It’s Monday! You know what that is! Woooooo!

OK, so maybe I am a little over excited. But I am sitting in the orthodontist’s waiting room, and I have nothing better to do right now! (Thank God for wireless).

If you knew that every minute of the next 24 hours of your life would be recorded on camera is there anything you would change about your habits?

Yeah, like, all of them, lol. No, actually– aren’t ALL our outdoor activities being monitored anyway?! I hate all those creepy cameras at the traffic lights, at WalMart, at the library…. I’ve seen those “reality” videos on TV before, where people agreed to be monitored so experts could watch them and help solve their problems. I’m always amazed at the nasty and yukky things people continue to do even with a camera aimed at them. Me, I’d be nicer, and probably neater. Then again, something might get into me to stick out my tongue and make goofy faces. Depends on how much coffee I’d have had.

If you could take a one-month trip to any single destination in the world and money is not a consideration, where would you go?

This is an easy one, because I’m always dreaming about it. New Zealand. Greenland. New York City. Washington, D.C. And Antartica, just to say I’d been there. Oh nuts. Did that sentence say “single destination”?

What is the best example of “perfection” that you can think of?

Jesus. He’s the finest, most loving person, and I am so not. I read about what He did and what He said and it continues to blow my mind away.

The conqueror Napoleon had said of Jesus, “I know men and I tell you that Jesus Christ is no mere man. Between Him and every other person in the world there is no possible term of comparison. Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and I have founded empires. But on what did we rest the creation of our genius? Upon force. Jesus Christ founded His empire upon love; and at this hour millions of men would die for Him.”

I think it was the late Dr. D. James Kennedy who said that unlike with man, when we gaze closer and closer to inspect Jesus, we become more awed by His exceptional love and virtue; whereas the opposite is true when we closely inspect any man.

This was a good Manic Monday– got me thinking!

I was zipping around town Saturday. I live near a city in Upstate New York, and I see my share of crazy drivers. But the one who hounded me Saturday just took the cake. They were zig-zagging in and out of a two-lane road, driving like something out of a Need For Speed Playstation game. I could see the driver in my rear -view mirror, making crazy 8’s for me. I let the driver pass (it was a lady!) and probably saved my skin in doing so. I noticed her license plate and she was from Massachusetts. No surprise there! I’m sorry to say but Massachusetts has the CRAZIEST drivers I’ve ever seen. My husband and the kids and I took a wonderful week-long vacation to Boston years ago. It was so beautiful and we got to enjoy a great many sites, but OH MY GOSH the traffic was tortuous. These people don’t believe in traffic signals, speed limits, nor the car turn signal lights. It was…. wild, to put it mildly.

Despite the absolutely crazy driving, I love Boston. I love the ocean. There are so many things to do in Boston that I wish we could have stayed longer. We do have hopes of returning sometime. If we do, I’m definitely checking out the Trusted Tours & Attractions website. They have the best listing of major attractions and the best discounts I’ve ever seen anywhere! It’s very convenient. They cover 23 of America’s big cities, and list all the best sightseeing tours for stuff in Chicago things to do, San Francisco, New York, and more. I like browsing their site for ideas for future places to see. And if you sign up for their newsletter, you are entered a contest to win a $150 iTunes gift card. Nice deal! I get the newsletters and they are very nice. Now, if they could only do something about that insane traffic…

Europeans are much more advanced that North America, when it comes to innovation in energy and home building. This is due to their scarcity of natural resources and geographic space. They just have to think smarter, and not bigger, as is the norm here in the U.S. Bigger does not necessarily mean better. In fact, bigger almost always means less efficient.

I saw this fascinating video of what the Danes call “The Wave Dragon.” With this new invention, they have discovered a way to use the energy of ocean waves to generate energy. The video (although a bit dry) is worth watching. I hope these innovators get success! This is a worthy endeavor.

I’m just wasting time (a rare thing with me, really), and did a quick little quiz. “How Creative Are You?” Hmm this is what I got.

You Are 94% Creative

You are an incredibly creative person. For you, there are no bounds or limits to your creativity. Your next creation could be something very great… Or at least very cool!

Well well. How sweet– 94% creative! In other words, “eccentric” or “freaky.” LOL! I wonder what kind of dottering old bitty I’ll be in 30 years… right now the most daring thing I’ll do is New York City travel!

What ever happened to doing something right because it was, well, right?

A few years ago A long, long time ago, I saw a Sesame Street television show that had Elmo and a friend fighting over a toy. One of the “humans” (don’t remember her name) entered the scene and encouraged the two bickererers to share because sharing makes you “feel good inside.” What the h@%&*????? What kind of la-la land was this TV show promoting?! Sharing makes you feel like crap! Who wants to share? The truth should have been told– we should share because it is the right thing to do, because sometimes our selfish needs are nasty and destructive to others. My kids have never seen a Sesame Street show, and that’s why, right there.

It is with the same “what the?!” reaction that I read a news article from my local online news source, which proclaimed, “Stay-at-home moms: Benefits outweigh sacrifices, local mothers say.”

Benefits to whom outweigh sacrifices to whom?

The story goes on about how wonderful staying at home is– how wonderful it is for the mothers, that is. What drivel and rot.

The choice for Streeter, Downie and Bayly to stay at home with their children is a decision that they do not regret _ stating that the positives far outweigh the negative.

“The unpredictability of what will happen each day is one of the best parts of being a stay-at-home mom” Bayly said. “Today, for example, I built sand castles all morning.”

Sand castles. Big whoop.

Don’t get me wrong, staying at home with the kids has it blessings, sure. But moms, why do we really stay at home? So we can build sand castles and wipe snot all day? No! We stay at home for the sake of others, not ourselves– for, namely, our children. Pardon me while I rant, but I hate stories that propagandize such drivel, as if mothers need to be spoon-fed the glories of incessant diaper-changing and play dates.

Staying at home is very, very hard work. It’s why few men do it, and opt to work outside the home, lol. Staying at home, raising children and managing the household, is a heck of a lot harder than playing with the kids all day and cooking a meal or two. I very much dislike these stories that make husbandry sound like a merry-go-round of play all day. And I dislike it even more that society sneers on SAHM moms; if anything, society should be kissing our unpedicured, peanut-butter-and-jelly-stained feet, because, as Phyllis Schlafly once said, we SAHM mothers should be applauded for raising responsible citizens who will grow up to work hard to contribute to a healthy society and to the social security system.

So is it too difficult to admit that we moms sacrifice to stay home for the sake of someone else? Is there some kind of stigma to admit that the personal benefits, while satisfying, are second-place to the welfare and care of children? I’d like to see a news story that highlights this, but I have yet to see one. All I see are the “Sharing is Fun” stories. :-p

I’ve finally felt like leaving comments on blogs tonight, but something screwy is going on with the Internet tonight?! I’ve been getting “page not loading” error messages for every blog I try to comment on. It may be a Blogger issue, because I’ve only tried to comment on Blogger blogs, and the pages never load. What the heck is going on?! Plus, my other three blogs (New York Traveler.net, Renovator, etc) were down for over an hour [delete nasty words] today, thanks to ANOTHER Bluehost problem. ARGHHHHHHHH! I have been plagued with problems on Bluehost, with everything from “CPU exceeded” errors, MySQL database errors, server problems, and etc. I joined them because everyone and their mother gushed about how wonderful they are. Folks, Bluehost STINKS. I am not a little peeved about all the raves given me about them. Sigh. I’ve been with them for only three months and have had well over a dozen problems with them already.

Enough ranting. I’ll be back with fun stuff later. I have my first day at the new gym tomorrow, and meet the coach who will help me begin my road to recovery (back injury leaves me bedridden sometimes). I’m determined to never take pain medication and those nasty mind-altering drugs like Vicodin again. I’m a little nervous about the gym, but I know it’s for the best. More on that later.

New York Chica has an interesting post about the Top Ten Recession-Proof Cities. The list is interesting and not surprising (Texas, Utah, and North Carolina made the list). She summed up the sentiments of New Yorkers when she said she didn’t expect any NY city to make the list. The only Top Ten lists New York is making are the ones with highest taxation, lowest wages, and most poor. Worst education is coming onto the list, as well. Those recession-proof cities in TX, UT, and NC are because NYers are fleeing the state in droves and migrating to those states.

I live in Upstate New York– right smack-dab in the middle of the state. The rest of the country has been reeling with recession-style tremors, but here in NYS, we’ve been living this way for about 30 years now. Our troubles all started when the state changed some language in the state constitution to favor Downstate (New York City area). New York City has seen a huge boom in the last 20-25 years. However, it has been Upstate’s natural resources and jobs pool that has fueled the economy down there. So essentially, the NYS government has slit its own throat. The “good times” can only last so long because sooner or later, the leech runs dry. And that’s Upstate right now… pretty dry.

New York State loves to tout itself as the “Empire State,” claiming that this state is the trend-setter for the rest of the states. Well, maybe 200 years ago that was something we could brag about, but since the 1880s, the state is leading the nation as an example of how NOT to govern. Let’s hope the other states learn from NY’s idiotic mistakes. Don’t let labor unions and politicians micro-manage the affairs of the people; don’t accept high taxation as a way to become prosperous and assume political “clout”; don’t add taxes upon taxes upon taxes and call them “fees” and “surcharges,” hoping no one will notice; don’t brag about how unsinkable you are when everyone knows it’s just a matter of rearranging the deck chairs.

Unfortunately, however, for those southern and midwestern states is that they lack the natural resources to support large populations. Drought conditions and the home foreclosure crisis brought this to the forefront. Northeasterners who have migrated south and west complain of the lack of green grass, trees, and abundant water. Duh.

It’s like I always say, here in NY, we don’t have calamitous natural disasters like tornadoes, hurricanes, droughts, floods. Our natural disasters come in the form of politicians. I sometimes wonder that politicians are worse than weather disasters…. but no matter where you live, there will always be some price to pay. We’ll see how the nation fares, because we are seeing a monumental change in our American way of life.

Sigh. I wanted to go traveling this year, perhaps out of state, but right now the prospects are bleak. I have been promising my brother that we really, really WILL visit him in Virginia! But getting away has proved to be difficult. It’s been a very long time since I traveled south (or outside of the state, for that matter). Last time I went through i was 14 years old! I took a trip with an adult friend all the way to Florida and back, by Greyhound bus. It was quite an experience for a young lady. It was the first time I was away from home like that, and there was a limitless roster of things to do in Orlando! We got to see Disney World (the rides were absolutely wild and crazy!), the new Epcot center, and the Museum of Wax in the city. It was a great time! Of course, my friend made all the plans and this was long before the Internet was available. Back then, we relied on brochures, if we could get them, and word of mouth. I prefer having everything on the Internet at my fingertips, today.

I’m a big fan of Trusted Tours & Attractions for finding stuff online and when I need discount tickets for sightseeing tours, they are the first place to go. They have the best listings and discounts I have ever seen for the 23 most popular cities to see in the United States. I’ve even signed up for their newsletter, for when we do decide to travel (we also have plans to see Boston and maybe check out things to do in Atlanta, too). The newsletter is great. They have a promotion going on now: sign up for their newsletter by May 31st, and you’re entered in a contest to win a free $150 iTunes gift card.

My eldest daughter graduates in a few weeks. She’s been “homeschooled” her entire life. I guess this officially makes me a veteran homeschooler! Wow, that time went fast. :| Only three more to go…

Some folks ask me about our schooling techniques, etc. Of all the blogging I do, I really don’t blog much about homeschool. I’m not sure why. I guess it just doesn’t interest me enough. Now, if you had caught me 10 years ago, I was CRAZY about homeschooling; I might have blogged about it then. But now, it’s just another segment of our lives, kind of like washing the dishes or working in the gardens. Our homeschool has settled into a routine, and there aren’t too many exciting (read: disastrous) events to detail. Perhaps when something becomes so effortless and organized, you know you’re doing OK.

Well, I’ll just blog about it a little. No pressure; I’ll just chit-chat about our routine, why we do it, what works for us, etc. Hopefully you parents who homeschool will find something useful. I’ll break it up in a number of posts, to retain readability.

My husband and I decided to school our kids ourselves because we both realized the corruption of public schools and were wary of the social engineering of modern education. We’d read a lot of books and also remembered a lot of our own experiences. There was NO WAY we were going to send our children, day after day, to be indoctrinated into secular humanism, the fallacies of evolution, values clarification, and “health” classes (euphemism for Perversion 101). Public school was very stressful for me as a kid; I desperately wanted to learn, but school was so socialized that the consuming issues were your hairstyle, boyfriends, and the latest acne treatment. I wanted something different for my kids.

For the first few years, we sent the kids to a private school in the church. It was a classroom environment, but it lacked the one-on-one education. And the curriculum (ACE) was terrible. Eventually, the school organization was completely revised, and we opted for something called an “umbrella school.” Basically, we pay tuition for an administrator to maintain all records and tests scores, but we parents teach the children and supervise their work at home. I think it’s the best of both worlds, actually. I do no administrative work, but I get to work with the kids. We have assigned books, so I don’t even need to worry about the curriculum. We dumped the lousy ACE and have had good success with Abeka. We have purchased the books from the tuition monies, and we share the books among us, so the financial burden is decreased. (The children do not write in the workbooks; rather, they write their answers in notebooks).

The children are tested every week by the administrator. They must score an 85% average or better, per subject, or else they repeat the book. This helps us maintain a schedule and standards, and encourages accountability among us. I have stricter standards, where I expect my children to get 90% or better on their tests. On the harder subjects, such as Algebra, I am pleased with 85%; but in history, science, and language, there is no excuse for them to score below 90%. We work very hard at home and I will not tolerate slackness. Now, everybody has a bad day or week, so we are very flexible. That’s what makes homeschooling so successful- the parents are well aware of the child’s abilities and therefore expects the child to meet certain goals. There is no “dumbing down” in my home. Some criticize that I am too militant, but tell me, how many moms have Ivy League professors practically knocking on your doors, hoping your kids attend their schools? My kids are well-educated and very self-disciplined, and it shows in their demeanor and communications.

Well, I gave the body of why we homeschool, and of our general philosophy. I’ll talk more about our routine, our organizational habits, and other tidbits in posts to come.

Eh, I’m just a wee chatty tonight. I joined a health club today. It’s a big deal for me. The cost is so low my jaw dropped and I wondered why I haven’t done this before ($10 a month). Because of my back injury, I’m supposed to keep my abdominal muscles in shape. I haven’t seen the physical therapist is eons because it is too expensive and because gas prices are too high for me to travel the distance. This health club has a coach who will help me with the machines to build up my muscles again– and the coaching comes at no extra cost! So the money I’m saving in prescription painkillers (I won’t take them anymore) will pay for the monthly membership!