Julie's Journal
Good girls have diaries... Bad girls have blogs!Yesterday was such a fun and exciting day with almost 4 inches of snow falling in Henderson (Las Vegas), NV that I didn’t have much time to blog about it. I was running around taking pictures and videos and just enjoying playing in the snow with my family, and pets.
I use the FireFox plugin called Forecast Fox, and yesterday was the first time I saw the word snow next to a snowflake icon. It was just crazy for us here in the desert!
Our local school district even called a snow day today for the first time since 1979, even though the snow stopped falling over night, and was almost all completely melted this morning. The only reminder of the snow storm we had yesterday is the snowmen in the front yards of all my neighbors, and the wet and muddy mess that is everyone’s yard now.
I did have a casualty of the snow storm and that was my beautiful Eucalyptus tree. It lost several large branches from the weight of the snow on them, and that made me sad. I love that tree; the smell is amazing, but I’m sure it will grow those branches back.
For more pictures of the snow storm along with videos I did you can visit my Flickr set called Las Vegas Snow Storm.
[tags]Las Vegas, Henderson, Nevada, snow storm, snow pictures, snow videos[/tags]
I’ve got to do the proud mommy moment here and share some pictures of my son skating at the skatepark. The guys came out to Anthem Skatepark one night from ParkFliks.com and they got some great action shots of him. Thanks Ryan and Joseph!
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[tags]skateboarding, Anthem Skate Park[/tags]
I’ve taken on many projects this year, and I’ve been given many titles, but the one I am most proud of is Homeschooling Mom.
I never thought in a million years I could do the whole homeschooling thing, but when I ran out of options for my struggling 9th grader, I knew I had to have faith in myself to help him succeed. I did a lot of research on homeschooling, and I knew that I needed as much guidance as I could get, so I decided to go with K12 Inc.
K¹² Inc. is a technology-based learning company that offers curriculum and educational services created for online delivery to students in kindergarten through twelfth grade, or K-12. The K¹² curriculum is used by tens of thousands of students across the country in virtual public schools, distance education programs, and traditional classrooms.
They sent him a new HP laptop and an HP scanner/printer, along with all his text books, and science lab equipment about a month ago. It’s taken a little getting use to their system, but his teachers have been a wonderful help, and he is thriving with straight A’s so far.
I know with him being in 9th grade, and almost 15, it is a little easier to homeschool because he doesn’t need my constant attention to stay on task. I just set up my laptop next to his at the kitchen table and we work together.
So if you are on Skype or IM’s with me and I suddenly disappear for awhile, now you will understand that my attention is needed elsewhere at the moment and I’m not ignoring you. It’s a new adventure for him and I, so we’re taking it slow and getting use to the new routine.
Resources For Homeschooling Teens:
[tags]K12 Inc., homeschooling programs, homeschooling curriculum, homeschooling teens[/tags]
Well I know at least this blogger drinks Red Bull on a regular basis, and I noticed something new on my can today. Look at the cute little bull they are putting on the can tabs now. It adds just the right flair for the Red Bull brand.
[tags]Red Bull, energy drinks, Red Bull tabs[/tags]
This post is a sponsored post on behalf of Sears via Izea. The opinions are mine.
It has been many many years since I have shopped at Sears. Not because I don’t like the store, it’s just that I always picture Sears as the big ticket items, and lately there are no big ticket items on my wish list. Speaking of a “wish list,” what’s on yours this year? What’s on your families? What’s on your favorite charities?
With the layoffs in my family, and the struggles we’ve had to endure these past few months, wishes are what get me through most days. Just the other day I was talking with my boys about what they wished for Christmas this year. They know we are struggling, but I wasn’t prepared to hear their answer. I thought they would still rattle off all the high dollar electronics that they normally want, but they didn’t. They said they wanted socks.
Now like any mother of a teenage boy will tell you, there are never enough socks. With all the sports they do, and the the general roughness of boys, you can’t keep enough socks in the house. They’ve even resorted to raiding their step-father’s sock drawer, leaving him with no socks to wear.
So when I got a $100 gift card to go shopping at Sears, what do you think I bought? Yes, socks! $100 worth of socks! My boys wish for socks was granted! I was pleasantly surprised at all the things Sears has in their store. It’s not just appliances and Craftsman tools.
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So there you have it. My boys will receive their wish of socks for Christmas, and I had an absolute blast going to Sears with my gift card. The Sears gift card is a great gift idea because you can use it to purchase any item of your choice, yes…even socks!
Now for the fun part! I want to give one of you a $100 Sears gift card for you to go shopping and grant a wish for yourself, a family member, or your favorite charity. You can enter up to three times using the different entry methods listed below.
Have fun and good luck to everyone! I feel like freaking Santa Claus all of a sudden! This is great!
Sears Don’t Just Give a Gift, Grant a Wish Giveaway Rules
3 Ways To Enter:
- Receive one entry by going to Sears.com and pick out the items you would buy with a Sears gift card (up to $100). Then come back to my blog and in my comments tell me the item #s of the things you would buy.
- Receive one entry by Twittering the following
“RT @JustJulie please grant my wish to win a $100 #Sears gift card – tweet to make your own wish http://urlbrief.com/73028a”
Leave a comment telling me the URL of your Twitter (example: http://twitter.com/JustJulie/status/1050355129). - Receive one entry by writing a blog post about the Sears Don’t Just Give a Gift, Grant a Wish campaign with a link to my contest Julie’s Journal – Sears Don’t Just Give a Gift, Grant a Wish. Leave a comment with your blog post URL so I can check it out.
Contest Details:
- December 23, 2008 – Contest ends at midnight EST
- December 29, 2008 – Winners chosen by IZEA at random based on all the entries
- December 29-31, 2008 – Winners will be shipped Sears gift card
Now get to entering and good luck again!
[tags]Grant a Wish, Sears, gift cards, shopping[/tags]
