More favorite things...

Some little things that make me happy are:  good selection when looking for a product and, if it needs to be shipped, free shipping.  At iherb.com both happy things are available!  


Recently I needed more castile soap for making homemade cleansers.  My sis-in-law gave me the heads up to try iherb, which I especially appreciate because I had already checked three local stores.  Gotta try to buy local, ya know!  


At iherb I found everything I needed, including the lavender and tea tree oils.  The prices were very good, free shipping, plus FAST shipping - Fed Ex! - made it a great deal and good shopping experience.  (If shopping is an "experience"!)


I also found one of the top three teas I've ever had - 

Not a tea drinker, but desiring a warm cup of something healthy  in the evening, I chanced it on this.  No need for milk or sugar - this stuff is just delicious all by itself! (Oh, do add some hot water, though, for those non-tea drinkers out there. )


My friend Kara is aware of my sweet tooth, so suggested a licorice tea a few years back. It was great, but my family didn't like the aftertaste - what aftertaste, I ask? - so I didn't buy it anymore.  Another tea I had that was incredible and I know nothing about, other than it's made the 'southern' way, was at the home of the family Phy is now with in Virginia.  (waiting for the apartment to be ready)  I need to ask Rhonda exactly the details, because I think I drank a quart!  And it was on ice!  So yummy and refreshing.  


I'm now a little more well-rounded.  I've enjoyed iced tea, not any ice-tea, though, special iced tea, and now I have a warm tea for those evenings when a book, a warm mug, and a comfy chair are calling.  If anyone else would like to check out iherb.com AND get a discount, just put DUR761 in before checkout and I think you'll get $5 off your order.  Enjoy - but allow enough time - the selection is amazing!  (At least to us rural folks!)

For Pete's Sake

http://www.realsimple.com/work-life/technology/communication-etiquette/facebook-etiquette-00100000072701/page4.html

Above is a link to an article in Real Simple.  There are some good points within the article about facebook etiquette.  But I have to say, that after I read it, it bugged me!  I thought about all my facebook friends.  I thought about each individual personality.  I thought about how much a part of my day the changing landscape of facebook statuses kept the day hopping along.

One friend has a new baby.  According to Real Simple's author, Ms. Appenbrink, the multiple updates and photos and short videos WHICH I LOVE shouldn't be included on Facebook.  They're irritating.  They're excessive. They're bothersome.  They're (gasp) against 'social media etiquette.'  Who died and made her the Social Media Etiquette Police?  Or more accurately, Ms. Appenbrink gets to the write the manual that we all must agree on for social media etiquette?  (I know I'm making Ms. Appenbrink the bad guy in this, but just humor me. She compiled all the opinions and published the article.)

We have a friend or three who are very politically active and involved.  God bless them!!  I don't have to search for the latest news article; it's there if I want to read it.  IF I want to read it. No one is forcing me to click on it.  That's the beauty of freedom- their freedom and mine.

What about my daughters' friend who posts updates a few times a day that literally make me laugh out loud? (I've refrained from typing LOL on her status, since I want to try to remain a mature adult in her eyes.)  Her status updates, her take on life, especially through the summer when she had a job where she met with the public pretty constantly, kept us in stitches! According to Ms. Appenbrink, my daughters' friend really should stop. If anybody tells her to stop they're going to have to deal with me. She's funny, and I'm glad she shares her sense of humor with us on FB.

Another status post has been shared a million times of late. It's below.  But it's incomplete. There are so many other personalities at work on that site.

If someone doesn't like the fact that Facebook is a melting pot of personalities all FREE to post and express to one's heart's content, then maybe don't join, or don't 'friend' those who will annoy you. Sounds to me like some folks just ought not to partake.  Sounds to me like those who are of a critical, controlling nature ought not to seek out Friends on Facebook and lurk.  But maybe that's why they're on FB in the first place.  The real deal friends don't want to hang with them because they can't please Mr. or Mrs. Persnickety.  Enjoying people for how they are and for how they react to or enjoy life in their little Facebook way is a lot more fun than policing the site for the grave errors in "Etiquette" (said with a rich, English accent and a sniff).

A disclaimer to my rant about the article:  the suggestions about photos are relevant. It's mean to post pictures without someone's permission.  But the second and third from the last on the photo list are fine, in my opinion.  I guess with the whole Facebook thing, do like the doctors are supposed to do:  First, do no harm.  And secondly, how about getting and keeping a sense of humor? Third, and final:  Post and let post, don't post and let post, or don't post and let not post....you get my meaning.  And shoot the High Horse after dismounting.

Homeschool Perks

Seventeen years ago, when we began to homeschool, I saw it as a day job.  And while it is a lot of work, I have watched our kids experience what, when growing up in my family, we'd call "The Life of Reilly."  Who Reilly is or was I never did find out.  But he or she had a wonderful life, I inferred, due to the times and places my parents exclaimed the phrase.  

I loved school as a child.  Almost all parts of it.  So choosing to homeschool was not to slam  the public school system. There are many wonderful teachers devoting their lives to educating America's young people.  I know I was blessed to be a part of a good school system for 13 years - no moving around - and my parents were involved somewhat and pretty solid, until the messy divorce, but I digress.  

As a homeschool mom being of the 'driver' personality, motivating the masses has not been too difficult. Road blocks are a problem, though, until the 'driver' learns how to drive around them, stop, inspect & take it down, or just call the cops and wait. I prefer to call the cops, because Phil is extra handsome in a uniform.  But again, I digress.  

Since my kids haven't experienced 'real' school, they don't really appreciate the perks of homeschooling. But you can bet I remind them. Kind of like the Grandpa who trudged through snow 12 feet deep up hill both ways to get to school, my memories of the pitfalls of school can rear up. Especially when I see my daughter curled up in a recliner in front of the pellet stove with a minky soft throw across her legs, a steaming hot chocolate within reach, and a purring kitten on a shoulder while she watches her Geometry lesson explained on her laptop - and this is her 'normal'??! I have to control myself or I'd yell, "Do you even realize how good you've got it???? May I just take 30 minutes of your time and bore you to death with an in depth description of the discomfort of school desks??"  

Nope, they don't realize how good they've got it, not fully.  But as they've left for college, each of our two daughters has said and written how grateful they are for comfy chairs in our homeschool - oh, yeah, and they were grateful for other things, too, which makes it all worth while.

Reading assignment in supreme comfort!

Kitten helping with daily work.

Students' best friend keeping vigil
until break-time.

Cozy kitchen computer work -
while in one's bathrobe.