Ann Leach

What started out as a way for me to fill time while Isabelle was at Space Class at the Neil Armstrong Space Museum, turned into a fun day of adventures (and purchases) for the whole family. During the hour I spent at the mall by myself, I found an old-fashioned sifter which  was the only item I went in looking for. I do prefer this old style with the turning mechanism rather than the new ones with the squeezy handle, which tires out both of my hands long before I'm done sifting. This was a $7.50 win. There was also an interesting end table and a set of dishes that I took pictures of to show Kenn. But it was time to go and pick up Isabelle, which I did. We went out for a diner lunch and because she hadn't been to the Mall for a while and we had time to kill before picking up Kenn, we went back to the Mall and explored a different area. As we poked around the different stalls in the rooms, we came into a large room with an assortment of old children's toy...

We live in a world of SO MUCH stuff. It's overwhelming just how much stuff there is in our world, at least in the US part of the world. Yesterday, I had a couple of hours to kill, and because my husband and I have decided we would prefer to furnish our home with antiques, I decided to take a walk through the local antiques mall. The antiques mall is in an old building downtown that used to be a JCPenney, so if you're familiar with the JCPenney stores of the 1970s and before, you'll know what I mean when I say it's big, really big, as in 3 floors of stalls of antiques. And the antiques range as far as they can from crochet-edged hankies to pyrex bowls to cast iron hand pumps to hoosier cupboards. Truly, if you're looking for a specific item, and you're willing to spend the time, you'll find it in this store. So much stuff.  Most of it just sits there, collecting dust. Like wall-hanging thread holder which I first spotted the first time I w...

Homeschooling -- Still waiting for confirmation from the group admin that my sign-up was processed.  I'll follow up with an email tomorrow. My excitement about homeschooling is staying true. Isabelle and I have moved through the challenging time we've been having for the last year or so, which is to say that I've improved my own techniques and methods for parenting so we're not butting heads so much. We already do some informal school time, but it is rather haphazard, so I'm starting to do some research for setting a couple of goals so we can develop a more effective system. I'm sure most of what we'll be doing for kindergarten is learning by doing than actual book/paper work.  But will be nice for the book/paper work to be headed in a specific direction. Antiquing -- The kitchenaid mixer made a loud growling noise when it ran, so I didn't get it.  And surprisingly, I am a bit disappointed.  I guess by the time I was in the store carrying it up to ...

Homeschooling:  Made contact today with a homeschooling co-op here in Allen County that I didn't even know about.  We're welcome to join, even at this late date in the school year.  There are only 3 more class sessions, but I'm excited to (hopefully) meet some of the other parents and get Isabelle involved in some activities and play groups. Finding this group has re-energized me toward homeschooling this autumn rather than enrolling Isabelle in public schools. Antiquing:  Isabelle and I took a big stroll through the Antique Mall  in Wapak this morning and saw LOTS of goodies, including 1 Kitchenaid and 4 Sunbeam stand mixers; and 2 Corning Ware electric skillets - 1 with the skillet and 1 without. This is a photo of the Kitchenaid mixer. Pinterest:  I do love pinterest as a means of collecting articles that I may want to come back to at some future date.  But it tends to be a really big collection and not a lot of doing.  So I'v...