Pray For Jenny

Jenny woke up last night feeling terrible. She thinks she has the flu. She asked that I pray HARD, not just a little prayer. We need her in good health so she can get ready for our trip and so she can enjoy our vacation.

PLEASE PRAY... HARD.

It works!

I took the phone out of the rice, spent a few minutes getting the rice out of every nook and cranny, put in the battery and it powered up!!! I made a phone call (to my house) to check it out and it seems to be fine (for now).

If your phone ever "comes in contact with liquid" see this link. I think it should work for just about any phone model.

Treo in the Toilet

Don't laugh! I dropped my phone in the toilet yesterday. According to a forum called "I dropped my Treo in the toilet" I should wash it in distilled water and put it in a bag with rice.

So it's in the rice right now. PRAY!

Ramona Elementary's newest student

After reading a math problem that stated: Megan read 12 books a week for 8 weeks. How many books did she read?, 6th grade teacher Bob Matulich wished aloud that he could have a student like Megan.

As the weeks went on this imaginary Megan grew more and more real and more and more hated by the kids in his class. Bob knew there was only one thing to do... get a Megan in his class.

After learning her lines, Chandler presented herself to his class as Megan Chandler.

The kids were immediately blown away at the "coincidence". After asking a bit about herself, "Megan" said, yes, she did in fact love to read. Once during the 8 week summer, she read 12 books a week, and not baby books either... Harry Potter, Chronicles of Narnia...

On to math. Just to see where she placed, Mr. Matulich asked, "What is the greatest common factor of 64 and 192?"

Without hesitation, "64." Several "no way's" from the class and "another one".

What is 4 to the 5th power? Slight hesitation and some thinking, "1024".

The class went wild!

Then they moved onto writing dialogue for an upcoming play. Chandler, err Megan, quoted Shakespeare and Joyce Kilmer, threw in some big words that caused the kids to reach for their word bank book of words they don't know.

For some reason, she was called out of class at that point. I think it was because she ran out of lines!

I think the students were very impressed and now have at least an imaginary role model.

Now we have to get back to REAL school! Sorry Chandler, I'm not feeding you the answers first this time.

Elf - this Tueday

Our next movie of the week is Elf.

We will be watching it Tuesday at 6:30.

Anyone who wants to come is welcome!!!, but email me or post a comment to let me know you are coming. I have more information to give you that I don't want to broadcast on my blog!!

It really is Fall!!!!

Tonight the girls were raking the leaves and my dad couldn't resist getting a picture. Look how cool they turned out!

Putting the "school" back in Homeschool

I know some of you (dt) think we lay around in our pj's all day and go to Disneyland when we actually get dressed (around 11:00), but we actually DO do school!

Yesterday we dissected a flower. I thought it was really cool; I never realized all the intricacies that the mere layman can appreciate.

Unfortunately, science is where I feel I fall down as a teacher. I know enough to teach what's in the book, and maybe a little more, but when the questions come, I answer, "I don't know" more often than I'd like. This is why I'm trying to do science classes with them... or get someone knowledgeable in the field of biology to spend an hour a week with us... or... keep learning right along with them.

Anyways, here are some pics. I'm not sure what all we are looking at here, but it was cool to discover all those parts!

Operation Christmas Child

I am very proud of Regan. She took the $10 Darrenn gave the middle schoolers and decided to make shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child. However each box cost around $30, so her $10 wasn't going to quite make it. She decided to post about it on the Revolution website and managed to collect over $120! After adding in her $10 and deducting the $7 per box shipping fees, she filled 4 boxes!!

I'm very proud that she took the initiative, contacted her donors, collected the money, shopped for all the stuff at two different stores, and filled the boxes. She is dropping them off right now with my sister.

What a girl!
Here is all the stuff - before being packaged.


Here is Regan, barely able to carry the boxes. Thanks to all who donated!!!!

Rome, Florence & Venice: 9 Nights & Air

I subscribe to Travel Zoo mostly just to torture myself with their great deals.

So I got this special in my email today: $899 -- Rome, Florence & Venice: 9 nights & Air

I want to cry!!! SOMEONE BOOK THIS, and tell me how amazing it was, and how I missed out on so much, and how sorry I should be that I didn't go, and how if my husband really loved me...

Apple-picking - sorta

On Monday, Chandler's Campfire group headed off to Oak Glen, ostensibly to pick apples. But we were told the day before that the apple-picking season was over. So we headed off anyways to see what we could find to do!


We started off with breakfast and then to a petting zoo next door. These girls really love animals, so they spent a ton of time feeding the goats and pigs and sheep. Then we spent some time getting the poop off our shoes!



They had a lot of fun feeding the cow by placing the corn on the fence and then she would lick it off with her green tongue.


We headed off to Riley's Farm after that. It is by far the biggest in the area. They had a lot of tours and activities going on, but no apples!

We found this area out back where you could play with the kind of toys kids might have played with 100 years ago. Regan was actually a natural at getting the hoop to roll with a stick.


Nearby we noticed the tomahawk throwing. Chandler instantly wanted to do it, but Regan and her friend Julia were afraid they'd chop off their own heads. I was a little more worried about their aim and my own head!




We finished the day with an old-fashioned hay ride and learned some of the history of Oak Glen. It really was a nice day!

Of course one of the best parts was enjoying real fall color! What a beautiful place.

Next Christmas Movie

O.K. Because I made the Bambricks watch A Christmas Story last week, we will be watching their pick this week. Rick is very enthused about A Christmas Carol with Patrick Stewart.

So the plan is to watch this one on Wednesday at 6:30 at our house. Anyone who wants to join us is WELCOME to come! We'll have coffee and hot chocolate. It should be lots of fun.

For next week however, it's our pick again... I'm so appreciative of all your suggestions, but one really stood out... Elf.

So next week I'll announce the date and time for Elf. We may not always do a Wednesday, perhaps a Thursday or Friday. Or we might really party and do it on a Saturday!

I hope to see all of you this Wednesday at my house for A Christmas Carol!

Two Important Questions

I am pondering a few things...

I would love you answers to the following questions:

1. What are the biggest problems in the world?

2. What does Jesus have to say about these global problems?

Very curious to see what you have to say!

The Christmas Season Has Officially Begun!

Chandler had a great idea about having a weekly Christmas Movie Night. So tonight was our first go at it. Since it was decided very last minute, I made a quick call to the Bambricks, who were also planning an at-home Friday night, and the deal was sealed.

Chandler really wanted to start with this, the best of all Christmas movies. But I knew the Bambricks had already seen some of it and HATED it! (How anybody could hate this movie is beyond me. It got 4 1/2 stars on Amazon!! I told them they had no soul, but that's a different conversation.) Of course this from a family that really liked Jack Frost, the universally panned movie about a dad who dies and comes back as a snowman. Reviews here, here, and here (scroll to bottom story).

So they brought a small stack and we had our small stack and I think to shut us up, they agreed to give it another go. Dawn labeled it "forgettable", Rick laughed once. The kids seemed to enjoy it. I thought it was great. Two thumbs up!

We rounded out the night with A Charlie Brown Christmas - a classic.

So what's next? What's the next Christmas movie we HAVE to see? If you want to cast your vote and join us we would love to have you! I'll have to figure out when the next one will be. We'll provide the coffee/hot chocolate!

Twelfth Night

Last night we went to a free performance of Twelfth Night at the Cerritos Library. It was so good! The girls loved it and I was especially entertained. If you ever get the chance to see this convoluted comedy, do it!

Google Reader

O.K. class, today's lesson is on how to read blogs.

I know many of you view my blog by either going directly to it through a favorite bookmark or you google me and some of you jump here from other blogs, but to those of you who do this, I need to introduce you to Google Reader. It is an RSS feed, but you don't need to know that and don't let your eyes glaze over seeing that.

Believe me when I say this will change your blog reading life!

After clicking on this link, sign in with your google account. (If the link doesn't work, type in www.reader.google.com) You have one if you have a blog on blogger or if you have registered so you can comment. If you don't have an acount, GET ONE!

After logging in, you will see this screen on the left side. Click "Add subscription", and you will see this box...

This is where you type in http://www.mlasch.blogspot.com/ or copy and paste it from my blog. Continue adding subscriptions until you have all your blogs added. The best way is to go to each blog in a separate window from the Google Reader window and do a lot of copying and pasting.

Here's the best part - each time a blog has a new post, it shows up bold in your list of blogs. Now when you first add the blog, they will all come up with LOTS of new posts. This is because Google reader doesn't know you've already seen it. If you click on that blog and scroll through it quickly, the box that says, "Mark as read" will check off automatically.

Here's the second best part. If you use the latest version of Internet Explorer, you can open different tabs. If you keep Google Reader open in one tab while you go into another, the TAB will show you how many new posts there are. You don't even need to go to Google Reader to see if there are any new posts!!!

Well that's it for today, class. Remember there will be a quiz on Friday, so get to work!

My niece's engagement story

For those of you who have already read Jamie's engagement story, here is another, slightly different type of engagement story from my niece. You have to know her to understand how "Nichole" this is. She is living in Alaska and she is a huge outdoor kind of girl. She has found her soulmate in a hunter/fisher kind of guy. I went ahead and left it in her own words...

Hey, so big news. On Monday night Ryan and I went out for a nice dinner. Afterwards Ryan suggested a drive because he'd heard it was a good night to see the northern lights. As we drove down Turnagain Arm towards Beluga Point it started to rain, there were definitely no lights out.

Once in the parking lot the truck was rocking since the wind was blowing so hard.

I could sense he had something on his mind and was trying to come up with a good reason for us to get out of the truck. So I threw him a bone and said I had to pee. He followed. I finished up and turned around to get back in the truck, wet from the rain and sleet to find him on his knee.

I attempted to block the sleet that was hitting me in the face so I could get a look at the ring he was holding out. I forgot to say yes and he forgot to put the ring on my finger (he just shoved the box at me) but we managed to get engaged anyway.

So, anyway....I'm getting married!!!

Of course, she sent the obligatory photos of the ring. It's gorgeous!!! I'm so happy for her. They are thinking Yosemite in April. I can't wait!

A reality show I would actually watch!

My friend sent me this. It's a humorous proposal for a new reality show. I laughed out loud and thought... that WOULD make a good show. Maybe if the writer's strike goes on much longer, they'll have to look into this...

NEXT 'SURVIVOR' TV SERIES

Six married men will be dropped on an island with one car and 3 kids each for six weeks.

Each kid will play two sports and either take music or dance classes.

There is no fast food.

Each man must take care of his 3 kids; keep his assigned house clean, correct all homework, complete science projects, cook, do laundry, and pay a list of 'pretend' bills with not enough money.

In addition, each man will have to budget in money for groceries each week.

Each man must remember the birthdays of all their friends and relatives, and send cards out on time.

Each man must also take each child to a doctor's appointment, a dentist appointment and a haircut appointment . He must make one unscheduled and inconvenient visit per child to the Urgent Care (weekend, evening, on a holiday or right when they're about to leave for vacation).

He must also make cookies or cupcakes for a social function.

Each man will be responsible for decorating his own assigned house, planting flowers outside and keeping it presentable at all times.

The men will only have access to television when the kids are asleep and all chores are done.

Each father will be required to know all of the words to every song that comes on TV and the name of each and every character on cartoons.

Each man will have to make an Indian hut model with six toothpicks, a tortilla and one marker; and get a 4 year old to eat a serving of peas.

Each man must adorn himself with jewelry, wear uncomfortable yet stylish shoes, keep their nails polished and eyebrows groomed. The men must try to get through each day without snot, spit-up or barf on their clothing.

During one of the six weeks, the men will have to endure severe abdominal cramps, backaches, and have extreme, unexplained mood swings but never once complain or slow down from other duties.

They must attend weekly school meetings, church, and find time at least once to spend the afternoon at the park or a similar setting.

He will need to read a book to the children each night without falling asleep, and then feed them, dress them, brush their teeth and comb their hair each morning by 7:00. They must leave the home with no food on their face or clothes.

A test will be given at the end of the six weeks, and each father will be required to know all of the following information: each child's birthday, height, weight, shoe size, clothes size and doctor's name.Also the child's weight at birth, length, time of birth, and length of labor, each child's favorite color, middle name, favorite snack, favorite song, favorite drink, favorite toy, biggest fear and what they want to be when they grow up.

They must clean up after their sick children at 2:00 a.m. and then spend the remainder of the day tending to that child and waiting on them hand and foot until they are better.

They must have a loving, age-appropriate reply to, 'You're not the boss of me.'

The kids vote them off the island based on performance.The last man wins only if...he still has enough energy to be intimate with his spouse at a moment's notice.


What do you think? Would it be a hit???

One of my saddest posts in awhile...

Notice the date on my Disney pass... it expired yesterday.... Very sad.

Now I have to wait 27 more days until my next Disney fix. Of course in will be in Walt DisneyWorld, so I probably shouldn't be complaining...

More Scrapbook Pages - part 3

I have managed to squeeze in a tiny bit of time for scrapbooking page, by working on one page for several days. So here are some layouts I have done in the past couple of months. As you can see, I'm still about a year and a half behind... ugh... I'm really trying to catch up!!!

I think if you click on them, you can see them larger.