This is Our Time Review and Giveaway

Posted on April 15, 2013 by Mama Manuscripts

This weekend my children and I had the opportunity to sit together and watched This Is Our Time presented by Pure Flix. A warning right from the beginning, be prepared to quickly skip the previews if you are more sensitive to violence or you do not want you children seeing such. I was a little bit surprised to see it and for a moment was concerned about my decision to letting the children watch this movie with my having previewed it myself. However, This is Our Time was totally appropriate for the family, though there were some harder issues and grief addressed. The message of the movie was good and it was nice to see these young classmates come together during a time of tragedy. However, the movie was a little bit slow paced and that acting was just okay and occasionally, especially near the beginning, the message felt a little bit forced. Overall it was a good movie, though, and I encourage you to read a little bit more about it and sign up for my giveaway if you think it might be something that you would like to watch.

The movie tells the interwoven stories of Luke (T.J. Dalrymple) and Alé (Erin Bethea), who marry right after school and move to India to serve as missionaries for Embrace A Village, a ministry that cares for those afflicted with leprosy and their families; aspiring financier Catherine (Kate Cobb), who joins a prestigious financial institution determined to make an impact on corporate America; Ryder (Matthew Florida), who lands an impressive job in social media and can’t wait to use the powerful medium for a greater good; and Ethan (Shawn-Caulin Young,) seemingly the odd man out, who struggles to find his God-given-purpose and feels sidelined by God.

“What they all come to learn is that it never really was their time,” Arnold said. “It always was, always is, God’s time.”Releases on DVD and Blu-Ray on Tuesday, April 16. It will be available nationwide at Family Christian Stores and most Christian online and brick-and-mortar retail stores nationwide.

Website: http://www.christiancinema.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=4565

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ThisIsOurTimeMovie

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmjQe2onm6s

To win a copy of this DVD please leave a comment letting me know that you would like to win. It’s really that easy!

Addition entries (please leave a comment for each).

1) Like Mama Manuscripts on facebook and tell me about it.

2) Follow @mamamanuscripts on twitter and tell me your twitter ID so I can follow you.

3) Tweet/retweet about this giveaway and let me know.

4) Blog about this contest and give me your link (3 entries) – Don’t forget to comment 3 times for this one!

Comments will close Monday, April 22nd, 2013 and a winner will be selected at random.

“Disclosure of Material Connection: I received one or more of the products or services mentioned above for free in hope that I would mention it on my blog. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Goal Planning Monday ~ April 15th, 2013

Posted on April 15, 2013 by Mama Manuscripts

Welcome to Goal Planning Monday!

If you are new here be sure to check out the guidelines before you join in. We would love to have you! If you are returning, I hope you had a good week. Thank you for stopping in and sharing with us. Be sure to keep sharing with your friends as we all could use some accountability from time to time! I hope to see some new members this week. Keep spreading the word as we could all use some encouragement and support as we go about achieving our goals. If you have a moment get sure to hop over and see what others are doing.

My mood was mostly better this week, so I did get some of my goals accomplished. That felt good, too. Hopefully, I can keep it up for a while. I’m hoping to make this big spring cleaning week so we’ll see what we can do.

1. Make a image introduction to this meme. Not done. Opps. It would have been pretty easy, too. Oh well.

2. Make a blog post about Penny, our newish boxer pup. Not done. I did make one other post that I was planning on writing about my experience with the company 23andMe. I’d actually thought that I put it as a goal, but I guess I didn’t.

3. Touch up the paint in the bathroom. Done! It looks much better. I also painted the entrance and the stairway to the second floor. It all looks so good. Those two areas were especially dirty. I think the person in that unit (the house we bought is/was a triplex) had a couple really young children that would run their hands along the wall. Our kids are too tall to leave a trail where these prints were (and I carry the littlest one or walk with him holding the railing).

4. Stay up to date in the two Coursera courses I am taking. Done! It’s pretty insane, though, and I am starting another today to do with Liam. One of the ones I’m taking is a graduate level medical neuroscience class and it’s nearly a full time job itself. I’m probably doing 20 hours a week on just that one!

5. Get outside every sunny opportunity. Done! It really wasn’t sunny at all this week. We had a freezing cold picnic outside one day early in the week and then we walked to the mail once. That’s about it, though. It was rainy/snowy or cold all week.

6. Organize my spice cupboard. Done! Looks good. I may have room for a few more spices.

7. Clean up the computer a bit. Partially done. Honestly, it has been very partially done. I expect this to take about a month to get done in it’s entirety. Last week I cleared up the desktop, but that was by far the shortest job on the list.

This week’s goals

Writing

1. Blog about the movie This is Our Time. I will be having a giveaway for it so I hope you will check back for a chance to win.

2. Blog about Coursera.org, DIY.org, and KhanAcademy.org. We’re all loving these learn online opportunities. There are so many free sites out there for education. What a wonderful step in the right direction.

3. Participate in at least one meme/bloghop.

Health goals

1. Avoid gluten and cut down on sugar (yep, I eat too much sugar).

2. Make a grocery list full of yummy goodness to pick up next time we go. Ideally I would meal plan ahead for the whole next month, but yeah, I’m not sure that is going to happen.

3. Drink water. It still isn’t second nature and I think I spend way too much time walking around dehydrated.

Homeschooling Goals/Education

1. Keep up with my two Coursera courses.

2. Work on my paper for one of the classes. It makes me a little nervous as I haven’t written a paper in ages.

3. In addition, start my third Coursera course with Liam. He should probably have his own account. He will be doing the work and I think it will thrill him to get a certificate of completion from a university/college if he can get the work done.

4. Continue using Spanish for You. We have a review coming up soon and I’m not sure we’ve done quite enough to get a really good feel for it.

5. Help Morgaine keep her very own kefir and plants for the garden alive.

Household Chores

1. Clean walls in laundry room.

2. Clean refrigerator.

3. Scrub floors in kitchen/living room area.

4. Make sure the counter is cleared off every evening. I usually hop onto the computer to work on my courses after the kids are in bed, but it feels really good to come down to a clean kitchen in the morning. I think I’ll aim for 5 days out of 7 with a clean counter.

Please stop in and let us know what your plans for the week are. I’d love to stop by to say “hello!”

Would You Want to Know? ~ My 23andMe Experience

Posted on April 11, 2013 by Mama Manuscripts

Back in December, a friend posted on her facebook wall about a promotion that 23andMe was having. For those that do not know, 23andMe offers genetic testing for a wide variety conditions and carrier statuses, and throws in little tidbits about traits and information about ancestry, even allowing you to make contact with other potential relatives that have had testing done by 23andMe . I’ll admit that I’ve been fascinated with the idea of “knowing” since I first saw a consumer report on one our Canadian station high lighting a Canadian company that had started offering consultations and testing to individuals. At the time, testing was still quite expensive, but it got Mike and I talking about if we would want to know. Mike said, “definitely not,” but I was not quite so sure.

Flash forward a number of years, and here was a 99 dollar deal sitting right there on my facebook newsfeed. After nearly a year of mysterious symptoms, I felt quite justified impulsively purchasing a testing kit that very evening. I could say that I wanted to see if I was at risk for gynecological issues/cancers. I could say that I wanted to get a definite answer about Celiac Disease. However, what I was doing was praying that testing would ease my mind about my absolute worst fear – Alzheimer’s Disease.

Testing was quite simple. I was promptly sent a vial in which to spit. It took a couple days to get around to that as it needs to be done when the mouth is clean and my husband was too grossed out by the thought that I was sitting there in the next room spitting into a “spit catcher”. 23andMe provides a return shipment box. It couldn’t be easier. Spit, pop off spit catcher, seal vial, pop in specimen bag, seal, stick in box, register vial in your name, ship, and wait…..

and wait….

Apparently a lot of people took advantage of this 23andMe deal and instead of a waiting time of 2 weeks in took closer to 2 months to receive my report, that was delivered right here to my computer. I was quite impressed with the reports. They were easy to follow and provided extra information on conditions. Increased risks for developing a disease were highlighted in red and you were giving a percentage chance of developing the condition as well as the number of times more likely you are then the general public of getting it. Decreased risks were highlighted in green. Results to conditions that normal cause people more concern (Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, BRCA1 and BRCA2) and the were locked so that you could not see your results as soon as you logged into your account and had read additional information before you could see your results.

The carrier status information was pretty straight forward. Good information to have as we have children, but they only test the most common variations and there’s still a chance that you could be carrying a rarer version. I’m only a carrier for 2 of the 30 conditions that they test for. Nice to know that I have a fair chance of making healthy babies (though, those days are likely over).

I loved the information on traits. A lot to read and a lot were bang on. I was a little sad to see that that do not have a resistance to norovirus (stomach flu, and if you know me, you know my fear of that is nearly as great as my fear of Alzheimer’s…..actually, it may be greater). I secretly hoped that would be the case. I did learn that I likely have brown hair, have a high degree of pain tolerance, am more likely to sneeze when I look at the sun and cannot taste the bitter component in cabbage/brussel sprouts. There’s so much to read in this section that I have no done so, yet, and I’ve had my results for several weeks now. I look forward to taking more time at a later date to read it all.

The ancestry stuff is pretty cool, but I’m not really into that info and other sources say it isn’t that complete. I’m not into genealogy so it wasn’t a drawing point for me. I’ve had lots of potential relatives try to reach me, but I haven’t attempted to make contact with anyone.

As for Alzheimer’s and the rest of my health? I do have an increased risk of Alzheimer’s Disease. Double the risk actually. Do I feel bad to get that news? Not really. I always figured that there was a good possibility that I had a higher chance of developing it. Sure, I would have been relieved if my risk was lower than the general public, but now that I know that it isn’t, my intention is totally keep my mind sharp and use it well *lol*. My fear is that I’ll leave my family “stuck” taking care of me and that breaks my heart and I hope that is never the case, but if so, we’ll all be okay and while it won’t be something that I think of all the time it is on my radar and my hope that is that if I ever develop symptoms we can catch them early and deal with it as it comes. I’m sure people have conversations about such things as they age in a relationship anyways. What shocked me most was that I have a much high (5 times risk….a 1 in 3 chance) of developing macular degeneration. That’s something that would never have been on my radar. I know now to keep up with eye exams (which I am very neglectful of doing) and eat lots of vision friendly foods. At least for this condition there are medications that can be taken to help slow/prevent further deterioration if it does become an issue down the road. I also have an increased risk of psoriasis which is not surprising as I already develop this in reaction to the sun every spring/summer if I do not keep my elbows/arms hidden. There is something to this whole genetic thing after all. That being said, it isn’t something that at all says, “you are definitely going to get x, y, z” or “Congratulations! You are never going to get a, b, or c.” Genes are important, but there’s so much more that plays and part in sickness and health so I am very glad that I’ve taken the opportunity to have this testing done and I look forward to seeing what other developments that are made in this area of study over the years!

Apologia’s Ultimate Homeschool Planners ~ A Review

Posted on April 10, 2013 by Mama Manuscripts

Screen Shot 2012-12-31 at 2.50.33 PM When I was a teenager I was always happy to go back to school at the end of the summer. I loved my teachers and I loved my classes, but what I really enjoyed was the fact that we were supplied a brand new agenda at the beginning of the year. Oh, how I loved my agenda/day planner. I didn’t always use it, I wasn’t that organized of a person even back then, but I love the look and feel of a new book that was all mine to write in. I’ve even held on to my agenda’s from the last couple years of high school! As you can imagine, I was especially thrilled when I was chosen to review The Ultimate Homeschool Planner from Apologia as part of the Mosaic Reviews Team. Not only would I review the Planner for parents, my son would get The Ultimate Daily Planner for Students. We were both really excited one bitterly, bitterly cold morning when we went to get the mail and saw the package from Apologia waiting for us.

When we opened the envelope, we were immediately thrilled that we’d braved the Canadian cold, despite the fact that it had made my three year old cry. I loved the colours of the planner. I loved the feel of the cover. I loved the smell of the planner. Oh yes, it was love at first sight and I hadn’t even open it up yet! My son immediately took his planner upstairs and disappeared. He was over the moon to have such a tool for himself and only for him to use. I’m going to let him start with his review of Ultimate Daily Planner for Students.

I’d rate this planner as a 9.5 out of 10. The daily planner helps me a lot. I like how it has a daily (weekly) section and a monthly section! It also is handy that you can put in your own starting date so if you get it on February 10th or something you can start it then and not have to worry about skipping a 12th of the year or so. I also like how it comes with a ruler, stickers and a glow in the dark spiral part! Only thing I would have liked added is a notes section. I can use the Saturday/Sunday section for notes, but an actual notes section would be quite a bit better. I also find it handy that you’ve added an “about me” section at the beginning of the book. Very good book. I’m glad we got it!

Liam – Age 9

I think you can say it was a big hit with him. He forgot to mention it here, but he was disappointed that much of the trivia was American. He loves trivia and as a Canadian we have not studied American presidents and the such much. Obviously, this would be a plus for our American friends, but some general trivia for students not in America would have been fun, too!

As a Mum, I am thrilled that this planner got him thinking ahead and writing.

I don’t keep notes for my children’s homeschooling once they are able to do it for themselves and we’ve been trying to get Liam to consistently write what he’s done/what he plans on doing in a binder, so we have a record, for the last year or two. This daily planner has inspired him to finally do so and he has only missed writing in it once or twice since the day we got it. As we are pretty much unschoolers/laid back eclectic folk, I didn’t use it to plan with him, but it could be used this way and works in conjunction with The Ultimate Homeschool Planner. I couldn’t be happier with this planner. High quality and easy to use with lots of little extras to help out and make it special (how awesome is it that the spiral glows in the dark?).

I was equally happy with The Ultimate Homeschool Planner. While we don’t plan out homeschooling days, I find that I have to be extra planned in my household duties. I never really know what the kids are going to need from me in their studies/days and it is too easy to let the house fall apart if you aren’t organized. I don’t do well with chaos around me so staying on top of things is important. Therefore, I am glad that there are various way to organize this planner (by student, by day, by subject). This is what I chose to do:

I divided my day into categories (writing, housemaking, meal planning, Morgaine (to track her schoolwork as she isn’t writing well, yet), and other) and then scheduled in my goals accordingly. This worked well for me and helped keep me on track. I could see how this would be practical when actively teaching several children at once, in which case you could divide the planner into child/day or child/subject categories. Debra Bell gives several different suggestions in the beginning pages of the planner on ways to organize it.There are pages to plan your yearly goals for your children (both character and academic), monthly plan pages, Bible study pages, and much more. This is a well rounded planner that works well in my family and I can see it be a real benefit if we were busier especially. We’ve recently moved and have found ourselves short on activities, but I still appreciated the planner to help organize things around the house.

The Ultimate Homeschool Planner sells for 28.00$ US and the Ultimate Daily Planner for Students sells for19.00$ US on the Apologia website. Check back in a few days, when you will be able to see more reviews from my Mosaic Reviews team and be sure to visit Apologia to see more about these planners and the other wonderful Christian curriculum and resources that they sell!

Goal Planning Monday ~ April 8th, 2012

Posted on April 8, 2013 by Mama Manuscripts

Welcome to Goal Planning Monday!

I’m sorry I missed out on posting last week. My husband was still in town so we spent the morning running errands and then he left that afternoon. It’s been a harder week for me just because I miss him and I miss our old community a lot. It is really isolating here and we really do not see anyone the whole time Mike is away. I spent more time crying last week than feeling like writing, but I am back now.

Since I didn’t have any goals last week, I’ll just post my goals for this coming week.

1. Make a image introduction to this meme. I’ve heard that google takes it as spam if you repeat the same things over and over in your blog and I’ve been going it for years. I’m not expecting to be ranked great on google, but I know that I can get more people directed to this blog than my old ones!

2. Make a blog post about Penny, our newish boxer pup.

3. Touch up the paint in the bathroom. I painted over the weekend, but it needs a little bit of extra work.

4. Stay up to date in the two Coursera courses I am taking. I also want to try to make a blog post about Coursera as well. It is a wonderful tool.

5. Get outside every sunny opportunity. I think the winter is getting me down and I need to soak up some sun! The temperature warms up enough to sit out on the deck with a book and a blanket while the kids play. Unfortunately, I think it is going to be a pretty wet week.

6. Organize my spice cupboard. I didn’t get it done last time and I am running low on certain things and would love to make an Epicure order by the end of the month.

7. Clean up the computer a bit. This will likely take place over a couple of weeks. I have so many resources that aren’t organized whatsoever. I also have a lot of stuff that is no good as is just taking up room. It would be nice to have an organized computer because I’m sure we’d find good things that I’ve downloaded years ago and have forgotten about.

Please stop in and let us know what your plans for the week are. Are you looking at organizing the next school year? Doing spring cleaning? We’d love to hear about it!

Roma Downey’s Little Angels ~ Review and Giveaway

Posted on April 2, 2013 by Mama Manuscripts

As a teenager, I always looked forward to watching Touched by Angel. It premiered the year that my mother died and the story lines touched me and made me feel all kinds of emotions that I locked away deep inside. It was a great comfort to me, so I jumped on the oportunity to review a book written by series’ star Roma Downey. Roma Downey collaborated with Illustrator Lisa Reed to publish a book of prayers for the youngest child that focuses on the common occurrences and emotions that appear in a typical child’s day. This beautifully illustrated board is a welcomed addition to our collection, and my 3 year old strongly approves of it. It has quickly become a favorite of ours. I’m giving away a copy of this book so that one of my readers will be able to enjoy it as well. This little board book will be able to be passed on from child to child to enjoy as it is very nicely made. For more information check out the following links and be sure to follow the guidelines below for your chance to win!

Website: http://www.idealsbooks.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IdealsBooks

Twitter: https://twitter.com/RealRomaDowney

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0k6mqA8jAo

For a chance to win, please leave a comment below just letting me know (how easy is that?).

Addition entries (please leave a comment for each).

1) Like Mama Manuscripts on facebook and tell me about it.

2) Follow @mamamanuscripts on twitter and tell me your twitter ID so I can follow you.

3) Tweet/retweet about this giveaway and let me know.

4) Blog about this contest and give me your link (3 entries) – Don’t forget to comment 3 times for this one!

Comments will close Monday, April 8th, 2013 and a winner will be selected at random.

Goal Planning Monday ~ March 25th, 2013

Posted on March 25, 2013 by Mama Manuscripts

Welcome to Goal Planning Monday!

I did not get very much at all accomplishes last week because I had no idea how much time a new puppy would take up in my life. She’s a sweetie, but she’s a fair bit of work as well. I’ll get into a better schedule with her at some point, I’m sure, but we are still getting know each others routine.

Last week’s goals

Writing Goals.

1. Write article for Homeschool Horizons. Not done. Sadly, due to financial reasons Homeschool Horizons will no longer be publishing. You can read their goodbye here.

2. Participate in the two bloghop/memes I mention above. Not done. I just didn’t have time.

3. Write something else on my blog, even if it isn’t homeschool related. Not done. I made a preview post of an upcoming review, but that barely counts.

4. Write some just for fun. Not done.

Household/Homeschooling Duties.

1. Help Morgaine with subtraction. Not done. We are going back to basics AGAIN!

2. Do the next chapter of Nutrition 101 with Liam. Done. This is enjoyable.

3. Help Penny, our boxer, who is arriving in a couple hours, adjust to our family and home rules. Done. She is doing pretty well. We spend a lot of time outside as she doesn’t cue when she needs to pee, but we’re working on it. She’s a totally sweetie.

4. Clean/organize the spice cupboard. Not done.

Health goals

1. Drink water. Not done.

2. Exercise. Not done.

3. Research meat providers here in New Brunswick. Not done.

Other goals

1. Keep up with my Coursera course that starts at some point today. Done.

2. Continue to do my HTML/CSS book with exercise. Not done. Didn’t even try. It is fun, but my server is unreliable and sometimes slow so there have been a couple times when I was free that I wanted to work on it, but couldn’t.

3. No yelling. Partially done. Better than previous weeks, but not to where I want to be – no yelling. I’m going to use this blog post as inspiration.

I’ll come back with goals for the week. My husband just arrived for the week so we are catching up!

I hope that you will drop in and let us know what your goals for the week are as we could all use a little accountability.

The American Bible Challenge – Season Two

Posted on March 21, 2013 by Mama Manuscripts

Last year I was able to tell you about the first season of The American Bible Challenge. Well, it is back! This trivia show hosted by Jeff Foxworthy where contestants test their Bible knowledge to win money for the charity of their choice was a hit. In fact it was the the highest rated show on the GSN in history with 2.3 million viewers. I was not able to watch it myself as we do not have cable, but I do know that this would be a show that would interest my whole family, especially my 10 year old son who takes his Bible knowledge very seriously and absolutely adores trivia. I am so glad that it has been brought back for another season (and hope that maybe I can find a television this year to check it out!)

To find out more, visit the links below and be sure to check back in a couple weeks time when I have more goodies to share from The American Bible Challenge.

SEASON 2 PREVIEW LINK: CLICK HERE

Website: http://gsntv.com/shows/the-american-bible-challenge/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theamericanbiblechallenge?fref=ts
Twitter: https://twitter.com/GSN_Bible
GodTube: http://www.godtube.com/watch/?v=WKL667NX

Be sure to tune in on Thursdays, starting March 21st for the new season!

Goal Planning Monday ~ March 18th, 2013

Posted on March 18, 2013 by Mama Manuscripts

Welcome to Goal Planning Monday!

I made a lot of goals for this pass week and I didn’t really accomplish as much as I thought I would be able to do. I still did a fair bit, but feel that I should have been able to do more considering that I’ve been feeling well and besides a couple days where Morgaine decided it would be good to be very dramatic about EVERYTHING, the week was pretty smooth. Oh well, it’s a new week now, and I’ll work on getting the things done that I didn’t get finished.

Writing Goals:

1. Write guest post for Homeschool Mosaics. Partially done. There’s a little bit to add and some editing to do, but it will be finished today or tomorrow.

2. Write article for Homeschool Horizons. Not done. I think I have homeschool writing burnout. I don’t know. I’m feeling like I can’t add anything new or particularly interesting. I think I want to be writing fiction. I’ve been writing homeschooling stuff for years and it gets a little, I don’t know, repetitive after a while. I’ll continue to try to write something of quality.

3. Participate in Think Back Thursday and Friday’s Fave Five. Done.

4. Write at least one post here that isn’t a meme/bloghop. Not done. I’ve started several things, but haven’t really felt any of them. They are all homeschool related and like I said, homeschool burn out or something going on here.

Health Goals:

1. Drink water. Not done. Did horrible with this. I’ve hardly drunk anything beside coffee and only that in the morning so I just don’t drink most of the day. I do have a glass of kefir as well, but it’s not near enough fluids.

2. Avoid gluten at all costs. Done. Feel pretty good. Will keep it up.

3. Do something active with the kiddies. Done. I exercised with Ruadhan one evening (he’s a good partner because he wants to keep going and going and going.. We dances around some and played an active game of Real Life Angry Bird last night.

4. Keep up with my remedies. Not done. They don’t really seem necessary. They aren’t bad, though, and a part of good nutrition so I probably should.

5. Nourish my kefir babies. Done. They are still thriving.

Other goals:

1. Seal the bathtub. Done.

2. Establish a new routine for chores. Done. I’m getting much more help with little complaint. Thank goodness.

3. Make sure the kids roll their dice for school. Partially done. Liam have been keep up and going above and beyond. I spent more of the week dealing with Morgaine’s behaviour so besides reading and writing she did not get a lot of actual school done. It was, I hope, well worth it, because by the end of the week things were running much smoother with her.

4. Use my planner. Done. I don’t need it all that much right now that we really don’t have anything going on, but I still like it very much and could have used it last fall when every day was booked!

Actually looking at it, I think I had a pretty decent week after all!

This week’s goals

Writing Goals.

1. Write article for Homeschool Horizons. It shouldn’t be as hard as I am making it.

2. Participate in the two bloghop/memes I mention above. I quite like both.

3. Write something else on my blog, even if it isn’t homeschool related. I have an idea and it involves food, but it may have to wait until the weekend because we are low on certain foods that would be needed.

4. Write some just for fun. That’s probably what I need.

Household/Homeschooling Duties

1. Help Morgaine with subtraction. She’s caught the tricks for addition, but hasn’t been able to apply them to subtraction and I’ll admit that I find it a little frustration, because if Liam didn’t see the patterns on his own, he got them the first time you showed him. We’ve been looking at subtraction on and off for three weeks and she still doesn’t quite get it. I’m going to get her to do some drawing and see if having her make the examples will help.

2. Do the next chapter of Nutrition 101 with Liam.

3. Help Penny, our boxer, who is arriving in a couple hours, adjust to our family and home rules. I’ve been researching and talking to the kids about her and what I expect from them. Now, we just have to see what kind of personality she has.

4. Clean/organize the spice cupboard. Seems the children have spilled cinnamon in there and it could use a good organization anyways. It’s not terribly functional as it is.

Health goals

1. Drink water. Lots of water. I can tell I need it.

2. Exercise. I need to keep it up. My goal is to be able to run on the trails behind our house with Penny this summer. I’m not there, yet.

3. Research meat providers here in New Brunswick. It would be nice to be able to get pastured pigs/chicken/eggs. Look at Sobeys to see if I can get my organic lamb (I miss it!) and liver (which I am craving).

Other goals

1. Keep up with my Coursera course that starts at some point today.

2. Continue to do my HTML/CSS book with exercise. It is fun, but my server is unreliable and sometimes slow so there have been a couple times when I was free that I wanted to work on it, but couldn’t.

3. No yelling. I try, and do okay, but I do yell (and there’s really no need besides my frustration) and am sometimes more critical than I should be. *sigh* This parenting thing is not easy.

That’s about it for the week. I hope that you will drop in and let us know what your goals for the week are as we could all use a little accountability.

Friday Fave Five ~ March 15th, 2013

Posted on March 15, 2013 by Mama Manuscripts

I’m linking up to the Friday Fave Five meme over at Living to Tell the Story. If you have five blessings to share from your week I encourage you to link up, too. It always makes me feel better at the end of a more challenging (in a non horrible, just chaotic, kind of way) to look back at the little things that brought moments of peace or happiness that were much needed.

1. A couple days of warmth and sunshine. We’d had nearly two weeks of overcast skies so the sun was very, very welcome. We spent a better part of yesterday afternoon outside and I think it did us all some good. The skies are bright and clear this morning as well. I am looking forward to spring and opening up windows, but we aren’t quite there, yet. It won’t be very long, though!

2. Pi Day. Yes. I let my nerd side show and we made a Pi pie to celebrate the day.

It was gluten free and everything so I could enjoy it with the family! Morgaine also did some crafty Pi art and Liam pointed out that we were having leftover shepherd’s pie for lunch (totally unintentional).

3. Sharing photos of our various projects together on Skype. Mike and I have talked more on Skype chat this week than we do when we are together (okay, not really, but I am thankful for Skype), because we can share in little bits through the day and not not just in the evening when Mike gets home and we are all tired and just end up sitting in front of Netflix. I’ve been sharing photos of my cooking and he’s been sharing websites that he is working on.

4. My cauliflower pizza crust that turned out beautifully. Ruadhán and I quite enjoyed sharing it and I am inspired to use the recipe to make cauliflower lasagna noodles when Mike comes. He’s been warned.

5. Kefir. I enjoy a wine glass or two of my kefir everyday and for some reason, these ones are even better than the ones I had at the old house. Such a nice bubbly little drink with awesome health benefits as well.

Cheers. I hope you have a great week, filled with abundance little blessings and moments of happiness.