Kelly of WAHMTalkRadio has been blogging over at WAHM 2.0 on the Sparkplugging blog network. I didn’t read Sparkplugging very much before the name change (the site was previously emomsathome) but with all the news about the name change, I’m a reader now. Of course I read the Craft Boom blog too.

Kelly posted a Blog Reader Challenge and one of the questions is:

How often do you like to change the look of your blog?

Once I find a theme I like, I tend to stick with it for quite a long while. The problem I have is the code and being able to do the technical work by myself. I have a test blog that is loaded with all the free themes I like to use, then once I decide on one I’ll tweak it until I am satisfied. Of course considering I’ve been working on tweaking a theme for a few months now, I know it’s easier on me to find someone else to do a theme for me.

The current theme I have was done by Shannon at PHAT Mommy Designs. I don’t think she is taking any clients at this time, but I love what she did. I sent her a photo from istockphotos and told her what I wanted, and that was that! She also did the theme I am using over at my weight loss blog. I love that theme, I can see myself using that for a long time. When I was pregnant last year, Shannon changed the header to say “gaining” - it was a cute header and she did it very quickly.

The theme at my craft podcast was tweaked by FreshNets. I really love the magazine style theme for that site. I was walked through the customization and was also taught how to tweak various things on the blog. I love how easy it was to learn and how comfortable I feel making changes. I won’t be changing that theme any time soon!

I’ve been working on changing a free theme for this blog for a few months now. It’s the polaroid theme - yep, the very popular polaroid theme. The one that once I had been tweaking it for a month or so, I was seeing everywhere. It’s like when you like a certain kind of car or a friend gets pregnant - suddenly everyone is pregnant and driving that car! I stopped tweaking that theme and am going to look for a designer to work with soon.

We got home last night after driving almost 1600 miles over three days. The kids and I left Saturday to start the drive since we figured it would take longer with four kids. We drove for eight hours that day, then another seven on Sunday, before we got to the town we were meeting my brother. Oh - I’ve had two of my nephews since we moved to TX and this was when we gave them back.

My brother figured we would meet about halfway - he drove through Wyoming and Colorado while I drove through Texas. Yeah, this is a huge state. He went farther then I did though so his halfway was off a bit. Yesterday my kids and I made it home in one day - we didn’t stop as often as the other two days and I was so glad to get home.

I have a lot to do now - other then the standard cleaning up and laundry, we have two birthdays coming up, Chris is traveling for his job, homeschool starting and we still need to finish unpacking and putting the house together. I’m hoping to get a lot done while Chris is gone - I’d like the rooms finished and pictures hung up. But for now, let’s start with today.

photo credit: bobu

I love working with polymer clay. I’ve made mostly beads and my kids have made various sculptures. They have a good time playing with clay since it’s easily manipulated and changed into something else. I have several projects on my mind for when we are fully unpacked for them to create. But to keep us in polymer clay happiness I bought a couple of adorable birds from etsy.

First, when a package comes with a drawing it makes me want to save the envelope. I don’t draw nearly as well as so many others! And the drawing - just like the bids I bought!

They came in a box with a flower on top

and with a tag with another flower

But on to the birds!

Meet JooJoo and MooJoo - and this time around, BooJoo is traveling with them. I like to imagine BooJoo as that little cousin who had to follow you around when you were a teenager. You know, the one that tagged along when you went to the movies or to see friends or just left the house.

I love these sculptures. They are adorable, fun to look at and my kids have already made up a handful of stories about them.

Oh and rather then throw away the envelope I cut it apart and put the drawing on the fridge.

Well we are here in Texas. I know I need to write about leaving Montana and the drive down - and hey, I do have lots of state sign pictures to share! - and I will. But today I’m thinking about homeschooling. As in yes we are still going to do so and being in a new state, I have some searching to do.

I wasn’t planning on continuing to homeschool. I looked up the public schools here and figured it was okay to send the kids. Alice (2nd grade this fall) went to school for a couple of days to my Aunt’s class, back in South Dakota, and loved it. Jake went with her, sure he’s only four but since he can read and write my Aunt figured second grade would be a piece of cake for him. They both loved school - and I think if we lived at home, I wouldn’t hesitate to send them. I know everyone there, the families, the teachers. So yeah, I was planning on sending them to school.

Until we got here and realized we wouldn’t be here through the entire school year. And military kids transfer schools over and over again, and make new friends everywhere they go, and start over at school a lot. But Alice is barely going to be 7 and I don’t look forward to that kind of lifestyle for her. I’d rather she remember our neighbors and friends, the people at the library and her Dad’s coworkers kids - vs the kids she was in school with for a couple/few months. Jake will just now be 5! I don’t want his entire educational career to be a move from school to school to school. Plus I didn’t look forward to having to add transferring schools to the list of things to do while moving.

So we will homeschool again. I’ve gone from thinking we have to get Alice tested to enter public school to searching through my boxes to find what homeschooling supplies we have, researching Texas laws/rules and looking for just a couple more homeschooling blogs to read. Do you have any recommendations? So far here are the ones on my list - and it’s a short list so really - recommend please!

• Mother Crone’s Homeschool - her children are older then mine and she’s been homeschooling for years, I appreciate her wisdom
• A Typical Life blog - I also follow Andrea on twitter and embarrassingly just this weekend realized her husband writes a homeschool blog on another blog A Typical Homeschool
• Handmade Homeschool ~ I just like reading this one

Listed edited to add a few more I found in my blog reader!

• Dr Mommy Homeschool Tips
• Mom Is Teaching - Summer isn’t authoring anymore, but great read - and check out the blogroll for more blogs
• Relaxed Homeschooling

I am looking for more and I like a variety of things from a homeschool blog - ideas, tips, words of wisdom. I have a couple of others on my list but I just found them so it’ll take a bit for me to decide if they are permanent fixtures on my list.

And if only my bookcase looked as organized as the picture! As it is, we have almost three bookcases worth of books crammed into two bookcases. We’d like to buy a couple more but are having a time finding any.

photo credit: Darren and Brad