Free Education Downloads

Chris is more of an auditory learner than Marly. I have found this follows us as parents - Mike would rather listen to a book on CD than read it, where I would rather read the words. So we have one of each in our children as well - Chris listens to books and Marly reads them. Sam is also a great reader and falls somewhere in between these two.

I have found several free online resources for listening to books and seminars. I am becoming much better at listening to learn as I collect these resources for my family.

Classic Books & Education

• LibriVox - fabulous collections of audio files for public domain books (75 years or older).
• MIT Open Courseware - Free online classes with audio and video.
  
• Free Classic Audio Books
• Open Culture
  

Education Speeches and Seminars

• John Taylor Gatto
  
• Southwest TJEd Forum - I highly recommend that everyone listen to the first speech - TJEd basics.
  
• Homeschool.com - Free Radio Show
  

Going Grey...

My Blogger/Google profile had a picture of me from about 6 years ago. I like my hair in that picture (the one I used to use) so I use it a lot. However, I've noticed that when I meet people who have only seen my online picture in Google Groups, they never know it is me. I'm sure this is because I did not look like my picture anymore!

So, this is me now...going GREY and proud of it. I decided to stop coloring my hair when I realized the chemicals in the hair color were making me very sick. I know, some of you are going to suggest trying a different brand, or using a temporary color, or trying a natural product. But, none of that helped me at all. In my research, I discovered that the hair follicles act as a wick and basically absorb everything right into my skin, which in turn, absorbs into my blood stream. I mean, hello, why do birth control and nicotine patches work? I have wondered if other women who are diagnosed with Fibromyalgia are having similar symptoms when coloring their hair.

I can attest that I feel MUCH better now that I stopped coloring my hair altogether. It is an adjustment to see the Grey/White coming in, but my family and I are so much happier that I feel better. In my picture you can see that I have a couple inches of brown color still there. In a few more months it will be all gone and I can grow my hair back out to a length that I like.

Now if I can just feel good enough to loose some weight...

Everything Under the Sun by Wendy DeWitt

I have been asked a few times why I call myself "The Solar Cook". Well, it is because I use and sell Global Sun Oven's! My website is www.thesolarcook.com.

I have recently learned that Wendy DeWitt is going to be filming her awesome class with BYU TV for their program called Living Essentials. She is a fabulous lady who spoke in our stake a while ago. She is the one who inspired me to look into solar cooking and eventually offer them to the public. I found Wendy's book and a talk she gave for free on the Internet.

Everything Under the Sun book - cover art - talk by Wendy

This book is an excellent resource! It has more than just solar cooking, so please take a look at it even if you do not think you will EVER solar cook. It has information about canning meat, substitutions for things like oil or baking soda, recipes, and equivalences (like 1 cup = 16 oz. = 16 Tbs.). I have referenced back to this book many times in organizing my food storage. It is hard to know just how much a #10 can of wheat is going to make in bread, but Wendy explains it all.

I am also working on a preparedness website at www.top3.thesolarcook.com.

Also, my friend Kammie made this file - 3 Month Supply in 12 Weeks.

My Recommendations - Books, Books, Books

I love books! My husband thinks I'm crazy, but I would rather read than sleep.








Happy Reading!

Spreading the Wealth?

Over the past few years I have worked to be more politically aware. This change was greatly influenced from reading The Five Thousand Year Leap by Cleon Skousen, a seminar I attended on the Constitution, and a desire to know more about the world, especially this great country we live in. I am very concerned about the current choices for President and the difficulties our nation, and the world for that matter, are facing in attacks against family values.

Today, I saw an elderly gentleman working at a farmer's market we sometimes go to for produce. He was very old, with blackened fingertips from deep bruising under his skin. He was bagging groceries and all I could think was, "This is what the Law of Consecration is for so that the elderly and sick do not have to work like this." Chris and I both wanted to do something. But, what do we do? Do we hand him money? Do we try to work his job for him? I wondered, "Where is his family? Does he have anyone who can help him?" I left the store deeply troubled by this. We did not know exactly how to help this individual man.

I then thought of Barrack Obama's promise to "Spread the Wealth." This troubles me even more because the government does not need to take from the rich to pay the poor. People need to donate their own money and time to help the needy. The Law of Consecration is for this very purpose - that we willingly give of our time, talents, and possessions to help others. Chris was thinking along the same lines as I was because he asked me, "Was Robin Hood a good or a bad man?" It was an opportunity to discuss the right and wrong ways to change our society. I firmly believe that Obama's way is wrong...deeply wrong...and that we need to do all we can to protect our freedom from tyranny, especially governmental control over wealth.

Although I did not help the man at the store today, I realized that I can do much more to help others. I know one thing that I can do and that is to add this man to my prayers. I wish I had gotten his name - but I'm sure Heavenly Father knows who he is.

Chores - FlyLady Zones

I posted some things a while ago about home organization, family work, and chores. I have heard from a couple people asking details so here goes:

Our chores list is rotated on a daily basis. I personalized a list from FlyLady.com. I do not do everything she suggests...that would drive me crazy...but I took some lists of chores by Zone and made our own zones. In our home the zones are:

• Zone 1 - Dining/breakfast area - sweep (includes kitchen floor), clean table, clean sliding door as needed, tidy china cabinet
• Zone 2 - Kitchen - Dishes, counters, wipe down cabinets & appliances when needed (this is the hardest zone that everyone dreads)
• Zone 3 - Children's Bathroom - Everything in bathroom
• Zone 4 - Family Room - Vacuum (includes hallways), dust, tidy room

This does not include laundry room or master bedroom and bathroom - which are my additional areas. Each child is also in charge of their room every day. I also tried a laundry schedule that has not been perfected yet. This is Monday through Friday with Myself having Zone 2 twice a week. I rotate myself through so that every four days the room gets a really "good" cleaning. They have to do their zone at least 3 times a day: before school, after school, and before bed. If there is a big mess then I call them in to clean their zone an extra time.

Saturday is our extra deep cleaning day and the zones are rotated so that we have each zone once a month. If I had more children or a larger home I would probably add more zones or break up zones.

My children are now middle and high school. When I started this they were much younger. I helped them do some of the harder things or allowed their "best job". Over time they grew to be able to manage everything on the list.

Someone first sent me a link to FlyLady.com about 5 years ago, I think, when my kids were 6, 8, and 11. She helped me to think of things in a more organized way - which I so desperately needed!

Your Advice Please!

Many know that my oldest daughter, Sam, is from my first marriage. We have been in a custody case over the summer and still trying to come to SOME kind of agreement. Just when I think we may be coming to an agreement, my ex goes and does a bunch of things behind my back. He does this on purpose he says because my standards for Sam are "too high".

My question is a parenting one and has to do with dating guidelines. We follow the "For the Strength of Youth" pamphlet from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints pretty strictly. I say strictly, because I am finding many parents do not follow it much at all, which makes my parenting job much more difficult when compared to "other LDS parents" on a regular basis.

The question is this: Would you allow a 16 year-old daughter to go on a weekend trip with her boyfriend's family?

In my mind, this is a cut-and-dry, one-size-fits-all answer. You either do or you don't based on your dating guidelines for your children. The event has already passed for us, but I bring this question up because I have discovered there are many things that I needed to have set in my mind BEFORE the children ask. The more we say to ourselves "it depends", the more we leave it open for interpretation and arguement by the child...and I say child because 16 is still a child as far as maturity goes.

Maggie - Lizard Catcher

Maggie is our little 12 lb., super fast, lizard and mice catching Chihuahua-Terrier mixed mutt. We rescued her from the dog pound almost three years ago. Her only drawback is her extreme desire to run away when the door is opened, which our neighbors can attest to the fact that she is nearly impossible to catch, as they have watched us many times attempt to catch her without success. She only comes home when she is good and ready. She has been a fun addition to the chaos, but she has her advantages too...like catching things that don't belong in the house...

What do you do for General Conference?

I like to help keep my children engaged during General Conference. Our children are old enough to watch all four sessions, and Chris will head off to the Priesthood Session with his dad next April. I found a few things to use this year with our older children and I'm including a few things I found along the way for littles as well.

For Double-Digits and Young Adults:

• Be Prepared for Conference
• YW Conference Worksheet

For Littles:

• General Conference booklet
• General Conference Coloring Book
• General Conference Activity Packet

In April I had linked to some others in my AZLDSHSA.org website.

Please post what you have too!