A few weeks ago via the homeschooling on twittermoms message board I found out about mini offices.

Here is Alice’s - months and days of the week, shapes, weather, money, fractions (I’m going to take the number chart off, she doesn’t really need that), math symbols and place value. It’s fairly basic and I want to add to it and make a harder one. I figure this one can be a review for when she needs a quick reminder.

I also have plans to make her a science folder but I think I’m going to have my Aunt send me details of what to put on it - she’s an elementary school teacher and the kids were in her class for a couple of days this past spring. They loved being there so I figure she can help me with that part of it.

Jake’s has a few of the same things - the weather, months, shapes, money. He said his is up in his bedroom on the shelf though and didn’t want pictures taken of it just yet.

There are a lot of resources out there but I mainly used the following:

• Mini Office on Squidoo
• Mini Office at Teaching Heart
• Lapbook Corner - TONS of links in this post leading to other mini office sites
• Busy Teachers Cafe

I joined the Blue Star Families for Obama online group to show that as a military wife, I am for Sen. Obama in this election. Check out the website at www.bsf4o.com to get the facts and learn more.

I have had a few friends text me over the past few days (I think it was just leading up to the debate that was last night) talking about Sen McCain and Sen Obama’s policies and where they stand. One of the things that was said was along the lines of “isn’t everyone in the military for Sen McCain?” - to which I said no that’s not true, here’s why and here is a website you can visit for more information. My friends are not surprised as to who I am voting for, I am not a one issue (or even just a few issues) voter, never have been and plan on never being. I think as a voter you need to look at many issues and do the research and vote for the candidate that best supports you. Thanks to absentee voting, I voted already - I hope you get out there and vote too.

Have you heard of HouseParty.com? I heard about it a couple of months ago from a friend, Petite Mommy on twitter. I think she was asking if anyone had hosted a party for them before. I signed up then and browsed the parties, there weren’t many to pick from but I signed up to host a Saturn house party when it became available. The plan is to watch the new show Real Simple Real Life, play a few games and give out a few prizes.

Then a couple of days ago I got a call from Saturn asking if I wanted a car to drive for a few days. Would I! Yes please! This afternoon Chris took the kids and I to pick up the car.

Can you see the kids in the back?

We got a Saturn Vue from Saturn of Corpus Christi. It is a 2008 with low mileage and is a really great ride. It has a moon (sun? what is the difference?) roof, seats that fold flat, OnStar, and a bunch of great tweaks like if you are in the backseat you can push a button and the cup holders magically appear (it’s magic to a five year old anyway), airbags all the way around (six total), xm radio, awesome cooling system and more.

Considering my car has been acting like a toddler that needs a nap, driving this car is so awesome! We have the car until Saturday and have already shown a few neighbors! Everyone coming to the party this weekend will also see it and of course whoever else we run into over the next few days.

Sidenote: Alice and Jake knew we had to go to the Saturn dealership right, except Alice kept insisting we had to go to Mars to get a car.

Check out my flickr account to see bigger pictures of the car. More to come!

Ten years ago Matthew Shepard died.

For those that don’t know of him, Matthew was a young gay man beaten to death and left to die, tied to a fence in Laramie Wyoming. He was found by a couple hiking, they first mistook him for a scarecrow, and Laramie was thrust into the national news because hate crimes didn’t happen in small town America.

But really, hate crimes happen everywhere.

I had just moved to Laramie that fall to attend the Univ of Wyoming. I had a really hard time adjusting to life away from home and from my family, and thanks to my Mom calling the Minority Affairs Office and asking what resources they had available, I didn’t leave after the first class I attended. I was very, very tempted to! But instead I met other minority students and slowly started feeling comfortable. I made friends and got involved in the American Indian club and the United Multicultural Council. Having always been one to be involved, that made me feel a lot better. I thrived when I was busy with things to do.

And when Matthew died our worlds were thrown into chaos. The UMC and all the other clubs on campus wanted to help in any way we could, help people understand this was not okay, at all. It was especially hard for one of our close friends, an adviser to one of the groups on campus (or she became one anyway) because she worked with a girl who was dating one of the men involved with the crime. But we all wanted to help and show that hate is not okay, that being gay is not a crime. UMC made arm bands - yellow material with green circles painted on them. We bought up or the stores donated all the yellow material in town. We made thousands of arm bands I’m sure, they were passed out all over campus and town. National news stations crawled all over town and set up in the middle of campus. It was a hard time then. We also had protesters come to campus, you’ve heard of the ‘church’ that goes around protesting just about anything and everything, it was them. But the LGBT group on campus made huge angel wings and volunteers stood so the protesters were blocked. It was sickening to see a four year old carrying a sign saying such disgusting things. But the volunteers still stood, the entire time they were there.

I went home that weekend Matthew was found, he was found on a Friday and died on Monday, and couldn’t wrap my head around the idea of what happened. I couldn’t believe that he was killed for being gay, for being who he is as a person. It was a hate crime and brought national attention to an issue that happens everywhere. I remember a couple of family members asking if I felt safe being there.

There were speeches, rallies, and vigils held in those days and weeks. We all struggled to understand why it could have happened. Speeches and rallies happened again when the trial started as that was held in Laramie and again a year after Matthew died. I was president of UMC then and we held a small gathering on the pasture in the middle of campus. I had a hard time finalizing the speech I was supposed to give and had a few friends read it that morning, and I added a few things.

I spoke of tolerance and how we need to not tolerate a person but accept them for who they are. I remember a friend saying “you tolerate a headache, and you take an aspirin to make it go away, how it it okay to tolerate a person?” and I agree. It may be hard to accept a person for who they are, for many reasons, but that is the only way for hate to go away. A few of us spoke that day, and I was second or third to speak. I was so nervous I didn’t remember anyone clapping, but after I talked I stood by a friend who hugged me right when I got to him. Later on he said didn’t I realize that the person who spoke before me talked of tolerance, but after I talked of acceptance people clapped and the other speakers stumbled over their words because they were prepared to talk about tolerance. It is a powerful thing to accept people for who they are because whatever God you believe in, that person was created to be who they are for a reason.

Matthew Shepard Wikipedia page

Newsweek Interview with Jim Osborn, then the group leader of the LGBT on campus and now he works for UW

I have a book of poetry written by people in remembrance of Matthew, I read it once in a while. I have a wide variety of friends and reading the book reminds me there is still work to be done. I’ve stopped talking politics online, well in one spot, because I am flat out disgusted at the turn the campaign has taken. I cannot imagine supporting a man who allows people at his rallies to shout hateful terms, who allows his supporters to spew lies about his opponent and to spread racist ideas. That his supporters who are educated and knowledgeable about what he believes in are not standing up and saying we do not agree with this is amazing to me. I’ve rarely not stood up and said what I believe in or what I feel is the right thing, I defend my beliefs though I am in the minority given my husbands job. And if people really believe what I’ve been seeing in various videos online, it is a sad day, again, in our country.

I often ask people to think of their children - if your child came to you and said Mom/Dad, I’m gay - would you not love them? If they said they loved a person of another race, would you not love them? And if your answer is no I wouldn’t love them because I don’t agree, it’s probably time you look inside and think of how you are raising your child. We often think oh that is someone elses child, someone elses brother, someone elses problem - and thinking about the issue and someone we love is hard. But life isn’t meant to be completely easy. Love should be given to your children unconditionally, and everyone out there is someone’s child.

~ The kids have friends who come knocking on the door. That makes me so happy! I don’t even know why. But they come to see if the kids can play outside and are so cute.

~ Funny how a trip to get an oil change and to stop at the craft store to spend a gift card can turn into oil change, craft store, toy store, eating out, and three other stores. We didn’t get home until just after 10 last night. I stayed up to fold more laundry though. LOL We did find a couple of stocking stuffer gifts for the kids and I got resin at the craft store. I’m going to try making some jewelry later today, hopefully it will work!

~ Happy Birthday to one of my best pals Michelle! I’m not even sure she reads my blog, I’m going to email her so she will see my shoutout.

~ NKOTB in five days!!

~ This week is going to fly by because I have so much to do next weekend: Thursday night is the NKOTB concert, Friday night we are having people over, Saturday is the SpouseBuzz Live event in San Antonio (still not 100% sure I’m going to be able to go!), Saturday and Sunday are also Maker Faire in Austin (also not sure I can go!). I hate being so close and not being able to attend either of these events! There was a chance I would buy tickets to the NKOTB concert on Friday night, rescheduling our Friday night get together, but I can’t get good seats for that night and I already have good ones for Thursday. And I have friends lined up to watch Jake for me too, Alice is going to the concert with me and we are staying overnight. Oh I need to make our hotel reservation!

~ In a perfect world I would have Friday night tickets, stay overnight in San Antonio for SBL, and then go home that night. Sunday wake up and take the kids to Maker Faire. I’d then spend the next week resting from running all over in a short time. LOL

~ I have a lot going on and have been loving my todoodlist. I’m surprised at that because I figured just writing a list was good enough - just a slight change makes it work a little better. I was keeping lists all over the place - my tasks list and memos on the blackberry (which I still love and am so happy to have!), a notebook I carry with me, I even found a couple in the voice recorder (also on the bb) that I totally forgot about.

~ I hesitate to complain about Chris’ work stuff but dang we haven’t been getting paid right for months! It’s getting frustrating and I can only hope it gets fixed soon. We’ve never had pay issues before, though know a lot who have, and I can finally understand why they are so upset when they talk about it. What seems like it should be an easy fix just never is! I just read over on the spouse buzz blog a quote that made me feel so much better! I’m going to think that from now on - “Somehow, never in history, has anyone moved from enlisted to officer” “Somehow, never in history, has someone traveled for their job” - check out the blog for the context. It does make me feel better.

The past couple of weeks have been flat out awesome for us. I am chalking it up to the massive amounts of fresh air and sunlight.

Photo by: jonl

hey, this is close to where we live

We’ve been spending the afternoons outside - the kids made fast friends with the neighbor kids and I met another neighbor. The kids and the neighbor boys are so cute together! Jake and one of them are the same age - the little boy has come over every day after he gets out of school to see if the kids can come outside, we are either already out or on our way. They ride scooters up and down the street or play tag. Last night we met another neighbor, the family has daughters, one the same age as Alice. So it seems they are sort of, kind of good here. I mean we all need friends right - and though the kids get along so great, I’m starting to be happier being here.

Not that my craft room is finished - or when I wanted to paint tshirts yesterday we had everything - and it stinks that Chris gets a one day weekend when, since it’s a holiday, so many others have a three day weekend. We are heading over to get an oil change later today and a quick stop at the craft store. I want to make jewelry for the NKOTB concert Alice and I are going to in just a few days. (YAY!!!)

Last week was awesome. We really had a great week! There was little fighting between the kids and every day went smoothly. I love when everything falls into place.

We had a couple of events for Chris’ job that I was glad to attend since it meant meeting other wives on the ship. The officer section on a ship is called the wardroom, one of the events held regularly is called a hail/farewell. That is when someone new is ‘hailed’ (welcomed aboard) and ‘farewell’ed’ (said bye to). There are usually gift, sometimes gag, sometimes not gag, and everyone takes turns saying a few words. We went to a h/f last week and then a BBQ for a new guy that was held at his house. He’s actually not new to the ship but has been promoted and maybe shouldn’t be called “a guy” but we’ll let that go.

Turns out there are just a few wives on the ship, in the wardroom I mean, and that is taking some getting used to. I’m used to a ton of women around! But we’ll be fine. We are planning on getting together, I have a couple of the email addresses and do need to get the others - oh and figure out what to do!

One of the other wives, who just lives right around the corner from us, scrapbooks though! I need to get the craft room done (98% or so done - 2%’ish to go!) so we can hang out. I have a few projects I need to work on and just enjoy crafting with someone.

Today has been a good start to the week too - the kids packed a lot into their day and the energy kids have will probably always amaze me. We made pumpkins last night and more today, here is the pumpkin craft page.

We don’t have many Halloween decorations so are making a few to hang around the house. Guess my ‘trick or treat’ sign just isn’t going to cut it this year.

This week we don’t have nearly as many events to attend, and I’ve been able to unpack more so I finally feel like we are settling in here.