of her. This is her team suit for Spirit: The Horse of Cimarron



Solo suit

My Sweater Stash

I have high hopes for making things out of my felted sweaters. I have made a couple of purses so far and plan to make some floor pillows for my daughter's new apartment. Here are the sweaters. I will post pics of the purses soon.

Funnies from a 15 yr old

On a random note to list the thing that automatic comes to mind upon reading a word:

Sex - six - Latin word for "six"

One Night Stand - "One Night Sit"

Marriage - "forever"

College - "hockey"

Divorce - "terrible"

Pajamas - "hallelujah!"


That's my girl!

PolkaDot Alley Give-away

Check out the cute products on PolkaDot Alley. They are having a give-way that I read about on I Heart Faces. Here is the link button:




Good luck, but I get to win, ok?

Oh, and here is the I Heart Faces Link Button, too!

Constructive Feedback Friday at I Heart Faces

This is a picture of my niece when my db & family met my dd in FL over Spring Break. She's a cutie, don't you think? I think the photo is a little dark and washed out. I have Photoshop CS2, but I'm just starting out and don't know much about using it. I also have i-photo, which is what I use most of the time. So I'd appreciate any help or advice for brightening this one up & making it more eye-catching. I'd also love to do some sort of framing around it, but I don't really know how to do that.

"A Changing of the Guard" by Nancy Leigh DeMoss

I read two posts yesterday about death and the changing of the guard that were really meaningful to me This one touched me quite a bit as I think about the loss of Jerry at Sunrise. It is a good read.

"A Changing of the Guard" by Nancy Leigh DeMoss
http://bit.ly/rvP4e

Try Something New!

"Never be afraid to try something new. Remember that amateurs built the Ark. Professionals built the Titanic." Dave Barry

Gratitude Questions

I read an article today that talked about how gratitude can improve your health. The article can be found here: Gratitude Improves Your Health. It recommended three questions that you could answer each day to help focus on gratitude in your life. Here are the questions.

* "What has surprised me?"

* "What has touched me?"

* "What has inspired me?"

I am going to give it a shot this week and see if I don't feel better. Today - March 23, 2009:

* "What has surprised me?" Birds singing.

* "What has touched me?" My husband fixing our dripping dryer vents last night

* "What has inspired me?" A post at Christus Gratiam Dat. - "Hotflashes: The Refiner's Fire?", written by a new Twitter friend.

Chinese Fashion Show

I Heart Faces "Green" - Kids Category

Jess in the Chinese Fashion Show Modeling a kimono from the 12th century. It was beautiful and so was she.

I Heart Faces - Green - Adult Category

Father & Daughter - I love this picture of these two. The theme this week is "Green" in celebration of St. Patrick's Day. Hop on over to IheartFaces to check out the contest.

Intriguing Article: Why I Don't Go to Church Anymore

I read this article today on Heart of Wisdom blog. It is written by the author of the book by the same title. The basic premise is that WE are the church, not the brick and mortar building or the "institution" or the "organiztion". I have felt many of the same feelings of lack of authentic fellowship or meaningful connections with other believers. This has been the topic of several conversations I've had this week, so it seems sort of "fortuitous" that I happened on this article. If you have ever been disillusioned with organized church, you might find encouragement by reading this article.

http://heartofwisdom.com/blog/why-i-dont-go-to-church-anymore/

Photos from the Lake

SUNSET ON LONG LAKE (a small inland lake just south of the Straits of Mackinac)


ROUND ISLAND LIGHT - MACKINAC ISLAND

MACKINAW BRIDGE IN WINTER

FEZZIK & J ON THE BOAT


TOWING J BEHIND PANACEA

A Woman Inspired - Online Conference

If you go to the link at Life with My 3 Boybarians, you might win a free pass to the conference. All you have to do to win is post a comment and she will choose a winner. Check it out.

http://www.lifewithmy3boybarians.com/2009/03/woman-inspired-give-away.html



Here are a few details about the conference:

What do the following women have in common?

Lysa TerKeurst from Proverbs 31 Ministries
Darlene Schacht from Christian Women Online Magazine
Janice Croze from Five Minutes for Mom
Allison Worthington from Blissfully Domestic
Melissa Michaels from The Inspired Room
Tsh Oxenreider form Simple Mom.net
Lisa McKay from The Preacher's Wife
Marybeth Whalen from Cheaper by the Dozen
Amy Bayliss from In Pursuit of Proverbs 31
Sheila Wray Gregoire from To Love, Honor and Vacuum
Shelly Ballestero from Beauty By God
Alllison Bottke from Boomer Babes Rock
Cindy Beal from Cindy Beall.com
Natalie Witcher from Stiletto Army
Ginger Moore from Speaking Thru Me Ministries
Lynn Donovan from Spiritually Unequal Marriage

Brought to you by the same women who bring us Heart of the Matter Online, A Woman Inspired Conference is an opportunity for those of us who want the benefit of a conference without leaving home.

4 days of topics.
Lots of door prizes.
And all those amazing women on that list will be presenting.

You can learn more at the conference site - http://www.awomaninspiredconference.org/

I Heart Faces Creative Crop: Little Boy Blue

AFTER





















BEFORE PHOTO

I Heart Faces Creative Crop: My BFF and Smores

BEFORE



AFTER




Cook-out where we had a big bonfire, lots of friends and messy, messy smores! Our Japanese friends came and got to experience the American way of eating outdoors, bonfires and more. Kego just loved being outside and running too and fro in the twilight. The hotdogs cooked on a stick over the fire were big hits all around.

Another Give-Away at Ten Two Studios - St. Pat's Day

http://countdown.tentwostudios.com

Hop on over to Ten Two Studios for Lisa Vollrath's wonderful holiday countdown giveaways from now until St. Patrick's Day. She is so generous with her free downloads. She will be adding new posts each day.