Mirror Imaged? It's Kind of Creepy!

I saw an interesting video about the way we see ourselves. I've always wondered why I looked different when I take a photo and when I look in the mirror. Maybe I'm a little slow on this but I never realized I'm looking at a reversed image. Have a watch of the video below. It's interesting and only about 2 minutes.

 

So after watching this video I tried this experiment. I took a did a side by side comparison.  I flipped the image I took and it revealed the difference.

It's kind of creepy! Hmm... 

It all starts with What's outside my window...

What's outside my window... At 11:37 at night, it is  30 degrees.  I can't see outside at the moment. I'm actually sitting in my living room in front of the fire place that is warming my back with a rotating Christmas tree beside me. Yes rotating.

I am thinking...I really would like to blog but my stomach isn't behaving well so I might be off to bed. I should really go look outside to complete the above description. I'd like to write something really profound, great, funny, post a creative something or another but I have nothing. Not a thing... yet. I still have childlike faith in this area lol!

I am thankful for...Being able to see, type, not being in a straight jacket. Yeah I'm not a fan of restrictions, closed spaces or bills. Those were the first thoughts that came to mind. After looking over at the Christmas tree...I'm also thankful for my friends in Canada who sent us ornaments this year. Aren't they neat?!

My fashion statement at the moment... Clothes. Dark grey sweatpants with the bottom cuffed because they are too long. I'm sporting an ever so old red t-shirt with some random want to be sports like writing on it. I got it from Old Navy. I'm slightly comfortable in my socks that are actually my husbands so they are kind of big. Yeah I'm looking real tired at this moment. 

I want to... get a Complete Jewish/NIV side by side bible, I'd like to to go to bed in a bit. I'm going to text my nephew a few more times because I miss him a lot. I'm going to pray for my family while laying in bed. I'm going to probably play a few games on my iPhone too. I have a problem with staying up until tomorrow most nights.

I am reading... A few books via kindle and nook app: Praying Circles around your Children by Mark Batterson, Encountering Heaven and the Afterlife by James L. Garlow and Keith Wall. How to Really Love Your Child by D.Ros Cambell M.D.  I like to get them free. Those were all free at one point on Amazon! Here's a resource for Free Ebooks: {Sharing ebooks} I'm not a person to read a book in it's entirety in one setting. I can't seem to do that. I'll fall asleep or have to tend to a kid.

I my tomorrow goal is to... keep my home clean tomorrow. Enjoy the day with the kids and be a better person.

On my mind at this moment... I'm really glad I got to text my nephew tonight. I should go to sleep.

Pondering things... I wish love really conquered all with beings on earth. God is love but do we really know how to love like he does? Do we interpret his scriptures so wrong that we miss out on what it means to actually love someone and let God do the judging? 

I realize that... My back is really warm from the fire place and it's almost 2 am now.

Deep words... God is love.

Around the kitchen... We ate some made up thing I did tonight. Sausage spaghetti. I made a sauce from Alfredo sauce Worcester sauce and cream of mushroom soup. It was good. 

Around the house... I need to finish putting up Christmas decor and clean up the master bedroom before I think about organizing anything else. We actually have the house sort of decorated on the outside. I still would like to get a nativity set but for now it will wait. Budget says so. Budget is boss sometimes. 

I love...My son has turned 13 and he's super handsome. 

He is holding his birthday present which is really liked and enjoyed putting together. His sisters decided to welcome him into his teen years in the way they do best...

Ugh teens what am I going to do with them?! Love them and love them some more.

But Why?! ...and queue eye roll.

Hello Everyone,

I hope are all doing well in this Fall Season. My prayers are with those on the east coast affected by Hurricane Sandy.

We have been up to busy things. The girls had their first Fall Formal which is a dance that the SHARE Homeschool group does. 163 teens danced the night away on a Thursday night. The girls came home so excited and looking forward to Prom 2013. We didn't go to bed until after 1am. It was great to see them dressed up and ready to enjoy time with friends. They were sore the next few days from dancing lol! I guess they had fun!

Tonight we went to church when we usually don't do much for Oct 31st. The girls volunteered for the Western Theme night at church. We did enjoy it. I think I got more exercise from laughing at myself  attempting to square dance with Ashley than actually dancing!  Good times. 

Wait... you have 5 kids and you don't celebrate Halloween?? But Why?! (...and queue eye roll. )

Truth be told I've never been fond of Halloween. My mother told me the one time she tried giving out candy when I was little I would scream when she opened the door. She said I refused to put on a costume. I know I'm a strange one but I'm comfortable with that now. I did try a couple of times to celebrate but it just wasn't right in my heart.

Yes, I've seen some really cute and cool costumes but it still doesn't get me into the "Halloween" celebration.
Yes I still think your children are cute in those costumes.
Am I against costumes? Nope not at all.
My kids have costumes. They dress up any day they choose. Our littles one have a Princess Belle costume, Bee costume, Strawberry costumes, tutus, etc. The kids dress up even if it is a school day lol;), candy isn't forbidden, and we stay warm. What's to miss?

We have our fun in costumes just not in the spirit of Halloween. I know, people usually think we are strange and dull for not getting into the Halloween thing. We get judgemental comments and put downs for not participating every now and then. lol So much for open minds huh? We've heard we are no fun, those poor kids, you are missing out on... yada yada. It's a harmless fun night for the kids! Right?? Well just because most children are safe, cute and having fun doesn't mean it's all innocent. What's so bad about Halloween? Eh, honestly it never gave me peace. I associate it with celebrating the dead. As I recall the Lord gave us Life! Halloween has always been a satanic sort of thing to me. Is that stretching it? The history of it has been debated. I don't have peace in celebrating it. Have a look at this video it's part 1 of 4 

The rest of the videos are on this blog site if you care to see any further. 

http://www.a2ndgenerationofhomeschooling.com/2012/10/former-witch-explains-halloween.html 

While our family doesn't participate, I'm not alarmed that others do. We know to each is his own. Most of our friends do celebrate Halloween. I've seen tons of cute kids dressed up today. We are staying in our own lane and peacefully walk our own path. 

Now it's 50% off candy time and maybe we will find some cute costumes for tomorrow.

ants! Ants!! ANTS!!!

Greetings Friends, So our summer dilemma has been ANTS!! They are every where. I've got a toddler who likes to make every thing sticky with her sticky hands. We all know toddlers eat messy and it takes just one smear of jelly from a PB&J sandwich to attract these little sugar ants. I went to chalking up the cracks. There is one crack or opening in a door that they keep slipping through. So I've been on the battle front to protect the toddler and crawling baby from these critters. While online I saw this! A friend posted a link to http://www.crafterhoursblog.com/2012/05/dead-ant-dead-ant.html for a simple recipe to kill ants. It calls for 1 cup of water 2 cups of sugar 2 TBSP of Borax boil it for 3 minutes. Click the link above to see the pictures for the recipe. Let it cool and place it in shallow dishes around. I made this this morning and placed mine around outside. In a matter of minutes the ants were there eating up a storm! See my little 22 second video of how they are attracted to this solution... I hope it works! I'll update this blog when we find out!

Our America's Got Talent Afternoon

On March 8th we got to sit in the audience of America's Got Talent. It was very fun to go with my girls who have just turned 14 the day before. 14 was the minimum age they would allow in. The tickets were free and available online at http://www.ocatv.com/. The site gives you a list of requirements that they want the participates to obey. One of them was a dress code and another was no cell phones were allowed in the building. As we worried if we were dressed well enough. We were soon assured we were dressed ok by the way people were dressed in line. We wondered if half of them were cold, or would be let in. It was in the mid 40's and women were dressed in short skirts and sleeveless dresses. I thought my my my what women won't sacrifice to be seen! That wasn't good common sense. By the arrived we saw the long line wrapped around the side of the building and on across the street. We thought we were early! We got in line and waited along with everyone else. It was cold but it wasn't the worst weather either. As we waited a staff member came around with a bin yelling, "Cell phones? Anyone have a cell phone?" She obviously saw a few people on their phones and they gave them up. One man took his back to the car while the person he was with held their place in line. I thought, wow did they read the rules or did they just chance it? I left mine in the car. I admit I wish I did have my cell phone so I could take video or pictures which is just what they want to prevent! Any how we waited, I drank my hot coffee and people watched. As we made it across to the side of the building, I think time stopped for girl standing in front of us.There were a group of about 4 guys that got in line 2nd to last across the street. The moment they walked up the girl in front of us locked in on them with a unbreakable stare for a good few minutes. We have no idea why but she had such a look of disgust on her face. Maybe they were ex's friends?! I don't know but she didn't look happy about their arrival. These boys looked rather "hipster" as my girls called it. One of the guys had a huge Afro. My girls swore it was permed. We did laugh but we also we thought it was rather cool that he was doing his own thing. Now some would assume that the Afro was being worn by an African American guy. Nope! The guy looked to be Caucasian, and so was the girl staring in front of us. We were so curious as to what made her stair so intensely at the guys. Ashley couldn't contain herself laughing loudly and said, "Haters gonna hate." She eventually broke her stare. We never found out one thought in her head but those guys got closer seats than we did! I wonder if they will be shown on camera. Hmmm I think their chances are good. When they started letting people in the the line was moving in no time and we had no problem getting in. The Fabulous Fox did not do a good job with ushering people to seats. I don't know why when you get a crowd of people they tend to be like sheep. Some people have no idea what to do until they are guided. We were waiting in an isle for a few minutes because we were confused. Some people were walking seats, wondering around and confused. I have no idea what the confusion was so we went along side the stopped crowd and got seats. We were all the way at the top but I didn't mind. We could see and had end seats. There was even an empty seat between me and the person sitting next to me. When we were all seated they instructed us to do a few different things like booing and cheering so they could  get a few shots of the crowd. Right after that the show started with them announcing Nick Cannon. Of course Nick then introduced Howie Mandel, Sharon Osbourne, and Howard Stern. They said their hellos to the crowds and sat down. We didn't see much of Nick Cannon and the judges rarely said anything to the crowd. There were a few shouts of "I love you Sharon!" and she never responded to them. A few people yelled out Howard Stern related things and he never acknowledged it either. We were a bit disappointed for those people who wanted attention but didn't get it. I'm sure the judges get things like this on these shows all the time and if they responded to each one they would keep coming and the show would take for ever to tape. Any how in between the acts they had a warm up entertainer Corey Live that really got the audience into the show. He did a great job. During intermission he played the music to "I'm Sexy and I Know It." and took video of the audience dancing to it. We were on the right side at the very top. Nope you can't see us but we were there. So the girls went off to get us snacks to eat the drinks. They had a blast because apparently they were dancing around to the music and sing along as another group of teens joined in with them on their way back. When they made it back to their seats and sat down the show got started again. Thankfully there was an empty seat between me and the boy to my left. Remember that rule no cell phones? Well this boy broke out his cell phone several times during the show. He even had a phone call. He was talking low enough not to disturb others but he boldly ignored the no cell phone request. Well he finally did it one to many times. Security or their hired staff came around and tapped him on the head with their walky talky antenna. That then made the guy mad and told him not to put "that thing" on his head. Yeah I though a shoulder tap would have worked better. I thought it was either going to go down right there, or security would have needed to be called. So after he was spoken to he sat back down in his seat and started mumbling. He was mad and wanted to loud talk a lady that was sitting in the row behind us. Since she looked to be Caucasian he called her prejudice because she shook her head at the silliness. I thought it was foolishness too. Am I prejudice? That claim is worn out. I'm sick of it being used in cases where it's not fair to say that. If I was his mom I would have been on him and embarrassed but she wasn't there. I just looked at the boy in a tell all look. His eyes bounce back and forth avoiding eye contact with anyone around him. He had to have been a young boy since he was sporting a letter jacket from a high school. Timing was right for the next act to come out as I turned my head in letting him know I wasn't jumping on board with his claims by clapping and cheering loud enough to cover his non sense. That was the only thing that was negative for that event. It could have been prevented by the young man obeying the rules. I have no idea why he felt he didn't need to obey the rules. Maybe he needed his phone we don't know. The reaction to the staff makes me thing otherwise. Just obey people. Just obey. The show had a couple of more acts after that and it was all done. They dismissed and we were on our way home.  I'm excited to see the what the auditions will look like when the show airs. We had a few go to Vegas and a few didn't. There was one particular owl dude that stood out but nothing stranger than that. Over all it was a great thing to do with my girls. It was cool to see how they film these contest shows.

Musical, Creative and Microwaveless

Hello Everyone! I hope your soon to be over winter season has been great. The first day of Spring is March 20th! Yay! We've had a rather mild winter but I am looking forward to warm weather. So I've been up to the regular ol things. Our baby Fia is now 5 months old. She's a little delight! I find myself checking daily for teeth. No teeth yet! I love it because without teeth I can still have my "baby." I honestly think I might cry when she gets her first tooth/teeth. She's the happiest baby I've seen. Loving it! She will be 6 months on the 7th. She's trying to sit by herself now too. Our little one is trying her best to keep up with her 2 year old sister. Every time Helaina comes around Fia starts smiling and laughing. She's also got this one little curl on her head. It's so cute! This is one of the photo collages I did with picstitch and Instagram. This is after bath time. Speaking of Fia's older sister, Helaina is on the go!  This was today at church. Goodness she's got energy! She is very active little girl. There are times I wonder if I am too old for all this! Eh maybe not!  Helaina has taken to her older sister's guitar. She's rather dramatic. Have a look at her playing if you can stand it. The ending is "rock star."  Here older sisters are becoming active at church. I am so proud of them. Angela has joined the choir! Yay!! I'm so glad she is using her voice for the Lord. Ashley has decided to dance in the hiphop part of the Easter Trilogy. I'm so proud of them. Our son Adrian is growing by leaps and bounds. I had to rush out Wednesday to get him new jeans because he has out grown the ones he has. We are now shopping in the adult section for him. He's all leg now and we think he is going to be tall. We shall see! So that's what's going on with the kiddos, now my project was to make a diaper bag right? Remember the pink one in the previous blog? I decided to scrap it. I wasn't comfortable with it. I wanted to start over. So I did. I wanted to follow a pattern or tutorial this time. I chose modabakeshop.com  Baby on the Go Diaper Bag. Mine doesn't look exactly the same but here it is.  It's not as cute but hey it worked! I got the fabric from Joann Fabrics.  It was a no brainer for me to have to have our diaper bag dedicated to the Lord since we firmly believe children are a blessing from the Lord. My next sewing project will probably be simple dresses. One of the biggest changes our family has implemented was a experiment to see if we could do without a microwave. It was something that had been on my mind for while. One day while cleaning up the kitchen, I got tired of how much space it took up on the counter top. So I discussed it with my husband and we agreed to try it. Well it's been at least 2 weeks or more and it's still gone! I am excited to go without the microwave. We've had great discussion about how the microwave may or may not effect the nutrition in food and water. My take on it, better to be safe than sorry! So far we've been doing just fine without it. It takes a little more time to do things but we don't mind it. Food tastes better and the skeptic in me feels like it will be healthier.  So that's all for now! Oh! I just blogged on my photo blog check it out please! http://tscullenphotography.blogspot.com/ ...can't believe it's 4:40 am!