Wednesday, February 6, 2013

Cha Ching!

Proof positive!  I see we'll be doing more chair walking. Good job, little tenacious one!

Spelling Chairs

Recently I've been reminded of the scene in "Benny and Joon" where Joon, outside in her garden, sees Benny "floating" past the kitchen windows as he cleans.  (Great movie!!)

To help our tenacious one learn her spelling words I pull out the dining room chairs and have her walk around the room on them as she spells the words out loud.  I've been told, and have seen it happen, that when a person is learning something, if they can move and recite what they have learned it will stick with them longer.

You can toss a ball back and forth, walk around on chairs (thus having the balance part of the brain kicked into action as well), or jump rope.

Last week on her pretest she only spelled one word correctly.  By Friday she had learned 12 of the 15 words, including two of the challenge words.  Last week's test was on compound words so she actually learned 24 words while she was circling the dining room.

We tried it this week before the pretest and we'll find out today if she got a Golden Ticket, which means she doesn't have to take the test on Friday.

I just wonder what the people who happen to glance in the window as they are taking their evening stroll, think when they see her.

Friday, February 1, 2013

Kitchen Update

Well we took a tiny step forward in making our new kitchen happen.

We ordered the cabinets.  Yipee.

Got a call from the manufacturer and they will be delivered March 11th.  I'm so excited.

I went to my sister's house a few weeks ago and really looked at their kitchen from the perspective of one who is redecorating.  Good taste must run in the family because I'm pretty sure we will have the same cabinets!  I'll make sure I don't get the same countertop, even though her's is gorgeous!

Unfortunately I didn't look at the floor.

As you can tell I don't go to peoples' homes to check out their homes, I go to visit.  I've been there countless times and couldn't tell you what their floor looks like.

I guess we'd better get a move on and pick a floor soon because, apparently, that's next.  If we choose Pergo it cannot be installed under the new cabinets but if we choose a "non-floating" floor it can go wall to wall with the cabinets on top of it.  Who knew?

We've looked at counter tops and sinks but haven't made any decisions with those yet either.  All in good time.

Hopefully I'll have some "after" photos in my next update.