A Backyard Visitor

This wonderful spider took up residence in our yard today. It is called, appropriately enough, the Black and Yellow Garden Spider.

Why School?

The ultimate goal of the educational system is to shift to the individual the burden of pursuing his own education. This will not be a widely shared pursuit until we get over our odd conviction that education is what goes on in school buildings and nowhere else.
- John W. Gardner, 1912 - 2002

I read this quote today, and it reminded me of how grateful I am that I was able to be home educated. I learned very early that education is not something that's separate or incompatible with the rest of life. Home schooling allows children to learn how to learn and actually enjoy it. Those who know how to teach themselves will always find the world a fascinating place.

A Bend in the Road

I hope you’re sitting down, because you’re about to hear BIG NEWS.

After much thought, prayer, discussing with my parents, and keeping a secret all summer, I’ve decided to leave my full-time job and actively pursue starting my own business of making and selling gift baskets. I actually started it last May, and have finally gotten everything set up and ready to go. My project now is marketing, which I might as well do right now. Please visit my website!!!

I also signed up with Pampered Chef, and am hoping the two businesses can help each other out. I hope I’m not getting myself in over my head. It’s going to take me out of my comfort zone, but I think it’ll be fun. I’m hoping to get everything up and running in time for the holiday shopping season.

The next month is going to be nuts, since I actually gave five weeks notice at my job. So, if blog posts are scarce or not very well thought out, it’s because I’m working a full-time job, and starting two businesses!

A New Picture For My Office

There's this hilarious website called despair.com that has some fantastic pictures called "Demotivators." I think this one is my favorite.

Thanks for the link Lindsay!

The Game Must Go On

My family set out to go play baseball at the park this morning. It was quite an experience, and it all started at the breakfast table. We were discussing our plans and the talk turned to safety. Various people said things like don't throw the ball too hard and don't throw the bat when you start running. Seth suggested that we wear bicycle helmets, and the conversation was all downhill from there. Next, my mother said she was going to bring her wooden spoon and spank anyone who threw the bat, so we started imagining our mother running around a baseball field with a wooden spoon! We thought someone would say, "Ma'am your bat is very small." As if that wasn't enough to have us all being very silly, the sky was getting cloudy and we heard thunder in the distance. So, we decided that we were going to be the only family in town playing baseball wearing bicycle helmets, and hitting the ball with a spoon in the rain!

Off we went, minus helmets and spoon, and had a fun time playing for a while. We don't really have enough people for a proper team, and we aren't very good at it, but we had fun anyway. That is, until it started raining. It didn't take long for most of us to take shelter in the dugout, but John, Anna, and Seth kept right on playing! I think they were nuts, but they didn't seem to mind that they were getting soaked to the bone. Plus, the ball field started turning into a mud hole, so they were very dirty too. I guess I shouldn't be too surprised. These are the same people who slept out under the stars one night on our vacation even though it was drizzling!

EDIT: That was yesterday, and this is today, and the whole family is hobbling around groaning because of all the sore muscles! Hmmm, maybe we should play baseball more often.

Marriage Quote

Seeing as how I'm not married, I really don't know what I'm talking about here, but I still found this quote amusing. There may be a tiny bit of truth in it.

"Marriage is the state or condition of a community consisting of a master, a mistress, and two slaves, making in all, two."

Beware the Red Chips

I went to Taco Cabana for lunch today. I like it, and I think it's pretty much the best place for a $5 lunch. However, there's something there that always bothers me: THE RED CHIPS. They're about the color of cherry pie filling, which is just wrong for chips. I feel like I'm eating a paint chip from Lowe's. There must be gobs of dye in those things. So my philosophy is go to Taco Cabana as often as you like, but DON'T EAT THE RED CHIPS!!