Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Homeschool graduate

This weekend I attended  a graduation party for a beautiful young lady who was homeschooled from 5th grade through high school.   She was courted by numerous universities and will be attending Otterbein University in the fall - on full scholarship.  Because she had extra free-time that her public-schooled peers often lack, she was able to pursue her passion for dance and was recently hired as an instructor for her company.  Far from being "un-socialized", she has numerous friends and is involved in many different community activities.  Most importantly, this young lady has a strong moral compass.  She still has an innocence about her that is often lost so early today.   If you're looking into high school options for your student - consider homeschooling.  The benefits are far greater than you can ever imagine.

Saturday, June 27, 2015

Kool-Aid for rust stains - really!

My son is on a quest to fix up our house.  His cleaning gene comes from his father, definitely not from me.  Bothered by the rust stains on our patio, he found out that kool-aid could be used to remove rust from surfaces.  With just a packet of grape kool-aid and a wet scrub brush, he was able to remove all of the rust from our fake-brick patio steps.  He didn’t even have to scrub that hard.  Not sure why this works, but it does.  Still wouldn’t recommend drinking the stuff though ;-) 
kool aid lemon lime

Ps.  Be sure to test a small surface first – it did lighten our brick a bit.

Friday, June 26, 2015

Obergefell v. Hodges

I had planned on keeping my first posts light – beet kvass, meal planning, cleaning hacks – but then today turned out to be one of those days that changed the nation.  The SCOTUS decision delivered this morning is truly momentous.  Many are celebrating, many are lamenting, a scary number have no real opinion and believe it makes no difference.  Most believe this to be a religious issue.  Religion has played a big part in the debates, but this actually fits under the purview of sociology.  What is truly best for our society?   Historically, marriage has been defined as one man, one woman.  It was unheard of to even question this basic fact.  Our forefathers weren't unenlightened or backward, far from it.  They knew that strong families build strong nations and the ideal family has a father and a mother.  What's the problem with letting same-sex couples marry?

1)  Children do best when they have a mother AND a father.  Men and women both bring different irreplaceable gifts to a family.   Believing "the kids are all right" doesn't make it so.   This is an excellent article on the subject.

2)  Homosexual behavior is unhealthy.  Numerous studies  have shown the links between the homosexual lifestyle and both physical and psychological conditions.  

3)  Homosexual marriage will be presented in schools as equal with heterosexual marriage.  Instead of trying to protect our children from an unhealthy lifestyle, we will be encouraging it.  

4)  Freedom of conscience and religious liberty will be threatened.  Cases are already popping up all over.  It's no longer ok to say you're uncomfortable with making a cake with two grooms on top.  

5)  Marriage has already been devalued in our country.  Changing it's definition to include homosexual unions will weaken the institution even more.  We have now opened Pandora's Box.  What other unions will be next - polygamy?  Don't laugh - proponents are already making their case.


Here we go!

My family has been encouraging me to start a blog for a while now.  I’d like to believe that it’s because they think  I have such wonderful ideas that I should share them with the world, but I’m pretty sure it’s because I’ve burned them out with my rants.   They’re hoping that if I find a new audience I’ll give them a break.    Little do they know that a blog will just open up a world of new topics for me to share with them.   Lucky for you, you can choose to follow me or not.  I promise to try and keep it short and sweet.  Feel free to cut me off whenever I get long-winded.   This is my personal forum for discussing what I’ve discovered about the world – faith, food, education, vision, homeschooling, health, autoimmune disease, fitness, politics, medicine, and other obsessions du jour.   I’d love to hear your thoughts, so please post your comments and join in on the discussion!!


Welcome to my blog!!!