The definition of "a rip-off".

I have an e-reader, and I love it. It's a Nook Color from Barnes and Noble, and it is a wonderful piece of technology. Reading on my Nook is my preferred way to read now. It's so handy to be able to find the definition of a word instantly or explore a topic or place further by searching it on Google. You can get a book that you want immediately instead of having to drive to the store or wait for it to arrive via mail. You can connect with other Nook owners and browse their virtual library and borrow books from them. And you can use the Nook like a cheap iPad: it has apps, games, and the Internet, of course. Like I said, I love it. :)

Some days though, I get mad at my Nook. -_-

Let me explain:
Last year I read a new novel written by a new author. I saw the book at B&N and it interested me so I bought it in hardcover form. I liked the story; the book ended with a cliffhanger so I was really hoping there would be at least a second book.

Two weeks ago I saw an article in the paper saying that the second book had just been released. Yes!!! I thought. Where can I get it? I checked Barnes and Noble's website for pricing, and they had both a hardcover copy and an e-book version. The printed copy was only $10.74, but the e-book was $9.99. ??? The e-version was almost as expensive as the bound and printed copy!!!

This happens so much that it has started to really irritate me. Why does an e-book have to be so outrageously priced? I'm pretty sure that all you're doing is taking the computer file of the book from the publisher and do some quick formatting to change it to a different type of file. Then you save that on the server. That's it. If you're eliminating all these people and equipment and materials that normally would be involved in the process of printing a book shouldn't the book logically be pretty cheap to produce? Why should I pay $10 for a digital copy when I can get a physical book to put on my physical shelf for only a dollar more?

In another instance, I tried to borrow a book from a Nook friend of mine. I put in my request, and a day later I got an email from Barnes and Noble saying, "You friend has already lent that book once, and books can only be lent one time." One time?! If I buy a book, even at $.50 book at a garage sale, I can lend that book to others an infinite number of times!
This has frustrated me so much that it has made me want to stop buying e-books. But guess what? I tried to find that book I wanted--the one that was $10.74--and no store in town had it. So I ended up buying the $9.99 e-version. o_O Once I started reading though I forgot about my grudge. I finally had my new book, and I could read it in a font size that was easy on the eyes, and I didn't have to worry about losing my place in the book, and I could look up new words, etc. I was happy again. ;-)

A truly traumatic experience.

About two months ago I noticed that Paige and I were itching our heads rather frequently. At first I didn't think much of it, but then it really started to bother me. Why do our heads itch?, I'd ask myself. It was just the two of us with the problem, but we were doing it often enough that it was catching my attention. I thought that perhaps we had dandruff or some kind of scalp dermatitis. So I bought a shampoo to target itching, but it didn't help. Hmmm... What was the culprit?

It didn't take long, and Abby started to itch the back of her head, too. Oh, no! I thought I had a sudden revelation: What if we have head lice?!? O_O

I did not want it to be true, but the fact that it MIGHT be the cause of the itching was too coincidental to be ignored. So I checked Paige and Abby's head, but I didn't see anything. I waited a few more days; still more itching. I finally did some online research so I'd know what I was looking for, and I checked their heads more thoroughly. With a dejected face I discovered we did in fact have it. :( Then came the brain-wracking questions: How did we get this?! Who could have given it to us? Who have we given it to???

Without being too descriptive let's just say I did multiple loads of laundry, vacuumed my house and its contents many times, and spent hours every day checking the girls' heads. We quarantined ourselves to our home; within two days the girls and I had watched an entire season of one of those cheesy teen shows they like. :)

I am super paranoid now about head itching. For weeks I had David check my head whenever I got the slightest tingle. The word "scarred" comes to mind. ;-)

I don't have any concrete answers as to how we contracted the lice, but I do know that earlier in the summer we tried on hats at a few department stores. I can only assume that we got it there. I didn't want you to have to read about the yucky details of having head lice, but I wanted to write this post so that I could give everyone some advice: if you or your child is tempted to try on that floppy sun hat on clearance at Target or the goofy Halloween mask at Walmart, DON'T DO IT! You just never know who tried it on before you and what they had on their head when they did it. :|

♪ So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, goodbye ♫

It has certainly felt like I have said "adieu" to my blog. I haven't written for months! This has mostly been because school has started again at our house. And once school starts I have very little free time for my hobbies. Now, I only have a few hobbies--blogging being one of them--but my chief hobby is reading. If I am given the choice between watching a show on Netflix, blogging, playing a game, reading, etc., I am going to choose reading every time. :) Unless a really good show like Merlin catches my fancy on Netflix. Then I'll watch every single episode in order at every possible chance I get! (Merlin is another reason I haven't blogged lately.)

Today David took Paige and Emma with him to my grandfather's farm. Dave goes there most Saturdays to chop down trees and cut wood. There is a lovely stream running through the property and a lot of woods for the girls to explore.

With the rest of the family gone, Abs and I have had a nice few hours together. She's napping now so I was going to sit down and read...or play my new puzzle video game. :) But then I remembered my blog and how I haven't written since summer. I figured God had given me a perfect opportunity to sit down and write. Or maybe He wanted me to do some dusting....? Nah. Definitely time to write. ;-)

Warning! Warning! Another list is coming!

With summer being almost over I found myself reflecting back on things that I did the past few months; the things that I thought about and the things that I learned. Suddenly I found myself with many items that were compiling themselves into the form of a "list". As Gru from that movie with the Minions would say--in a funny Russian-type accent, "Light bulb!" I had myself a What-I-Did-This-Summer blog post! So now I can say that this is my 2nd annual end-of-summer list!

What I Learned This Summer

1. Tons of spring rain brings a bumper gnat crop.
2. People will come up with MANY ideas and home remedies for repelling gnats.
3. Putting vanilla behind your ears makes you smell like a delicious cookie.
4. Gnats like cookies.
5. NOTHING will work against gnats. -_-
6. Being given free plants is wonderful!
7. Newly transplanted strawberry plants WILL produce fruit!
8. Birds enjoy strawberries every bit as much as we do.
9. Birds are like children in that they will only take one bite out of a piece of fruit and then discard it.
10. Sandboxes apparently are an excellent place for plants to grow.
11. One should be grateful that a $20 inflatable pool lasts longer than one summer.
12. Kiddie pool water can grow algae.
13. Abby can ride a tricycle.
14. My girls can skateboard.
15. I cannot.
16. Jumping rope is good cardio exercise for your heart.
17. Running is also excellent cardio, but only if you want your heart to explode afterwards.
18. Watching "Star Trek" with your spouse is enjoyable quality time.
19. Swim suits can be difficult to put on.
20. Swim diapers can't possibly be absorbent.
21. I CAN enjoy camping as an adult.
22. I miss camping as a child.
23. I like when my vehicle's carpet is spotless.
24. Going to Flandrau State Park pool will drag a lot of sand into my vehicle.
25. Having a ponytail holder in one's pocket (or on one's wrist) at all times is essential for summer comfort.
26. Most days I put my hair in a ponytail.
27. Nail polish has fun names.
28. I like wearing a watch.
29. A band-aid really DOES make you feel better, even if you're not bleeding. ☺
30. Dairy Queen or McDonald's ice cream is a must-have after taking a walk. ☺
31. My girls have a lot of sandals.
32. I will find at least one pair of sandals outside at the end of the day.
33. I enjoy pruning my bushes.
34. NO ONE can open my entry doors with the child-safety knobs on.
35. Reading in the afternoon makes me very sleepy.
36. Boat rides with friends or family is great fun!
37. Paige and Emma love to ride on tubes behind speed boats.
38. Dave and I do too!
39. I can't water ski.
40. Abby will only enjoy boat rides if she's in the bow of the boat.
41. I equate boat rides with pretzels. ☺
42. I equate long car rides with Twizzlers Nibs. ☺
43. If you can gain weight in the winter don't expect to lose it in the summer.
44. After ten years I finally got a decent bicycle seat.
45. I don't ride my bicycle often enough.
46. Potty training a two-year-old is difficult.
47. I cannot keep track of either my phone or my sunglasses.
48. You have to have two pairs of sunglasses.
49. I always wait until August before I order my school curriculum.
50. I enjoy summer vacation as much as the girls!

Flowers from around our house

I have often read gardening books that talk about growing a "cutting garden", and back at our old house I have since learned that I actually had one of those! Most of my flowers were the kind that had long stems and grew more flowers after you cut the buds off, thus making them ideal for putting in arrangements. Well our home now doesn't have those types of plants...yet. But the girls and I make do with the pretty flowers we do have.

Volleyball practice

Paige joined the Park and Rec's volleyball team this summer. She seemed to enjoy it, and she showed some natural ability. I hope that she continues with this sport as I'm certain she's got the height for it! (Shocking, I know.) ;-)

Emma and Abby played in the playground next to the v-ball courts while Paige had practice.

The coaches had the students practicing this move often. I still don't quite understand how it aides in the actual sport of volleyball. But it looked quite fun!

Emma's 7th birthday

Emma celebrated her seventh birthday on July 23. We had a party for her with family and her neighbor friends on the day before her actual birthday.
I know that every parent says this, but I truly can't believe how quickly children grow up! It seems like a short time ago I was holding her up in the air and saying, "So big!" and she was staring down at me with big eyes, wearing an infant sleeper. ☺

Emma is a huge help around the house. She loves things to be organized, and I'll often here her say, "Mom. Come look at the back door." and she'll have all the shoes organized on the rack. Or she'll ask me to look in the toy room, and all the toys will be put away. Of course she likes to rearrange the way that I have things organized, so I can tell that she's like me in that she wants things a certain way, and she feels her way is the best. But we all know that MY way is actually better. ;-)

Em is a huge Harry Potter fan. Last year she told me that she was going to marry Daniel Radcliffe when she got older. :-| Then we had a conversation regarding how Mr. Radcliffe is not a perpetual twelve-year-old; he's already an adult. ☺

Emma received two of the Potter movies, a poster book, and a LEGO H.P. sticker book.

It's Auntie Beth with dark hair! The little girls are two of Emma's neighbor friends.

This was THE present Emma wanted most. She's been begging for an American Girl Doll for several years now. Both Grandparents went in on this gift, and when Emma saw the gift tag and who the present was all from, she KNEW it was her doll because, "I know the doll costs a lot and all those people helped get this present so it must be expensive and the only expensive gift I wanted was an American Girl Doll." Nothing gets past her!

This doll is the "Emily" doll. Very fitting! Of course now Em wants more clothes for her doll.

Miss Gooby

Always have to have a picture with one's cake.

**I had taken more pictures, but apparently I am not the most tech-savvy, and I had the camera on the wrong setting. Thus most of the pictures were blurry. "Just point and shoot." Uh huh.

Great friends

The girls and some of their neighborhood friends were seated at our picnic table playing Apples to Apples. Much laughter ensued!

This little nugget made my day. ☺

Two weeks ago my five-year-old nephew Nathan spent the night at our house. I had to pick him up from his preschool in the afternoon. Nathan took the girls and I to his classroom to collect his things, and that's when I saw this:

I grinned! How sweet that he was so excited for the sleepover that he told his teacher about it, and they wrote it down!

Paige's 9th birthday

Many thanks to my mom for taking pictures. ☺

Paige celebrated her ninth birthday on June 6. We had some family come over and two of Paige's friends for cake and ice cream. After that I took Paige and Emma and Paige's friends swimming at the local indoor pool.

The birthday gang AND Auntie Beth!

Mom, Ron, and Paige

Miss Gooby and "Papa"--as she calls him

Myself, Dave, and Paige :)

Cherished Teddy number 9 from Gram Gram

Mosaic box from Gram Gram. Paige begged to stay up late and work on it. I found her still awake and working at midnight!

I had to include this picture because I feel that I am often smiling and laughing. :) I also have to admit that I cropped David out of the picture. But I'm sure he won't mind as he had a very "interesting" look on his face. *wink* ☺

Science Museum Field Trip--May 16, 2011

We went to the Science Museum of MN for a home school field trip. We saw the King Tut exhibit while we were there. They didn't allow us to take any pictures in the exhibit, but seeing as I hardly ever take pictures this was fine with me. ;-) The kids seemed to enjoy the trip. I know they liked the musical staircase. Beth and I liked the broadcast booth ☺ except that the kids kept speeding up the teleprompter. After the museum we headed over to the Mall of America.

This chair was huge! You were supposed to figure out how many times bigger all the furniture was versus the scale model. Yeah, I decided it was a great photo opportunity.

There was a mirror across from the chair. I was trying to snap a pic of the reflection. As you can see it didn't work the best.

Thankfully Beth jumped in and got an actual picture. Paige was not in the picture because she was over at the chemistry counter, learning about water.

Oh my word! This picture made me laugh so hard! My nephew Casey was trying on glasses that supposedly showed you how a newborn baby sees. His eyes were so huge from the magnification that I had to get a picture of him!

Beth took a picture of me at the music station.

Beth also got this picture of the kids and I participating in a lab. The kids were looking at their cheek cells under a microscope.

At the Mall of America we were looking for Angry Birds shirts, and we stopped at this t-shirt shop. There was a cardboard cut-out of Justin Bieber at the entrance, and Beth and Paige playfully posed by him. ☺

"Amerikids!"

Our home school group, New Ulm Area Scholars at Home (NUASH), presented our annual play on May 15. The play was called "Amerikids!", and it discussed how the United States was founded by people of faith. I thought this play had a WONDERFUL message! The play made so much of God and brought Him much glory and honor! The children and young adults did an excellent job performing, too.

That first picture showed our stage. The children were attending a convention. Each performer was a delegate from a specific state. Paige was the delegate from Illinois, and Emma was the delegate from Oklahoma...or was it Alabama?

The kids walked in and shook hands with the audience.

David built this spectacular little house for one of the songs in the play. The young boys had to build the house on the stage during the song, demonstrating how a family ought to build their home on a foundation of God's word.

This year marked the first year that I took an active role in helping with the play. I was sort of an assistant director, and I have to say that even though I was very nervous about helping out and having to lead a practice or two, overall the whole experience was very good for me. It helped me to grow and be more outgoing. And I just thoroughly enjoy watching children perform on stage. Their acting and singing had me grinning constantly! They have such great ideas. And their costumes were fantastic! Lord willing I'd like to help again next year. In this picture the kids presented Gig and I will beautiful hanging baskets of flowers! My basket is gracing my front step. ☺

Listmania!

Greetings! Well, if you've checked my blog anytime in the past two months you've probably wondered where I drifted off to. Maybe you've thought Ugh! When will there be a new poll?! Or perhaps you've pondered Hasn't she done anything post-worthy in the past two months? In short, Yes! Yes, I have! But I have also been very busy with finishing up our school year.

I discovered about April that we were behind in our schooling, and we would not be finishing in the middle of May like I had originally planned. This was mostly due to the fact that we were participating in our local home school group's annual play. Now, I'm not complaining about being involved in the play; just stating the fact that once we went to two practices a week our school lessons went down to about three lessons a week. o_O This put us grossly behind. But after we finally had our play performance on May 15, the girls and I were able to buckle down with our lessons, and we finished school last Friday. Yay!

On to my actual blog post. ☺

♥♥♥♥♥ (Side note: I love when people add hearts to their Facebook postings. If you add at least one heart to your status post you can be assured that I will probably *like* your posting. Another side note: isn't it interesting that Facebook has changed the word "like" from a state-of-being verb to an action verb?)

Every school year I learn more as a teacher. I truly enjoy seeing the girls discover new facts and remember things I've taught them. And it's a blessing to be able to watch them grow and mature.

Now, I love lists. And since this post is titled "Listmania!" that means there is a list coming, and here it is: a compilation of 50 of the things I've learned or thought about, etc. throughout this school year. ☺

1. God's creation is simply amazing.
2. So many aspects of our natural world point to His hand in forming our earth.
3. Both the tallest and the oldest trees in the world can be found in California.
4. Bees see ultra-violet light the best.
5. Bees are fascinating.
6. But still scary.
7. Hummingbirds see ultra-red light the best.
8. I just spelled the word hummingbirds as "hummingbURds." :|
9. The English language is irritating.
10. The "schwa" sound is not necessary.
11. So are silent letters like "Kn" or "Gn" or "CK".
12. "Ph" should not be a sound.
13. Squanto used fish as fertilizer.
14. Squanto made a dandy corn-on-the-cob.
15. Louis the 14th had a chess board lawn.
16. He liked to use his noble court as the chess pieces.
17. The Native Americans had a lot of reasons to dislike European settlers.
18. There is a TON of home school material published.
19. My wonderful friend Lisa Jeske knows about a lot of it. ☺
20. It is wonderful to have a support group of fellow home schooling mothers.
21. No matter how good my intentions I am not able to start school before 9:30AM.
22. My two-year-old has the ability to greatly hinder our school lessons.
23. So does my six-year-old.
24. And my eight-year-old. **wink**
25. Dora the Explorer, Thomas the Tank Engine, Bob the Builder, and Barney the Dinosaur movies have become my school saviors.
26. Paige and Emma will try to sit by the toy room door so they can sneak a peak at whatever movie Abby is watching.
27. Neither of them realizes that I am fully aware of what they are doing by the door.
28. My basement is bitterly cold in the winter.
29. My girls and I do not like having school in our basement past November.
30. Having school upstairs in the living room is a workable alternative.
31. I ♥ Apologia Press.
32. Songs help Paige remember facts.
33. It's a blessing that she and I like to sing.
34. Emma truly understands Biblical concepts and ideas.
35. What's more she ENJOYS them and applies them in everyday situations.
36. My childrens' favorite subject is art.
37. I am not an artsy person.
38. I like using cardstock to make cheat-sheets for my girls.
39. I ♥ my laminator!
40. I have to ignore my phone during school.
41. I also have to ignore the computer.
42. By early May I had finally learned the best way to teach Science to my girls.
43. It's a good thing that copy paper is cheap.
44. Taking a few days instead of one day to complete annual testing works very well!
45. We enjoy our local library.
46. You can put together and perform a play in two month's time.
47. The play songs will get stuck in your head.
48. After the play is over you will continue to sing all those songs.
49. Every time Abby sees anything red, white, and blue she will think it's part of our play.
50. Watching children and young adults act and perform on stage is so much fun!

Toe Day!

...not to be confused with other holidays. ☺

For my birthday my generous aunt/godmother sent me a surprise birthday gift in the mail: two gift cards to a nail salon and one to Panera Bread. In honor of my 30th birthday she wanted my mom and I to be able to spend a day together doing something special. What a treat! My mom and I were floored! Right away Mom suggested we take Paige and Emma as well so they could join in the fun. The girls have never had a pedicure before.

Today the four of us went to Nails by Jordan and had our toes done. Afterwards we had a delicious lunch at Panera. (And I snagged some cinnamon crunch bagels and hazelnut cream cheese to go. Yum!) Then we shopped a little. Despite the un-Spring-like temperature of 35° and the blustery wind we had a great day! As soon as we got back home from our day with Mom Paige made her own nail salon in our bathroom! She even filled the bathtub up with warm water and laid out various lotions for our feet. Inventive! And now Emma wants to have a pedicure party for her birthday in the summer. :)

Emma kept laughing while the lady massaged or buffed her feet.

The four of us. This was the only group picture we had, and of course I closed my eyes. *sigh*

My stylist (or whatever you call him) told me that I was too sophisticated for a flower on my big toe. He made an intricate sweeping design-- complete with jewels--instead. I think he just wanted a nice tip. *laughing to myself* I'm kidding. He did a very nice job!

Wow! Is that ever a closeup of my big toes!?

Emma was the first one done. Here she is at the drying station.

They are so sweet in this picture!

"Hi, Mom!"

My face doubles as a reflective panel for lunar landing crafts.

Toes: Emma, me, and Paige. Mom and I thought for sure that Paige and Emma would choose wild colors for their toes, but they both chose reds like us. Actually, the color that Emma chose was exactly the one that Mom and I were eyeing. Em certainly has a flair for style!

Girls and I. It was just the right amount of cloudy to make us all squint our eyes, thus giving us the goofiest faces possible.

Hey! How did this picture end up last?! Well, Emma's smile is a great way to say, "Good bye!"

☺