Furniture Musical Chairs

In preparation for the Montessori Method being introduced into our home (in January) Hubs and I have made a few furniture decisions. A dresser was purchased recently at a yard sale for $20. This will allow our little guy to have access to his clothes and be able to start down the path to clothing independence. (Won't that be a joyous day?) I am also thinking of doing a little spray paint and drawer front decoupage. Anyone have any thoughts on painting veneer?This also freed up the armoire to become our new entertainment center. (Can you tell that I am jumping up and down with excitement?) Once the to do list becomes more manageable I will be giving this piece a little Rehab a la Kimba. I have some stain, hardware & fabric in mind. Just wait and see what happens to it next spring.











Now I only want to repurpose 1 nightstand (by the backdoor for a landing zone) and a printer stand (into a nightstand in A's room), another dresser that needs some gorilla glue, paint & decoupage and remove all traces of fans to our storage (this may be a battle as of yet since my guys have hot blood while mine must be ice water). Oops, I almost forgot that I would seriously love to make covers for the gun safe and filing cabinet. Something that would make me smile at having large metal boxes hanging around the house. Who knows, maybe the filing cabinet needs a coat of spray paint and drawer front decoupage too.

Sick day, again.

It is a good thing that I don't have a paying job. I would have been calling in sick all week long.
Today I got my new glasses ordered. I got 2 pair at America's Best. The second pair was about half price so I couldn't pass up getting a backup/sassy pair. The main pair are a bronze color and the second/sassy pair are red! When I get them in I will post photos. (It may have to wait until I get back from AZ.)
I also picked up Teach Me To Do It Myself from Barnes & Noble. I am excited about this one. I already read the introduction and can't wait until I get some time to plan the "work" for Alex. Based on a few things I have noticed about him recently I think he is really ready to begin this kind of preschool.

Today was a major test of my patience and I know that I passed but I don't think I got a very good grade. After looking into it further I found a new tooth breaking through, realized that naptime was pushed back and have to concede that he may not have been feeling as good as I thought he was. So he had reason to have a short temper. I think I need to remember that pausing before reacting will really benefit us both in the long run. So noted.

Still sick

I am still feeling the crud in my sinus. It is times like this that I am so thankful that I rarely get sick. (Knocking on wood of course.) But then I think it makes me all the more pitiful when I do get sick.
A and I spent the morning on our errands that didn't get done yesterday. This included the RV store, the auto parts store, Hobby Lobby & Target. My favorite of course were the last two. Hobby Lobby provided some new Montessori materials to put away for later, some embroidery floss and bobbins to keep them (and the others) organized, lots of beautiful florals and a wreath base to make to celebrate fall. That last project will be put aside until I can recover my living room from the mass of stuff that was our vacation. (Only a little left to do.) Target was uber fun because I got to pick out my birthday presents from Hubs. I also got some new non-leaking sippy cups for our boy, a heat pad since our old one seems to be out on permanent loan, and I looked at the potty training tools that we will need to be purchasing soon. I am hopeful that the Montessori article I recently read is right when it suggests that a child is sensitive to toileting at around 18 months. Wouldn't that be grand? Target had some great eye candy for me and I was reluctant to leave the store. A was so tired that he fell asleep sitting up in the cart. As soon as I saw that he was going to stay asleep I scooped him up and laid him in the seat horizontally with his head proped on my purse for a pillow. It is amazing the places that kids can fall asleep.
Are you watching the ticker on the right side of the screen? My birthday is in just two days, well only one because there is only 30 minutes left to this day. Those who love me know that I certainly feel that my birthday should be a national holiday so I will be taking the day off of most of my domestic duties. I am thinking about taking A, Col & GG to the Art Museum to celebrate. We will see how I am feeling tomorrow to decide.
Well I need my rest so I am off to bed. Clinky with the NyQuil.

A is for Apple, H is for House.

I just finished reading Teaching Montessori At Home: The Pre-School Years by Elizabeth G. Hainstock. While this was written many years ago it is still insightful and full of practical ideas for preschooling at home. I have a list (can you tell that I just LOVE lists?) of the ideas that I want to use with A. I have a separate list of the materials that I can make. In an effort to save money I will be making as many (there are a lot) of the materials that I can make at home (or the sign shop). I see several materials that I will have to purchase but I think I will look for them on Craigslist or Ebay before looking at the stores.
I am wondering if there are any other At Home Montessori mama's in our area. I have heard of doing a homeschool co-op so maybe there will be something like this for preschoolers. I will certainly be content to push forward if nothing like this is around but it certainly would be reassuring to have a local source for brains to pick when I am stumped. And I also know that there are a multitude of bloggers out there who are teaching montessori at home and are willing to share their thoughts. (What a relief.)
So first things first. I will begin making the Prepared Environment over the next several months. (As much as I can with seriously limited space.) I started a list (another one) this morning regarding the changes that I feel need to be made in A's bedroom. I will be doing this in the living room and kitchen too. I need to chat with Hubs before I begin on this because it is going to effect future purchases and arrangements too. Although I am certain that Hubs will just tell me to do whatever I feel is necessary.

On a related topic of purchases and space... I may have found a house for us. I walked to see it last Sunday and certainly fell in like with the place. It has a lot of potential and needs a ton of TLC. But the size is good and so is the location. The big bonus... the price was dropped by $10k in the last week. Woo Hoo. This means that it is even closer to our getting it. Want to look at it? Check here. There is an issue with lead based paint (as on almost all old houses) but they are limited to the exterior of the house so I don't think that will prevent us from making a bid on it. With the bid amount we would likely place on this our house payment would be comparable to our current rent. I just can't see us not getting into something like this if it is going to build our equity and cost us the same or a tiny bit more to own. However, since Hub and I have been looking at houses for the last 4.5 years I am not going to get my hopes up too high until we are actually making the bid. Even then it could be rejected so I will reserve most of my excitement until we close on it.

Hello Baseball Fans!

Rain, Rain , Go Away!
This morning it is raining. Not a lot but enough for me to be concerned about the baseball game tonight. I am not sure that A will be able to go.
Yesterday instead of dropping A off at Granny's house I decided to stay for a while myself and get in a visit. When he went down for a nap I did got to Barnes & Noble in search of Teach Me To Do It Myself by Maja Pitamic and Montessori Play & Learn by Lesley Britton. Unfortunately my local B&N does not carry these or other montessori titles in the store. So I had to order them in because these titles aren't available from my library. I hope they call me soon to pick them up. The good thing is that I got a 10% off coupon in my email last night so I will be able to use that to purchase these books.
My library did have a couple of books that I checked out yesterday. (I currently have 19 books checked out. EEK!) The first is Teaching Montessori in the Home by Elizabeth Hainstock. I started this one last night but didn't get too far into it before it was time to go to bed. I can't wait for some reading time this afternoon. I also got Raise a Smarter Child by Kindergarten, The Homeschooling Handbook, Baby Read Aloud Basics, and The ABC's of Homeschooling. I am not sure how much of each of these books will help me on my quest for home preschooling but it couldn't hurt to give them a quick read.
I am absolutely loving these blogs! Chasing Cherios and Montessori Free Fall. These moms have great ideas and I will certainly be taking their advice and incorporating it into our world.

Last night instead of blogging...

Last night I was up way too late on my computer but I found inspiration and could not close the laptop for hours. I think I may have found something to obsess about for the next few months until the new year. Over here you will see what I am taking about. I have been lamenting much about A getting an education before he starts Pre-K. Earlier this year I read a couple of books on the Montessori way and was really intrigued. Now that I have a working model from which to pull our activities I am excited. I am thinking about starting this at the beginning of 2009. I will be using the remainder of September to evaluate the idea and discuss it with Hubs. Then if we agree about this method I will be preparing to start At-Home Preschool from Oct -Dec. I am hoping that we can put a few items needed for school on A's christmas wish list. I will also start a few activities with A in December as well as talk about having school time. Best to prepare him rather than just throw him in the water. Ya know.

Today is going to be busy and I am already behind. I hope the checkout lane is short and I can make some of it up.