Long Time No Post

So it has been quite a while since I posted and I thought I should put a little update on what has been going on in my life.

WHY SO BUSY: Well a few weeks back my name came up in the queue for my blog makeover during that time I was more interested in the changes than keeping up with my blog so I didn't post. By the time it was finished and ready to be "revealed" I was sick again. Apparently just a severe sinus infection.

FOR FUN: On MLK day some girl friends and I went to Stoke on Trent to do some pottery shopping. We visited about eight factories and scoured through all the discounts and sales to find our perfect pieces. I myself bought some lovely red calico bowls, black calico plates and milk jug from Burleigh.

HEALTH ISSUES: Despite the fun at Stoke being out in the cold and rain took it's toll on my already poor health. And on Wednesday I started having mild heartburn and chest pains. These worsened on Thursday and then at about 3am on Friday morning I woke up with severe chest pains and heart palpatations. As the day went on the pains came and went and by 7pm that night I knew I was in trouble. Still I refused to get help as I was certain I was just having a panic attack and didn't want to be trouble but at 11pm after all the kids were in bed and Brandon was at work at the pub my chest pains became so severe I couldn't call up the stairs for the kids. I called 911 or here 714911 and out came the parade. I had four firemen, the fire chief, and an EMT. They hooked me up to monitors and took vitals. I passed out. They called the ambulance then took an EKG and cancelled the ambulance and decided to have a doctor just come do a home visit. Listened to my lungs and called the ambulance back and off I went to the hospital. Now let me tell you an ambulance is no way to travel. Especially when you live in rural England and have nothing but bad roads to travel! The bed rocked back and forth, the ambulance rocked back and forth it was horrible and my heart rate soared! Finally we arrived and they started tests and gave me some meds for the pain. Anyways to cut short I have damaged my chest muscle to the point that it was constricting usage of my right lung causing the pains, tinglings, passing out etc. And if this doesn't beat all they think the damage to my chest muscle is caused by severe stress! So anyways I have spent the weekend in bed. Still mostly on bedrest as too much movement, talking, and any stress send me into waves of pain.

ON THE SUBJECT OF SCHOOL: School for the boys has been going ok. They are excelling with Math Mammoth and I am over the moon thrilled with our language arts books. After using a few days in both books we finally settled on Sandi Queen's Language Lessons. The books are so gentle and so complete! The art work is beautiful, colorful and engaging. It only takes a few minutes a day and the boys all seem to retain the lessons beautifully! On the otherside we are not enjoying Ambleside Online. The boys love the stories but they want more hands on and coming up with projects and notebooking pages has been a source of real stress for me. We have dropped it for now and are doing some School Express animal units instead. The boys love the workpages and we add stories and pictures of our own to make it more complete. Now to me these are too schoolish and mostly busy work but the boys enjoy them and until we get something else these are working well for us. I managed to get my hands on the complete Winters Promise Quest for Ancient History Jr High Set and am in LOVE with this! It is obviously too old for Phoenix and Gryphen but will be right on target for Tristan. We aren't going to start using it until we get the boys Winters Promise sets but being able to actually read through the curriculum and books have really let me know that I made a good choice with Winters Promise. (saying that I am still interested in My Father's World).

Well that pretty much catches us up. I need to go lie down but I hope everyone is doing great!