Worth the Wait...

While I was away....

My mother (decorator) and her friend Bruce (Upholstery) did an amazing job in my house. If any of you recall the photos of what this room looked like before the remodel, this is an amazing transformation, even from just the way the room looked empty in the morning. (and not to mention from my previous house, that I would not dare invite anyone in) I am excited to have so a warm inviting homey room. I've managed to keep TV's and electronic hook-ups out of this great room and it has become a very comfortable reading and coversation area (and viewing room). Bruce suggested the idea of two sofas and the swivel chairs. When you are not facing the fire or conversation, the chairs easily turn to face the dining room or the river view outside.

I joked and said the chairs are also breastfeeding friendly. If you don't want to feed  in front of the company you can swivel around and face another way. :)

Bruce put new fabric on my Grandmother's 65 yo chair (in dining room) to co-ordinate with our colors and other pieces. He also arranged my built-ins to display some of my favorite photos and things. I love John's old electric guitar setting out. On the other side of the divider is my Grandmother's 90ish (maybe?) year old radio that still works. She never  knew why I wanted that thing. I think it looks great.

I like the mix of old and new and all the colors and balance of shapes. I wouldn't have had it in me to make this room look so comfy. They picked out my couches, chairs, and coffee table in Orlando going by good memory. My mom e-mailed a few photos and I barely had time to think about it. I was like. just whatever you think looks good. Mom and Bruce delivered too! And hung up the window treatment!       Thanks mom and Bruce! (Will you do the rest of the house?)

Check out more photos on my mom's blog.

Contact Ross Upholstery @ 407-880-3331

Buying or Selling Real Estate or

need help with decorating, contact Maxine @ 407-718-8323

Your home should be your castle and reflect your personality.

Bruce asked the million dollar Question.

Would I build or remodel again?

Yes, I must admit, I would again.

It was worth the wait...

Bar Mitzvah Lessons

We just finished up a lesson this morning for the boy's upcoming Bar Mitzvah Ceremony, The weekend of Feb 12th 2011. The Ceremony will be Saturday morning, but our weekend will be full of fun. We are so fortunate to have Cantor Debbi Ballard come to our house monthly to tutor with weekly phone calls inbetween.



We use a combination of resources from the internet and prayer books that the boys are familiar with. Max gets to be present for everything. Scott is reading the V'ahafta in Hebrew. He covered the English translation on the side so he can't cheat.

David is enjoying lessons too, although he isn't officially studying. He has some important Blessings he will sing in Hebrew at the ceremony.

For the next few weeks the boys assignments will be to continue to practice the V'ahafta, the Torah Blessing, and will be writing an essay about six things they are grateful for.

Schooling Progress

Ugh. I can't seem to get into an effective pattern of predictable lessons that my boys can count on. They are pretty much enjoying that "mom has other priorities" right now. My school room is better off left with the door shut and the unpacked boxes hidden.

William is dragging through Virtual Math. I was helpful to him in previous math, but I can't concentrate on it AT ALL NOW. I haven't picked up a Math book for Scott since I packed it before our move. David is doing a lot of adding and subtraction in his head and in real life. He's progressing naturally and with my conscientious push.

William and Scott are strong solid readers. William will do Virtual English next year. For Scott I intend to progress him through BartonReading and follow her advice for writing, but since he is actually doing a lot of independent reading and research it is hard for me to get motivated. Barton keeps him dependant on me to explain everything. I am thinking of putting both boys in the same Virtual Social Studies class. They won't be so dependant on me to teach each lesson because it is designed for them to do without mommy. I think Scott is ready. Then maybe I won't feel so guilty about not having daily learning time with him. David is not a natural reader. He's a genius in other ways, but can't get d and b and t and f straight ((pulling my hair)) let alone the rest of the sounds.

We are definitely in Bar Mitzvah training mode. William and Scott both have weekly tutoring. Scott and David will be going to camp for 1-2 weeks at Chabad coming up soon. My boys are enjoying this far more than they will admit.

We knew our house would be a great place for boys. Between the great outdoors, construction and decorating diversions, animals and native wild life, water sports, my boys have every reason not to want to open their curriculum.

At one of the beaches near us it is common to see dolphin, hermit(?) and rock crabs and other marine life. We are fortunate to have friends with horses, chickens, and all sorts of pets to entertain us. The boys love all animals. Scott actually did some research on lizards and skinks after I accidentally dug up eggs in the garden.

My mango trees are producing and we have or had herbs, lettuce, tea grass, aloe and other edibles growing in our garden and have helped our friends and family with their edible and ornamental gardens.

There is karate which they are going to for the rest of their lives. :)

There is plenty of opportunity for learning through our experiences. I just wish I could get on track. But I'd rather be on David's Jet Rider.

Florida Shower at Sunset

Permission to Mother Feedback

It's really neat to find out in my google reader and google alerts who is reading my book, Permission to Mother. My favorite feedback is reading about how my book has benefited my young mom readers.

Thanks Jenn for dedicating a blog post to me. I love your thoughts about Breastfeeding as Medicine. Recently one of my boys had an eye infection and I told him that if I still produced milk, I would use breastmilk in his eye. Instead we used yicky eye drops... then I got the eye infection, too.

I've met Jenn once, but I never met Gretchen, who's post about Permission to Mother came to me in my alerts on the same day I read Jenn's post. I am glad you came across my book in your library. :)

Thank you for the feedback via your blogs.