365 Days of our Homeschooling Days - Day 01

It has been a looong time since I last blogged and the simple reason is that our lives are very busy. We are out and about every day, adventuring, socializing and learning. Who said that homeschoolers are not socializing? (rhetoric question!)

So I came up with a plan to get me on this site a little more often. One point on my Lifelist is to plan and execute a 365-day photo shoot. Until now, I never knew what to photograph to keep it interesting enough for me to shoot and for you to look at. But now I found it: I will take a picture of our homeschooling life for the next 365 days.


Now I know, some of you are absolutely not interested in following us on this journey, and that's okay. But for those of you that do, welcome and I am glad that you are here. I will try to keep it engaging and entertaining. A warning before we start: these photographs will most likely be snapshots, I am not trying to win a spot in the next exhibition at the Met.

So I started a few days ago, but have not had the time to download the pictures onto here. (surprise, surprise) Let's get started before something else comes up:

Here is a picture that just says it all about homeschooling for me: the youngest with the oldest, learning together. Even though the baby doesn't understand much yet, she is still getting some info, and, what is more important, she is getting the bond with her big brother.

Lifelist Accomplishment #10

Lifelist # 10 - "Visited Ground Zero"

Last year, I wrote a post about the Hurtful Memory of September 11th, for the ten year anniversary. I wrote about where I was and what I did. Well, I was traveling on that very impressive tour around the US. As awesome as this was, I did want to go home. After that fateful morning, it was hard to return 'home' - what was then New Jersey. But nonetheless, we had to take the car and just go, go see how it would look....

And sure enough, we got to see.... not without tears in our eyes, not without dust taste in our mouth, not without the many fliers around the city that were a constant reminder that people had died and loved ones were still looking for them. It was awful.

So yes, I have seen Ground Zero. I have seen it a week after it happened.. I have seen it six months later when the light towers were celebrating the six months anniversary. I have seen it many times, over and over. I went to the FDNY Memorial Wall. 

I went to the St. Paul's Chapel that has become a museum today.

And here is one more picture from the new World Trade Center, now called Freedom Towers.

Lifelist Accomplishment #20

Lifelist #20 - "Been in a Rain Forest"

At first, I was not sure what to think of a rainforest. I mean where I come from, there is just none nowhere near my town, region, or actually country! I am not a big fan of rain, so a rainforest doesn't sound that inviting to me. Also, I don't like bugs or little critters, and my image was a crawling floor with birds flying all around.

Reality was not quite like that at all. It was in Puerto Rico in 2010, when we went to El Yunque for a day trip. It was inviting, clean and no bugs at all. Almost disappointing 'normal'.  One of the magazines quoted it as an excellent first encounter because it is a 'very gentle forest'. Yes, it was!

It was a beautiful experience. We saw many, many waterfalls, took a hike down and up a trail, and saw lots of magnificent flowers of all colors, trees that I had never seen before, and a few frogs present along the trail.

I will return and maybe climb one the summits.

Lifelist accomplishment #18

#18 "Been horse back riding - with the Navajo Indians through Monument Valley"

It was that glorious summer of 2001. It was hot in the valley. But our spirits were high. A dream of mine would come true. Oh the excitement. I could not wait. And yet, I was a little nervous. I had never been on a horse in my life - it's a little hard when one grows up in the city - I felt intimidated and exhilarated at the same time. When this opportunity 'knocked on the door', I couldn't say no, no matter the cost.
We would be riding with the Navajo Indians through Monument Valley. WOW.
The journey on horseback took about three to four hours. I can't remember. Well, we took it easy - no galloping through the prairie!

Once we got there, we were given an Indian dinner, got to see Indian tribal dances, and slept under the stars for the entire night. In the morning, we got up before the sun did, rode in jeeps out to a spot where the sunrise is suppose to be extra beautiful. So we got to see that, drove back to the camp, and climbed back on that horse to ride all the way back out of the valley.

It was a fantastic experience.

Lifelist Accomplishment #11

Lifelist # 11 "Sang Karaoke (in New Orleans on 9/11)"

If you read my post about the ten's anniversary of 9/11, you know where I was on that fateful morning. We were traveling around the country, and on that morning we were leaving for New Orleans, from where I was to catch an airplane to fly back to New Jersey. Well, I never made it. But what I did instead was go out in the 'dead' and 'sad' city of New Orleans, with a bunch of Europeans who were more or less oblivious to the current events that shook me to the core!

We went out to dinner at a nice little restaurant, and then ended up in a Karaoke bar somewhere near Bourbon Street. The bar was not very packed and I guess we were more daring than usual:

We were singing to "Man! I Feel Like a Woman!" from Shania Twain. It was actually fun for those five minutes of fame (and I could forget the dreadfulness of that day for a little time).

Lifelist Accomplishment #26

Lifelist # 26  "Witnessed a solar eclipse"

It was in the year of 1999. A warm summer day that turned almost as dark as the night. Back then, my photography skills were not good at all, so there is no better picture than this one. But I did find a picture online from the same town and the same year:

A total solar eclipse happens when the moon moves in front of the sun, so really, it moves in between sun and earth, covering the sun, so it gets dark.
It was pretty cool to watch this event, even if it only lasted for a few minutes, literally.

Lifelist Accomplishment #34

Lifelist #34 "Be a mom"

I did not always want to be a mom, but eventually, I came around, got married, and once I was under that 'roof', I wanted to have children immediately. It didn't work out right away, but the third try was a charm.....

....I was able to carry my first-born to term, and to prove it, here is a picture of me about a week before he was born. I was biiiiig!

He was a handsome little man back then.

And he is an energetic five and half year old now!

Lifelist Accomplishment #35

Lifelist #35 "Bathed in a hot spring"

It was on that same trip around the US in the summer of 2001 - I am truly blessed that I have seen that much of this country. It's a beautiful country to love and to travel through. So we went to the hot springs by Yellowstone National Park. Located along the 45th Parallel of Latitude, halfway between Equator and North Pole - pretty cool! It was later in the day and a bath after a day of adventures just sounded too good to deny.

Yes, that's me in the pink bathing suit. Where we are standing, it was soooo cold, and then just a few feet away, it got hotter and hotter. Total weird feeling to have water of different temperatures swooshing by you constantly.

Lifelist Accomplishment #6

Lifelist # 6 - "Gone skydiving"

This one was a once-in-a-lifetime event. I am not sure if I had the guts to do it today. But when one is young and courageous and has no family of its own, things seem less threatening, I guess.

So I signed my life away one early morning in late August of 2001. I was traveling all around the US, and what would be better than to do it in the desert near Las Vegas. I had talked to my parents on the way, NOT telling them what I was about to do....

This is me in the little airplane that brings you up to about 10.000 feet. Ten thousand feet doesn't sound high, but when my co-flyer asked me to put my foot out of the airplane, I just refused. So he had to give me just a little push-over.... and out we were..... FLYING!

At first, I was not sure if I would be able to breathe so high up in thin air. But after a few gentle gulps, I realized that it was a fabulous feeling to fly. I totally enjoyed soaring through the air towards earth. After only ten minutes or so, it was all over - unfortunately. I can see how people get addicted to this. I think I could, too..... if I hadn't three children now!

So one more picture, the aftermath:

Life is good.

Lifelist accomplishments #17

So I was thinking that it would be fun to run a series about all the accomplishments that I mentioned on my Lifelist about a year ago.

Today, I thought I'd share number 17 with you: "Ridden on a San Francisco cable car"

A good find

Yesterday, I saw a post on one of my groups, a German group to be exact... Someone was giving away books for free due to a return to the old country.... Of course, I wrote back that I was very interested. So she wrote back the sooner I could get there the better for her because she really wanted them out of the house....

Oh, did I mention that these were GERMAN books? Yes, something that I can not pick up at any bookstore over here, so that's why I was so excited!

So off we went in the afternoon, to retreat those books that were no longer wanted! How??? I love books, and if a move, to wherever, was ever in the talking, the books would be the first thing I'd  pack!!! If you remember me talking about my life list, you will remember that one of my 'goals' (or dreams) is to have my very own library in one of our future homes. Oh yeah! A room full of books, where I can 'hide' for hours and read. That sounds like heaven to me!

Okay, so back to the issue of rescuing those books that were calling my name. Arriving at her house, there were about one hundred books that she wanted to give away, for free. Yes, you read right, for free. I even asked her if I could give her something, because I kind of felt guilty to just take them. But she insisted on getting rid of them, preferably all of them at once. So I started scanning through them and choosing a few, say maybe fifteen. She asked if that was all..... I said I'd take more, but there might be other people interested. "No", she said, "first come, first serve, so take more." Okay, I went back up and chose another ten. To make it a short story, after going back to choose more books - and I was very hesitant on taking all of them - I came back home with 36 books!!!

Yeah, they have a new home now, in my house, and soon in a new bookshelf (that I am waiting for for the past two years). So I am working on my life list and at the same time, do what I love to do most, reading! Can't wait to get through them all - even though it might take me two years to go through them all, knowing I still have about twenty other books to read.... oh, I could read all day long, if I had no kids and if they could just raise themselves.... (okay, just kidding!) It tdoesn't look like much in the picture, I guess, but it's four bags of books.... and I told the lady if she can't find someone else to take the rest of the remaining books at her house, I will come back and take the rest....

So I got blessed with books yesterday! German books to be exact.

Life List or Dream List

I saw this list at someone's blog, and I knew I had to "steal" it and use it here. I always had a list of short-term and long-term goals, just not a name for it, like Life List. It's fun to see what I have accomplished already - it makes me feel less of a failure. The lady had some rules to it, I don't want to do that. But I actually came up with two lists instead, one of accomplishments, the other of dreams and goals for my future.

Also, she called it a Life List because she wanted to make a point as to have dreams come true in a lifetime, not working towards death. I agree. Bucket List is also not a very nice title. So I go with Life list, or maybe Dream List. I can change things if I want to, like when I think something is not that important to me anymore, I can remove it and add something else. Life is ever so changing, so my list can be as well.

So without further ado, here is my list:

1. Write and publish a book - not sure if that would be a children's book or a more serious one
2. Go to the Olympics - summer or winter
3. Put my feet in each ocean
4. Start my own business
5. Talk with a homeless person and help out
6. Get over my fear of public speaking
7. Visit each of the 50 states (of the USA)
8. Train and run in a race, preferably a half-marathon, or even a marathon
9. Anonymously pay for someone else's meal at a restaurant
10. Sit on and drive a motorcycle
11. Learn to play the piano (correctly!)
12. Swim with dolphins
13. Go on a helicopter ride
14. Hike up to Machu Picchu
15. Walk on the Great Wall of China
16.  See the Pyramids in Egypt and ride on a camel
17.  See the Taj Mahal in India
18. Go to Rome and see the Colosseum
19. See the Hagia Sophia (in Turkey)
20. Go to Jerusalem and the Holy Land
21. Visit Australia
22. Go snorkeling - preferably at Great Barrier Reef
23. Learn to say "hello" in 50 languages
24. Have a library in my house (one room just filled with books!)
25. Reach and maintain my ideal weight for the rest of my life
26. Ride a gondola in Venice
27. Go sailing on a real sailboat, maybe even around the world
28. Be in a hot-air balloon
29. Make a huge change in someone's life
30. Go on a cruise (a real one, not just the two-hour sunset cruise I did already!)
31. Visit every continent
32. Be a mentor to someone
33. Plan and execute a 365-day photo shoot
34. Have my portrait painted
35. Volunteer at a soup kitchen
36. Teach German in a foreign country
37. Cross a glacier on foot
38. Make a Family Tree at least four generations back
39. Write some kind of biography
40. Pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela
41. Learn Hebrew
42. Have my own Photography Exhibition
43. Climb Mount Kilimanjaro (Tanzania, Africa)
44. Go to a Fashion Show
45. Read ten thousand books
46. Host a dinner party
47. Visit Stonehenge
    
48. See a Highland castle (in Scotland)
    
49. Go whale-watching
50. Donate money and put my name on something like a bench or brick
    

Okay, after that wish list, I have come up with a list of things that have happened already, so it's more of an accomplishment list. Things I have done so far:

1. Survived Cancer
2. Danced in the rain
3. Driven across the United States from coast to coast, and back
4. Skipped school
5. Eye witnessed an historic event (the fall of the Berlin Wall & 9/11)
6. Gone skydiving
7. Lived in more than one country
8. Flown a kite
9. Watched the sunrise / sunset 
10. Visited Ground Zero
11. Sang Karaoke (in New Orleans on 9/11)
12. Be in NYC on New Year's Eve
13. Seen a falling star and made a wish
14. Attended a Wine Tasting at a winery
15. Visited the Grand Canyon
16. Placed a bet in Las Vegas
17. Ridden on a San Francisco cable car
18. Been horse back riding - with the Navajo Indians through Monument Valley
19. Traveled by train through three countries 
20. Been in a rainforest
21. Gone to school in a different country
22. Swam in the Mediterranean Sea
23. Been White Water Rafting
24. Sewn an actual garment (here, and here, and here, and here)
25. Climbed the Eiffel Tower
26. Witnessed a solar eclipse 
27. Slept under the stars
28. Seen the Tour de France live
29. Planted a tree
30. Wrote my will
31. Spent a whole (!) day reading
32. Drove the Autobahn - no speed limit
33. Published one of my photographs in a magazine
34. Be a mom
35. Bathed in a hot spring
36. Learned how to bake bread
37. Ran a 5K as a timed runner (in NYC)
38. Seen a child being born
39. Drive along Route 66 (USA)
40. Drove a convertible with the top down 
41. Seen Mont Saint Michel (France), Notre Dame, and Sacre Coeur 
42. Dyed my hair red

So this list is a little shorter, it makes me feel like I have done some things in my life. I guess, once again, I can say that I feel so blessed. Now I have to work on some of those goals....

What about you? Do you have dreams and goals in your life? What is it (if you want to share)?

Future Plans

Today, I was thinking that sometimes I forget that I am a cancer survivor. I mean only for a second or so. I know that others experienced this before, too. So I am not alone. Like when I think about the future, my dreams and my expectations. There are so many things that I still want to do. So many places that I want to see. I am a stay-at-home mother and I am loving it. But I also know that one day, I want to go back to work. What that might be, I don't know yet - there are so many choices!
And that is one thing to LOVE about America: nobody laughs at you when you decide to change carriers with 40!!! They encourage you and cheer you on! I love it. I love photography, but I am not sure if I want to have my own business. I love teaching, so I could easily imagine to teach somewhere (besides my own children). I can also imagine to work in a family business. Then I came up with this: after going through the cancer experience, one has the feeling to want to help others that are going through that same (or a similar) experience. I can NOT see blood, I will faint. So I can't be a nurse. But I could do a one-year training to be an ultrasound technician! Yeah. So I just have to figure things out for myself.
Helping others is top on my list. So being a volunteer is one thing that I actually enjoy. I want through a training and feel quite confident to be able to help someone. Currently, I am just doing one-on-one matches, mostly over the phone. It comes being a mom of small children that I can't just leave and go off. But in the near future, I want to go to hospitals and oncology centers. In my support group, I can drive people to and fro, when they are not feeling well enough to drive themselves. It is the small things that count. Maybe I can help someone else to dream again and see the light at the tunnel......
But when I thought about all those plans today, I was thinking that I am glad that I am making plans! Because three years ago, round about this time exactly, I was not thinking of making any plans...... so I wanted to share with you HOW blessed I felt today. For being able to still dream, expect and hope!