Harrison Farm

I was recently cleaning out (again!) some of our bookshelves and weeded out books we didn’t want.  When I realized how little I could get for them from half.com or amazon, I looked into some of the book-swapping sites.  I decided to put my unwanted inventory at swaptree.

When you open a swaptree account, you list your inventory, and you make a list of items (books, cds, dvds, and games) that you want.  Swaptree works its magic by coordinating swaps between its members.  The more items you list and request, the greater your chances of entering into a swap.

It had been more than a month since I opened my account (I had listed about a dozen “haves” and “wants”), and I was about ready to give up on it, when I got a request for a multiple way swap.  » Read the rest of this entry «

I always find good things at my neighbor’s yard sales. Saturday was no different.

4 unopened packs of loose leaf paper - $.10 each

3 pair of like new pants for Sudoku - $2 each

1 like new, short sleeve shirt for Doodle - $.50

1 colorful, like new organizer that hangs on the back of a car seat - $1

For a soy-free sandwich spread, just stir together the following:

1 part dijon mustard

1 part honey

3-4 parts sour cream (put in less if you like a lot of spice)

We like it on meat or veggie sandwiches.  You can use what’s left in a salad dressing.

At some point today (I think it was after the mower trouble) I remember thinking, “Can anything else possibly go wrong?” I didn’t say it out loud, probably because I knew the answer was yes. After all, none of the children were hurt - yet. Things getting worse was possible. And they did get worse. » Read the rest of this entry «

A couple of weekends ago, we spent the day at Chickamauga Battlefield riding bikes, climbing the stone tower, throwing the aerobi, picnicing, and horsing around.  We all enjoyed the biking, Rosebud and Doodle were unsure about climbing the stairs inside the dark tower, and Carman saw how easily an aerobi can get stuck in a tree when throwing from a high tower.  Here are some pictures from our day. » Read the rest of this entry «

Many moons ago, we ditched the default blue blob header on this wordpress blog.  It took us a while to figure it out, but once we did it, we thought we couldn’t forget.  Well, we did forget.  I finally figured it out again today.  Here’s how it’s done — because I’ll probably forget again in a few months. » Read the rest of this entry «

From Booker T. Washington’s chapter “The Reconstruction Period”:

“The ambition [of the freed slaves] to secure an education was most praiseworthy and encouraging. The idea, however, was too prevalent that, as soon as one secured a little education, in some unexplainable way he would be free from most of the hardships of the world, and, at any rate, could live without manual labour.”

I know that I suffered from the same sentiment in my youth.  I wouldn’t have admitted it then, but it was there.  Now, as a college educated woman, who has never used my degree, and who has seen many friends fall into jobs and careers that didn’t require their expensively earned degrees, I ask myself about the real value of a formal college or university education.  » Read the rest of this entry «

There’s a large hill on the other side of the river where we went last sping with some flattened out cardboard boxes.  The  older kids and Marathon went sledding while Rosebud and I strolled around.  Here are some pictures we captured that day.  It looks like we’re on top of the city. » Read the rest of this entry «

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Doodle recently learned to ride a 2 wheeler. He’s the 3rd child Marathon has taught to ride, and his method has changed and improved since teaching Carman & Sudoku years ago.

Marathon used training wheels to help teach the older 2 kids, and they developed the bad habit of not leaning into turns. Instead they would actually lean in the opposite direction in an effort to keep the training wheels grounded.

So this time Marathon was determined to not use training wheels at all. » Read the rest of this entry «