I have officially opened my new quilting business! Quilted Treasures by Angela is ready for you.
I offer T-shirt quilts, memory quilts, wedding quilts, baby quilts and I also do longarm quilting for those of you who have quilt tops to finish.
Working from home will allow me to be the hands on single triplet mom I want to be.
Stop by my online home and check it out!
Happy Birthday to me!
On my birthday I got a coupon from GooseyGirl for a free manicure and as I type this my hot pink glittery nail polish is positively blinding!
I also got a sweet card from RocketMan who never expresses emotions freely. He drew a sweet photo of "us loving". Too cute! 
And I have no idea where I'll spend my quarter he taped to my card. :)
Finally, BirdMan wrote a story entitled, "What is Love?"
We went out to the miserable and excruciatingly hot Ky State Fair in 100+ degrees- ICK!
But the kidlets had fun. They did the rock wall, watched an alligator show and even got selected to participate in a balloon show inside a 70,000 balloon jungle. I'll sprinkle the photos throughout the rest of this post as I move to the philosophical side of this blog entry.
I read today that everything you do is out of either fear or love. Everything. Take a breath for a minute and really decide if you can latch on to that idea.
It resonated with me as I struggle through the mess of my divorce.
I've been reading a bunch about forgiveness and I'm still stuck. How do you forgive something if that person now pretends that nothing happened? How do you forgive something really terrible when the person doesn't express any remorse? How do you forgive someone for what they've done repeatedly to your children? How? Is it possible?
How can forgiveness of someone not be directly linked to to that person's remorse? How can you forgive when they can't understand, admit or own what it is they've done? How is it possible to move toward forgiveness?
I have been wondering for the last three years how certain choices and actions have been made by my soon-to-be-ex. During that time, I have emotionally drifted from anger that ripples through me unheeded, to deep sadness over the end of what I believed to be my future.
Through all of these emotions I know that being able to forgive him will be the key to healing myself. But it is so difficult as he continues to lash out through every legal and non-legal means possible. Forgiveness isn't only required for the past but for the present as well. How does one do both? Is it possible?
Then, yesterday, I thought more about the idea that all action originates out of love or fear. I tried to put all
of his choices and actions in either the fear category or the love category. That's when I had the startling thought that what he is doing and what he has done may actually have very little to do with me. I know darn well it isn't out of love- so that leaves fear.
Fear. Loss of control. Loss of material possessions. Loss of influence. Loss of respect. Loss of self. Loss of one's world view. Loss of status. Loss of family.
Somehow it makes it less personal and therefore easier to move 
toward forgiveness regardless of the other person and those illusive reasons 'why'.
I'm not saying I've forgiven him. I just don't know how or when that will be possible. But for a moment, I had a small window where I saw that the healing power of forgiveness might be possible through the understanding that the other person's choices had very, very little to do with me and therefore remorse isn't necessary.
So here's my question for you. Once you forgive someone, is it final or do you find that you must continually make the choice of forgiveness? Do you forgive and forget or is that impossible for somethings?
Isn't RocketMan handsome? All the neighbor kids were playing K'nex in the backyard. Mowing the grass the next day was murder.
Today wrapped up the first week of public school for my kidlets. They had a good week. In fact, GooseyGirl was disappointed that they wouldn't be going to school since it was Saturday. Isn't that great!
She was upset that today in Art class they had to leave early since the four hellions in their class started throwing crayons . These four boys must have some serious issues at home because they are WILD!
Tomorrow I go to mediation over child custody issues. I'm hopeful we can avoid trial. I tripped over this quote and I thought it was quite relevant for my divorce.Quarrel not at all. No man resolved to make the most of himself, can spare time for personal contention. Still less can he afford to take all the consequences, including the vitiating of his temper, and the loss of self-control. Yield larger things to which you can show no more than equal right; and yield lesser ones, though clearly your own. Better give your path to a dog, than be bitten by him in contesting for the right. Even killing the dog would not cure the bite.
- Abraham Lincoln
My kidlets started public school for the first time yesterday. The boys seemed to do okay but GooseyGirl really had a rough time. She was seated next to a boy who is the class clown and was getting her into trouble.
The teacher uses a green, yellow, red sign and GooseGirl almost had to put her name on yellow yesterday because of this distracting boy sitting next to her. She was in tears when she got home, her stomach had butterflies and then she ended up in my bed in the middle of the night due to bad dreams. 
I wrote a note to the teacher and asked that GooseyGirl be moved away from him. Hopefully that will work and she'll have a better day today. All three of them asked if they'd have to go to school again today for another seven hours. They said they liked our school where we only do 3 hours a day.
I guess I just want them to love it. They have a high love for learning now and I want that to flourish. RocketMan said math was great. They only did plussing under 10. YIKES- this is the kid who is doing long division on his own.
I know, I know, it is the first day- baby steps, baby steps. This is going to be a difficult transition.
In quilty news, I finished a Batik top today. I'm working on a website for my quilts and will soon have it ready for launch! This top was done completely out of my scrap drawer. Gotta love a pro-bono quilt top!
Technorati Tags: homeschooling, home school, education, home education, parenting, family, homeschooler, children, unschooling, teaching
Well, today is the day. The first day of third grade. I am surprisingly okay with the end of our homeschooling journey. I thought I would be able to tailor their education to their passions for many more years but then life happens. Trying to continue homeschooling as a single parent isn't possible for me.
But I like their teacher and they are very excited about school. I am trusting in the goodness of the universe as we swing toward traditional school for the first time. This transition is going to be hard and I will have to deal with a myriad of feelings as they hit those inevitable rocky patches.
Last night RocketMan told me, "Mom, I wish you could home school us again." My heart broke.
This morning RocketMan said, "I hope our teacher this year is as nice as our Kindergarten teacher."
Last night GooseyGirl couldn't sleep and she got out her history notebook and read through all the history we covered in 1st and 2nd grade. I was impressed with how much she remembered about Alexander and Beaucephalus, Attila the Hun, Osiris, Buddha, Constantine, and Clovis.
Perhaps we'll move towards afterschooling to keep up with history and latin. I don't know what is store for us but I trust that it is only for the good and I welcome the changes in my life
So, yeah, I'm a bit melancholy but I'm also excited for them. I wish I could be a fly on the wall today!
Technorati Tags: homeschooling, home school, education, home education, parenting, family, homeschooler, children, unschooling, teaching
I got the Delectable Mountain Quilt finished! 
I used freemotion feathers, vines and leaves throughout. Enjoy the eye candy.
The kidlets and I moved in with my parents this past Spring due to divorce. It was a big adjustment for everyone and I was concerned about the children.
How would they feel about living in a different home without a lot of space to call their own? Would they find some other kidlets to play with?
I shouldn't have worried. This neighborhood is crawling with kidlets just their age. 
I looked out my window recently and there were 10+ elementary age kiddos in our court having a ball. It looked like we were having another birthday party. The photo you see is of the twins across the street playing K'nex with BirdMan for hours on our back patio.
Last week one of the neighbors asked the kidlets if they wanted to head up to the local pool with her and her kids. I went with them and as I was chatting to her she said, "You know, my next door neighbor and I were talking recently. We were saying what a blessing your children have been to our street. They have connected all the other kids to each other and treat everyone with so nicely."
Proud? You betcha.
Touched? Yep.
Relieved? Definitely.
Technorati Tags: homeschooling, home school, education, home education, parenting, family, homeschooler, children, unschooling, teaching
One of the pharmacists my dad works with has a horse habit. She invited the kidlets out to ride this week. They LOVED it. First thing to catch their eyes were all the cats.
Then they met some peacocks including this albino one.
Next up was brushing JellyBean the horse and putting her saddle on.
Finally they got to ride a trail horse and groom another beautiful horse.
Technorati Tags: homeschooling, home school, education, home education, parenting, family, homeschooler, children, unschooling, teaching
Here's a quilt top I completed this afternoon. It is based on a cheater panel that was a part of my guild's challenge two years ago!
Life got in the way but I've finally got it done. Now I'll have to slink into my guild meeting to deliver it. All the challenge quilts go to the local children's hospital.
I think I'm going to put some red chenille along the curve. I'm also thinking of using a black and white zebra stripe for the binding.
Mostly, I just wanted to knock this out so I can move on to actually quilting it!
I think some kiddo will really enjoy this creation.
Technorati Tags: homeschooling, home school, education, home education, parenting, family, homeschooler, children, unschooling, teaching
This year Aunt Patti and Uncle Jerry gave the kidlets a week at Greek Camp. They absolutely LOVE it!!
Today the Spartans (BirdMan and RocketMan) battled the Athenians (GooseyGirl). They made fighting tunics, shields and swords. This camp was put on by the local classical academy and they are getting so much out of it.
As you can see from the picture, the Spartans and the Athenians took many casualties but, in the end, the Spartans won. Do you see the wise but forlorn look upon the battle weary RocketMan? (that was my giggle for the day)
At camp they are learning the Greek alphabet, performing plays based on Greek myths, and learning how to write their names in Greek.
Tomorrow they will have their own Olympic Games. It is the last day of camp and they wish they it wouldn't end. They all agreed that this birthday present was one of the best ever.
Technorati Tags: homeschooling, home school, education, home education, parenting, family, homeschooler, children, unschooling, teaching
RocketMan and GooseyGirl were playing around with my mom's camera.
I'm told that the following picture was entitled, "Surprised in the Shower."
I believe this does qualify as bathroom humor since it clearly takes place in the bathroom but, thankfully, doesn't involve the potty in any way...yet.
Technorati Tags: homeschooling, home school, education, home education, parenting, family, homeschooler, children, unschooling, teaching
You may have noticed a bunch of fireworks across the country on July 4. GooseyGirl would like to thank all of those who helped her celebrate Yogi's Eighth birthday with family gatherings from sea to shining sea.
GooseyGirl wrapped up some kitty treats in a custom decorated box for his birthday party. We then put on kitty headbands and watched Yogi open his present.
Yogi was very impressed. He celebrated as only a cat could. Zzzzzzzz.......
In other pet news, I took JoJo to the vet yesterday. Her blood sugar was down to 360 which is still high but not off the charts like the 700 blood sugar from last week.
I still don't know if she's going to make it. She has had a good day today. Yogi is sharing his birthday kitty treats and she seems to really like them.
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I've been working on this top for a while. It went together really fast but life didn't give me a bunch of opportunities to work on it for any long stretches of time.
The pattern is from Eleanor Burns' Delectable Mountain book with ruler.
Plus, all the fabric came from my stash- no new fabric purchases! Yeah me!
Technorati Tags: homeschooling, home school, education, home education, parenting, family, homeschooler, children, unschooling, teaching
Katherine over at Our Report Card posted yesterday about a question she pose every now and again to her children. She wrote, "Every so often I ask the children to "list the top ten things in your heart right now."
I thought it was a wonderful idea. But it didn't turn out quite like I'd hoped.
I started with GooseyGirl because she is so connected to her feelings. She sighed and said:
1) Yogi
2) JoJo
3) all kitties
4) Momma
5) brothers
6) drawing
7) playing with friends
8) "Am I done yet, Mom?"
Unfazed, I moved on to BirdMan. I was hoping he would have some heart felt items to share.
1) Apollo
2) all birds
3) trees
4) Momma
5) "can I have more Doritos?"
Finally I asked RocketMan. You must remember that RocketMan is legalistic. He is VERY uncomfortable stepping outside his well defined box. He likes precise words and finds it hard to converse in nebulous ways.
Here is RocketMan's list:
1)skateboarding
2)climbing trees
3) this chair
4) My PJs
5) a cat brush
I cut him off at this point because he was just naming everything in the room. I tried to explain it again but got the same result. I've decided he's gonna make a good engineer.
I decided I needed to participate as well.
Here's the MommaChick's list:
1) the crisp delicate edge of new grass
2) GooseyGirl's big brown eyes
3) BirdMan's soft warm hugs
4) RocketMan's long lush eyelashes
5) My ailing kitty, JoJo's deep story-filled green eyes
6) Rev. Sky St. John at Unity in Hawaii
7) My Dad's delight with our bird, Apollo, each morning as he feeds him a raisin
8) My Mom's out loud laughter complete with a loud clap
9) the tiny little baby growing inside my close, close friend, Juliet
10) Quilts, quilts, quilts
I'm celebrating my new independence on this Independence Day! Are you? Share your top ten things in your heart!
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In May we had a party to celebrate the end of second grade. My kidlets thought that summer would be a time of blissful forgetfulness.
That is...until today.
I started seeing the classic symptoms last week. The diagnosis was easy: Nintendo has sucked their brains dry.
So this morning I welcomed them to Second Grade, the Series! We did some light school to get their brains ready for third grade. Everything was going fine until handwriting time.
The door bell rang.
Oh no- Neighbor kids.
I cracked the door just a hair, trying to prevent my children from being sucked away from my "Son of Second Grade" experiment.
"Can the triplets come play?", asked two innocent boys from across the street.
"No, they are doing their handwriting right now.", I said.
Oops... As soon as it slipped out I knew I was in trouble.
"They are doing what?", the two exclaimed as if I was admitting to some sort of social debauchery.
"Um, they'll be out in about 45 minutes.", I said as I quickly shut the door. But it was too late. The neighbors knew. My secret was out. It is July and we are doing... SCHOOL!!!!
Call the authorities!!! 
So this morning was homeschool light. I always start with a brain booster. Today it was from the book Analogies Ready to go reproducibles.
This book is an easy way to slide into schooltime and wake up their brains. Occasionally you even learn something about the kiddo in the process.
I read one of the examples aloud, "Okay, kids, here's the first one. Flour is to *blank* as Tools are to Carpenter."
Birdman shouts out, "Millner!"
There was utter silence as we all tried to process the word "millner".
Rocketman looked at him incredulous and said, "Why would you put flour on a hat?"
Birdman's face was a blank stare. He had no idea what RocketMan's problem was. That's when I realized my southern accent had slipped out without me noticing.
After all, a Millner would use a FLOWER on a hat just like tools are used by a carpenter, right?
Bwah-ha-ha-ha! BirdMan gets an A today!
Technorati Tags: homeschooling, home school, education, home education, parenting, family, homeschooler, children, unschooling, teaching
