We didn't make it to the library today. So I just renewed our materials online. And what I will do is set aside time just about every day for reading with Lil Steph. She likes to take the books and look at the pictures, and make up her own stories based on the pictures. But we did borrow books that she can actually read. So I will read them to her. I think she enjoys that more anyway. LOL And besides, I do love cuddling up on the couch with her on my lap and reading like she was a baby. Because she still is my baby... even at seven. LOL

Tomorrow her friend Ali will be coming over for an early play date. They haven't seen each other since I think Nov., so Ali and her mother, who is also my editor, will be stopping by. I think I'm going to inflate the pool so that they can get in and enjoy the water. Steph has been asking when I would inflate the pool. I was just waiting for the official ok from Ali's mom that they were coming. So the two of them will enjoy themselves while me and her mother enjoy some homemade decaf frapaccinos that I will make with my old Magic Bullet. :-) I think I'm also going to get up and make a loaf of homemade bread for the occasion too. I haven't had homemade bread in quite a few months, so that will be a nice little treat. Especially since I don't have anything else to offer them. LOL

I guess I need to get in the bed being that it is after midnight and I need to get up to fill the pool and bake the bread...

Until next time...

Tired...

Yes, I am tired. The whole MJ thing was kinda hard on a lot of people in my circle. I am an author and a musician, so a lot of the musicians were taking it hard and we all wanted to talk about it.

But anyway, I'm just tired. I think the combination of marital issues, among other issues just pushed everything over the edge for me, and I'm just beat. Lucky for me, I'll be headed to NJ for the weekend to hang out with my family and attend a Facebook/Class Reunion. I am looking forward to that. Some of them I have not seen since the day we left school. And our official reunion back in 2003 (it was an eleven year reunion cause they couldn't get it together in 2002), I was told that only about 33 people showed up. So yes, I am very happy to be going to this reunion. Me and my best friend from high school are excited about it. Even though she still lives in the town, this will be the official reunion with classes from 1988 to 1996. My sister graduated in 95, so I'm trying to get her to come too. That would be awesome!

Anyway... tomorrow is our library day. Although some of the moms are going to the beach tomorrow afternoon. I would love to go, but I think I am supposed to be having a meeting with the magazine owner tomorrow. (I'm the editor in chief) So we will probably have to wait until the next beach day. But I know that we will be headed to park day. I can't ever not take Steph to park day. LOL She will however miss karate on Friday and next Monday since we will still be in NJ.

Well, I should be going to bed, but I am trying to finish up my templates for this blog and another one that I write for.

Until Next Time...

I Am Going To Go There...

I wasn't going to do it, because I usually don't do it for others. But this time is different. Yes, I'm gonna talk about Michael Jackson. And this is probably the only post you will see from me about it. The long and short of it is... God gave that man a talent, and in my opinion, he did a great job of using it. He reached the world! Now, I can't say that I agreed with everything that went on around him, but he was definitely the best entertainer to ever live. Michael had staying power. He came out before I was born, and made me a fan up until the day of his death.

He will be missed, and I will not lie to you and say that I didn't shed a tear or two. I mean hey, he was a brilliant entertainer, and even as I type this post, I am listening to all of my Michael Jackson CD's. And probably will do so for the next 30 days. (Although he did have quite a few songs that were already in my writing playlist for when I am writing my fiction) I am sad to see him go. And there will never be another artist like him, no matter how hard they may try.

As a artist, I know that I will miss his brilliant work. And as a fan, I will miss his entertainment.

Prayers will be lifted up for his family. No matter what the media will say within these next few days, weeks, and months, only God and MJ know what was really in his heart and what really went on behind closed doors. He will be missed in the entertainment community and all over the world.

Greatest Of All Time... May he rest in peace...

Until next time...

WooHoo!!

So after almost a week of sitting at this Mac and praying for some kind of creativity... God finally showed me how to create my own layouts. How cool is that??? So I have a test blog for things of that nature, and tonight I tested out my codes and all that. Yippee skippy!!! I did it!!!!
The test blog shows up pretty good. So now, all I have to do is create the new template for this blog. I will be working on that this week and hopefully I will have it completed by the end of this week, or the beginning of next week. It was actually kinda fun. But now I'm ready to create. LOL

Steph had her 5th karate lesson today. She is so hyped up every Monday and Friday that it will be hard to tell her on the days that we might not be able to make it. She has been doing much better, so I am really happy that she is loving karate.

We ordered her CAT. So I want to review a little before she takes it. And it looks like we'll be testing on either Wed and Thurs, or Thurs and Fri. I haven't decided yet.

I am still loving the unschooling, I just think that I need to put more things in her reach. I have no problems with her playing her video games, however, I think she is playing them a bit much and I would rather she read or watch Animal Planet. LOL But I won't push it on her. She has been asking for it, so that is a good sign right? I want to get the Planet Earth, and the Blue Planet series on DVD for her. I think she would love that, and it would foster lots more questions in her mind.

Well... I am tired and I need to get in the bed...

Until next time...

Changes...

I am in the process of designing a new blog template for this one. Wish me luck as I start this new endeavor. LOL I love creating things, and I thought creating my own awesome blog layout would be kinda cool. I've seen all of the awesome layouts on other blogger's sites, and I would love to make my own. So, that's what I will attempt to do.

Until next time...

Blog Changing...

I am still going to be blogging, but I think I will need to make a few changes to either the format or the host. I haven't decided yet, but I am working on a few things to see what they will look like. :-)
If you noticed the google ads on the side, it was because I was trying to make some money if anyone looked at them. Since this is not really the type of blog for that (I have a different blog for that LOL), I will more than likely remove those.

But I will still continue to blog even while we are under construction... :-) And it will always be named... "What Are We Going To Do Today" ... Cause she is still asking me that question every day. LOL

I have been such a slacker with blogging the past few days... Ok what it's been about two weeks hasn't it? Ok... I'm sorry about that. But me and Steph have been having a blast so far.
Below are pictures from our trip to the zoo. I took lots more, but these are the ones that I downloaded for the blog.



Steph turned 7 in May. I am such a bad mother, I didn't post a picture or anything from her birthday that she had with her YaYa and PopPop when they traveled here just for her.














Well, here is the cake. I did it all by myself. LOL She loves chocolate cake, and lucky for me, that's what she asked for. Because I could not afford the ice cream cakes this year
















This is the "train station" at the zoo in Norfolk, VA.
We were waiting with the children who go to school.

These were some of the animals that we saw. There is one shot of some lions, but it was hot and they were not trying to impress any children that day, so they were kind of far away from us, but I wanted to at least attempt to get a photo of them...




























Way back to the left, you will possibly see a
male lion lying down trying to keep cool... LOL












These were right before we left. There are little "fountains" in the front before we get to the exit. Since it was hot, I let Steph cool off a bit. We did see some children there in bathing suits enjoying the water...















We went to the museum last week. I will post those pictures very soon.
Until next time... And by the way... this blogger has real funky formatting when
it comes to pictures and stuff. I should probably figure a way around that huh? LOL
Please forgive the funkiness of the format. I do hope to figure a way around that soon...

Welcome To Summertime...

And yes, she will still be "doing" school... well unschool. LOL We've been enjoying her interest led learning. And she is still really enjoying the big cats. Which is fine. I will grab a few workbooks from Walmart so that she can grab them when she is ready. Our plan is to go to the museum again tomorrow. Yes I know we went two weeks ago, but she loves it. And they have a new exhibit going so I'd like for her to check it out. However, I am not sure I have enough gas to get me all the way the Newport News and back. LOL If not, then we'll have to figure something else out.

On Monday, we went to the karate class for her to "check it out". She absolutely loved it. So when we come back from Jersey, she will be starting officially on Monday. And she will have classes twice a week on Monday's and Fridays. She is looking forward to beginning her classes and I am looking forward to it too. They also have adult akido classes after the kid classes. It would be awesome if I could take the akido class. I would really like that.

Well, I am trying to find something for us to do tomorrow because as I think about it, we will probably not be able to go to the museum, cause we've got other errands to run and I definitely will not have enough gas for that 45 minute drive both ways. Man I need to make some money... LOL

Until next time...

The VA Zoo...

I am beat. I took Lil Steph to the VA zoo today. Praise the Lord it was free for homeschoolers in Norfolk. She loved it! And I'm so glad that she did. The only thing that I wasn't too keen on today was that it was really hot. Steph and I were sweating like crazy.

They are building within the zoo so there will be a monkey house, a place for tigers... (You know when Steph heard that she was so excited), and a few other animals that will be joining the zoo. I had a blast with her. Every day we have so much fun.

So after the zoo, I took her to McDonalds for lunch. We sat in the car, in the shade and ate. After lunch there was the VA Beach homeschool Park Day. It looked like they were doing some type of party or something so Steph really didn't want to stay too long. Although she did say that she wanted to do the craft with them. I told her that if we go again, I would let them know that she wanted to join them. We have been going to the Norfolk Park Day which we both absolutely love... But today since we were in the area, I stopped over at the VA Beach park day. We've been there before... Quite a few times, but Steph seemed to never have anyone to play with. With the exception of 2 different occasions. And she is very friendly... but the girls that she wanted to play with didn't wanna play with her. So when we go to that park she gets shy around the kids there. But at the Norfolk Park Day, it is totally different. She is her friendly, outgoing self.

Anyway... We then went to get some icecream. Needless to say I am extremely tired. I know that as soon as my head hits the pillow I will be out like a light...

Forgive any typos... I'm bloggin' via my blackberry LOL

Until next time...
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

One Week Down...

So we have officially finished our first week of unschooling. I loved it. And so did Lil Steph. We've enjoyed not rushing. I particularly love that we can just come and go and not necessarily be on a schedule due to workbooks and lesson plans. I will still plan out our days, but they will be based around what she is interested in doing.

I plan on taking her to the zoo this week. We still haven't been yet, and I heard that we might be able to get in for free as homeschoolers. So I will check on that before we head out that way. She still wants to take karate and guitar lessons. My spouse bought the Wii Music game and she started playing it this evening. At first she didn't want to play because she didn't know how. I kept trying to encourage her, and kept telling her that she was doing fine. I think she gets embarrassed, or nervous when we are watching her, but she asks if we can hear what she is doing. She wants us to hear it, but not necessarily look at her while she is doing it. LOL I used to be that way. I didn't want anyone to see or hear me though. LOL

She enjoyed that Wii Music very much. So I am hoping that she will continue to want to pursue her music lessons. I will talk with her once more before I tell her Pop-Pop that she wants to take them both. I know he said that he would pay for lessons for her. I just don't want her to drop out because she doesn't like it, or she has a hard lesson one day. I really wish I had continued with the guitar lessons. I loved it. LOL

Well, my sister in law will be here tomorrow with her boyfriend. They will be staying for the holidays and then heading to my husband's parents house for about a week. I hope she won't mind, but since they are not married, ole boy will be sleeping on the pull out bed downstairs. I don't care what they do at home, but if they aren't married, they are not sleeping in the same bed under my roof. I don't care if they do anything or not. I don't want any mixed messages going on around here under my 7 year old's nose.

That being said, I am soooo sleepy... I need to get in the bed, since they will be showing up around 7 in the morning. I think it will be earlier than that.

Until next time...