Author Archives: Tristi Pinkston

Do You and Your Spouse Sleep in Separate Beds?

In the days of black and white television, it was scandalous to show a man and woman in the same bed. I remember seeing episodes of I Love Lucy and wondered why Lucy and Ricky had twin beds—the world just wasn’t ready for anything more suggestive. Today when we hear of a man and woman sleeping in two separate beds, our thoughts immediately leap to the conclusion that they are having anger and/or sexual problems. But is that the only reason for sleeping separately? Some people are driven to the couch or to the guest bedroom by their spouse’s snoring … Continue reading →

On This Day in History – February 13 – February 17

Looking for fun ideas for your homeschool this week? Give these a try. February 13th – on this date in 1991, the original manuscript of Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn was found. Read excerpts of this story aloud, or, if you have younger children, tell them a simplified version. Lash together a raft of sticks and thread, and float it in your bathtub. February 14th – of course today is Valentine’s Day, but many other important things of note have taken place. For instance, on this day in 1920, the League of Women Voters was formed, which changed the face of … Continue reading →

Funny Quotes about Marriage

Marriage is something we should take seriously—we should be serious in our commitment, in our devotion, in our determination to do our best every day to keep our relationship strong. However, this doesn’t mean we shouldn’t have a little fun with it from time to time—humor is an essential part of any relationship. Here are some funny marriage quotes I found that will hopefully put a smile on your face and help you keep marriage in a lighthearted perspective. A dress that zips up the back will bring a husband and wife together. — James H. Boren A journey is … Continue reading →

He Loves Me Anyway

It’s been a hard last six months. Okay, it’s been a hard last two years. We’ve had ups and downs – lots of downs – and mostly centered around me and my health (and my frustration about my health). You know what’s amazing to me? My husband loves me anyway. He knows that I can’t be defined by all this stuff that’s happened. He knows that’s not really me. And he knows that if he’s patient, I will return to who I once was. That’s one of the biggest secrets in marriage, I think. We need to look past our … Continue reading →

Do You Blog About Your Homeschool?

Do you have a blog? And if so, do you blog about your homeschool? When you go online and type “homeschool blogs” into a web search, you have a wealth of information at your fingertips. Just a quick search in Google yielded me 4,110,000 results – wow. Think of all the resources those four million blogs could hold for me. Think of all the inspiration, the lesson ideas, the motivation I could get by tapping into that completely free resource. With all those blogs already in existence, is it still important for you to add the topic to your blog … Continue reading →

On This Day in History: January 16 – January 20

Looking for fun ways to spice up your homeschooling plans for this week? Here are some ideas taken from history. January 16 – in 2003, the space shuttle Columbia was launched on its final mission, and ended up exploding on reentry. Talk about space and the solar system, then take paper grocery sacks and cut a face hole in the front. Put it over your child’s head like a space suit. On the inside of the sack, they can draw a speaker and a microphone so they can stay in touch with the “controllers” on “Earth.” Then tell them to … Continue reading →

Listening to Each Other’s Intuitions

Has your spouse ever told you that they have a bad feeling about something you’re about to do? And what if it’s something you really, really want to do? We’ve all been there—we’ve gone to do something and suddenly, without knowing why, we strongly feel that we shouldn’t do it. Sometimes we listen to that little voice and we avoid an accident or something else that would have been either emotionally or physically painful for us. Sometimes we don’t know why we felt like we shouldn’t do it. Other times, we don’t listen, and we do it anyway, and we … Continue reading →

The Broken Bread Machine

Some years back, my in-laws gave me a bread machine for Christmas. I loved it. I could throw together any number of amazing breads, and it was so easy. The only thing I missed? When you bake bread in the oven, it fills up the house with a wonderful aroma, and you don’t get much of that with a machine. My husband wanted to experiment with making rye bread. I explained to him that it’s important to use a certain balance of white flour with your rye, but he … well, I’m not sure what happened, but he didn’t listen … Continue reading →

Playing Games with Sore Losers

I’ve mentioned before that we like playing educational games as part of our homeschool routine. My thirteen-year-old son loves to make everything he does into a game, and he learns best when there are elements of fun. Most days, it’s tough to get him to participate in school, so I add games into the mix to keep him connected. However, I have two other sons who struggle with the whole winning/losing concept, and while you can modify games to eliminate winners and losers, I’m not sure you really should. In life, there are those who achieve more success than others. … Continue reading →

Does Your Spouse Drive You Nuts?

Every spouse, regardless of how wonderful they are, will do things that drive you nuts. They do this because they are human, and you get annoyed because you are human. This is just part of marriage – or any relationship, actually. For instance, I was washing dishes this morning, and found a ton of plastic forks in the sink. Why? Doesn’t washing plastic forks sort of undo the magic of having them in the first place … so you don’t have to wash them? It’s silly to let something like that irritate me, and I shouldn’t get worked up about … Continue reading →