From a Cluttered Desk

I am Tammy Cardwell, she of the cluttered desk. (Hey, you think I'm kidding?!) I'm having a blast here in Blogland and invite to you to peruse my ramblings. Like a buffet, they offer variety - essentially whatever makes it to the top of the piles that sometimes clutter my brain. We'll eventually cover it all - homeschooling, God, our church, the Eclectic Homeschool Online, books I'm writing and publishing, conferences I speak at, the joys of grandmotherhood, and hopefully chocolate. Of course, this is only what's near the top now. Who knows what's in those piles?

I’ll be chatting with Cindy Ruston this coming Tuesday at 8 PM central. Come join us!!!!!!

Getting to Know Him: Developing a Passionate, Rock-Steady Relationship with God–with Tammy Cardwell and Cindy Rushton (and YOU!)

Ready for a Mommy PJ Party??? Join us as we welcome Tammy Cardwell from TammyCardwell.net  to Ultimate Women’s Expo. Tammy and Cindy will be taking off the masks and shedding their super-girl capes to get real with you. Grab a big cup of tea, your Bible, and plan to have a long-distance girl-time. In the meantime, learn some great secrets to weathering the storms of life, dealing with the daily STUFF in your life, and getting to know God in a way that will make this new year the very best ever. Get to know Tammy  online at: http://tammycardwell.net,  http://tammycardwell.net/cluttered_desk,  and at http://eclectichomeschool.org/.  Don’t miss this awesome Mommy PJ Party!

Here are your call-in details:
Dial in with your phone: (646) 727-1978

Want to view chat room on the internet?
Here is the link: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Ultimate-Womens-Expo (you can see the chat/questions there–of course, I will be watching them and asking them for you so you don’t have to worry. We can also accept call-in questions and feedback. If you have any friends who want to call in, just give them your number. I will be working the switchboard.)

I’d love to see all of my friends there, even if I can’t really "see" you since I’ll be on the phone connection.

Celebrating Jesus!
Tammy C

Okay, I wish it was a case of my blog software playing an April Fool’s joke. I just lost a long and detailed blog entry. <sigh>

This will be much more brief than what you would have had otherwise. Of course, you may think this is not such a bad thing.

I primarily wanted to remind everyone that I’m speaking tonight at 8PM central in a UHSE preview chat. These chats are free to anyone who wants to attend and my topic is Eternal Priorities. Trust me, having eternal priorities can make or break your life. While this is technically a homeschool chat, it’s really much more; I’d say any Christian could benefit greatly from being in attendance.

Too, I’ve added google ads to this blog. You know our financial situation, or have a clue, so you’ll understand me taking advantage of one more way to bring in some extra income. If you will, please consider checking out the ads and visiting sites of advertisers that interest you. I’ve found some great resources myself by doing this very thing, resources I’d not have discovered otherwise; you probably will too, and it will be a big help to me.

I hope to see you in chat tonight!

Celebrating Jesus!
Tammy C

I’m back online, at least for now.

Frankly, finances have been a big issue around here lately. When I said in an earlier post that I know how to live on a dime, I wasn’t kidding; you’d be amazed what our budget has been for the past few years, and two weeks ago things caught up with me and I just wasn’t able to pay the Internet bill. We paid it today, pushing some other things aside temporarily so that I can be online to fulfill a commitment I made to do an online workshop on Tuesday evening. Money is still a HUGE issue and I would appreciate your prayers; it’s the end of the month and there are definitely more bills than money to pay them. Jack is still actively looking for work, and I’d value your prayers in that direction too.

I don’t think that, in all that’s been going on, I’ve mentioned the Ultimate Homeschool Expo 2008, but Tuesday night’s workshop is part of that online conference. I’ll be speaking on Eternal Priorities at 8PM central and would be delighted to meet you there. If you’re a homeschooler, you’ll want to go register for the conference today; Cindy’s conferences are awesome!

The previous post, "God Doesn’t Want Volunteers - Part 5," is the last in a series I started sometime back, sharing the contents of a booklet I published a few years ago. I apologize for taking so long to get that last part posted; things just didn’t go as planned. <grimace>

Celebrating Jesus both offline and on!
Tammy C

Tonight, Tuesday the 11th, at 8 PM central, I’ll be doing a "Just Ask Anything" chat for Cindy Rushton’s wonderful group of ladies in her Talk-a-Latte chatroom. She’s given me directions so that my readers can be there as well. If you homeschool, you’ll want to consider coming, but you may wish to come even if you don’t homeschool, because there is no telling what direction this chat will take and it will almost surely deal in large part with our walk with God. The plan is for it to be totally open-ended, with me answering whatever questions are tossed at me. (Though I do reserve the right to answer with, "I don’t know." [grin])

Here are the directions Cindy sent me for accessing the chatroom.

I will be speaking online at the History Super Seminar on Friday, July 13th. This seminar promises to be an awesome experience! There will be eight different workshops (six speakers) covering various aspects of teaching history. My own workshop is "FrontPorch History: Your Family AS History" and I am very much looking forward to not only presenting the topic, but discussing it with everyone who attends.

Believe me, you want to be a part of this seminar. You not only get to attend the online workshops (The chatroom software is a free download), but you will also be able to download (for free) the edited workshop audios after the conference is over AND you will download amazing door prizes during the workshops AND and you will be given access to a lot more, all for only $29.95. That is a serious bargain!

For more information and to purchase tickets, visit the History Super Seminar.

Celebrating Jesus!
Tammy C

I mentioned last week that I would be doing an online FrontPorch History workshop. This was a new venue for me, an entirely new format. While I first began ’speaking’ online back in the early 90s, teaching online workshops in AOL’s Academic Assistance Center and Homeschool forums, that was entirely text-base chat. I also do face-to-face workshops at conventions, of course, and have done radio interviews as well. This workshop felt like a combination of all of the above.

If you’re a homeschooler and you’ve never been to one of Cindy Rushton’s chats (There’s a link to her site under "Friends" on this page) you should. The speaker has a mic and you get to listen to what he or she has to say. At the same time, you can be chatting in text (which the speaker can also see). This makes for an entirely new experience for both speaker and attendee.

I did face some challenges. Being as visual as I am, I tended to be distracted by the text chat, so in the end I closed my eyes to the screen. LOL! When I’d finished my presentation, though, any questions that had been asked in the text chat were brought up for me to answer. Too, anyone else who had a mic could have asked without resorting to text chat, or so I assume (No one did). This new-to-me format took some getting used to, but I ended up enjoying it immensely and very much look forward to the workshop (A Homeschool that Handles the Hard Times) I’ll be doing during the Ultimate Homeschool Expo on Saturday, May 5th.

If you’re a homeschooler, I hope to see you there!

Celebrating Jesus!
Tammy C

I will be doing an online preview chat for the Ultimate Homeschool Expo this evening, at 8:00 central. I’ll be speaking on FrontPorch History, which is all about your family as history - how to bring your family’s unique heritage into your homeschool.

The chat is free and there will be plenty of time for questions and answers afterwards. If you’re interested…

http://www.ultimatehomeschoolexpo.com/?cat=7

Celebrating Jesus!
Tammy C

This coming Thursday evening I will be giving a FrontPorch History workshop for the Ultimate Homeschool Expo’s Preview Chat series. This is the series of chats that lead up to the Ultimate Homeschool Expo, an online homeschool conference like none you’ve ever seen.

If you’re interested in family, come be at this chat. You can listen live for free.

I hope to see you there!

Celebrating Jesus!
Tammy C

I will be offering my workshop A Homeschool that Handles the Hard Times at the Ultimate Homeschool Expo in May, and offering a preview chat, FrontPorch History, for the same organization in April. And guess what? You can attend both without ever leaving your home!

Check it out!
Ultimate Homeschool Expo

This is a virtual homeschool conference hosted by Cindy Rushton. But hey, I’ll let her tell about it. This is just a small info snippet from the site.

My name is Cindy Rushton, I will be your hostess for this event. I have traveled to hundreds of conventions through the years. Of course, that has meant that I had to travel many, many MILES…stay in many, many hotels…leave my home many, many times…and inevitably choose between which conventions, speakers and events I would attend. There was NEVER an event that had everything in one place. Well, until now!

The Ultimate Homeschool Expo changes all of that!

Right there in the comfort of your home you can join us!

No gas bills!
No expensive hotels!
No frustrating traffic!
No parking!
No walking for blocks and blocks!
No crowds!
No makeup!
No babysitters!
AND…no bad seats in the room!

Plus! We have an amazing speaker line-up! You could NEVER get all of these awesome speakers in ONE PLACE! As matter of fact, many of them will be joining us while traveling to many different conventions that very same week! You can access them ALL from your very own home (OR your iPod!)! Yep! If you have to miss any sessions, we are recording it for you to download by Mp3 and listen to at your convenience! Can you beat that?

I am truly excited about this conference. I’ve been a big believer in the power of the Internet for years, but I also love the wealth of information you can get at homeschool conferences. Now Cindy has found a way to make both available together. Perfect!

See you there!

Celebrating Jesus!
Tammy C