Blessings and Binders

I have a couple of blessings to share. First, I realized yesterday, I am no longer having food cravings! This is HUGE!!! I had made double fudge, chocolate chunk brownies for Niki and Rob, and I did not even want one! Now I have one of my all time favorites in the house...."Fruit of the Forest" pie. I love any fruit pie, but berry pie is my all time favorite. Nope. No desire. PLUS, I am only 2 pounds away from another yard of fabric! I have lost 12 pounds in 5 weeks and have not had an antacid in as long. Making goals and hitting them. It is a blessing!

The big brown UPS truck brought me another blessing yesterday! I won the 2nd prize in Cat's recent giveaway. I can not imagine what 1st prize was!!! She sent me the most gorgeous yellow vintage apron! Lots of scallops and pretty rick rack. I LOVE it!!!
Also, a can of Mrs. Meyer Lemon Verbena powder scrub. My sinks are smelling great!!! Along with something for Miss Charlotte...an awesome book on girl power/God power, and some yummy Mango flavored lip gloss. She was thrilled!! You are so sweet Cat, and we thank you!!!
I spent yesterday doing my homemaking dailies and working on my home school planning. In the process, I decided to work on my Home Management Binder. I had been wanting to do a new cover. It looks almost the same, but different graphics.
See that flower in the lower left hand corner? My little TJ brought me that flower, which was a hot pink petunia, just before he turned 2. It is the first flower he ever brought me. I keep it there always. Speaking of TJ, he came today and watered Grandma's garden.

Say CHEESE, TJ!!!

Ok, back to the binder...I was planning on adding a home school section.
First I needed to re-do my Master Schedule. With the change in my kid's grade level and the way we are going to do school, I needed to tweak this. I have it all set up to meet our new needs.
We are not slaves to this schedule, but it is a guide to keep us on track. Very helpful in steering a wayward 7 year old back to where he is suppose to be. It can backfire on you though. I have been told many times, "Mom, it is on the schedule!"

While working on the new Home School section, I realized I needed something different. It is one thing to open my 3 inch HMB everyday to follow my household details, but for home school I needed something more compact. I decided to create a Home School Binder.

It is 1 inch thick and very portable. I think I am going to be pleased with it. I can keep it in my bin and pull it every morning. It is still a work in progress, but so far it contains our daily school schedule (I showed those yesterday)...

The main heart of the binder is the Weekly Studies Planner, where I will have that weeks home school planned out down to the books and references we will use.

Each child has a section where their personal information will be kept. This includes assignments assigned and completed, and their individual book lists. After they complete their reading, the books will be recorded in their section.Each subject has a section along with a "Resource" section. I think I will add a "Wish List" section to record books that we want to order.
Planning is time consuming and sometimes difficult, but so worth it in the long run!!! Now off to complete my Thursday dailies in my cute yellow apron!!!!

Blessings~ Bren