Sunday morning at the "Organ church"

1. Opening Voluntary: "A Mighty Fortress is Our God" arr. by Pachelbel
   
   
2. Offertory: "Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing" arr. by Paul Manz
   
   
3. Closing Voluntary: "Toccata on 'How Firm a Foundation'" by Gordon Young
   

Cleaning, good attitudes, meatloaf from the oven

1. The girls cleaned their rooms and their bathroom today. It looks and smells better upstairs.
   
   
2. The older girls even cleaned with good attitudes.
   
   
3. After a very warm summer, I used the oven today for lunch and made meatloaf and scalloped onions that everyone had been asking for.
   

Good school week, pond, rain

1. All the girls finished school early, so they had a nice relaxing day of watching movies, drawing, and playing paper dolls. And I had a nice relaxing day of watching movies and writing exam questions.
   
   
2. My oldest fell in the pond, and though it wasn't as exciting as wiping out on her bike, she was still pretty excited.
   
   
3. We had a nice day of rain yesterday and last night, and beautiful temperatures today.
   

Orthodontist, strong teeth, e and President Jackson

1. All three girls have appointments with the orthodontist. They are very excited. Though they aren't so excited to have braces, they would eventually like to have straighter teeth.
   
   
2. All three girls have check-ups with the dentist, and all for free because of our dental insurance. After three years without seeing a dentist, we only had two cavities. I was amazed that it all went so well.
   
   
3. I explained "e" to my class today. I told them that it's easy to remember it to 15 decimal places, and they should learn it so they can impress all their friends. I also told them that in Tennessee it's very important to learn about Andrew Jackson, and his significance to our country. For some reason, I think my students were laughing at me again today. The number "e" is "2 point 7, Jackson, Jackson, right isosceles triangle." Jackson is to remind you of the year 1828, the year that Jackson was first elected President, and a right isosceles triangle has angles that measure 45, 90 and 45 degrees. So e=2.718281828459045. Now YOU can impress all of your friends, too!
   

Wordless Wednesday #32

On the ball, helping, new shampoo

1. Teaching went well today. I seem to think better on Tuesdays than on Thursdays.
   
   
2. The girls are having a good week with school. They've been so sweet to help out with the cooking more since I've been teaching at Belmont.
   
   
3. I bought some new shampoo, so now I don't have to use the smelly stuff that my husband uses that I put the tea tree oil in. My hair smells much better today.
   

Blogging, bucks, sleeping weather

1. I had some problems with my passwords and such for Google, and so my posts have been a bit slow, but I have it worked out now, and I'm back in business.
   
   
2. We saw an eight-point buck this morning, followed by three females and a then later some fawns. There was a turkey parade across the front yard this morning also. I love my farm.
   
   
3. The weather is cooler, and it's perfect temperatures now at night for sleeping. Oh, look at the time! I think I'll head for bed!
   

Raspberry danish, hymnals or lack thereof, new clothes

1. There were free raspberry danish at the bread store yesterday, so I had a fabulous breakfast this morning, even if it was while I was sitting in the van.
   
   
2. Pastor Greg said that they couldn't take "songs about the blood" out of our hymnal, and the girls and I just laughed because we never sing out of a hymnal at that church.
   
   
3. I wore a new pair of pants and a new shirt to church today.
   

Iowa football, cleaning, paper dolls

1. My husband signed up for web casts of the University of Iowa games, so we spent all afternoon listening to past games so that he could watch Iowa and Wisconsin play on TV and he'd already know about the past games. It was nice to see Iowa on TV, even if they didn't win.
   
   
2. I did get some Saturday cleaning done, mostly in my room, but also some laundry.
   
   
3. All the girls finished school early this week, and they've been having a great time making up new paper dolls. They've been reading through the dictionary looking for new names.
   

Good week, clothes, Autumn

1. All the girls finished school in decent time this week. I think things are finally settling down some for my oldest and her first year in high school. Next week will be a light week since the girls all have dentist appointments.
   
   
2. The weather was perfect today for laundry, and now I have clean clothes for Sunday.
   
   
3. The sunset was really purple tonight. A good way to start Autumn.
   

Old friends, insurance, baby deer

1. I love Talk Like a Pirate Day. I heard from people that I don't hear from very often, but they hear something about ITLAPD, and they think of me. It's so sweet!
   
   
2. My husband broke a tooth and had to go to the dentist today. He needs TWO crowns. Praise God for dental insurance.
   
   
3. Our baby deer twins were in the front yard again today.
   

ITLAPD

1. Bon sang! Today is International Talk Like a Pirate Day!
   
   
2. Mes cales sont remplies de trésors.
   
   
3. Vent dans les voiles!

Sunny skies, jumping, French pirates

1. A beautiful day for a beautiful drive
   
   
2. Doing aerobics to the song "Jump, Jump, Jump" by True Vibe
   
   
3. Reviewing old blog posts on speaking pirate in French to get ready for International Talk Like a Pirate Day
   

Chicken and cheese, clean sheets, sunsets

1. Mexicali Chicken for lunch
   
   
2. Clean sheets on the bed --- washed and hung in the sunshine to dry
   
   
3. Another gorgeous sunset
   

Western sky, Judges, tater tots

1. My husband took out the cardboard and the A/C unit from my western window in my office. Now I can see the sunsets again!
   
   
2. My oldest was very excited about her Sunday school lesson today because it was about Ehud and Jael. She explained to the class that if she had been a boy, and if her Dad had been in charge of naming her, she would have been named Ehud. And because her Dad had a little bit of say in naming her, her middle name, as a girl, is Jael. Her teacher said that she is the best reader in the class. I would like to say it's because she's taught at home, but it might also be the enthusiasm she has for Bible stories in general, but especially stories from the book of Judges.
   
   
3. It's been cool enough outside for us to use the oven today ---- Mmmmmm, tater tots, after close to 5 months of tater tot probation.
   

Clean clothes, relaxing, free food

1. A beautiful sunny today so I can get caught up on laundry
   
   
2. I finished with grading the exams, so I can relax this weekend (aside from the laundry issue)
   
   
3. Free food at my husband's annual company picnic

Deer, rain, party

1. I don't know why I was even worried that we had scared away the deer. This morning I saw two of the babies in our front yard, not 10 yards from the house, and another two of the babies in the back yard. I'm so happy the deer came back, and I'm happy they are safe.
   
   
2. It's raining softly today, and that's good because we need the rain and the cooler temperatures.
   
   
3. My oldest was invited to a party for the high school students that are "taught at home." It was a '007 party to start off the 2007 school year. They watched an old Bond movie and played a murder mystery game.
   

Sunshine and cool temperatures, finishing up school, wildlife back

1. A beautiful day for a long drive, so it's good that I had to go to work today!
   
   
2. The kids are having a great week at school even though I've been working a lot this week.
   
   
3. I hadn't seen any deer or turkeys since my husband was testing his new rifle (aiming at a target, trying to adjust the scope, I guess). But today I saw both deer and some turkeys.
   

Wordless Wednesday #31

Teaching fun

1. Latin with my youngest
   
   
2. Geometry with my middlest
   
   
3. Spanish with my oldest
   

New week, binary, lunch

1. My oldest finished two tests today, and my youngest is working hard at math --- a good start to the new week
   
   
2. Teaching binary numbers to my youngest (What's funnier, 10 or 11?)
   
   
3. My husband made lunch today, maybe as payment for the hair cut I gave him this morning
   

Cookies, root beer, Sunday movie

1. Orange-creme sandwich cookies from Kroger
   
   
2. Big K Diet Root Beer
   
   
3. The movie I Am David on a lazy Sunday afternoon
   

Rita, new friends, Gregory Peck

1. A scrapbook day at Rita's. I brought her a gift of a scalloped corner rounder. You've never seen anyone so excited about a corner rounder!
   
   
2. Making new friends
   
   
3. A movie with Gregory Peck
   

Hummingbirds, statistics test, pirate test

1. I hadn't seen a lot of hummingbirds for a while (maybe it's been too hot?), but they were back in force today. I love to watch them fly around.
   
   
2. I finished writing my first test for my college kids today. I also wrote a few extra questions to put on the web to help them prepare for the test. It's been a long day, but it feels good to have it done.
   
   
3. My middlest child almost panicked when she saw her Geometry test today, but then she realized that it only looked long because I'd made it fun --- full of pirate stories and rules for playing poker. Sometimes I really love being their teacher.
   

No running, finished early, Dumas

1. I was able to leave home on time today and didn't have to run to class when I got to work.
   
   
2. My baby finished her school work for the week a day early. She had a rough start to the school year, but she's really doing well now.
   
   
3. I finished reading The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas and really enjoyed it. It was a nice companion book, good contrast, to the Dante I finished earlier.
   

Good week, ink, students

1. I think the kids are getting used to me being gone some during the week. They seem to be doing better at school this week than for the past two weeks. I'm very encouraged.
   
   
2. I remembered to buy printer ink today. Now my documents won't be faded at the bottom.
   
   
3. I survived teaching a class of sixth graders at church tonight. There were only seven of them, but I felt like things were completely out of control. I'll be happy to be back with the college kids tomorrow.
   

Braids, lesson plans, chest freezer

1. A cool twisted French braid (that we've not done before) for my oldest's very beautiful red hair
   
   
2. Being on time to class and having lesson plans finished for this week
   
   
3. A free chest freezer from someone at my husband's work
   

Donuts, card games, cleaning

1. Lots of free donuts from the post office
   
   
2. Playing card games with my husband and kids
   
   
3. My husband cleaned out the van and is working on cleaning up the garage
   

Anniversary, tenor, well-mixed sock drawer

1. Growing up with amazing parents. No matter what happened in our lives, I always knew, without any doubt, that my parents loved me and that they loved each other. If my dad had lived, today would have been my parents' 45th wedding anniversary.
   
   
2. Singing tenor on the hymns in church.
   
   
3. A well-mixed sock drawer.
   

I love you, Daddy. I miss you.

New math, riding mower, movies

1. We worked out a new plan for my oldest daughter's math class. I finally realized that the reason she is struggling with math already after only three weeks is that she's bored out of her mind. We picked up the pace, and she's doing better. So today we worked out a new schedule for her.
   
   
2. My husband let me drive his riding lawn mower today. I have a bad reputation for breaking lawn mowers, but I did the back, one side yard, and the flat part of the front yard, and I didn't hit any rocks, stumps, or concrete edges of porches, etc, or drive off the edge of any steep hills (and we have a few). I probably didn't get as close to bushes and trees as my husband could have, but he was still grateful for the help. I guess poor help is better than no help at all. :-) I love the way that shadows of the trees look fuzzy when the grass is long, but they are so sharp after the grass has been cut. My husband let me borrow his ear protection, too. I think I could have enjoyed cutting the grass as a teenager if I'd had a riding mower and some ear protection.
   
   
3. With the house in order and fairly clean, and with my teaching materials for the college students and my children in order, I was able to take a break this evening and watch a couple of Netflix movies.