Book Review - The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart

This was my first encounter with the Mysterious Benedict Society. This first installment of the series follows the creation of the secret society. The children include: Reny- age 11, leader and puzzle solver; Sticky- 11 yr old genius with amazing memory; Kate- Resourceful 12 year old who carries her prized possessions in a bucket at her waist; and Constance- a pint-sized child who retains her willful independence. These orphans and runaways are contracted to help Mr. Benedict, a narcoleptic recluse, stop the evil Mr. Curtain from brainwashing the world through child messengers. The story, though written in 2007, has a style reminiscent of the 50's mystery novel. The characters and settings are timeless and the children present a positive deviation from the norm. I highly recommend this book. I "read" it on audiobook and the narrator's voice is fabulous!

Freezer Paper T-shirt for DH

Now I"m on a roll! I made this t-shirt for my DH who is fond of saying how awesome he is. So when I saw this design online I knew I had to make one for him. I truly hope he likes it.

Without ME it's just AWESO

Check out his new "theme song"

Bible Curriculum Mapping - Up to Mid-November

I've been working away at mapping my curriculum for next year. I have all the lessons and days in, I now have been going through everyday and writing in which activities I'm going to do and the materials needed. After a few hours work, I am done up to lesson Day 46. It's exhausting!

Banished the BBQ Crud

So a strange thing kept happening when I would BBQ. There would be billowing smoke and flames rising from places they shouldn't have been. So, puzzled as I was by this, a male friend of mine suggested that I clean the BBQ. Clean a BBQ? I thought the whole point was that you didn't have to clean them! So I put on my rubber gloves (ew! I wasn't touching that nasty thing!) and started disassembling the beast. I scrubbed and shoveled so much crud out of the bottom that I nearly filled a two liter ice cream tub! I then realized that I'd made a horrible mess all over the porch, so I started sweeping off the porch and then took the hose to it. It's not perfect, by any means, but I am not longer embarrassed to have company hangout on the porch while I cook now! I also had to refill the propane tank today, which was another new adventure for me. 

I'm very proud!

A Brisk Walk

So I managed to drag my butt out for a "power walk" this morning. It was humid, which only increased the sweat. It was nice though. I took my dog with me. He is a year and a half. He trudged right along with me, keeping pace, for about 15 minutes, the rest of the walk (another 20 minutes or so) I was literally dragging him behind me. His leash was stretched to it's limit and I had to keep coaxing him to "keep going, Casey...you can do it" Now I remember why I usually go on my own!  At least, I got out there and burned some calories!

T-Shirts Completed

After Finally finding Freezer Paper at the Superstore, I was able to spend many hours cutting out the stencils and painting in the pieces. Some colours took a lot of coats. Red, for example, took 5 or 6 coats, whereas the white only took 2. They turned out neat, for my first try at it. They are for my dad's birthday.



The first one is a navy blue golf shirt. I made a "nametag" on it that says "hello my name is papa"



The other one is a black t-shirt that says "crops are green, tractors are red" this is to egg on the battle in our family between John Deeres and Massey Fergusons. I think they turned out pretty cool. I hope Dad likes them.


And yes, I realize they aren't the same t-shirts from yesterday's blog. I decided on a different design, so the black went better than the green.

Bought Materials for Birthday Presents

So I've been following the blog I Am Momma Hear Me Roar for quite a while now. She does amazing things with Freezer Paper Stenciling and I've been meaning to try it for ages...so today I finally went out and bought my materials. The problem? I couldn't find "freezer paper" (and no, waxed paper doesn't work...I've tried) So I have everything but the STENCIL! Oh, well. At least I took the first step and bought what I needed. Now I'll need to go on the hunt for freezer paper tomorrow.

Plans for Furniture

I went to the school today with my measuring tape. I took some measurements and made some decisions about where I want the furniture in my new classroom to be placed. Over the summer, they have a cleaning crew come through the school and redo all the floors. They have to remove every piece of furniture from my room and replace it when they are done. SO I decided that I would let them to all the work for me and move my furniture back into the places I want it. So the above pictures are how it looks right now.

So I  went to my trusty paint program and drew up a terrible, yet useful set of room plans to tell them where I want my furniture. I numbered each piece of furniture and labelled them in real life with pink sticky notes. I really hope they move at least the big stuff for me. I can move little stuff on my own. So this is what I accomplished today. Planning work for others!

Book Review: Airman by Eoin Colfer

This is my second time reading this book. It held me in it's grip the same way it did the first time through. I am a huge fan of Eoin Colfer (the author the Artemis Fowl Series) and have read nearly all of his books.

In Airman, Colfer recounts the tragic and adventurous story of Conor Broekhart, a boy destined to fly. Conor's birth in a hot air balloon foretold his life-long obsession with flight. His ingenuity and bravery allowed him to save the life of the princess, his best friend, when he was only 9 years old. But how will he cope when his world is over-turned and he is forced to become another man altogether. This story has romance, daring, adventure, mystery, and more. It is fantastic. Even though Colfer writes for youth, he has a way of writing that draws in readers of any age.

Check out this Airman Promotional Video

Organized my Curriculum Binders

I picked up all the curriculum for the coming school year from school today. It was a lot of binders! I ended up cleaning off all of the shelves in the dining room bookcase so that I didn't have to pile them on the table. It took all the shelves and the top of the bookcase. I didn't work on any curriculum yet, but it looks rather nice. And so it feels like quite an accomplishment.

Almost Completed the Mulch in the Garden

I am not a gardener. I do not enjoy the process, but love the results. The side garden at our house was ambushed by weeds this year and I decided that I did not like those results. So I literally tore out everything that was in the garden (except for one tree) and started from scratch. This has been a three week process, as I am a bit of a procrastinator. So today I finally got in the last plants and put down the mulch (that has been sitting in the back of my truck all week). I need one more bag to finish it, but I'm proud that I got this far. And it looks really nice so far.