Melissa's Idea Garden

I watched the debate last night. Well, sort of. My dad called and talked to me during the beginning and I was listening but also trying to get caught up on some emails. It's hard to read and listen to something at the same time. But something struck me as I listened...Senator Obama called Senator McCain 'John' many times. I never heard Senator McCain call 'Barack'.

Now maybe I am a bit old school, but a Senator deserves the respect of having his title used. Senator Obama's frequent use of Senator McCain's first name seemed condescending to me.

What do you think?

Posted by Melissa Markham at 9:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I am an only child and I often played card games and board games with 'ghost' players when I was growing up.

My daughter sometimes plays by herself too. This morning she was playing Uno...but her opposing partner was the 'computer'! She exclaimed "Man, the computer beat me! I can't believe it!"

Ahhh...the difference of a few generations and lots of technology.

She also came to me yesterday with a form for me to fill out. Katrina is always making up clubs for people to join. Well, this time I had a three page form to fill out. On the last page....there was a security box where some letters appeared with a bunch of criss crosses over them and I had to write down what I saw in order for my application to be accepted....

Hee hee!

Posted by Melissa Markham at 9:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Last night was a great class. And not just because I got a 98 on the first test I have taken in 20 years... But I was pretty happy about that!

I think I mentioned about the fact that my teacher we started off with, who was a 25 year veteran of paralegal work, had been diagnosed with breast cancer two weeks into our class. We were told her replacement would be a young woman fresh out of law school. Well, our first teacher taught the first four weeks and the thing I liked most about her were her stories that she could share from her many years of experience. Everything else was in the book and she didn't add a lot to that, but I knew the new gal wouldn't have that kind of experience behind her.

Well, let me tell you that last night's class was awesome! Turns out that our new teacher started working in law offices as a teenager. She said she had always wanted to be a lawyer. And when she was a teen, she called around law offices until she found one willing to take her on and let her learn some of the inner workings of a law office. She offered to work for free, but ended up getting paid. She graduated from college 10 years ago. Met her husband, married. Has two children, one 6 and one 5. And just graduated from law school.

She started out our class by introducing herself. Telling us a few minor changes she planned to make to our class. Then she shared a really interesting case that got into a huge ethics dilemma back in the late 70's. Our class last night was about ethics. We were all on the edge of our seats and very involved in asking questions and responding. It was great! We were there the whole class time and while I heard one student grumble about that as we walked out the door 2 hours and 40 minutes later, everyone else seemed pleased. (Our previous teacher vowed to have us out by 9 each night and most weeks we were done between 8 and 8:30 because she needed to spend time with Ms. Moore, our new teacher).

And one more thing...as a paralegal, I have three very important rules to follow(there are more, but these three are big). One of them is that I cannot give out legal advice...not to anyone, friends, family, acquaintances, stangers. But I will share a general something I just learned. Be careful using legal software for legal documents. They tend to be one size fits all and each state has different rules. So do some research in your state before using those documents.

Posted by Melissa Markham at 7:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Go check out this video for some amazing creatures like the one pictured above (which is a comb jelly).

And here you can see more photos of these interesting new creatures that have been recently found. Beautiful, aren't they?

Posted by Melissa Markham at 6:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The pale, blind ant was found in the Amazon rain forest and is the only known surviving member of a lineage that separated from the main ant family more than a hundred million years ago, biologists reported in September 2008.

His very unusual appearance led scientists to name him Martialis heureka. Martialis means 'of Mars'.

The finding of such an unusual looking creation, has led scientists to believe there are many, many more undiscovered and unusual species living below ground.

For more information, read the rest of this interesting development here

Posted by Melissa Markham at 5:59 PM | Permalink

Just an update. Remember for more regular posts, come check out my new spot on the web at Melissa's Idea Garden.

Sorry, I have been away, but life is busy with homeschool, home activities, social activities, class, church, fundraisers, field trips and visitors. I think that about covers it!

Let's see...Homeschooling is going pretty well. We have gotten through about 6 chapters of Story of the World. Jack is learning about the Human Genome and Katrina is studying about classifying living and non-living things. We are learning grammar, spelling, and of course, lovely math. Piano is going well and they are getting back in the groove of things after not having practiced as much as they should over the summer.

We are busy doing some odds and ends around the house. As you saw in photos last week. This week, the appliance repair man came. Parts are on order to fix the freezer. The cost of the dryer repairs was almost as much as a new dryer, so we got a new dryer. Our old one had a computer 'board' on it and I wanted to get away from that. It was 14 years old and for the extra 26 dollars we paid for the brand new dryer, I am happy. I also purchased a small outside storage shed (but I can't tell you why just yet). We are also expecting a lot of packages coming in the mail in the near future.  But again, can't share about that just yet. All of those calls and ordering and researching take up time.

Social Activities - One of my goals for this year is to make sure that we spend time every week getting the kids to meet with other children. So Wednesday afternoons we go to Bedford for park day (about 4 hours out of our day). Sunday evenings, the kids have Awanas (I spend 40 minutes driving to and from to take the kids and bring them home). Every other Thursday afternoon we have 4-H meetings and the other Thursday afternoons we go to the library. Monday afternoons are piano lessons. And then I am trying to get them together with friends on the weekends. This involves driving at least 10 minutes to the closest friend or as much as 30 minutes to those friends that are further away. So as you can see, social activities take up a lot of time with just the driving.

I don't think I have mentioned that I have gone back to school. I am taking an Intro Paralegal Class. My class meets every Wednesday night from 7 - 9:40. And it takes me about 30 minutes or so to get there. It usually ends earlier. I love the class and I am learning a lot, but that is another chunk of time used up, plus there is the class work. This past Wednesday I took my first test and turned in my first writing assignment.

Of course, church fills up part of Sundays. First with church in the morning and then Awanas in the afternoon. To add to that, I am in charge of creating the weekly children's bulletins and I am one of two people in charge of fund raising for the youth for their Bible Camp next summer (and I really, really hate fundraising).

We just went on a field trip this week to a wonderful place called Homestead Creamery. They have some of the best ice cream....yum, yum, yum.... We also visited a dairy farm, bottle fed a calf, and saw the milking parlor.  And then we visited Booker T. Washington National Park.

For  pictures of the field trip, you can see them on Flickr.

I am also working on setting up two field trips for my homeschool group. One Johnson's Apple Orchard and one to the Old City Cemetery

This last weekend my mother and father-in-law were here for a visit. On Saturday we had a cookout here. Daniel's sister's family came, Bruce, Ryan, Charles, Joann, Daniel's uncle and wife, Daniel's cousin's family and our neighbor, Ashley.  It was a lovely afternoon. We also met Tess and Johnny in town on Tuesday evening for dinner before they headed back to Florida.

So as you can see life has been busy. Blogging has definitely taken a back seat. But I will write and visit when I can. Hope all of you are doing well!

Posted by Melissa Markham at 4:45 AM | Permalink

Imagine...going underwater to see the remains of the sunken palace of Cleopatra or the Lighthouse of Alexandria. As the earth has shifted through the ages and earthquakes have caused land to be lowered and raised, some amazing treasures have fallen into the water.

The bay is filled archaeological sunken treasures. In the 1990s archaeologist-divers found thousands of objects: 26 sphinxes, statues bearing gifts to the gods, blocks weighing up to 56 tons, and even Roman and Greek shipwrecks.

A committee has been set up to discuss the feasibility of creating an underwater museum which will enable visitors to more truly experience the palace and lighthouse the way they were.

For more information on the proceedings, click here.

For more cool photos, click here.

Posted by Melissa Markham at 5:47 PM | Permalink

Check out this cool night shot of Stonehenge...I wonder how many times this site has been photographed.

This photo accompanies a story from National Geographic about the fact that partiers came from near and far to feast at Stonehenge.

Posted by Melissa Markham at 5:27 PM | Permalink

Katrina has been asking for another hamster for awhile. We have a spare cage, so I told her that if she started cleaning the cage for Hans Solo, that I would let her use her money to purchase another hamster. Well, she is doing a great job with Hamster care, so today we went to get a long-haired hamster.

On the cage, it says they grow to be 6-7 inches as an adult. The ones they had looked to be about that long already. They were so cute and fluffy. When we asked the sales clerk, she said they had been there about 7 or 8 months. Poor little guys. Katrina picked out the caramel colored one, but the white one looked so sad.... so being the soft-hearted wuss that I am, we brought home both hamsters. Well, they have been together all this time, we didn't want to leave the one in there by himself.

So without further ado...meet Fluffy (tan) and Puffy (white).

Ain't they cute....

Posted by Melissa Markham at 7:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Sorry, I have been away, but life is busy with homeschool, home activities, social activities, class, church, fundraisers, field trips and visitors. I think that about covers it!

Let's see...Homeschooling is going pretty well. We have gotten through about 6 chapters of Story of the World. Jack is learning about the Human Genome and Katrina is studying about classifying living and non-living things. We are learning grammar, spelling, and of course, lovely math. Piano is going well and they are getting back in the groove of things after not having practiced as much as they should over the summer.

We are busy doing some odds and ends around the house. As you saw in photos last week. This week, the appliance repair man came. Parts are on order to fix the freezer. The cost of the dryer repairs was almost as much as a new dryer, so we got a new dryer. Our old one had a computer 'board' on it and I wanted to get away from that. It was 14 years old and for the extra 26 dollars we paid for the brand new dryer, I am happy. I also purchased a small outside storage shed (but I can't tell you why just yet). We are also expecting a lot of packages coming in the mail in the near future. But again, can't share about that just yet. All of those calls and ordering and researching take up time.

Social Activities - One of my goals for this year is to make sure that we spend time every week getting the kids to meet with other children. So Wednesday afternoons we go to Bedford for park day (about 4 hours out of our day). Sunday evenings, the kids have Awanas (I spend 40 minutes driving to and from to take the kids and bring them home). Every other Thursday afternoon we have 4-H meetings and the other Thursday afternoons we go to the library. Monday afternoons are piano lessons. And then I am trying to get them together with friends on the weekends. This involves driving at least 10 minutes to the closest friend or as much as 30 minutes to those friends that are further away. So as you can see, social activities take up a lot of time with just the driving.

I don't think I have mentioned that I have gone back to school. I am taking an Intro Paralegal Class. My class meets every Wednesday night from 7 - 9:40. And it takes me about 30 minutes or so to get there. It usually ends earlier. I love the class and I am learning a lot, but that is another chunk of time used up, plus there is the class work. This past Wednesday I took my first test and turned in my first writing assignment.

Of course, church fills up part of Sundays. First with church in the morning and then Awanas in the afternoon. To add to that, I am in charge of creating the weekly children's bulletins and I am one of two people in charge of fund raising for the youth for their Bible Camp next summer (and I really, really hate fundraising).

We just went on a field trip this week to a wonderful place called Homestead Creamery. They have some of the best ice cream....yum, yum, yum.... We also visited a dairy farm, bottle fed a calf, and saw the milking parlor. And then we visited Booker T. Washington National Park.

For more pictures of the field trip, you can see them on Flickr.

I am also working on setting up two field trips for my homeschool group. One Johnson's Apple Orchard and one to the Old City Cemetery.

This last weekend my mother and father-in-law were here for a visit. On Saturday we had a cookout here. Daniel's sister's family came, Bruce, Ryan, Charles, Joann, Daniel's uncle and wife, Daniel's cousin's family and our neighbor, Ashley. It was a lovely afternoon. We also met Tess and Johnny in town on Tuesday evening for dinner before they headed back to Florida.

So as you can see life has been busy. Blogging has definitely taken a back seat. But I will write and visit when I can. Hope all of you are doing well!

Posted by Melissa Markham at 7:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Peru archaeologists have found what may have been a pre-Inca pregnant woman sacrificed for an important religious event. It is highly unusual to sacrifice pregnant women.

Village of Twins Is a MysteryA small village in India has about a hundred pairs of twins, mostly same sex and 90 percent born in the last 20 years. No one can explain the phenomenon.

Posted by Melissa Markham at 12:26 PM | Permalink

When I was a child, my parents and I often took rides into the mountains of Bedford and Amherst County on Sunday afternoons. As impressive as the surroundings are, there was something that stood out...

The above photo is from this website.

This thing resembles a huge golf ball perched atop of Apple Orchard Mountain. But it is really a FAA Radar tower that used to be part of a military base. The other buildings that were part of what used to be a military base have been dismantled and only the radar dome remains.

The radar dome continues to be a draw to hikers. Here's a couple of hikers you might recognize checking out the top of Apple Orchard Mountain.

For more pictures that Daniel and Jack took during their hike to the Radar dome, visit Daniel's blog post.

For more photos taken by other hikers, go visit this photo page.

Posted by Melissa Markham at 8:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I am fascinated by unusual animals. The American Bison which was brought back from the brink of extinction.
The Ruby-Throated Hummingbird that flies hundreds of miles across the Gulf each year to its breeding grounds. And my favorite...the Komodo Dragon. I find this magnificent reptile absolutely amazing!

The Okapi is another animal that captured my attention when I was pursuing writing non-fiction books on unusual animals.

Just recently, the first ever photo of a wild Okapi was caught last week by trip cameras in Virunga National Park. This elusive creature which resembles a giraffe and resembles a zebra is on the brink of extinction. We can only hope that its elusiveness serves to protect it.

Posted by Melissa Markham at 10:56 AM | Permalink

Does anyone but me see a problem with this helmet?

A gold-bedecked warrior helmet and gold mask (pictured)—among other treasures—have been unearthed at an ancient cemetery near Alexander the Great's birthplace in what is now northern Greece.

If I remember correctly, no one knows the burial site of Alexander the Great. Wouldn't it be something if he was found among these graves?

Posted by Melissa Markham at 10:47 AM | Permalink

Daniel is many things...He is smart. He is well-informed. He is a great Dad. He is a loving son and husband. He can make a computer do just about anything. But he has only a little bit of expertise in the mechanical and home repair departments. So things break around here and they tend to get left undone, unless it's something I can fix. Well, last week, I rented two handymen and now little things that had piled up are working very well!

About a decade ago, we took down our little light that our home came with and installed a two bulb motion sensor light to the front and back door. The one to the front has worked fine ever since. The one on the back stopped working several years ago. Well, now we have a new light and it works wonderfully well!

Our deck, which we just had built last year, has been wonderful, but one board decided to shrink up and then with recent rains was bending upwards. Soooooo....we had it replaced. Once it cures, we'll paint it to match the other boards. We are grateful for no more stubbed toes.

My kitchen sink sprayer broke a while back too. The little 'switch' you push to make the water come out broke off. Well, now I can spray again! Look out kids!

We also had two door frames repaired (one the screws were working loose and the hinges were threatening to pop out and the other one the frame had actually split during some horseplay between the kids. And while the second door frame was being fixed, Bill and Eric noticed that I had a loose light switch (I installed it about 4 years ago and I cut away too much of the wall board, so I didn't have anything to attach it tightly too and didn't know how to fix it), so they fixed that and didn't even say anything to me about it.

And lastly, but not leastly.... one of our toilets had a crack in the bowl. While it wasn't currently leaking, I didn't want to wait until it did and wanted to fix it while we had the money and the handymen. So viola...our new lovely toilet (nothing is sacred on the Internet). And Carole, if you are reading this, I challenge you to put up photos of your gothic bathroom!!!!

Posted by Melissa Markham at 12:44 PM | Permalink

National Geographic has the best photos! And they have had them for a long, long time. Here are some that caught my eye this week.

Posted by Melissa Markham at 10:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I know it has been a while since I have shared any interesting National Geographic Headlines. I am trying to get back in the swing of it because I enjoy reading and sharing the interesting stories. I recently restarted up my RSS feed (after the great computer wipe in August) and there has been a lot going on this week, so without further ado....

Giant Underground Fossil Forests Show Record of Warming - this story is very interesting. Not only is it neat to think that in the past there have been 40 foot tall trees in Illinois, but it is giving scientists an opportunity to use our past to learn about our present and give us insight into our future. These finds also serve to remind us that global warming has gone on before.

Worst Case: Collider Spawns Planet-Devouring Black Hole - Now most of you have heard about the firing up of the Hadron Collider this past week that scientists are very excited about and hope to gain insight about the way our universe works from what happens with the experiement. Fortunately, no black holes have appeared yet (and wondering if anyone would actually tell us if they did....)

And as if that is cool enough for you, check out this video...scientists rapping about the Hadron Collider.

Posted by Melissa Markham at 9:42 AM | Permalink

I got Mario Party for the DS. I have always enjoyed playing the Mario Party games for the Nintendo 64, Game Cube and Wii. And this version of Mario Party is no different. But I want to tell you something I discovered the hard way. After you win the story version, you have to sit and wait for all of the credits...every last name must scroll through, then you will have some more buttons to click in order to actually getting credit for winning the story mode. I beat the story mode 3 times with Daisy, but then realized, that when I went and looked at my awards and badges, it was as if I hadn't done it, plus Triangle Twisters was no where to be found. Well, life is good now and maybe there was something in the book that would have cued me in if I had read it...but since I didn't, I figure maybe some others didn't and I thought I would share what I learned.

Party on!

Posted by Melissa Markham at 8:57 PM | Permalink

A couple of days ago, Jack found the Lego website. He has actually been there before and ever since we bought our first Legos about 11 years ago, he has been getting Lego magazine in the mail. But for whatever reason, he got to really exploring the website this week.

And there is a lot to explore. There are games. There are movies. You can sign up for the newsletter. There is a gallery where you can see other fantastic creations and submit your own for others to see.

The thing that I think is the coolest is the Lego Factory. Go to main page, click on 'play' button, scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on 'factory' button. In the Lego Factory, you can download a program onto your computer. Then you can go in and make your own Lego creations on the screen. And you can save them. And the really, really cool part is after your child designs something, it is possible to buy the Lego bricks to make their creation at home. I just think that is sooooo cool.

And being able to make creations on the computer has other added advantages. No more trying to pull the bricks apart with your teeth (not advised if you wear braces). No more stepping on stray legos on the floor. And if you are in the middle of a project, no more having your mom tell you that it has to be put away because there is simply no room for it in the house!

I just went and played one of the games...let me tell you, it was fun! So if you and your children haven't been there to check out the website, I suggest you go check it out. I think you will have fun (you might want to check it out first and you know....test it some...before telling the kids about it... after all you want to make sure that it's a good site for them, you shouldn't just take my word for it!) Happy Legoing!

Posted by Melissa Markham at 8:34 PM | Permalink

I did a tribute two years ago for Lt. John A. Crisci as part of the 2,996 project.

Today, the children and I are watching the 9/11 ceremonies and talking about how that day changed so much. That will be our school work for today as we remember the innocent lives lost and the sacrifices made 7 years ago today.

Posted by Melissa Markham at 10:39 AM | Permalink

Because I know the inquiring minds of my readers like knowing what I am up to (and believe me,
I have been busy, busy, busy and more news about that will be following in the days and weeks ahead). But last week, one thing on the agenda was to take Jack to have his braces put on.

Well, here are a couple of before photos...

Posted by Melissa Markham at 7:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Last week I shared information and photos of The Peaks of Otter. Today, I wanted to tell you about one of the places we like to visit when we are at the Peaks of Otter.

The Johnson Farm is a loop trail, approximately two miles long, which follows a section of the Harkening Hill Loop Trail. Beginning at the north end of the Peaks of Otter Visitor Center parking area the trail takes you 1.1 miles to the Johnson Farm, which was started in 1852. Living history demonstrations are presented on a seasonal basis. Allow two to three hours for a leisurely visit.

For the history of the Johnson Farm and some history on The Peaks of Otter, click here.

We like to take the walk out to the farm and sit out on the porch and relax. We enjoy playing with the old timey checkers, walking through the house and seeing the farm as it would have originally been set up. It is a lovely place and a lovely view.

Here are some photos from our last trip there last summer with Brianna who came to visit us via the Fresh Air Fund.

The Johnson Farm gives a bit of turn of the century history nestled in the mountains of the Blue Ridge. Enjoy a walk, beautiful scenery, and a journey back into time.

Posted by Melissa Markham at 2:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

My good bloogy friend, Nikowa, at Knowledge House Academy has awarded my blog with the Brillante Weblog Award.

Ain't it purty????

Since I'm visiting so many blogs, I decided to nominate a handful of my favorites. So if you're not on the list, please don't get upset. I could only nominate 5. I promise I'm still visiting your blog. So without further ado...

1. 365 Days in the Moonshine Capitol of the World
2. An Island Life
3. Blessings from Abiga
4. Mommy Cracked
5. My Three Boys and I

If you wish to pass it on, here's how it works:

Put the logo on your blog.
Add a link to the person who awarded you.
Nominate at least five other blogs.
Add links to those blogs on your blog.
Leave a message for your nominee on their blog.

Posted by Melissa Markham at 1:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Today was a busy one. One of the things we had to do was load up Billy and Tickles, the bunnies, to take to Five Blessings Farm. We got the bunnies a little over a year ago, but they weren't the pet that Katrina envisioned. They are beautiful and cuddly, but mostly they just eat and sleep and poop. She would try to play with them, but would often end up scratched. And cleaning up a litter box full of poop everyday became very old (as did me having to remind her to do it and coax her to do it and yell at her to do it).

What we learned that Katrina really wanted was a dog. Something that will interact with her and play with her and be more responsive than a rabbit. She has been begging for a dog for awhile, so we told her she could choose. She could find a new home for the rabbits and then get a dog or she could keep the rabbits and wait on the dogs. It was a hard decision for her. Katrina wants to bring home every creature she sees. She loves animals, is tender hearted and wants to take care of them all. So she started picking people that we knew to ask. The first family already had a bunny and we thought they might like to have two more. While they weren't interested, she did give me the name of the lady who runs Five Blessings Farm. After a few conversations, the owner decided she would like to add them to her farm. Katrina was very pleased with this as the bunnies will be part of classroom presentations and field trips and they will get lots of time around people.

So today, before we left, we gathered the bunnies for a photo shoot and thought we would share.

Tune in tomorrow to see what Jack was doing today! And be sure to keep tuned in for more news about upcoming additions to our menagerie.

Posted by Melissa Markham at 10:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

A couple of months ago, I watched the movie, The Secret. I was so intrigued by the ideas presented by the movie, that I looked for the book. I purchased the book and the gratitude book as well. The gratitude book is basically a journal that encourages you to start thinking positively and sending out positive vibes to the universe.

From the dust jacket cover:

Fragments of a Great Secret have been found in the oral traditions, in literature, in religions and philosophies throughout the centuries. For the first time, all th epieces of The Secret come together in an incredible revelation that will be life-transforming for all who experience it.

In this book, you'll learn how to use The Secret in every aspect of your life-- money, health, relationships, happiness, and in every interaction you have in the world. You'll begin to understand the hidden, untapped power that's within you, and this revelation can bring joy to every aspect of your life.

The Secret contains wisdom from modern-day teachers -men and women who have used it to achieve health, wealth, and happiness. By applying the knowledge of The Secret, they bring to light compelling stories of eradicating disease, acquiring massive wealth, overcoming obstacles, and achieving what many would regard as impossible.

This book has a lot of good advice in it. There are quotes from people whose names you will recognize. Successful people. Jack Canfield. Dr. John Gray. Henry Ford. Ralph Waldo Emerson. Alexander Graham Bell. Albert Einstein. Buddha. The New Testament.

It is true that if we focus on the positive of life that life is better to live. It is also true that if we are thankful for what we already have, that we feel more positive in general. If we focus on what we are thankful for, it is hard to sit around being negative and wishing for things we don't have. A positive outlook goes a long way in this life.

This book presents that if we just believe that we already have things, that the universe will provide. There is mention of God in this book, but mostly it seems to portray that the 'universe' is what is giving us what we need. I have a problem with that.

I also have a problem with the idea of asking for things. The book presents that we make a list of what we want (a big house, a new car, a better relationship). Then we start thanking 'the universe' for these things. Basically we say...thank you for the new house I have. It is beautiful. It is roomy. Etc. Believe it and people state in this book that their continuous belief has ended up bringing the thing into their lives that they are pretending like they already have.

First, this promotion of 'getting things' bothers me a bit. We live in a material time where we all have way more stuff than we need. Where we are egged on by commercials, magazines, television show, movies to want more than we need. This book seems to encourage materialism (though it does also address things like better health and better relationships).

The other thing that bothers me about this book is memories of a story that intrigued me as a child. The Monkey's Paw. In the Monkey's Paw, the old man and his wife make wishes on this bewitched withered monkey's paw. But their wishes come at a terrible price. They ask for a bunch of money and viola, it shows up at the door along with apologies from their son's employer who state he has died a horrible death in a factory machine and this is compensation for his death. When I start sitting around and thinking thinks like, I have an abundance of money or I love my new big house...my rational mind shouts out that the only way these things are going to happen is if someone dies and leaves me a lot of money. And since I prefer to have my husband and parents around, I shy away from wishing or pretending that I have such things.

Maybe I am too rational. If so, that would explain why so many have trouble making the universe give them the things that they want and deserve. We want to believe it, but deep down, it just seems to fantastical or too likely to really bring us sadness and that is what the 'universe' is responding too. The book says there is plenty in the universe for us all to use the Secret and for no one to want. It stresses that the more we say negative things like...I'll never have the money to pay all the bills or I'll never find the perfect mate that the universe hears this and provides us with exactly what we are saying.

Sounds a little far fetched doesn't it? But then the amazing story that Jack Canfield shares does make one wonder.

So, take some time, read the book and see what you think. I think the overall message of having a positive outlook is a good one and I believe that if you get nothing else out of the book besides that message and how to work on having that positive and thankful outlook, it will be money well spent on the book. Will I receive the things I have been saying I am grateful for? Only time will tell.

Posted by Melissa Markham at 7:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

My friend, Nikowa, recommended that I watch Gone, Baby, Gone so that she and I could talk about the moral dilemma presented in the movie.

This is not the kind of movie I normally watch, mainly because it is a movie that revolves around harm to children and that is just a topic that I prefer to stay away from. But I trusted Nikowa's recommendation and decided to watch it. A couple of my favorite actors are in this movie: Morgan Freeman and Ed Harris. They did a superb job.

This movie is rated R. There is a lot of bad language in it. There are horrifying scenes in it. But stick it out to the end, because at the end, you are going to be presented with a moral dilemma that will make you think and wonder what you would have done. And it will give you something to talk about around the water cooler until LOST comes back on in January!

Posted by Melissa Markham at 8:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

There were several reasons for my silence yesterday.

1. We were up at 5 and did all of our pre-school activities.
2. We had school from 9-12.
3. About 9:30, the duct people arrived to assess our air flow, then they said that they would be back tomorrow. I said 'what?' You were supposed to be installing today. After some discussion, we all got our ducks lined up and more people showed up at about 11:00. (And we still managed to get our work done even with the distractions.
4. Spent the afternoon studying for my paralegal class tomorrow night, finishing reading the book Secret, watching the people working on the Heat Pump, and watching the movie Halloweentown High.
5. Last night I watched the movie Gone, Baby, Gone, based on my friend Nikowa's recommendation (more on the later).
6. And my final reason was that Monday night, I was watching an episode from Season 4 of LOST and exceeded our fair use thingy with Hughes Net and they cut my internet down to worse than dial up for 24 hours...

So now you know what I was doing yesterday. And now you get to see some pictures:)

Even better, our new unit has a complete 10 year warranty! Yahoo!

Posted by Melissa Markham at 7:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

The last several mornings, we have gone out and found this lovely 4 point buck grazing in our yard. See the velvet on his antlers? He looked up once at me before I got my camera out, but then I couldn't get him to look up again. Perhaps I will get a better picture later this week.

He lets us get really close. I was standing less than 50 feet away when I took this photo.

Posted by Melissa Markham at 6:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Yesterday was a busy day and I didn't get to blog any. I have several things to report and share with you, but first and foremost, I want to encourage you to go visit the Labor Day edition of the Homeschool Carnival over at Homeschool CPA.

This post celebrates the Labors that we complete in our daily lives as Homeschoolers. I haven't had time to read the posts yet, but I love the way she set up the carnival. Succinct and easy to find what interests you most.

Enjoy!

Posted by Melissa Markham at 6:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)