Homeschool Blindspots - Joshua Harris

Thank you to a friend of mine for sharing this article. It was very insightful. I decided to share it myself. Homeschool Blindspots - Joshua Harris

Stalker

        Apparently, I am now "cool" enough to have my own personal stalker.  At first it was just a smidge irritating, but now it's just plain creepy and I have been forced to cut all ties with this person.  A few people have suggested identity theft, and while I think that may be a little extreme, you never really know.
        It all started with a meeting.  A young woman and I met through a mom's group and decided to grab a coffee and chat.  She seemed normal and conversation flowed fairly easily.  We both mentioned a few of our interests, and although she had never begun any hobbies of mine, she showed interest in them.  The one thing I knew for certain was that she loved anything having to do with cupcakes.  When we met though, she was merely decorating her home with them.  A month or two passed and I started my business as a cake decorator, and baker of anything sweet.  I ordered my business cards and posted on a social media how excited I was .  The next day I recieved an email from this woman asking how I had started.  I told her.  A week or two later she announced on the same site the she, too, had ordered business cards and was starting her own business making cupcakes.  My husband was able to get her husband a job working with him, and when he brought in her cards he noticed they were the EXACT same design as mine!  Same colors, same logo, the only difference was the name and contact information.  This bugged me a little, but I just let it go and chalked it up to her having a weak personality.
        A little while later, I noticed that she had started a "My Photography" album on this social media site (some of you know I have two albums like that on my page).  Only, these weren't really examples of good photography, but merely pictures that had been edited by a program.  This time I thought maybe it was just a coincidence.  In the meantime, she sent cupcakes to our husbands' work.  I felt a little sorry for her when my husband came home and told me how bad her cupcakes were, how a few people gagged, and the rest have been in the fridge for weeks without being touched.  I continued being friendly with her, and even had her and her family over for dinner.  Now keep in mind, I had already told her that Brandonn had sent a few of my cakes and goodies to work along with some of my business cards.  I have always believed that friends shouldn't compete with one another, so I was a little irritated that she would market her business to the same people that I had.  I accepted the competition however, and sent some of my own cupcakes.  Everyone raved about how good they were, and a few placed orders.  I would be lying of I said that didn't make me feel great!
       Some of you may know that I am an avid scrapbooker.  I had mentioned to her once that I was the co-organizer of a scrapbooking group here, and she seemed interested but cancelled on me when I invited her.  Eventually, she started posting that she was going to start scrapbooking, and had bought all kinds of supplies and such for it.
        Recently, I asked my sister who is an illustrator to draw me up a new logo.  Obviously I can't keep using the one I have now thanks to little miss copy cat.  About a week after I posted that information on my Sugar Mama Sweets blog, this chick posts on a social media that she is having a new logo drawn up too!
       After requesting the council of some Godly friends and family, we all decided that it was too much to call it "great minds thinking alike", and that it was bordering on identity theft.  They advised me to get far away from her.  So that it what I am in the process of doing now.  Unfortunately, she knows the web address for my blog, so she will probably continue to copy everything I put on there.  But what can I do?  My only other option is to get rid of it, which I refuse to do because then she wins.
       There is a funny part to this story!  I can almost guarantee she will turn everything around and blog about it!!  I know this because I posted on a social media that a pet peeve of mine is people who can't think for themselves but instead copy the hard work of others; be your own person.  That night she posted that she was tired of people competing against her and one-upping her, stealing her ideas and doing them before she can.  She made that invisible to me on her page, but she forgot I was married! haha!  Brandonn showed it to me, and when I commented back she made everything invisible to both of us.  I must admit that part genuinly cracked me up!
         It is a shame that she turned out to be so creepy.  I just need to be a little more careful when choosing friends I think.  I have so many wonderful people in my life....I think I can afford to be choosy! :-D  I don't know why people are so silly and petty.  I guess because it's all part of sin, which taints everything.

 I hope you all have a SAFE splendid day!
       

"This has taken long enough! Give me some of that patient stuff!"

The title of this post was taken from a song on a cassette tape that I listened to as a little girl.  My parents would often remind me of this song whenever I was losing my patience over something.  The song went a little something like this, "Gotta have it, gotta get it, gotta have it now!  I want it more than ANYTHING!  This has taken long enough! Give me some of that patient stuff!  Just be patient little rabbit!"  It was a cute tape full of other bible songs, and I am sure my parents got tired of me listening to it every once in a while.  It is, however, a good reminder that often we want God to give us what we want RIGHT NOW!
        I have been especially thoughful of this lately as we are in the process of buying a house that is in a short sale.  By the way, whomever came up with that term needs to be shot.  I may have mentioned that before.  Anyway, we were told that although it COULD take up to six months to close, it would probably realistically only take 2-4 months.  Six months apparently is unusual.  So, we signed a 90 day contract for the house we fell in love with.  Now that it has been almost 120 days we are starting to get a little impatient.  We will be meeting with out broker today to discuss our options at this time.  I must admit that I really have not prayed much lately about the house.  In my head I keep thinking, "If it is in God's plan for us to have this house, then the contract will go through".  I am starting to wonder if the delay is due to my forgetting God in this process.  Also, for some odd reason I thought that waiting the 2-4 months would be exhibiting patience.  So I have had to re-think that!  Maybe patience is not necessarily waiting on the Lord for the amount of time you expect, but when you continue waiting on Him past that time.  Just a theory anyway, lol. 
     On another note, I have recently started providing childcare in my home.  So far, it is just my children and one friends' baby.  This has been good for all of us.  My kids have another child to play with, and the little girl gets more interaction with other kids as well.  It has also forced me to become more organized, which is never a bad thing!  I have accepted my new responsibility with a healthy appetite to create a fun, loving, and educational environment.  I spent all of last week researching daycare schedules and came up with one of my own that I think will be beneficial to everyone.  I have also found a pre-school curriculum that I have already begun using.  The children seem to be adapting very well to the schedule, and they are enjoying their "school time" very much!  I am pleased overall, and have considered a future in home daycare.  Here in florida, you must be licenced in order to accept more than 4 children.  So, if I am to take on any more, I will need to take a few classes.  I am in the process at the moment, of creating several menu plans that will be rotated weekly.  We'll see how it goes!!!!

Success!

I have just finished my last night in the cake decorating basics class!  I started the class about a month ago, when I looked in my purse and saw the gift card my hubby had graciously given me.  I have this habit of saving things up for the "perfect time" and in doing so they rarely get used, because we all know there is no perfect time.  So as I was staring at this gift card, I thought, "I'm just going to do it, I am going to sign up for a class!" and that's is precisely what I did.  My goal is to turn this into a little business to be a bigger help with finances, as well as give me something fun to do.  So, I am ordering my business cards and wanted to let the world know that Sugar Mama Sweets is open for business!!  I will be posting pictures of my work on here soon.  Hope you all have a great day!

The Vacation (Part 1)

    I love planning vacations.  I love thinking about vacation, I love saving for vacation, I even love packing for vacation.  It's about the only time where you can let your hair down, relax the rules, spend money foolishly, and just enjoy being together with the ones you love. 
    Brandonn and I have been planning this vacation for about seven months.  We decided to return to our beloved honeymoon spot; Gatlinburg, TN.  We knew we wanted to stay in a cabin if at all possible and so started the search.  One day, Brandonn casually mentioned to a co-worker what we were planning, and upon hearing the details he immediately offered to call his neice about a cabin she kept for family to use.  He admitted that he didn't usually do this for people outside of his family, but that he really trusted Brandonn and thought he could help us out.  We checked many web sites that promised beautiful cabins, and found them to be quite expensive.  Brandonn checked in with his buddy after a few weeks and had found out that we would be able to use the cabin at half price since we were friends.  We were told it was a luxurious slice of heaven tucked away in the heart of Gatlinburg.  We drooled as we heard words just as; wrap-around-porch, secluded, four bedrooms, jacuzzi, fireplace, and media center, just to name a few.  We perused pictures of the place, and became more and more excited as the departure date drew nearer. 
    Next thing on the list was to pick out fun places to see, and neat places to eat.  We created "The Driver Family Itinerary" on our home computer, and started looking up weather conditions.  At last the day came to pack the car and head out.  Brandonn went to work as usual while I tucked away last minute odds and ends, and loaded up the van with almost all of our belongings; everything but the kitchen sink.
    By six o'clock we were on the road, singing to the radio, anticipating a full week of exciting new adventures.  I dreamt about the amazing pictures of the mountains I would take and add to my photography page.  At 7pm, we stopped for dinner, changed diapers, and hooked up the portable DVD players for the kids.  We drove until about eleven-thirty, and decided to stop somewhere for a good night's sleep.  The first hotel we stopped at was a Red Roof Inn.  There were three ladies at the counter and none of them could figure out whether they had any rooms available.  Thankfully, my husband has lots of hotel experience and was able to walk around the counter and show them how to use their computer system.  After the lesson, he explained to them that they were not only sold out, but they had oversold.  Needless to say, we were not the only unhappy campers they were going to be dealing with that night.  Our next stop was to an old, run-down Days Inn run by the cutest little old lady, and apparently was filled with college athletes, and 80's decorations.  We kept driving.  When we came upon a Hampton Inn we couldn't pass it up; we were anything but disappointed.  This was the most beautiful hotel I have ever had the pleasure of sleeping in.  There was an enormous common area/breakfast area accompanied by a mammoth fireplace.  Our room sparkled with marble counter-tops, fresh linens, hardwood floors, and a state-of-the-art flat screen tv. 
    Day 2---This day started off wonderfully with a big breakfast that had a little something for everyone, even the coffee was fresh.  We checked out of Hampton wonderland and continued on our journey to the smokies.  At about 1:30 in the afternoon, we found a quaint little quilt shop, where I found a woman who was more than happy to share her love of quilting and point me in the direction of beginners projects.  I decided to keep looking for a place a little more budget friendly, and got back in the van.  An hour later we were at the top of a mountain just above the hubbub of Gatlinburg, looking at our cabin that we had longed for, saved for, and planned for.  It was big.  It was red.  It was a dump.  The wrap-around porch had been torn off, but they hadn't started construction on the new one yet.  There was no jacuzzi to be found.  The first floor had bugs (both dead and alive) in the sink, in the tub and on the floor.  The floor had leaves and dirt all over it, as did the furniture.  Curiously, there was also a pile of acorns on the bed, just underneath a decorative pillow.  The second floor had ashes and soot from the fireplace all over the floor, every peice of furniture, and every table top.  The doors to it were wide open, and the thought crossed my mind that we might be intruding upon a family of squirrels.  If that wasn't enough to make one think twice, there were rat droppings in the kitchen sink, lining the floor around the sliding glass door, and in the corner of a bedroom that was next to the bed.  We discussed our options and decided to go buy cleaning supplies and just make the best of it.  Our day ended with a trip to wal-mart, and then on to a pizza where we enjoyed the pleasure of being served with a smile, snail-like speed, and influenza.  I concluded my evening with a beer; should have made it two.
    Day 3, brought sunny hopefulness, as we went to our cabin to start cleaning so we could start enjoying it.  Evidently we stayed too long, because not even an hour into it, my oldest son (3 years old) managed to trip and fall of the couch that he had been jumping on, and busted his chin open.  As Lilly napped, and Gavin watched a movie, Brandonn took our son to the Pigeon Forge Emergency Room.  He brought our son home with two butterflys, a little skin glue, and a big bruise.  With this catastrophe over, we started to get to work cleaning.  Fifteen minutes later we stood facing each in the middle of the living, and I could tell by the look on Brandonn's face that we were thinking the same thing.  We packed up our belongings and got out of there so quick it took a few minutes for the dust to settle.  At this point it was about 5:30 and we knew the local cabin rental offices would be closing soon.  So, we drove to the closest one we could find, but left as soon as we found out that it would cost three times as much as any place else.  The second place we went to was the hotel we had stayed at the night before.  Brandonn went in and inquired whether or not they had any suites available, and when the receptionist replied affirmatively, he took Brayden (our 3 year old son) with him to check it out.  They stepped onto the elevator and prepared to be lifted to the 8th floor.  Suddenly, at the 7th floor the lights went out of the elevator and all upward motion ceased.  They remained suspended seven floors above the ground for what seemed like a day, but in reality it was only 30 minutes.  They pushed the alarm button and used the phone inside the elevator, and while they waited for help, Brandonn's mind started racing.  All he could think about was how quickly that amount weight would plummet to the earth, and how high up he would need to hold Brayden so that he would land on himself and so be saved.  Eventually, help came and all was well.  They headed back to the front desk and explained what had just happened, and just as she was entering in a discount for his pain and suffering all the lights in the hotel and the street it was on went out.  I, myself, was standing outside to witness that particular event.  The entire street went dark for 2 seconds or so, and I could only wonder what else lie in store for us on the cursed vacation.
    We finally found a small, family owned business that was happy to rent to us after hearing our plight, and even gave it to us for half the price it normally would have been. 
    Day 4---So, the next day we packed up our things yet again and went to check out our cabin.  It was a quaint little cabin at the top of a hill-at the top of a mountain.  It was cute, and it was clean, and that was enough for me.  That night was about as eventful as the rest of the weekend had been, with Brandonn and I getting up and down several times that night after being awoken by a child screaming such a terrible cry it startled us.  This is what happens to our 2 year old when we travel, he gets scared sleeping in a new environment, and sleeps fitfully.
    Day 5----This was a new day, and carried that attitude with us as we went throughout our day.  We visited a petting zoo, and watched with delight as our oldest finally put his fears aside and touched a few of the animals.  It was wonderful to watch him grow right before our eyes, never before would he have even flirted with the idea of going anywhere near a strange animal...especially ones that were so much bigger than he.  We ended our day by taking a drive through Cades Cove; an 11 mile loop.  It was absolutely gorgeous!  I had so much fun taking pictures; I could do it all day!  With so much beautiful scenery it's easy for an aspiring photographer to get some amazing pictures.  All in all, it was a good day.  It gave us hope that our bad luck might have run out.

I Have Returned

Oh, it feels so good to have internet back in my life again!  I never realized how useless computers are without the internet until now.  I always took pride in the fact that my life didn't revolve around the internet, social networking, etc.  However, this past week of having internet again I feel like a smoker relapsing into a nicotine oblivion.  I don't have any one particular obsession, just alot of little things that I feel the need to check throughout my day.  I have my facebook page, where I daily check to see what everyone is up to and if anyone has said hello.  There's emails to check and return, the news page to peruse, etc.  Of course, let's not forget my calorie tracker, where I have to enter in everything that has passed my lips that day, or any sort of physical activity so that it's easier for me to keep track of my weight loss goals.  I have my Army wife support group page, my Army One Source where I learn about everything from Army lingo and military time to managing finances and coping skills.  I also have pictures to put on my photography page occasionally.  Last, but certainly not least, is my beautiful blog, where I have the freedom to write about anything and everything that radomly enters into the air bubble that I call "my brain".  That's just what I do on a semi-regular basis!  I'm not even going to get into the occasional searches, movie look-ups, vacation planning, or date night ideas!  Yet, I am so pathetic, because as I continue potty-training my 3 year old, I wonder.......is there an App for that?