Learning and Lounging in Florida

No time for sight-seeing. No time for fun. It's just all been work, work, work.

Too bad "work" can't be this relaxing every day!

Ramblin' Update

It's been a busy week!

Today is the last of the 6-week ski lessons that the girls have participated in this winter. They have made wonderful progress, thoroughly enjoyed it, and are already looking forward to next winter!

Tomorrow I get to go to Florida for a few days! I am very excited! Some of the other Sonlight consultants and I are getting together for a few days to do some training/brainstorming for the upcoming homeschool convention season. We usually do this about every-other year, but other times it's been in Denver. I've never been to Florida before... and with big piles of snow still surrounding me, I am really looking forward to warmer temperatures and sunshine for a few days.

I posted a list of homeschool conventions where I will representing Sonlight on my sidebar. If you homeschool and live in the northwest, I'd love to see you at one of the conventions. Stop by the Sonlight booth and tell me you read my blog! That would be fun!

My husband and his brother are hoping to finish up their construction project tomorrow after I leave. Someone asked what "we" are building and someone else wanted to know why we needed to put a beam up. They are expanding the print shop to make room for a very large piece of equipment that they are in the process of buying. They are extending the current press room into an adjacent garage, and so they needed to put in a ceiling, insulation, and drywall. The beam is to support the ceiling joists. My brother-in-law has construction experience and my husband is a pretty handy electrician, so they save a good bit of money by doing their own construction. When my granddaddy visited us several years ago he said they reminded him of his "boys"! I took that as high praise, indeed!

And now some "shout outs"! A few people took me up on my invitation to post the "Getting to Know You" quiz on their blogs. Check them out:

Dori @ A Moment in Time
Katey @ Crazy Homeschool Mama
Ramona @ The Rose in Winter

Nicol @ Classy and Sophisticated honored me with the Premio Dardos blog award. Premio Dardos means “prize darts” in Italian. It is given for recognition of cultural, ethical, literary, and personal values transmitted in the form of creative and original writing. Wow!! Really?Thanks, Nicol!

My aunt, Aliene @ Meditations and Memories, is celebrating her 100th post today. She started blogging last March. She loves comments, so pop over and say hello!

I guess that's it for today. I hope to have internet in Florida, so hopefully I can post from there! Stay warm!

"Getting to Know You"

A good friend sent me this quiz by email recently. You're supposed to put in your answers and then forward it to all your friends, as well as sending it back to the person who sent it to you. You know, one of those kinda deals. It works better for me to just post it to my blog. Then those who are interested can read it here. Feel free to copy and paste if you want to do it! And be sure and let me know if you do, so I can come read your answers, 'cause, yes, I'm interested!

1. What is your occupation right now? I'm a wife, mother, homeschool teacher, and I also wear several hats as an independent contractor for Sonlight Curriculum.
2. What color are your socks right now? Khaki.
3. What are you listening to right now? Nothing. It's quiet.
   
4. What was the last thing that you ate? Popcorn.
   
5. Can you drive a stick shift? Yes, I can! Remember this post? My current car is a stick shift.
   
6. Last person you spoke to on the phone? My husband.
   
7. Do you like the person who sent this to you? As if anyone is going to say "no" to this question! Yes, Barbara is a good friend!
   
8. How old are you today? One day older than I was yesterday, but a day younger than I'll be tomorrow.
   
9. What is your favorite sport to watch on TV? Do we have to watch sports? If that's all that's on, I'll read a book.
   
10. What is your favorite drink? Starbucks' Caramel Macchiato or Thomas Hammer's Carmella DeVille (virtually the same drink, I think)
    
11. Have you ever dyed your hair? Nope. I never have. I like the color it is naturally. Either that, or I'm just a frump.
    
12. Favorite food? Salad. Or popcorn. Or maybe pizza.
    
13. What is the last movie you watched? Fireproof
14. Favorite day of the year? Vacation. Holidays can be stressful. Vacation days are low-key.
    
15. How do you vent anger? Hmm... I dunno. Cry? Pray?
    
16. What was your favorite toy as a child? My mother usually made us girls rag dolls for Christmas, and I always liked those. But really? I enjoyed books way more than toys!
    
17. What is your favorite season? Spring! Lovely warm air and sunshine. Pretty flowers.
    
18. Cherries or Blueberries? Cherries. I like cherry cheesecake... and cherry-lime Coke.
    
19. Do you want your friends to e-mail you back? Actually I think it would be more fun if they'd post this to their blogs.
    
20. Who is the most likely to respond? Oh, I hate these! I dunno. Laura?
    
21. Who is least likely to respond? Good grief! I have no idea!
    
22. Living arrangements? I live in a house with a man and 2 children! Oh, yes, and a cat, a dog, and 2 fish.
    
23. When was the last time you cried? I can't remember. Maybe last summer? I don't cry often.
    
24. What is on the floor of your closet? Organizer thingys for clothes and boxes of shoes.
    
25. Who is the friend you have had the longest that you are sending to? Let's see, of people who read my blog, Mother and Rachel have known me all my life, so I guess it would be them.
    
26. What did you do last night? Visited with my husband. (You know, that man I live with!)
    
27. What are you most afraid of? Scary stuff I don't want to think about.
    
28. Plain, cheese, or spicy hamburger? Plain, but with lots of veggies... lettuce, tomato, onions, pickles.
    
29. Favorite dog breed? Hmm, right now it would probably be border collie.
    
30. Favorite day of the week? Sunday.
    
31. How many states/counties have you lived in? Just one country... I think 11 states.
    
32. Diamonds or pearls? I don't wear either, but I like to look at pearls.
    
33. What is your favorite flower? Do I have to pick just one? Daisies, violets, pansies, roses, carnations, lilacs. Old-fashioned fragrant garden flowers.
    

Construction Work

When Lyle told me that he and his brother--just the two of them--would be raising a 400-pound beam on Saturday, I was completely baffled as to how they would achieve such a goal. He tried to explain it to me, but I'm a visual learner and just couldn't comprehend how such a thing would work. He invited me to come watch.

Here's the beam positioned on the floor with the pulley system on one end. The challenge was that they only had pulleys for one end of it...
...so they raised it a few feet at a time, one side at a time.
Here it is braced in place, about half-way up.
Lyle was stabilizing it while his brother went to get something...
...and I couldn't resist the opportunity to get a cute Kilroy was Here shot!
As the beam went higher, they discovered that an extra set of hands came in... uh, handy!
I was practically holding my breath the whole time, and praying that the beam wouldn't slip and hurt someone.
This picture makes me look really strong, doesn't it? Nope. I was just bracing it after it got too high for my daughter to reach.
Finally! It took about 2 hours, but they did manage to get the beam installed.
I praised the men for their ingenuity and resourcefulness. My daughter flat out told them she thought they were crazy!

Maybe a little of both?

Ski Report - Week 5

Our skiing adventure this winter has been so much fun. I have been so amazed at how much progress the girls have made in just 5 weeks! No more fear of the chair lift...

In fact, the whole "never ever" class went all the way over the mountain! When I looked at the map of the mountain to see their route, I couldn't believe it. (If you click on the map, you can see it bigger.) Lodge #2 at the bottom of Ego Flats is where I hang out. Chair #5 goes to the top of the bunny slope, so of course, that's where they started 5 weeks ago. This week they took Chair #3 to the top, skiied all the way down the other side (I'm assuming on the "blue square" run to the right, not the "black diamond" run down the center) and took Chair #4 back up to the top and then back down the front side of the mountain from there. Impressive!

I've also enjoyed seeing the varied weather on the mountain from one week to the next, and taking pictures of the valley from the parking lot. This week I took a morning and afternoon shot of the same view. This first picture was about 8:15 a.m. ...

And here's the same view at about 3:15 p.m.
The girls say the views from the ski runs are "really pretty", too.

Makes me want to take up skiing!