~

~

~

They make terrible parents and co-parents, 
trust me on that!

Looking for a new place to live...........

Check out this architectural masterpiece, Bellezza Maledetta or in English, Cursed beauty.  Also known as the Palazzo Dario (Ca' Dario palace).

You will find this stunning mansion located in the Dorsoduro District in Venice, Italy.   You can pick up this beauty for a fraction of what it is worth but know that is for good reason, very good reason.

Some people refer to this Venetian-style Gothic house located on the Grand Canal in Venice as a murder house.  Seems a lot of spooky things happened there.  I absolutely love all things haunted, all things Italy, and I am especially fond of Venice, no clue why, just am so this haunted house definitely caught my attention.

So here is what happened.

A portrait of Dario
with the Bellini Brothers.

Ca' Dario was built in 1487 for Giovanni Dario who was the Venetian Ambassador to Constantinople (born 1414 in Crete).  Unfortunately, Mr. Dario died shortly after moving in to Ca' Dario.

Giovanni Dario's daughter, Marietta, her husband, Vincenzo Barbaro (a business man), and their sons moved in to Ca' Dario.


Not long after they did, Vincenzo went out of business and was stabbed to death, Marietta subsequently committed suicide, and their son, Giacomo was ambushed and killed.  Mamma Mia!

Then in the early 1800s, an Armenian diamond merchant named Arbit Abdoll took over ownership of the house and you guessed it, his business failed, and he died in the house.

English scientist, Radon Brown was the next owner who died mysteriously in the palace along side his roommate.

In 1837, John Ruskin bought the house, spent a fortune restoring the palace, went bankrupt, and committed suicide.

The next unfortunate buyers were a Hungarian Count (dead), a rich Irish man (dead), and Countess Isabelle Gontran de la Baume-Piuvinel (dead).

A French poet named Henry De Regnier also died within a few years of living there.

American multimillionaire, Charles Briggs, bought the palace but he was banned from Venice due to allegations of homosexuality and committed suicide.

I lost count of the deaths so far.

Monet 1908

Next up, Mario del Monaco, famous Italian tenor was literally on his way to buy the palace when he was involved in a car accident so he changed his mind.  Lucky for him.

Not so lucky was Count Lanze Philip Giordano who was killed by his lover, Yugoslavian Raul Blasich.  Blasich was later assassinated attempting to flee.

Manager of the rock band The Who, Crisopher Lambert committed suicide a few years after he purchased Ca Dario.

We are now up to the 80s.

Fabrizio Ferrari purchased the palace and lived there with his sister, Nicoletta, who he later "accidentally" ran over with his car.  There were no witnesses.  Fabrizio began to suffer financial decline and was arrested for attacking a model.

Turkish Fountain
inside Palazza Dario

In the 90s, businessman, Raul Gardini bought the palace for his daughter, however concomitantly, was involved in a financial scandal in which he lost most of his money.  He then committed suicide.

In the 2000s, Woody Allen was thinking to buy Ca Dario but subsequently changed his mind.

John Entwistle

John Entwistle, The Who's famous bassist merely rented the palace in 2002 and suffered a heart attack.


An American company, which remains unidentified, is the current proud owner of this cursed palace of doom with a propensity of twisting the minds of the occupants who dare to stay within its malignant walls.  This palace is more than haunted.  It is alive!

Some people believe it has to do with the fact that Ca Dario is built over an ancient Templar Cemetery.  A Templar or Knight Templar was a member of Poor Knights of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon.  This was a military order of knighthood brought together during the time of the Crusades.  They were the inspiration for other military orders.  The Templars were to protect Christian Pilgrims to the Holy Land during the 12th century.  Later, King Philip IV of France, destroyed this order.

The palace is open to the public if you dare to venture inside.  I would not recommend staying too long.  And if you are not afraid of financial ruin or perishing, you can pick this up this charmingly cursed mansion that bestows bad luck to all its inhabitants for $20 million Euros or $25.2 million US dollars.  Ca Dario is the most feared and revered palace in all of Italy.

How I feel about Fridays...........

Prison Break.............

Life.........

Starts at 8 p.m.................

Twenty One Pilots is nominated for practically everything tomorrow night. Can't wait to see what they win............

P.S. I love this. Harry Styles Carpool Karaoke......

Homeschooling Q&A........

I am going to take a minute and answer a few questions for the homeschooling community that have been submitted as comments on various post through out the blog, and this post specifically about graduation.  I had to disable the comments for public publishing for a number of reasons but I do read them all and comment back if I know who you are.

Anyhoo, my recent post about graduation.  The question was if you homeschool year round but the homeschool groups have graduation in May like traditional school, how does it play out.  So this is a good question.  We homeschool year round because it just makes more sense.  When kids are out of school for three months straight, their brains start to die plus in GA, it is 99 degrees all summer long so we tend to stay in during the hottest parts of the day so why not do school work?  Plus it allows for more frequent breaks, taking a break if you are sick or they are sick, being off on your birthday, moving, vacation, being random, and just free time.  For example, both my girls love to be in movies, and GA is the place to be for that!  Recently, they have both been filming two different movies for months including several overnight shoots which leaves no time for anything but sleeping and eating, the day shoots really are not school friendly either since they are usually out for over 12 hours.  After they wrap this second movie, it is back to school full blast.  They love participating in the movies and are lucky they can so there is no way I would let a math lesson take that away from them.  Real life experiences are far more educational than anything a book can teach.

So we homeschool from August to August every year.  Graduation is usually in May, sometimes June.  As I talked about in the other post, public schools will allow a student who has not met all the "graduation" requirements to walk with their class for graduation but will be given a blank, unsigned diploma.  At that point, the student has to meet the requirements over the summer to be able to receive their official, signed diploma.  Same thing with homeschooling.  Your child can participate in as many ceremonies as they like but until they meet the requirements and attendance, they are not officially graduated by the state you live in.  When you file a letter of intent to homeschool, you specify your child's academic calendar and will be held to that calendar accordingly.  We have a few friends who start in September so they can participate in a graduation ceremony but will not be recognized by the state until the attendance has been met.  September is many months away from May and/or June.  

Another person asked how to submit transcripts for college admissions when you have not determined the final grade for the year.  When C17 was filling out her admissions applications, her transcript reflected the fact that she does not have a final grade for the 12th grade year as of yet.  Obviously if the school year has not ended, there is no way to know the final grade.  Her transcript said in progress and had a mid-term grade.  Don't worry too much, she still was accepted to four colleges without final grades on the transcript.  I think colleges are more laid back now because so many kids dual enroll these days.  If you are dual enrolling, most likely your child is in 11th or 12th grade (sometimes 10th grade but this is a little ridiculous to me--dual enrollment is great but its not for child) and have no final high school transcript anyway.  It is also possible that your child has not taken an ACT, a PSAT, or a SAT either but they can still dual enroll and go proceed with college classes.  If your child does not dual enroll and applies to college in the 12th grade, the ACT and/or SAT are mandatory and hold a lot of value.  They pretty much speak to the schools.  

So the bottom line is don't worry.  Your child can be accepted to college without being officially graduated from high school.  

I hope that explains it.  Always check with your state's guidelines about anything you are unsure of. Thanks for the questions.  

Happy homeschooling...........

Yessss, its Friday.................

Thursday...........

Run.........

Prison Break Tuesday............

Graduation ideas...........

Found a few awesome ideas for graduation on Pinterest, of course!

Anything in a jar!

P.S. I love this!

Guess its time to go back to court...........

Had a great Mother's Day, thanks to my kiddos........

This Mother's Day was a little different this year since I was in my car driving to pick the kiddos up at 3 a.m., yes, 3 a.m. on Sunday morning, Mother's Day!  We got back around 6 a.m. and all fell asleep for a few hours.  There was a lot of coffee after that.  These sneaky kids had picked out some gifts for me and surprised me.  I had no clue!  New headphones for my job, lots of candy and bubble gum, an amazing gift basket from Bath & Body in my favorite scent cucumber melon, and of course, the new Harry CD.  We ate veggies for dinner, went for a walk, and finished up with cake and a movie.  This was such a great day!  Thanks girls!

~

Only Bates Motel fans will get this..........

~

Destination graduation..........

Graduation season is here so I thought I would share a few interesting factoids from around the world including the biggest factoid being I have a graduate this year, C17 (gasp), we homeschool year round so technically her school year is not over but she will participate in a ceremony with a select few homeschooling peers.  A friend who has kids in public school clued me in on the fact that high school seniors can gradate with their class even if they have not met all the requirements and will have to attend summer school to complete the graduation requirements.  Apparently, this happens a lot.  Never knew but glad I know now.

So lets talk traditions.

~In Mexico, graduation is much like in the US except they have a dance party following graduation.

~In Sweden, graduates wear round caps with black bills called studentmossa.  Once the graduation ceremony is over, they have a parade through town with floats and marching bands.

~In Norway, students spend the last month of school at parties.  Nice!  

~In Thailand, members of the Royal Family hand out diplomas and the students bow to the Royals.  No one is allowed in except the graduating students.

~In Spain, attire is traditional.  Their robes have a built-in cape much like the one the Pope wears. Their hats are round and have a large blue cuff on them.

~Bah Humbug!  In Germany, they do not have any ceremonies for the graduates.  They are focus on final exams called Abitur.

~Japanese students begin with a march with singing as they line up for diplomas.  They must wear school uniforms.  No parties.

~Argentinian grads have a ceremony with food after the diplomas have been given out.  Food that includes many sticky substances such has syrup and ketchup.  Apparently, they celebrate by throwing syrup and ketchup at each other followed by flour, glitter, and eggs; and they also cut each others clothes with scissors.
~Italians share in this tradition of throwing food at the graduates.

~In the Philippines, parents accompany their graduate to a stage and are given their diploma.

~In China, female graduates rent wedding gowns to wear at graduation and both male and female graduates celebrate without their parents, friends, and relatives.

~In Russia, female graduates we black with white aprons.

~US tradition consists of caps and gowns with graduation taking place on a football field, amphitheater, or stadium depending on how many students are graduating.  Usually, there are hundreds of kids graduating at the same time. It.lasts.so.long!

~US homeschooling grads tend to be more low key.  The number of graduates each group has is usually under 20 students to make the event more personal.

Typically, it is just for immediate family members and closest friends.  Each graduating student will have their own table set up for them and their guests to enjoy their time talking and having drinks and cake.  The tables are decorated for the students with special personal items and pictures.

Random facts:
~Did you know that the earliest diplomas were written on sheep's skin?

~Navy graduates are responsible for the cap throwing at ceremonies.  In 1912, students at the U.S. Naval Academy threw their caps "up to the heavens" at the end of the ceremony which lead all graduates after that follow suit.

How ever you and your grad celebrate will be amazing.  Be proud and enjoy the moment.

TGIF........

Renewed for another season!!!!

Really wanted to go to this...........

Went to check out the tickets, this is what I found so maybe next year.

Due to massive demand, there are no tickets available. Please note all methods of delivery will be delayed for up to seven (7) days following the Verified Fan onsale. You will be notified once the delay has been lifted, and your tickets become available. Persons who exceed the ticket limit may have any or all of their orders and tickets cancelled without notice by Ticketmaster in its discretion. This includes orders associated with the same name, e-mail address, billing address, credit card number or other information.

What awesome is......

When I get up at 4 a.m. (that is not awesome), drive and drop my kiddos off to filming destination always over 1-1/2 hours away (that is not awesome), get back home after sitting in traffic for at least two hours (that is definitely not awesome), and start to do my work and the other hundred things I do, and my phone blows up from texts telling me how much fun they are having on set!  Then I know everything I do is worth it.  That is what awesome is.

Supernatural Thursday.........