The hand laundry continues, with much slow progress along the learning curve.

Here’s a few things I’ve learned so far about the process, and the products.

Breathing Washer, Rapid Washer, or laundry plunger.

When I started my journey, you may recall, I went with an inexpensive rubber toilet plunger (new!). A plunger is a plunger, right?

Wrong. Of course.

The rubber plunger lasted through just a few weeks of hard use before it gave out – the rubber isn’t designed for that much bending, all the time.

The breathing washer has been a lifesaver, and valuable investment. It is a sturdy plastic cone that doesn’t flex, so no stress on it that way. It uses pressure and suction to push/pull the water through the clothes, offering very effective cleaning.

Must have tool for hand laundry.

Clothesline Drying

Wolf got my lovely new clothesline set up in the back yard. We chose this one as a good balance between the right item and the right price:

On the advice of a friend, we installed it with a T-post in the ground rather than trying to dig in its sleeve, and added reinforcing dowels on each arm with cable “zip” ties.

I use good ol’ wooden clothespins to keep things from falling off every time a breeze blows by.

That part works like a charm.

Mississippi weather? Not so much. Brief but frequent rains, and high humidity, make drying outside sometimes quite challenging. Although I try to use it as much as possible, I am very thankful that we still have our gas dryer hooked up and available!

But let’s go back to the washing for a moment…

Wringing

We had purchased this wringer:

…and Wolf set me up a lovely little laundry stand with a utility sink, the mounted wringer, room for a bucket to gather clothes in from the wringer, and room underneath for storage (or, in my case, the cat boxes!).

He bought the utility sink at Lowes, then had to build a table to raise it since we’re so tall. The side also needed to be reinforced to support the wringer, and it needed a more functional drain/plug. It now lives in the “mud room / laundry room” by the back door, using the same plumbing connections the washer used.

Other than some challenges with finding a drain setup that works in that sink (which was designed for just a rubber stopper), the laundry station setup has been working out very well.

The wringer? Not so much.

First, a picky complaint: the description states, and the photo shows, wing nuts to adjust the tension. It did not, however, show up with wing nuts. Luckily, Wolf replaced the “plain nuts” that were included before I ever even saw it, and I went about doing laundry.

But the design is seriously flawed.

When mounted on the side of the laundry tub, the rollers are, obviously, dangling over the tub (allowing the water wrung out to go down the drain). Over time, due to friction rubbing the finish off, and constant exposure to water, the ends of the rods quickly start getting tiny rust specks… Which are then ground off at each use, and the greasy, rusty water drips off — right onto the clean laundry waiting to be wrung (or the next load just placed in the tub).

Over time, now, the black paint on the arms has worn all the way through, and those surfaces are rusting as well, resulting in more “gunk” in the works – which is now also creeping in along the rollers (soiling clothes as they are wrung), rather than “just” dripping down onto the clean clothes below.

The work-around we have come to is that Wolf completely disassembles and cleans all the interior bits of the wringer about once a month. Meanwhile, I wait between each load of wash (and rinse) for the drips to dry up and stop before cleaning out my tub and beginning the next load. It’s an awkward situation, but it is what we have to work with for the time being.

The company from which I bought the wringer didn’t seem concerned with my feedback, declaring that they have sold “thousands” of these over the years. They say that, while not perfect, it is made in the USA and they are proud to offer it. I feel they are likely missing the point: I imagine that most people use the wringer for weekends at the cabin, or other intermittent or light use. It still bears noting that under heavy, full-time use, it has the above (serious) issues — my suggestion was not that they stop selling it, only that they add some clarification to the description.

The manufacturer of the wringer, who previously chatted with me by both email and phone about his design ideas for related products, did not respond to my two emails on the subject, nor to an inquiry by a mutual friend.

Wolf is working on a way to rebuild the wringer that will solve this problem. He had actually hoped that the wringer company would be interested in such an improvement, and it could be manufactured this way for the benefit of a larger population. Since that’s not the case, he will do a “one-off” rebuild of my existing wringer, and I, at least, will be happy.

So, on we go.

Learning, and in many cases, building, everything from scratch…

Love isn’t a warm, fuzzy feeling. We’re not talking about teenage infatuation, or overactive hormones, here.

Love is a verb. Love is the commitment you make, and the action you take. Love is much more than whether you “feel like it” or not on any given day.

People homeschool for different reasons, but it seems to universally boil to down to the fact the we love our children (and in many cases, including ours, we love our Lord).

Your child has special needs that won’t be addressed in a traditional school setting? Your child is working ahead of or behind the “grade level” the schools would box them into? School teach values with which you disagree?

Of course… But you wouldn’t care if you didn’t love your child, and in some cases the Lord.

So we do “love” (the emotion) our children, of course.

How do we “love” (the committed action) them, as homeschoolers? Let me count the ways…

We Love them enough to continue homeschooling in spite of whatever hurdles life throws at us.

A Pilgrim’s Heart shares the solutions she’s found during a year of travel and travail, in Pulling An Education Together on the Road.

The Why Homeschool blog is right on my wavelength today, exploring the question of Can only the privileged few homeschool?

Sometimes the “hurdle” is nasty winter weather. Sage Parnassus offers a wonderful perspective in Fertile Observations and Family Diaries.

We Love them enough to do what is best for them, even when it doesn’t feel like the best for us.

Everyday Snapshots shares a treat: Beat the Yellow Bus Blues: Combat Homeschooling Burnout

Okay, I only have one Carnival submission that fits this heading, but it’s such an important one for me right now. When they are ill, they would be home from school anyway… But when I am ill, it is easy to feel the longing for an easier path!

We Love them enough to give them the true education we feel they need, as well as providing for the world’s requirements to ease their future.

7 Sisters Innovative Homeschool Helps discusses how to “package” your fine arts learning into a format that will be recognized by colleges and other interested parties, in Fine Arts on the Homeschool Transcript.

Team Gray! ponders on What Is Education?

The Itchy Homeschooler is reciting Shakespeare, in the Merchant of Venice.

Practical Pages has some advice for our growing children venturing out into the world, in 10 Tips for 1st-Time Employees.

We love them enough to push and challenge them. To push and challenge authority, when necessary. To push and challenge ourselves.

Golden Grasses shares her musings on life and learning in Length and Width.

MomSCHOOL discusses the challenge in Homeschool Scheduling – Routine or Rut?

My Domestic Church offers hope with A surprising success with my right brained reader!

We love them enough to explore new territory, expand our horizons, and keep trying to find the best resources for each situation.

Tea Time with Annie Kate describes learning through The Great Backyard Bird Count.

Home School VS Public School discusses ways to look at life, via Why Should Home School Students Take Pictures.

The About.com Homeschooling Blog shares a co-operative idea in Meals and Moms: Meal Exchange Homeschool Group.

MomFITNESS shares some ideas for teaching Lessons on Health and Nutrition.

Dimes2Vines reviews some helpful resources in Home Education – Reading and Spelling.

We love them enough to…

Share a laugh with Our Curious Home, who shares Stream of Consciousness Homeschooling.

Lifelong Learning is very much on the same page as I am today, and shares a wonderful reminder about the role of LOVE in Homeschooling, with If I Knew Then, What I Know Now.

Thank you for reading… Naturally, please let me know if you find any errors or broken links.

I want to thank each of the bloggers who shared with us today. As always, it has been a joy to read through them all while putting this together (I confess I don’t typically get to read through an entire carnival!).

Please take a moment to post a link to the carnival on your blog, your Facebook page, your Twitter feed… help spread the word about homeschooling, and the carnival, and send some traffic to all these terrific folks!

And of course, good Carnival manners includes the hope that everyone will link their submitted post to this Carnival post, as well as possibly including one of the adorable COH Graphics. Thank you!

Don’t forget to send in your post for next week’s carnival! Just visit Why Homeschool for all the details, and email the info anytime before next Monday.

Image credits: Heart pencil from the Thinking Kids blog, which I discovered for that purpose, but actually looks pretty cool. LOVE from contributor LifeLong Learning. Heart Hands from Lifetips by Coach Cat, a website about which I know nothing further.

As For My House will be hosting the Carnival of Homeschooling again next week.

If you blog, I hope you will join is by submitting a post:

• Something old, something new… I do have to draw the line at “something borrowed” though!
• It doesn’t require a “blog about homeschooling” – only a post that’s “on topic.”

In the past, the COH has used the Blog Carnival submission form, but that has not been working properly for the last few months. As a result, they are requesting that all submissions be sent to the carnival’s GMail email address, which is forwarded to each week’s host in turn.

Submissions are due to CarnivalOfHomeschooling@gmail.com by 6:00 PM (PST) by Sunday evening. It will be greatly appreciated if the submissions come in earlier. Please send the following information:

Title of Post
URL of Post
Name of Blog
URL of Blog
Brief summary of the post
(With “carnival” or “submission” in the subject field of the email.)

More details about the carnival, and submissions, are always available from the good folks who run the carnival, “Why Homeschool“.

To help spread the word about the carnival, and get more readers for all of our terrific contributors, you are encouraged to include one of the following icons/links in your submitted post:

Small:

Medium:

Large:

Thanks for joining the fun!

RaffleCoptor (using Random.org) had picked the lucky winner of last week’s Caring Cross Giveaway:

Rhonda S won with her entry for “Liking” the Blog Post.

I’ve already emailed Rhonda, and she has 48 hours to respond and claim her prize.

A cross will be shipped to her directly from the delightful folks at My Caring Cross. Be sure to hop over to their website, and check out their newest addition – two sizes of pocket crosses!

Thanks to everyone who entered. It’s a pleasure to be able to bring such lovely giveaways to you.

I would like to share a long-overdue introduction of an artisan I was lucky enough to discover: Jamie, of the Peach Street Boutique (on Etsy).

Another blog held a drawing for a gift certificate to the shop back in November, which I was delighted to win.

With St. Nicholas’ Day approaching, I quickly decided to get a fun wall-hanging for R.T. (Jewel already has a lot of decor).

Red, White and Blue was a given – Captain America guy, just like his Papa.

Jamie and I had quite a lengthy message exchange, working out all the details. It absolutely had to say “R – dot – T – dot”, as that is how R.T. often refers to himself. Since the plaques don’t normally have punctuation, this was an adventure.

I felt nervous about picking colors “blind”, and placed my trust in Jamie’s artistic eye. I did decide to be a “rebel,” and do the two plaques in different base colors (opposing their different design colors), a decision that I think resulted in a lovely patriotic product.

Here’s R.T. checking out his name on St. Nicholas’ Day.

Jamie’s advice was on-the-money. The design is lovely. The colors are perfect. The “Dot” is adorable. The workmanship is professional. The packaging was safe and secure. And the prices in her Etsy shop are very reasonable for an artistic product of this nature.

I have nothing but praise for Jamie and her work, and do not hesitate to recommend her to you.

Isn’t that lovely?

It’s called My Caring Cross.

Handcrafted in Bethlehem, from olive wood, by Christian artisans who earn a living wage for their labors.

Beautiful all the way around!

Caring CrossesTM are individually carved from a single unique piece of beautifully grained olive wood pruned from the olive trees around Bethlehem the birthplace of Jesus. Christians have been carving crosses like this for hundreds of years, originally for pilgrims and more recently tourists visiting the Holy Land. Each craftsman receives a fair price to support their family and Christian community. My Caring Crosses are designed to fit comfortably into the palm of your hand as an aid to prayer or meditation. Ideal as your spiritual companion for easing children’s fears, comforting worries and stresses of adults and focusing the prayer of the sick and elderly.

On their website you can find out more about the Caring Cross story.

I purchased two Caring Crosses (who could resist that deal!), and they are simply delightful. The unique wood-grain of the olive branches gives each cross its own personality, while the professional quality cutting and finishing leaves them smooth and well-fitted to the palm of your hand.

We are not particularly enamored of the idea of a “talisman”, but these will definately find a place in our home. Possibly as:

• A wall hanging (have you seen my wall of crosses?)
• A paperweight
• A subtle, classy desk piece / paperweight for Wolf at work
• A component of the inventive table decorations and centerpieces to which our children often treat us
• A good “busy hands” item for the youngest when we’re reading schoolwork that’s not fascinating to him
• A sweet surprise tucked into Wolf’s suitcase when he travels (blessedly rare)
• And yes, probably as a bit of a “worry stone” for those prayer times when I’m extra challenged by letting go of certain things

I will also be keeping them in mind as gifts!

BUY IT

Run, don’t walk, and you can order your cross(es) and pay via PayPal directly from the My Caring Cross website.

An individual cross, complete with information card and red velveteen gift bag, is only $5 + $3 shipping, or – as long as they are running their current special – you can order two crosses (with cards and bags) for just $10 (including shipping). They even have discounted larger quantities for mission work, church groups, or fundraising!

WIN IT!

One lucky As For My House reader will receive one of these lovely crosses… Keep it for yourself, or use it as a thoughtful gift for someone you care about.

Enter using the handy-dandy RaffleCoptor form below. Entries will not be counted except by the automated RaffleCoptor processing.

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We file our income tax returns on time. We are scrupulously honest. We pay the taxes we owe.

Up until last year, I have always done my taxes myself, at home on my PC.

Last year I was attracted by the idea that several places online offer free use of their online system, and free eFiling, for members of the military.

I chose TurboTax.com from among the options, since it was the software with which I was familiar. And everything went smoothly, so I never gave it another thought.

This year, I went willy-nilly to the first place I ran across with that program, and started preparing our return on the TaxSlayer website.

Even though I didn’t have all of the documents yet, I went ahead and put in what was available – Wolf’s income from his “day job,” from the Reserves, and a 1099-R from a Life Insurance policy we had cashed out (long story not relevant here, but while it might sound odd on the surface we believed this was the proper stewardship action in this matter).

I was really exasperated when I saw how things were shaping up. TaxSlayer showed that we would owe the IRS a bit, but would owe Mississippi considerably more – over $600!

Looking through the online payroll information, I was able to determine that we were having the wrong amount withheld overall – since Wolf’s last pay increase, and Nick’s 17th birthday, we have lost ground in several areas.

I never even thought that the withholdings needed to be adjusted – let that be a lesson you can learn from my mistake!

But it also turns out that Mississippi is not the most pleasant state in which to live, in this regard (we’ll leave “in other regards” for another day!). That Student Loan Interest deduction you can take on your 1040? Not a deduction in Mississippi. And so on…

I had to change the withholdings additionally for Mississippi, to account for their, erm, rigid policies.

So, our house will be in better order when the time comes to file our 2012 taxes. But in the meantime, I shared my woes with my Facebook friends.

Several commiserated about Mississippi. But one friend said,

Yeah, I always do it on several of those online sites, to see who gives me the best return!

Um, wait a minute. The tax law is the tax law. If you put the same information in, you absolutely should get the exact same result.

Skeptical, I went and input the identical information at H&R Block and TurboTax.

All showed the exact same number for our Federal Income Tax.

But Mississippi?

TaxSlayer = WE OWE $600+

H&R Block = WE OWE $300+

TurboTax = Refund of $54

Clearly, the tax code for Mississippi is not as clear, or not as clearly implemented — or both — as its Federal counterpart.

But which of those is right?

Beginning at the beginning, I printed out the blank tax forms from IRS.gov and the MS Dept of Revenue, and worked through the whole process by hand.

As you might expect, the Federal return went smoothly, and I, too, arrived at the answer all three sites had delivered.

STRIKE ONE

One item that came quickly to light was that TurboTax had told me about a deduction that was missed by both other programs — pay earned while serving in the National Guard or any branch of the Reserves may be deducted up to a certain amount. Wow!

TaxSlayer had a mention of this, but stated that it was only for National Guard pay, so I did not believe that we qualified.

H&R Block has no mention of this what-so-ever.

I tried contacting customer service. After chatting, talking, transferring, and teeth gnashing, I was told the matter was being escalated and I would be contacted within 48 hours.

I never heard back from them.

Since there was no way to claim it in their system, they were disqualified from the race with a pointed letter to customer service.

H&R Block, you’re fired! A company honoring the military by offering free filing should give them that deduction, for sure!

STRIKE TWO

Soon I uncovered the second problem:

The Life Insurance income from the 1099 form was reported correctly on the Federal return by all three programs. But only TaxSlayer was showing that income on the Mississippi return.

So the big question: Who is right?

Was TurboTax (and H&R Block, but they’re already fired) simply missing this income in the Federal-to-State transfer? Or did they know something TaxSlayer did not know, making the income not taxable in Mississippi?

After reading through all the information easily accessed through the DOR website (short of starting to sift through the voluminous code itself), it seemed that it was clearly taxable income in Mississippi.

Bad news, TurboTax.

STRIKE THREE

I wanted to give TurboTax the benefit of the doubt, here, since they had been kind enough to show me the deduction for Reserve pay.

After the in-program-chat representative determined that I was not an idiot, they had me call and speak to a “tax adviser.” I worked with a woman in that department for some time, and she agreed with my assessment that the income should be taxable.

She had me call another department, giving me an “Incident Number” so they could find my case. This was the “Working On My Return” Department, who should be able to either explain the situation, or provide a work-around solution.

I called. The Incident Number didn’t work. I walked through a bunch of nonsense again. They finally figured out that I was not an idiot.

I was told that it would be escalated to “Tier Two Support,” and that someone would get back to me within 48 hours. (Wait, doesn’t that sound familiar?)

I never heard back from them. (Wait, doesn’t that sound familiar?)

TurboTax, you’re fired! Not only is there potentially a glaring error in your software, but your Customer Service is worse than nothing!

IN THE HOME STRETCH

So, that leaves the undisputed champion as TaxSlayer!

Except, wait… I’m still not really sure whether that 1099 income is taxable. What if, in spite of all their other issues, TurboTax and H&R Block got this part right (they are the majority opinion, at this point)?

Someone with two clocks never know what time it is.

And apparently someone with two tax programs never knows how much they really owe.

We went to visit Church of the King today, to help them celebrate the “Grand Opening” of their new building.

Nick has really been blessed by the Youth Ministry there, and [Youth] Pastor Gabe is really a neat person.

We dressed as we always do. Wolf and R.T. were by far the best dressed men in the place, including pastoral staff. We got a lot of comments about how cute R.T.’s suit was, since it was such a novelty to them.

Being aware of the climate there, and working towards balance with a growing-up young man of 17, we allowed Nick to wear his “good jeans” with a button shirt and dress shoes. Not what we would choose, but still a step above the general dress of the congregation.

(The photo is my handsome son, but unrelated to the specific outfits mentioned in this musing).

We came home afterwards, and most of us began changing out of our “church clothes” into more casual apparel for a relaxed afternoon.

Nick, on the other hand, was going to a “dress rehearsal” with the mock trial team. He began changing to dress up - into his suit and tie.

Hmm.

To me, this would indicate that the mock trial competition is more important than God. Or that making a good impression on the “judge” is more important than making a good impression on the Lord.

It’s not a new concept, of course, in our house. You can read all about it in Wolf’s post Are You Ready?

We’re still working out the kinks in our relationship with Green Pasture‘s Fermented Cod Liver Oil and Butter Oil. (Read the beginning of the saga HERE).

We’ve tried several new things since the first post. Some have been notably less successful than others.

The Littles, who cannot yet swallow pills, have the fewest options. They take the Butter Oil by itself, and then both have settled on the Peppermint flavored Emulsified Fermented Cod Liver Oil as the best choice for both texture and flavor.

Wolf and I find the Butter Oil the least appealing part of the equation. Something about the texture is just icky.

Nick, on the other hand, isn’t too bothered by the Butter Oil, but gags on the Cod Liver Oil.

We (the Big People) are all happiest with the Butter Oil / FCLO Blend Capsules – but the cost per dose is so much higher that way, we don’t feel that’s the best choice.

Our first plan was to compromise and let each person have one of the products in capsules, and take the other straight. So we bought all four components, and everyone went their own way.

As bad as the chocolate blend was, we were still hopeful. When Green Pastures offered to send us a product for review, we chose the blended gel in Cinnamon Tingle flavor.

Sadly, it was just as much of a failure in our house as the chocolate. Everyone preferred their previously-settled-upon method of taking the two separately.

Lately, we have a new hope, discovered by Wolf. He found that you could lick the gel off the spoon with the tip of your tongue, “toss it back” and swallow it quickly — and somehow totally avoid the taste, except for a hint of cinnamon. I’m sure this has to do with the placement of the various taste receptors on the tongue.

We’ll have to keep trying this out, and see if it continues to prove useful. Certainly, having only one product to keep on-hand would be a lot simpler than the current system!

In an amazing instance of “Great Minds Think Alike”, Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist, posted today with a video demonstrating How to Best Swallow Cod Liver Oil.

Breath control – something else to try!

Whatever it takes, though, we are committed to these supplements. I’ve just read too much to discount the benefits, and it’s certainly not something we can get from our diet (here and now, anyway).

If you’re ready to give it a try, you have a few options:

• Directly from Green Pastures
• Radiant Life, who has slightly lower prices on a few items (and the same on the rest), and a percentage discount on multiple bottles
• Dr. Ron’s Ultra Pure, who also has essentially the same prices as Green Pastures, offers Free Shipping on order over $150 (at least as of now), and does full case and half case discounts if you’re really ambitious

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You know that cool form I’ve been using for the last few giveaways? Well, RaffleCoptor was actually only Beta Testing…

And now they’re having an official Launch Party!

You can enter to win an iPad2, or one of two Kindle Fires! (Be sure to list As For My House as “who referred you” — then if you win, I win, too!)

Enter using the form below, but please note that this is RaffleCoptor’s giveaway, not mine. (So if you see this giveaway listed on another blog, or on the RaffleCoptor site, you are already entered!)

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