Updates!!

So, obviously I haven’t been on here in a long time…..but, especially, I haven’t blogged about homeschool and our related adventures. Well, it is kinda complex and yet, really simple. After the Winter break, Boo basically decided not to do the work that was assigned…..which she did kinda gradually. From January until mid-March, she SLOWED WAY down on her out-put and then added arguing with me….and finally just flat refused to do the work. None of my kids seem to be really scared of me…but, they are of my Honey…LOL. (And really, he is just a big Shrek….all bark…no bite.) Problem is, for whatever reason, they listen to him….so, I told him that he was in charge of her now, as I was tired of the fighting…and I really wasn’t getting that much support from him, I guess he felt like all I needed to do was put down the law and POOF….it would all get better. I finally got so frustrated with the both of them that I told him that HE was in charge now….and I stepped back. No more arguing or fighting…just waited until he got home and said: “Now, deal with her.” This frustrated him after a while, too, as she did START listening but, then went the way of poo-pooing him, too. Finally, we all sat down and agreed on a list of things that she needed to get done daily and then would be allowed privledges: 1) Clean her room; 2) Clean the kitchen and 3) Do school work. This lasted about two days…and she has since NOT completed a day. The bad part is that I have other responsibilities; therefore, there are days where she goes to the sitter and they do lots of fun things (which feel like privileges.) So, basically I have decided to put her back in PS as of August and will. For the remainder of the summer, keep the rule as it is.

Light Chocolate Torte

Light Chocolate Torte

Cooking Spray/Vegetable Oil/Crisco
4 C. All-Purpose Flour
4 oz. Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
1 ¾ C. Sugar
2 t. baking soda
¼ t. salt
½ t. ground cinnamon
2 eggs
10 oz. Pitted prunes, soaked in 2 to 3 T. Orange Juice or Water (for at least 15 minutes)and Pureed with soaking liquid
2 t. Vanilla extract
1 C. 1% Milk
1 C. Strong Brewed Coffee
Confectioners’ sugar for dusting (Optional)

Preheat Oven to 250 degreed. Spray, oil or grease 9×13 pan. In a large mixing bowl, sift together flour, cocoa, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Beat eggs until fluffy and doubled in volume. Add prune puree and vanilla. Mix well and add to dry ingredients, beating well. Combine milk and coffee, then beat into batter and pour into prepared cake pan. Bake 40 to 50 minutes or until tip of knife inserted gently into center of cake comes out clean. Leave cake to cook for a few minutes and then, if desired, sift confectioners sugar over top.

*Recipe from Tast For Life

Top Ten Places Affected by Climate Change

“People who talk about the effects of global warming tend to use the future tense, as if the damage had yet to occur. If only. Even though the earth is just beginning to heat up, it’s already showing the strain.

In Darfur, a decades-long drought — triggered by a warming southern Atlantic — led to a shortage of arable land and ignited an ongoing ethnic conflict. In Washington, D.C., politicians are being forced to deal with more powerful Gulf Coast hurricanes and a flood of “environmental refugees” from equatorial countries. Meanwhile, European nations like Italy are increasingly susceptible to “tropical” diseases such as malaria and dengue fever, while the wine industry is being forced to migrate north, to Denmark and England. So garage that SUV, or brace yourself for the inevitable bottles of Chateau Liverpool.” – - VSL

http://www.sciam.com/slideshow.cfm?id=top-10-places-already-affected-by-climate-change&thumbs=horizontal&photo_id=40DF5ED1-D4FF-29D2-C64A7E706AA67373

Ponder for 2/12/2009

Everybody lies, but it doesn’t matter since nobody listens.
- Anonymous

 

Think of giving not as a duty but as a privilege.
- John D. Rockefeller

You should give as you would receive, cheerfully, quickly, and without hesitation; for there is no grace in a benefit that sticks to the fingers.
- Seneca

 

He who cannot give anything cannot feel anything either.
- Friedrich Nietzsche

The value of a man resides in what he gives and not in what he is capable of receiving.
- Albert Einstein

Nobody cares how much you know until they know how much you care.
- Anonymous

 

In a mad world, only the mad are sane.
- Akiro Kurosawa

You’ve got to be very careful if you don’t know where you’re going, because you might not get there.
- Anonymous

 

Anger blows out the lamp of the mind.
- Robert Ingersoll

 

Stand up for what is right, even if you are standing alone.

 

A part of kindness consists of sometimes loving people more than they deserve.  

- Joseph Loubert

 

Any man who can drive safely while kissing a pretty girl is simply not giving the kiss the attention it deserves.  

- Albert Einstein

 

Ultimately, it’s up to each of us to choose how we will live our lives, hold ourselves to high standards, and continually evaluate what’s inside the image we see in the mirror.  

- Eric Harvey

 

The greatest discovery of this generation is that a human being can alter their life by altering their attitude.  

- William James

 

A friend is a present you give to yourself. 
-  Robert Louis Stevenson

An extension of “Snowflake” Bentley’s Studies

“One hundred twenty-five years ago, Wilson “Snowflake” Bentley took the first microphotographs of snow; 46 years later he died of pneumonia contracted while photographing snowflakes in his barn. Today, CalTech physicist Kenneth Libbrecht is carrying Bentley’s work into the 21st century — and posting the findings online.

Libbrecht’s gallery includes a remarkably beautiful photograph of the “stellar dendrite” — a many-branched, starlike form that creates the light, fluffy powder that skiers adore. You’ll also see a “hollow column” (which resembles a tiny pipette) and the superdelicate “needle” snowflake, which appears only when the temperature nears 23 degrees F. Keep looking, and you’ll find prisms, sectored plates, and the rare triangular snowflake. According to Libbrecht, each of these flakes holds about a billion billion molecules.” – - VSL

http://www.newscientist.com/gallery/dn16170-snowflakes 

File Sharing Made Easy

“Drop.io is a totally free, totally private server space that allows you to upload and share documents and (unlike Google Docs) music and video files.

“Drops” can hold up to 100MB of data and come with their own e-mail addresses and fax and voice-mail numbers: Once you’ve built one, you create a password to allow others inside. Work on group projects, back up your files, or post all your holiday photos at once and shoot the URL over to your friends and family members. The best part? Unlike other file-sharing sites — YouSendIt, box.net — drop.io doesn’t ask you to register or provide an e-mail address.” – - VSL 

http://drop.io/

My Values Wordle

The Geek Thesaurus

“Visuwords turns the dictionary into a neural network; it’s the perfect interface for writers, readers, and anyone who’s curious about the English language.

Type your word into the search bar, and watch it pop up in the center of your screen. Shooting off in all directions are other, associated words. Click on those words, and open an entirely new set of words and meanings. The site — which taps into Princeton University’s WordNet database — is the most fun we’ve had with a dictionary since looking up naughty words in grade school.” – - VSL

http://www.visuwords.com/

Take a Break: Play Drawminoes

The world record for domino-toppling was set four weeks ago, in the Netherlands; it involved the use of 4,079,381 tiles, and took two months to set up. The Drawminos website won’t consume that much of your time — unless you want it to.

The site’s click-and-drag dominoes couldn’t be easier to set up, and the advantages of working online couldn’t be more obvious: Accidental knockdowns are a thing of the past, and shaky, overcaffeinated hands are no obstacle. When you’re done, you can give your setup a title (complete with its own URL) and invite your friends to topple it for you.” – - VSL

 http://www.drawminos.com/

My Personality via Typealyzer

Angela at Under The Sun, blogged about this neat website called typealyzer, whereby you put in your blog address and the typealyzer reveals your personality.  I have three blogs and they revealed three DIFFERENT personality types….does this mean I have multiple-personality disorder?

The analysis indicates that the author of http://www.jhcckkm.wordpress.com is of the type:

ESFP – The Performers

The entertaining and friendly type. They are especially attuned to pleasure and beauty and like to fill their surroundings with soft fabrics, bright colors and sweet smells. They live in the present moment and don´t like to plan ahead – they are always in risk of exhausting themselves.

The enjoy work that makes them able to help other people in a concrete and visible way. They tend to avoid conflicts and rarely initiate confrontation – qualities that can make it hard for them in management positions.