It would have been whine after whine. Thus, no blogging. There's been no school this week, either. The first three days I gave the boys the choice of school, or helping to clean the house. The first two days they chose cleaning. On Wednesday Aidan chose school.
Texas hates my sinuses.
So rather than tell you about my crappy week, I'll tell you how thrilled I am about the election. Yes, I'm happy that Pres. Bush won. However, I'm most happy that the thing is over, and that there won't be any long, drawn out court battles and recounts. I was afraid that if the election was close the Dems would make it as ugly and nasty as the last election. And then a precedent would be set, and all elections would be that bad. Sen. Kerry impressed me by conceding quickly and graciously. In fact, if his campaign could have sounded more like his concession speech, I think he'd have had a better chance of winning.
Still, I'm most glad that someone won with a clear margin, with electoral votes and the popular vote. The "not my president" crap made me ill.
Now to take a deep breath and hope we were right.
By the way, if you haven't seen it, CNN's election map is very interesting. It will show you a map of the counties in each state, with the Bush counties colored red and the Kerry counties colored blue. It's fascinating to see how the colors fall out, especially in Texas and Illinois.
In other news, I've always wanted to buy the kids playsilks. They run anywhere from $8-12 a pop, though, and I just couldn't bring myself to spend that kind of money on a little piece of cloth. Well, Dharma Trading Company sells undyed silks for cheap. I got eight pieces of 44" square silks for $3.83 each. Add a tie-dye kit from Michaels, and we have some cool silks to play with now!
My friends, guess what your kids are all getting for Christmas? ;-)
It's Faith's birthday. Happy Birthday, sweet little Faith!
It's a given: if there's an astronomical event happening, North Texas will be cloudy.
For the first time in a very long time, we are not decorated for Halloween. We have a few spiderwebs up outside. That's it. Nothing inside. I just can't seem to get into it this year. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that it's consistently 80 degrees? Or maybe it's because no one else in the neighborhood has decorated. Either way, I need a big dose of Halloween spirit.
The days are flying by because they are filled with work. School all morning. Chores and house fixin' the rest of the day. And then, the kids have to play with other kids. Sometime. Somehow. I am not exercising.
Two bags of clothes and half a bag of toys have gone to charity this week. The schoolroom has been revamped and streamlined. The kids' playroom has had Kilz slapped all over it. The Plan is to paint it blue, with clouds, kind of like this. The floor will be green foam tiles. The only remaining question is whether to paint the whole thing blue, or to do just the top half of the wall, stick on a chair rail and paint the bottom half something else.
For their bedroom, the boys want this for their bedroom decor. (Hmmm, that doesn't work quite right. When the page comes up, click on Buzz Lightyear.) They have a cathedral ceiling like that, though I don't know if we want to paint the ceiling. (It's got that texture stuff all over it.) I'm waffling about whether to paint the walls with that bold of a color, and Jeff is afraid it will make the room too dark. How can we use that wall color, have a cool looking room, but not have it be too dark? And why don't any of them want a LOTR theme?
Hi there! Did you miss me?
This gig of mostly single parenting, combined with a nasty, evil cold, made blogging pretty much impossible for the past week. Remnants of nasty, evil cold linger on refusing to die, but my brain is back.
Well, y'all can be the judge of that.
At any rate, Jeff is getting on a plane as I type. I've been up for nearly an hour and a half, without the two year old. Yippee! I've made pumpkin muffins, done a nice yoga session, and am about to start my second cup of coffee. This is the kind of morning I like best.
We're going to spend the week getting ready for Halloween/Samhain/Dias de los Muertos. Our Samhain weather is a lovely ... er, 80+ degrees. Ugh. Do you know how quickly pumpkins spoil in this weather? We won't be able to carve them until the weekend. They won't keep more than two days.
And yes, as of yesterday, the satellite is working! It only took two weeks! You see, the picture was going in and out. We'd have the picture, and then it would go black. Then it would come back on. Then it would go black. Repeat. Constantly. All the time. I replaced the receiver; no change. We checked cables; no change. We replaced the LNB thingy; no change. Direct TV's staff was stumped. My husband, though, assured me that all electronic things must ultimately bend to his will. And so it did. So now we have the nifty satellite, with the nifty TiVo. And it is nifty. If you're going to watch TV, this is the way to do it - on your terms.
I have not yet watched Farscape, Diane, but I'll let you know when I do. And Brian ... in my comments you asked which B5 characters I find so compelling. Your guess was right, of course: Londo and G'Kar.
Off to eat muffins and get the kids going. Have a fun day, folks.
Aaaahhhh!
Dy, I think your Fall might be here!
Now I know this is Texas, and it will be right back up to 80 degrees soon enough. But it's 50 right now, and much to my kids' dismay I have the door open and am basking in the chill.
Last night I smelled wood smoke. Yep, folks in Texas fire up their chimneys when the temperatures dip below 60.
We went, all excited, to the local resale store. They had great, cheap Halloween costumes there last year. I want to buy all the great, cheap costumes I can lay my hands on. But this year - none. Zip. Nada. They don't carry Halloween items any more. Their profits go to a Christian charity, and the implication was that they are now too Christian to sell Halloween items. Bah. Fine, but where do I get cheap costumes now?
Time for coffee and to drag the kiddos awake. We sleep later here. I'm looking forward to turning the clocks back.
Oh, and yes, I watched the debate. I, personally, would like to ask Sen. Kerry one thing: Exactly how does one go about X-raying the cargo hold of a plane? I have visions of driving the plane up to a giant X-ray machine. With the metal plane. How does this work, exactly? And how does that add to our safety in the air? Is he banking on a terrorist planting a bomb inside the structure of the plane? And if it is in the structure of the plane, would one find it with X-rays? Or is he worried that someone is going to pop a bomb in apart from the other baggage, and an X-ray of the cargo hold would find that?
Maybe he means something different?
We are here. The trip went well. The weekend was a whirwind of cleaning and unpacking, neither of which are finished. And Jeff is on his way to California.
I'm historically terrible at "normal" when he's gone, which is why I've just dragged myself out of bed, and the big boys are still in bed. I'd like to start back to school today, though.
It's done nothing but rain since we got here.
Well, time to make it work.
Seems like it's time for another two-day drive for a two-week stay to make sure our house in Texas is still standing. I'll have internet access there, though. Of course I will. Don't be silly.
I just spent half an hour getting the iPod ready for the trip. Yes, it's working now, thanks to Apple's replacement policy. I've loaded up FOTR, Hobbit, Wee Sing America, Trout Fishing in America, Beethoven's Wig and a new (to us) band called Glass Hammer. I beefed up my progressive list, as that's what I'm in the mood for right now (lots and lots of Yes), and also browsed Apple's music store for new stuff to buy. (It doesn't get any better than this - browse the store, click on the music I like and boom! It's on my hard drive in seconds. A few clicks and it's in my iPod. Easy, easy, easy. Tonight I bought Arcadia's So Red the Rose [remember that??] and one of my favorite Genesis songs - "Home By The Sea.") My own playlist is loaded up with everything from ABC to Flower Kings to Def Leppard. I'm set.
When I come back I hope to have a handle on this next year of homeschooling. There is a great deal of academic work I want to start doing this year, and I have not yet figured out how to balance what I want to do with what I can do. I need to find some clarity and focus before I drag the kids along with me.
We started Prima Latina this week, and it is ridiculously easy. It's a bit easy for Aidan, and very easy for Connor. On the other hand, if we go with a program that is a better fit for Connor, it will likely be too much for Aidan. So one of the things I'm going to do over the next two weeks is decide to stick with Prima for both of them, or to let Aidan opt out and get a more difficult program for Connor.
I have noted that next week's vocabulary words include Jesus, I praise, I shout, glory and heaven. Very useful for the Pagan family ;-)
In reading news, I'm on number 19 of the Aubrey/Maturin series. On page 5 I realized that I really have not yet learned to curse like a sailor, and I needed to. O'Brian pulled a really dirty authorial trick on page 5, and I needed some good solid curses to throw in his direction. Damn it, this guy is good. He writes like real life. I utterly, completely believe that his characters are real people. And like real people, they are blindsided by unpredictable events in the most unfair ways. It's a tribute to the author that we don't see any of this coming, but it doesn't stop me from throwing the book across the room and cursing his name. Jeff once said of O'Brian, "I'd like to buy him a beer, and then shoot him." That about sums it up.
And now, my rum's gone. ("But why's the rum gone?") (That reminds me - they're about to start shooting the next two Pirates of the Carribean movies. Woo-hoo!) So off I go, to get up and drive bright and early in the morning. Wish us a safe trip, please.
So the husband gave me an espresso maker for our anniversary. Mmmmmmm, espresso. It makes regular coffee as well, and I had to admit that something was probably not right when I found myself trying to figure out if it would make espresso and coffee at the same time.
Hey, that could be important.
I spent a good bit of Friday evening researching what to do with espresso. For instance, how does one make a latte? Or cafe au lait? Would you like to know the fruit of my research? They're both coffee with hot milk. That's pretty much it. The only real difference is the name.
You may laugh. I didn't know that.
The espresso maker has a froth attachment so that I can make cappuccino, but this has not worked terribly well so far. I can get a decent amount of froth, but it disappears very quickly. I'd like it to stick around, to clump onto my biscotti and just generally be with me until the end. Must keep trying.
We had a fairly nice anniversary. It was the first anniversary we've shared with the kids so it wasn't exactly relaxing or romantic, but the food was good and the company was excellent.
In other news, the boys have started swimming lessons. I am impressed with their teacher. She has a very no-nonsense attitude and has made amazing progress with them in just two lessons. The lessons are only once a week, though, and our pool has no provisions for kids to practice during the week (family swim hours are only on weekends).
I am still reading Climbing Parnassus (I put it down in an out of the way place and forgot about it for a week) as well as The Yellow Admiral. You know, somewhere along the way Patrick O'Brian figured out that if he twisted his plots in certain ways, and arranged his narrative in a certain order, it would play horribly on the emotions of his readers. At this point, he just does it out of sheer fun, I'm certain. The opening of this book is one of the most maddening openings to any book, ever. I want to strangle him.
Jeff is reading the Hitchhiker's trilogy to the boys at bedtime. Good fun, that. He read the fun books, see. I read the history books, which Aidan thinks are booooooooring. Silly child.
In homeschooling news we've been doing very little homeschooling, but I have been spending a great deal of money and plan to spend a great deal more. I bought the manipulatives for Right Start math, as well as Prima Latina and various other resources on classical education. I also bought a Sonlight Core 3 Instructor's Guide, just because I'm so curious about it. I got a good deal on it through ebay, and plan to sell it as soon as I've satisfied my curiosity. If any of you are interested in buying it, email me.
Thus ends tonight's ramble.
My husband, the god of computers, has fixed ours - a feat which CompUSA declined to do without first receiving more money than our powerbook is worth.
Now that he has, the internet is not cooperating with me. I think it's sulking. I'm having a great deal of trouble sending email, half the web pages refuse to load, and I cannot seem to leave a comment on my own blog. So I am going to repond to comments here.
Susie, we miss you too. It's lonely. I have looked at LLB several times, and I always end up rejecting it. I think it's a very nice idea, but I am afraid it would end up being too much fluff. But if nothing else I will probably never buy it because of her copyright policy. She expressly forbids copying activity pages for use within the family, and wants you to buy each child a separate copy. No thanks, no deal.
M, thanks for the tips! It hadn't occurred to me to check out the community colleges. Will do. The depression is just a transitory thing and will likely be gone by the end of the week. I am finding that as I get older, transitions are more difficult. Plus, it does sometimes take some doing for the introvert to stay sane in a two-bedroom apartment with four young children.
And thanks too for your kind words about my creative offering
To all who commented below: We are making very good use of the Chicago science museums, and we're about to make even better use of them as I plan to break down and buy a membership to the Field this weekend. I am fine with that being our science; that, and life. It's my kids who want experiments. I may just string them along until the fall, because wherever we go next is not likely to have as many museums and activities as Chicago. We can do experiments at home then.
I am grumpy.
I am tired. But we're back on the road in the morning and we're miles from being ready.
I've made amazing progress on the house in the past few hours. On the one hand, that is really nice. On the other, when my husband comes home he will have no idea of the amount of work I've done.
The goal is to have the house uncluttered enough that I can hire cleaning people to clean right before the next trip home.
The contract has been extended, which means we'll be in Chicago forever. Well, not forever, but for a great deal longer than we expected to. That's fine - it gives us more time to explore and enjoy. On the other hand, it is nice to see one's friends every so often. Plus, our cat-care plan was meant to be short-term and now we have to come up with a longer-term one.
Anyone out there want two kitties? :D
I'm also grumpy because I got a ticket. I was going 15 mph over the speed limit, in a school zone. Yes, I deserved the ticket. I haven't had a ticket in a very, very long time and I was shocked, stunned and amazed to find out what tickets cost these days. Do you have any idea what this kind of ticket costs?
$260.
Yes, TWO HUNDRED and SIXTY dollars. Oy. That's a car payment. Or, as my dear friend Scott pointed out to me, that's the Right Start math curriculum.
I want to cry. Certainly I won't be speeding again anytime soon.
I have to write a letter to the judge, explaining why I cannot come in for a court date, and asking for probation. I hope it's a nice, understanding judge.
But the acting was decent. And pretty :)
Back to packing and cleaning and that kind of thing.
Most of them, anyway. And in no way is that good. I want them up early tomorrow, too. Hoo, boy.
Oh, how I missed my internet today! I told Jeff I might need to go buy something online tonight, or the 'net might start thinking I didn't love it any more. He didn't seem to think it was as good a thought as I did.
It was, as you might guess, a very productive day. Lots of school done. Good stuff, although we did have some difficulty with the Aidan unit. The Aidan unit decided he wanted to see just how long he could not do his schoolwork until the Mommy unit got seriously annoyed. And Mommy got seriously annoyed. Unfortunately, the productive morning was followed by enough afternoon unpleasantness that it left me seriously debating the merits of a productive morning.
Look, all I want to do is to get a measly amount of "schoolwork" done in the morning hours. Then, we can spend all afternoon playing. This is not too much to ask! It is not! Tell my kids that!
Tomorrow we will wake up very sleepy kids. We will attempt to get all our schoolwork done in the morning, which will not work because they are STILL AWAKE and will be too tired in the morning. Can't let them sleep in, though; can't let them veg and watch Scooby Doo either.
If we survive the morning, we will head to the Shedd for the afternoon and gaze delightedly at the various reef exhibits. I am told that there are activities for preschoolers on Tuesday; I sure hope so.
I missed Weight Watcher's on Saturday. I was ill that morning. I think I have lost more weight, though. Oh, it's so nice when something works :) I'm 52 miles down the road to Rivendell, out near Woodhall. Hmm, I can check that in the Middle Earth Atlas, which I got from the library yesterday. I stumbled across it stuck in with the real earth atlases.
Did you hear that? I said LIBRARY. Yes, finally. I made Jeff go get a card, then I signed up under his card. The guy asked me for ID, I told him I didn't have any with me, and he took pity on my. So now I have a Chicago Public Library card.
The library itself will take some getting used to, however. It uses the Library of Congress system, with which I am thoroughly unfamiliar. I am NOT taking the two younger kids back there again. And on the whole, it seems that the Keller library, though much smaller, is also much easier to use. Chicago has no internet hold placement, or ILL, and their online catalog is difficult to search. So the city is almost perfect.
And now, I must say goodbye to the sweet internet and go to bed. Good night, internet ...
I put a link to the Frodo/free will discussion over on the left, if anyone would still like to contribute. Thanks all of you for a great discussion.
Today is a Scooby Doo day. So I am here, on the computer.
We've been out a lot this week. Children's Museum again, shopping. We figured out how to get to the grocery store. It's amazing how my sense of distance changes. I looked at the grocery store on the map right after we got here and immediately deemed it to far to walk to with the kids. Not so any more. It was a snap - probably a mile and a half away. And depending on how we go, Borders can easily be on the way. I can walk to Borders. Two of them, actually. And a Barnes and Noble. And an independent children's bookstore. Yes, be jealous.
You know, I can walk to a Starbuck's and the grocery store from my house in Texas. It's not much further than I've been walking here. But one doesn't, in suburban Texas. (Of course, in the summer, it's medically advised to not walk like that outdoors.) Here, the kids grouse about walking and keep asking to take a taxi. But no, mean mom that I am, we walk. I figure it's good for them. I will use a taxi if we are just really beat, but for the most part, I'd rather walk. Walking is the best way to get to know a city.
Side note: oh, look, I found a way to combine weight loss and walking for fitness with Lord of the Rings (I see you rolling your eyes out there! I didn't go looking for something like this, I just happened upon it). The Eowyn Challenge is a site for walkers and folks trying to lose weight/get healthy; keep track of your miles on the site and they'll tell you how many more miles you have to go to Rivendell, or Mordor, etc. Why not? I have about 450 miles to go to Rivendell. My current goal is to walk 12 miles a week, which should be very doable. If it is, I'll up that goal a bit to make it a challenge.
School is ... sort of happening. We have managed to get math and handwriting and phonics in every day. Not much else. Jeff tells me I should ditch the "schooling" and just go to museums and around the city. He's probably right. We can always catch up on academics back in Texas. But once I'm in the groove with academics, it's hard to let go of that.
Then there's socialization. I joined a Yahoogroup of local homeschooling moms with small children, with the idea of getting my kids to some playdates with other kids. As it is now, they're only seeing friends about once a month, although they do interact with other kids at the museums, and the playground we found this weekend. But now I'm thinking that it's not important. We're already pretty busy with the museums and exploring and what school we do; I'm resistant to the idea of fitting in playdates as well. Do they really need these playdates? Is it that important to make chunks of time just to socialize? We're not going to form lasting friendships with these people; it's all temporary. I'm thinking they will not be warped if they don't play with other kids every week for a few months.
Last Friday we went to visit friends in Gurnee. We had a great time. Later on I found out that on that day Sting was at the Borders up the street, and Nicholas cage was filming a movie across the street from our apartment. Now doesn't that just figure?
The Johnny Depp movie of this week was "From Hell." I wasn't sure about it at first, as I do not watch horror movies, or even terribly suspenseful movies, usually. I enjoyed it, though. It was weird, but pretty good. I didn't remember that Ian Holm was in it; he was wonderful.
I am not reading anything right now. I am out of book. (Yes, even after the Borders trip.) Amazon should fix that shortly, though. I have plenty of Tolkien that I haven't read, yes, Precious, we do; but I am taking a Tolkien break. I finished the first Aubrey/Maturin novel and am waiting for the second to come in. I'd like to reread the Hornblower books as well, but those are all at home.
Boy, do I ever miss library access. It's killing me. I wonder if my passport would be acceptable photo ID to get a card here. Must check into that.
Or odds and ends, really.
Got a new cellphone, finally. I'm deciding on a cool ringtone, but until then I will hear "Waltzing Matilda" if you call me. The kids want me to use the bad guy theme from Star Wars.
We did one day of running errands this weekend (it's amazing how few errands you can accomplish with four small children in tow, isn't it?) and one day of museum. The errands consisted mainly of getting everyone's hair cut but Mommy's (and Lachlan's). Mommy also needs her hair cut, but felt that it was more important to get the kids out of the nice haircut place before they started dismantling it.
This week's museum was the Shedd Aquarium. Before we went I was smart enough to check prices on the internet. The Shedd Aquarium is one of the most insanely expensive places I've ever seen. For my family of six, it was less expensive to just buy the family membership than to pay for all of us to go for one day. So, family membership it was, then.
And oh what a good idea that was! I have never seen a line like that for an aquarium! It would have taken an hour to stand in, I'm sure. There was no line for members. Remember that tip if you're ever in Chicago.
We went at a terrible time. It was very crowded, hot and overwhelming. We saw some really cool things - whales and dolphins and octopi and sea stars and jellyfish ... but it was too crowded to really spend any time at any one exhibit. Ooh, but there were two screaming kids, and one episode of shoe-throwing. None of which involved my kids. Do y'all have any idea how much I enjoy it when your kids scream in public places? Really. Don't worry that you're somehow offending me when your small people throw fits. I am mentally rejoicing that it's someone else's kid, and that my kids won't be the only ones when their turns come.
How do the rest of y'all handle museums? We have a habit of doing what I think is a typical suburban method of museum visits. In the DFW area, a museum is a long drive that you take a couple of times a year. Therefore while you're there you must get the most out of your visit by moving a long and seeing as many exhibits as possible.
Really, that's a terrible way of seeing a museum. It's pretty much an ingrained habit, and I am fighting it. I want to go when there are very few people and we can just stare at an exhibit as long as the kids want to. So we see one thing; fine. We'll have seen that one thing in depth, and it will have engaged our interest. That's well worth the price of admission.
This week it's going to get up into the 40s! Wow! Maybe we'll walk back to the Shedd one day. It should certainly be warm enough for a nice, long walk.
Since I seem to be trying to work my way through all of Johnny Depp's movies, we rented Ed Wood this weekend. I don't know why I never saw this movie before. It is brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. I saw a few moments of it on TV last week and immediately fell in love with the way it was shot, the music ... it's all done in black and white in the style of a 50s B movie. It is also hysterical, and weird ... not quite up to the weird factor of Being John Malkovich. (Though what could be?) The acting was fabulous as well with Martin Landau doing a wonderful Bela Lugosi; and although Johnny Depp is known for doing offbeat movies, I think this one proves how versatile he is. He plays cross-dressing almost utterly without camp, as if it was the most natural thing in the world. If you like offbeat movies and are interested in the craft of making movies, go rent this.
What else can I ramble about? Both Jeff and I are tired of deciding what's for dinner so I'm going to try the free week Menu Mailer menu. If we like it I'll sign up. Every week she sends you a plan of dinnner menus for the week, complete with recipes and a shopping list. If we like the meals and they stay within our food budget, this could be a very good thing.
I am contemplating starting back on Weight Watcher points tomorrow. Contemplating.
I have no idea what we're doing this week. No plans. I need a plan.
Lachlan's birthday is tomorrow
Enough rambling for the evening. Over and out.
My apologies to those of you waiting for email from me. Mothering is hard this week. We've been zapped by illness and right now I am spending the vast majority of my time holding sick kids as we watch "The Hobbit" and "Chamber of Secrets" for the umpteen millionth time.
AND the coffee maker quit working. What kind of sick joke is that? There is a Starbuck's right across the street, though. Still not convenient enough for me to bundle up four small children, one quite ill, against temperatures in the teens and cart them across the street, but convenient enough to send my husband across the street to bring me the coffee.
In better news, I finished the Silmarillion last night. Yes I did. Every page, except for the chapter about the geography of Beleriand. I am spatially challenged and could never understand that chapter without a map in front of me. But except for that one chapter, it wasn't nearly as bad as certain of you led me to believe. Either "The Book of Lost Tales I" or "Master and Commander" is up next. On first glance the Lost Tales scares me, but we'll see.
And yesterday, Connor read Geraldine McCaughrean's version of "St. George and the Dragon." This is a major turning point; it means that I can now give him whole books to read, and he will. Or at least he is capable of doing so. It was his idea to read the book himself. Those of you who don't know McCaughrean's work should know that although she writes for children, she doesn't dumb things down and uses a rich vocabulary.
Time to get breakfast for those who can eat.
Okay, not the ones leaving urls I don't want, and not the ones randomly leaving foul language in the comments. The rest of you, though, are pretty swell.
I'm going through the motions of getting ready to leave. I'm going to pack the kiddos off to a friend's house for a few hours so that I can actually get something done here. My productivity level is terrible this week. My non-productive computer use level is way up. I wonder ... nah, surely not.
Yep. It is.
It's also Isaac Asimov's birthday.
It's even a Friday. I was born on a Friday.
It is also 76 degrees and humid. I am not happy about that. But I am going to go sit in a nice, cool, dark movie theater and drink cold drinks, and I am happy about that.
Happy New Year! Did you eat your black-eyed peas? I did, but I forgot the greens. We were going to cook New Year's Day dinner for people, but ... the oven did that fire thing again. So we left the house and ate barbecue and I brought my peas with me. We drank elderberry and dandelion wine and champagne. Not all together. A good end to a really weird start.
That's me right now, just a blogging fool.
Jeff is, at this moment, hunting for his hotel in New Jersey. Not Virginia. And we are not moving to Virginia. Period. We're not moving to New Jersey either, thank goodness.
My babies took naps after 6 pm. That's why I"m still up. They're still up. Ideally, I'd get up to watch the sunrise tomorrow. That's not going to happen.
Thankfully it's a short, short week.
So we had our Solstice celebration a night early. I made challah bread, and this morning we had latkes. Sounds good for Solstice, yes? Mmmmm, latkes.
Seems I finally have sleepy children. So off we go ...
Sixteen hours and 42 minutes.
Sixteen hours and 41 minutes.
If you're counting, yes, that means I have tickets for the 2 pm show.
Sixteen hours and 40 minutes.
Not that I'm excited, or anything.
Frankly, I'm not even sure I should go. The preview alone, when I saw it in the theater, was almost more than I could take.
::::::takes deeeeeep breath::::::
Okay. Oh, hello. How are you all? How long have you been there? How nice to see you again! Sorry that I have not blogged really anything in the last couple of weeks. My husband has been home, and that tends to ... well ... keep me from blogging, at least. So I have not been an acting single parent in about two weeks now, which is nice. As for health, we've mostly been in limbo: not actually well, but not actually sick, either. Many runny noses and coughs, but no actual infections or flu. I'll take it and be thankful. Hopefully we can stay this way, or better.
I'm almost done Christmas shopping. I always want it to be Yule/Solstice shopping but it's not, it's Christmas shopping. We made big plans for the Solstice. The Jeff thought he was going to be gone so we cancelled them. Now he's not going to be gone. So I don't know what we're doing.
Susie and I went to see Master and Commander yesterday, sans spouses and kids. I wrote a blog post about that last night, and thought I posted it, but somehow it got sent to la-la land instead. My husband had come and typed in the middle of it, insinuating that I went to see Russell Crowe, and not the movie.
Hmph. I did so watch the movie. It had boats in it.
I'm pretty sure about that.
Seriously, though, it was a fun movie. Billy Boyd is in it too, which unfortunately was more of a distraction for me. I couldn't see him as his character. Everytime he came onscreen I thought "Oh look, there's Pippin!" Poor guy. I also kept expecting to see Styles and Matthews, or some other character out of Horatio Hornblower.
I also thought the Hornblower shows are better in terms of story craft. Master and Commander had great special effects, but if you haven't seen Hornblower yet, and if you're remotely interested in 1800s naval warfare (or just Welsh guys in uniform), these are not to be missed. Okay, you could read the books, too. They're generally good books (the writing is uneven), and fun to read, but then you don't get the whole Welsh guy aspect.
Hey wouldn't it be great if someone gave me the Hornblower DVDs for Christmas, or my birthday?
I took a break, and came back to posting. Fourteen hours, 45 minutes.
Lest I appear to have a one-track mind, I bought this book about the winter solstice and now I see that Amazon's price is considerably lower than what I paid. Don't you hate that? It's fabulous. If you have any interest in the history and worldwide traditions that surround the winter solstice, including Christian traditions, this is a great book.
Fourteen hours, 35 minutes.
On a completely different topic, you know what else I don't have on DVD? I don't have the Extended Edition of Fellowship. That would make a nice Christmas or birthday present too, I think.
And on yet another topic, let me tell you about the cute thing Griffin did today. He's three, remember. He came into the room holding a little wire ring, like you put keys on. He said "Mom, here da wing!" I said "Oh, what ring?" He replied "Fwodo wing."
I know. I can see you coming with the tranq gun now. All of you. It's okay, I'll go quietly.
Just make sure the drugs wear off and I'm awake in, oh, fourteen hours, 25 minutes.
Brian just called and volunteered babysitting services for movie-watching.
Heh heh ... my preciousssssss ...
Flylady is right. One of Flylady's commandments is that thou shalt wear shoes in the house. As soon as you get dressed (in the morning), you are to put on your shoes. The idea is that shoes on your feet tell your body that you're ready to work, not laze around all day.
I rebelled against this commandment for a long time. I am a confirmed barefoot-in-the-house type of gal. But I decided to just try the shoe thing, to see if there really was anything to this or not.
I have been converted. This shoes in the house thing is really great! I don't know if it makes me more industrious or not, but here's the thing: when I have my shoes on ... I can't feel all the crap that's all over the floor.
:)
I am in a bad mood. Grumpy. I got no sleep. I had to miss the movie I was going to go to this morning. My beloved Connor will not shut up about Pokemon. I am grumpy. Just thought I'd share.
In the interest of just posting something, I'll post this, since everyone else is doing it. (Hey guys, when are we jumping off that cliff?)
LAYERS
Layer one
Name: Stephanie
Birth date: 1970
Birthplace: AL
Current location: Texas
Eye color: blue/grey/green
Hair color: Nondescript with hints of silver. Already.
Height: 5' 5.5"
Righty or lefty: Righty
Zodiac sign: Capricorn
Layer two
Your heritage: English, German, Irish, a little French
The shoes you wore today: I have not yet worn shoes today
Your weakness: laziness
Your fears: cockroaches and tornadoes
Your perfect pizza: pepperoni and mushrooms on thin crust
Layer three
Your most overused phrase on AIM: LOL
Your first waking thoughts: How can I get out of bed without waking the baby?
Your best physical feature: eyes
Your most missed memory: LOL, how do you miss a memory? But I like wha Kolbi said: "It's hard for me to recall my sons as little babies and toddlers because time goes by SO FAST."
Layer four
Pepsi or coke: Coke. With cherry syrup. Or bourbon.
Mcdonald's or burger king: Chick-Fil-A
Single or group date: single
Adidas or Nike: no idea
Lipton ice tea or nestea: Lipton
Cappuccino or coffee: Yes. And espresso. Any.
Layer five
Smoke: Never
Cuss: Frequently
Sing: Frequently
Do you think you've been in love: I am in love
Want to go to college: I did - would love to go back
Liked high school: Horrors, no!
Want to get married: I am
Believe in yourself: On some issues yes, others no
Get motion sickness: sometimes
Think you're attractive: not really
Think you're a health freak: yes
Like thunderstorms: as long as they don't contain tornadoes
Play an instrument: piano
Layer six
in the past month...
Drank alcohol: You betcha
Smoked: No
Done a drug: Illegally? No.
Made out: yes
Gone on a date: no
Gone to the mall: Yes, but only once
Eaten an entire box of Oreos: No
Eaten sushi: No
Been on stage: No
Been dumped: No
Gone skating: No
Made homemade cookies: Yes
Gone skinny dipping: No
Dyed your hair: No
Stolen anything:No
You sound boring: bite me. I said I was grumpy.
Layer seven
ever...
Played a game that required removal of clothing: No
If so, was it mixed company: N/A
Been trashed or extremely intoxicated: Yes
Been caught "doing something": Yes
Been called a tease: No
Gotten beaten up: No
Shoplifted: Yes
Changed who you were to fit in: Not really. Maybe a little bit, but I never did that peer pressure thing well.
Layer eight
Age you hope to be married: Married at 22.
Numbers and names of children: Connor, 7; Aidan, 5; Griffin, 3; Lachlan, 1
Describe your dream wedding: Antebellum mansion in New Orleans.
How do you want to die: After I see all of my grandchildren grow up
Where do you want to go to college: Not sure anymore.
What do you want to be when you grow up:
What country would you most like to visit: New Zealand
Layer nine
Number of drugs taken illegally: None
Number of people I could trust with my life: 5 off the top of my head
Number of cds that I own: lots and lots
Number of piercings: 2
Number of tattoos: none, but it's not out of the question
Number of times my name has appeared in the newspaper: a couple of times, but I don't know how many
Number of scars on my body: I don't know if I have any scars.
Number of things in my past that I regret: Sorry, not going to sit here and count my regrets.
So there :P
... is that I can't find any reason that pumpkin and pecan pies should not be eaten for breakfast.
:)
I should not be awake.
I made the mistake of forgetting to lock the car doors. And then remembering that I forgot. Once I got out of bed and did that ... well ... here I am.
And now we begin week seven. Every week has been a little harder. I really want my husband to be home. That's all. I'm just tired of having him gone. I want him here. I want to talk to him, and lean on him, and just be with him. I'm not meant to live alone; I'm meant to have a partner.
Six weeks down, six to go. If everything stays on schedule.
And it's worse: I want him to come home, I don't want to go to Virginia. I wish I could look at this with the sense of adventure that I used to have when moving. Why on Earth did I root?
We got Christmas pictures made this weekend.
We took four children, ages 7, 5, 3 and 21 months into a crowded mall, and got on the waiting list for pictures. They would be ready for us in about half an hour. Okay. Their website had indicated that they had a play area for kids, to ensure happy waiting. What they actually had was a small corner with a toy in it. Mmmm, good idea.
So we gathered up the kids and walked around the mall. The big boys walked, and Jeff and I each carried a little boy. These boys are heavy. And fidgety. Lachlan cried the whole time because we wouldn't let him get down to run.
We made it back to the photo place, where, of course, they weren't ready for us yet. This time we decided to opt for the toy corner. The boys played nicely, until Lachlan decided he needed to be on the other side, which meant climbing over Griffin. Griffin took this as an act of aggression, and pushed his little brother into the corner of the big wooden toy. Much crying and screaming then ensued, followed by the blossoming of a red and purple welt around Lachlan's eye.
Lachlan is our fourth son, which meant that we were determined to go ahead with the pictures anyway (no stitches were required).
They called us back and we walked with trepidation into that special hell that is family portraits. We sat on the platform in positions that guaranteed no blood would reach our extremities, while simultaneously holding squirmy babies and trying to convince them to smile in a certain direction. Or at all. Or just not hold their hands over their eyes. Or throw the props at the photographer.
Twenty minutes. Much cajoling, dealing, distracting and bribing. Three poses down, one to go.
The computer crashed.
Thirty minutes later the computer was back up and running. The photographer was wonderfully optimistic about our chances of successfully repeating the session. I've got to hand it to her, she was determined. She had faith where I, who had been watching my kids throw every prop and whine, whine, whine for half an hour, had none. Zero. I thought she was insane. Or a masochist. Likely both (why else would she be a children's photographer?).
Somehow it worked and we got four actual nice pictures. Frankly, I'm stunned. But pleased. You would never guess, looking at our happy faces, that the older two had to be threatened within an inch of their lives to cooperate. AND we had to promise to buy "Finding Nemo" on the way home.
I had intended to post the pictures tonight, but my computer decided to have a nervous breakdown instead. It seems I've got the actual computer back ... and (shhh) stable ... but I think the scanning process might be too much for it tonight. Think nice, stable thoughts at it, will you?
And now, it's 2 am and I'm hungry. Off to find food.
Today begins week six of Jeff being in Virginia and the rest of us being here. On the one hand, this has been easier than I thought it would be. But it certainly doesn't bite any less. The whole thing stinks. I want my husband to come home and stay home. I don't like this mostly single parent thing at all.
To make matters worse, there is some question about whether this job will really work out or not. By the end of the month he may actually be on a different job, in a different state (where? I don't know. Wheee!). Everything is up in the air.
I hate not being able to plan. I'm still packing, because I may as well still pack. Even if this job doesn't work out, we'll still need to move soon, either for another job, or just to get into a house that better fits our size. We still need to declutter. We still need to paint and recarpet. None of that will change.
I can't plan Solstice/Christmas, though, or buy anything for it. Good thing I had already planned on making a great many gifts this year.
I would just like this to end, but instead we get more uncertainty.
Well.
Two more weeks, and we'll be looking at a long Thanksgiving weekend. Three more weeks and I should have some answers, whatever they may be.
8:30. Time to go drag the kids out of bed, and drink more coffee.
I was having trouble thinking of actresses when I did that survey the other day. I forgot about Meg Ryan, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Liv Tyler. I think Liv Tyler is underrated in general.
Yes, just more inane babble for today.
Thanks to everyone who posted ideas and support. The task doesn't seem quite so overwhelming anymore ... to a point, anyway. I can get us packed up. Selling the house, and getting it to saleable condition, is another thing entirely.
It's ironic that I spent so many years trying to get the heck out of Texas, and now I don't want to go. The kids keep asking me things like "How will our rocking chair get to Virginia?" And I explain to them that the furniture will go in a moving van.
Then I turn around to see who said that. What? Why am I telling my kids that someone is going to take our stuff in a moving van? It's like I'm telling them a fairy tale.
Oh, well. We can come back here when the contract is over. I'm sure I will like Virginia. But I sure will miss our friends here. Connor has just made his first boy friend (so far all his friends have been girls). Figures.
Ugh. I don't want to find new doctors. I don't want to go back to trying to do everything with four kids in tow, as Jeff will be in an office and I will have no friends to help out. I don't want to find a new speech therapist, and a new opthamalogist, and figure out how to get everyone to appointments.
I am glad we homeschool, so that I don't have to pull them out of one school and have them start over at another.
Jeff being gone hasn't been too bad, really. I don't sleep enough. And I'm lonely. But things will be fine, as long as no one gets sick.
Aha! Hey, guess what? There really is a reason that Arwen keeps showing up in the LOTR movies.
Imagine if Jackson had left her out, and kept truer to the book. Then at the end of ROTK, after all these scenes between Aragorn and Eowyn, this other woman who we've never seen before suddenly shows up and marries Aragorn.
It worked in the book. It would never work in a movie.
Wow, that makes so much sense. I feel better now.
The grammar in this post was brought to you by Newcastle Brown Ale.
Well.
Jeff left this morning for Virginia, where he'll be all week.
I signed up for a field trip to an apple orchard a few weeks back. Then later I realized that this is the day we also have speech therapy and art. And an eye appointment for Aidan.
Cannot find opthamalogist's number. Cannot remember the doctor's name, or the name of the practice. Cannot find insurance forms with that information. Oh, well. They usually send a reminder and call, and they did not, so maybe I wrote it down wrong. I don't know when the heck his appointment *is*, though.
I realized just three or four days ago that the field trip is not in the morning, which I had thought, but instead is at the exact same time as speech. Made a decision to cancel speech for the day. They asked if Aidan was sick and I said yes. Why did I do that? It just came out of my mouth. Stupid.
Got up this morning and rescheduled speech. Morning went well, but we still got out the door late. I had trouble finding this place last year, so this year I was prepared. I had written directions, and a MapQuest map printed out. Get in the car, follow the map. All was fine, until we had to go north on Old Denton. There was road construction. A detour. Okay. Find my way out of the detour and back onto Old Denton. Which then ended. There is a new housing development there, and the built it in the middle of the road that used to go all the way through to the orchard.
Takes awhile to find my way around the development. Give up. Go get lunch. Go to ATM first, and discover that the bank is ... I don't know what the bank is doing. They just changed computer systems, and are telling us that our savings balance is zero. That's not possible, as it's a credit union and the shares are in savings. You can't have an active account there unless you have an active savings account. Which we do, with money in it. But the balance keeps coming up as zero. NOT GOOD. Where is my money, bank? Hmmm?
Get enough money for lunch, and go to lunch. Apparently the local schools are all on fall break, as there are teenagers everywhere, and adults telling me that I'd be glad when this week is over. Okay ... I will, but not for the reasons they think.
Get through lunch and down to art class on time. Note on door. Art class is not every other Monday, but the 2nd and 4th Mondays. Today is the first Monday. No art class.
Give up. Go home. Wish I could drink (I can't have a drink and be the one who has to care for the kids solo. It makes me really irritable). Maybe once they're all in bed asleep. :::::hysterical laughter:::::
This should probably have its own category, really.
Stupid Texas weather. It's October. The highs are still in the 80s. I want FALL.
My garden is still producing. I'm still getting tomatoes (though I have lots more blossoms than tomatoes. Maybe there's not enough bees around anymore?). I have a new squash plant that just started blooming. My basil is trying to bloom again.
It's nice that the garden is still producing, but it just seems so wrong. Even after all the years I've lived here, it just seems wrong.
We saw Mars!
It was smaller than I expected, but we were able to get a good enough resolution to make out some dark patches, and the north polar ice cap.
And that is COOL.
On her Homeschool Reviews message board, Tammy is advocating the cutting up of books.
It took me just about a full year at college to get to the point where I could underline or highlight in my books. I don't know what it would take to get me to cut them.
Cropping photos ala Creative Memories is hard for me too.
Is there going to be some astronomical event we want to see?
Then it will be cloudy.
We're supposed to go out into the country this weekend, to show the kids what stars look like (because you can't see any here!). It's going to be cloudy.
Pfffft.
Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day has a nice movie of Mars.
I'm just copying Tammy, 'cause after I read her post I looked around and realized that I've got a really odd assortment of stuff on my desk (and I'm bored). Such as:
Coffee (well, yeah!)
A VHS copy of Contact
Half a newspaper
A shower pouf
Two binders (open) with theoretically organizational stuff
A globe
Books (How the Universe Works, The Hobbit, Dumbing Us Down, Alphaphonics, and King Alfred the Great)
The phone
Two bags of incense
Letters I should have responded to six months ago
Assorted worksheets/copywork
Lists of doctors on my insurance
Assorted screws and safety pins
A pin of women dancing given to me by Elisabeth, who claims she has never seen the Simpsons.
A cassette tape of the Hooters taped from a live show in Dallas Alley hundreds of years ago. (I didn't have their current fan website URL, and man, that was nerve-wracking to search for. Perhaps I should have let Jeff do it.)
A TV Guide with Mindy Paige Davis on the cover that I stole from my doctor's office, because she was my college roommate (gratuitous name-dropping).
A Sonic coupon.
Here's an overview of the major schools. Thought you'd be interested, Jeff.
3:28 a.m.
Griffin just went to sleep. Lachlan went under about an hour ago, after I cut off his nursing rights. This has got to stop.
I went to bed at 10, so I'm back up instead of still up, at least. Connor has been ill.
It's storming here, so no Moon/Mars/Perseid viewing. Instead we had hail.
2:56 a.m.
Sigh.
Can you think of a worse way to start the day than to have your coffee grinder go up in smoke?
I am still here.
I am in the final stages of planning for our next homeschool year. The problem is that I am in the mood to really accomplish a lot this year; however, I already know that family/friends/outside issues are going to take up a huge chunk of our time. This is fine, but it takes a bit of mental readjusting.
I have finished my history planning (which depends way too much on the library having materials available to me when I want them). I spent days working up a beautiful science plan, but now I know that I will not use it. It's far too ambitious. And really, it's silly for us to schedule a science plan. With no plan at all, my boys are going to learn stargazing, and all about the planets this year. They're also going to continue learning about dinosaurs, the human body, and spaceships. ("Connor, did the dinosaurs have flowering plants?" "No ... not until the Cretaceous. Or well, really the late Jurassic.") Aidan is really curious about black holes right now. So who needs to schedule anything?
I get confused about science. I really like The Well-Trained Mind's approach to practically everything, so I am subject to feeling like we "should" be following their science plan as well. But really, we don't need to. Not at this age, and not with my kids' interests. Then I'll find something like Nebel's and get excited and make a new plan based on that ... and then I end up frenzied and confused.
So here is my conclusion: we'll keep the WTM topics in mind each year (second grade is "supposed to be" astronomy and earth science); I'll keep Nebel's on hand for ideas and to fill in any potential gaps that I feel should be filled in. I'll probably order some kits so we can do some fun activities. But I will not stress about science any more this year. Period.
I'm also tweaking my Tanglewood-like planner. Almost done. I feel guilty. But I want something completely personalized, and there are areas of her planner that simply would not work for us, as nice as it is. I may buy her timeline, though. And maybe the nature journal, if it also includes blank paper for drawings.
What's left? Not going to plan math, or spelling. I would like to plan out some copywork and/or dictation, though. We never do this, because I never know what to give him to copy.
New handwriting program we're going to use (new to us): Peterson's Directed Handwriting. Because I'm insane.
Aidan is already several lessons into Primary Preschool Math 2A. He's the type to just suddenly ask to "do school" and then hammer out six lessons. He's finished his Handwriting With Tears book as well, and wants to do it again. I'm going to use Alphaphonics to help him learn to read. I think that will be easier to start with than Phonics Pathways, which requires you to learn all the vowel sounds first.
So, I'm excited and raring to go!
But first ... we're going to help Susie move. And play with some other friends before they go back to school. And do some more Hogwarts (this week: 2nd Wizarding, Care of Magical Creatures and Potions lessons; 3rd Astronomy lesson).
Anyway, that's what I've been up to. I hope you've been reading my blogroll, because there has been much more interesting blogging going on there (my link to No. 2 Pencil is incorrect, got to fix that).
I'm still looking into info on the GED and state laws, as well as HONDA (which relates to that whole issue). So more on that soon.
Connor and I are just about to wrap up our study of King Arthur. I thought I'd share some of my resources with y'all, just for fun.
These are not things I used with Connor! For him we read the chapters about Arthur in An Island Story; then we read the Eyewitness Classics - King Arthur. It was okay. I may yet try Tolkien's version of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, only because I know he does well with Tolkien's language.
My very very very very very favorite treatment of the Arthur saga is Mary Stewart's Merlin Trilogy, and the accompanying The Wicked Day (though I like The Wicked Day least of any of them). Mark, have you read these yet??! Stewart's version is a wonderful solution to the vast difference between the popular story of Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, and any possible historical reality.
Her Trilogy uses Merlin as the main character; in fact the entire first book is concerned with Merlin's growth from young boy to the man who engineers Arthur's birth. She makes Merlin real and believable as an extremely intelligent and resourceful boy who happens to also have unexplainable visions. A far cry from the funky hat, billowing cape and chants of "Annal nathrak ..." etc. that you find elsewhere.
Her versions suit me perfectly, as I love Arthuriana but only to a point; I don't like all the Chretien de Troyes/romance/courtly love stories. The closer you can get your story to a possible historical reality, the happier I am. Just throw out Lancelot and all the rest. (An exception to this is Patricia Kenneally's "Celts in space" series. As ridiculous as the premise is, and as uneven as the writing is, these are fun books! But even she throws out Lancelot and all that.)
When I was in college, I had the privilege of attending a summer term at Oxford (University College). I studied Shakespeare with Harriet Hawkins and Arthuriana with Bonnie Wheeler. (Ooh! Ooh! Jeff, make sure you look at that link!! I could buy the class on video or CD!! Ooh! Ooh!) (Ooh! Ooh! Jeff! Look at this too!) What an amazing experience! We read ALL of the Morte d'Arthur, some of Geoffrey Ashe's and Leslie Alcock's work on the historical Arthur, some of de Troyes work, etc. But the best part was the field trip. Stonehenge, Glastonbury Tor, the Chalice Well, Winchester, Glastonbury Abbey, Caerleon, Cadbury Hill, and best of all (well, besides the Tor and Chalice Well), Tintagel.
Really, the whole purpose for the above post was to provide you, my dear readers, with resources for Arthurian studies. One resource deserves to be singled out, though: Arthuriana, the Journal of Arthurian studies. You want to know about Arthur? Start there. If you're really serious, you can join Arthurnet. If these people don't know it, it isn't to be known.
I might post more resources later. I'm tired of doing links right now.
I started back on the Weight Watchers points system on Monday. I went over points both Monday and Tuesday. And I'm using nursing points, which gives me 10 extra points a day!
I do all right during the day. It's dinnertime and after dinner that gets me. I eat a huge dinner, and then snack.
Bleah.
My gardens always start out great, and then go downhill quickly.
I have more bugs than anyone should. Squash bugs and borers have killed my yellow squash, zucchini and pumpkins. We did get two real pumpkins, though! Connor has already made one jack-o-lantern, but the pumpkin wasn't quite ripe yet and it only lasted a day or two.
My echinacea is blooming, and it's purple! I bought white, because that was all they had. It is gorgeous. I'm still getting tomatoes, and my bell peppers have perked up now that I remembered to feed the plants, lol.
We've gotten three small ears of corn, but the ants have eaten most of it. And I have discovered that my cats are using the garden as a part-time litterbox, and that's what's been destroying my seedlings. Anyone want some cats? :)
The cucumbers are growing wonderfully, but they're bitter! So they look great, but we can't eat them. Bleah.
... by this woman's ability to throw a party.
I want to do this! It only took her two years to plan and execute the whole thing. So if I start now ...
Thanks for the kind words, everyone :) I'm working on getting back into the swing of things ... I see that I didn't miss too much! Blogging is slow!
I also see, now, just how much time I was spending on the computer pre-trip, and that will have to change, which means my own blogging may be slow.
I have finished HP5, and I am pleased. It's more character development than action, though there is good action at the end. Rowling is very good at writing characters who are so mean and evil and nasty that you just want to reach out and strangle someone! We are reading it to the kids now. I didn't think it was any scarier than book two, although I am sure that a good bit of the teen angst and hormonal issues will be over their heads.
My favorite character in this book was Ginny Weasley. What a treasure she has turned out to be!
Now I'm working on lesson plans for our Hogwarts Summer Correspondence School. There is so much we could do that I'm having a great deal of trouble narrowing it down! This is going to be so much fun!
Two days until we leave, and all is in chaos. Well, why would it not be?
My throat is now not quite so agonizingly painful, now that the antibiotics are kicking in. However, now that that pain is subsiding I can feel the pain of my sinuses. Hopefully the abx will clean them out, too.
I have had the most horrible day with Aidan. Terrible. He drove me up the wall. He's been needing more attention lately. Okay, but why does he have to do THE MOST ANNOYING THINGS IN THE WORLD to try to get it? This week his legs apparently fail to work when he is displeased in the slightest way. "Daddy hurt my feelings so much I can't walk." Whining, whining, whining. And he doesn't just whine, no no no. His whine is so annoying that you will just want to scratch your ears off.
(And I suppose that one day, I will look back and hate myself for writing such things about my child in such a public forum.)
Anyway, so he was in fine form today. Then he suddenly started complaining of an earache. Mind you, all week he's had "sudden" illnesses and complaints that were NOT real, NOT true, and masked a desire for something that he for some reason didn't want to ask for (i.e. last night he claimed his stomach hurt so that he could get some tea. And then after we talked about it, he admitted that he was fine, he just wanted some tea.). AND, mind you, my Aidan is never irritated, never slightly miffed, never annoyed, never uncomfortable, never has a pain that hurts a bit ... no, Aidan is MAD, ANGRY, YELLING and in GREAT DESPERATE PAIN THE LIKES OF WHICH THE WORLD HAS NEVER KNOWN!
All the time.
It's exhausting.
And as you can imagine this makes it a bit difficult to tell the little hurts from the big hurts.
He was screaming that his ear hurt. So I put some stuff in it to make it stop hurting. He still screamed. I had Jeff give him a decongestant and Tylenol (other things I try not to do, but this week everyone's just getting the drugs, dangit). It was probably 15 minutes after that that he finally stopeed screaming. Instant personality change. Nice Aidan emerged. Then, he fell asleep.
I'm sure all you moms can understand the guilt here. He was tired. I didn't know he was tired. He slept well last night. He never takes naps during the day. And medications like Tylenol don't put him to sleep.
Unless he's really, honestly sick.
Sigh.
We are never going to get out of here on Friday.
As Jeff pointed out in the comments, we let Froggy II go. This frog was more active than the last one. This one tried to climb up the walls in the frog habitat, and up the sides of the bowl we used to carry him to the creek. We took him down to a shallow part of our local creek, a spot where we could easily walk into the water. He quickly hopped off. Hopefully he'll live.
The third tadpole now has the habitat all to himself, and he's taking his sweet time about growing.
I finally figured out that the monster thing growing in my garden was not my echinacea. So out it came today, bringing a carrot with it. Jeff now thinks it might have been a sunflower. Dang! I'd have tried to replant it if I had realized that. I forgot to plant sunflowers this year. But I don't want them in my garden. But hey! Now that that's gone, I've located the real echinacea! It's alive!
Dy, echinacea does not come from barnacles ;-) It comes from pretty purple and white flowers. Echinacea tincture comes from the roots of the plants. My plan is to make my own this fall (that stuff's expensive!). I'm also going to make my own vitex tincture, if anyone needs any of that.
Tonight, though, we ate yellow squash and zucchini from our garden! And yesterday we ate the first two tomatoes! (fried green ... yum!) And we do have another pumpkin! It's hiding between the garden box and the wall, in a spot that gets virtually no sunlight. In consequense, it's almost white. The other one, the one in the sun, is very green.
Sigh. Want to blog more. Can't. Tired. All children still awake and needy. Annoyed. Behind on email. Did I mention annoyed?
Yep, we have a new froggy! He's getting around in the tank better than the last froggy. He's just as cute, these tiny little froggies.
I spent yesterday afternoon running errands (I went to Home Depot with Griffin and Lachlan. In over 90 degree heat. Is it any wonder I was grumpy when I came home?). I wanted a tomato cage, but they were all out. I did get some weed blocking stuff that I'm going to put around my gardens today, and under my rogue pumpkin plants that are just growing in the yard as opposed to the garden, lol.
We have ONE actual pumpkin so far, and it is on one of the rogue plants. I think squash bugs are attacking the rest of my plants. Ooh, ooh, I also have one yellow squash and one zucchini plant that are alive and producing!! I'm so excited! I thought all I had was pumpkins. I need more zucchini. My tomatoes are producing like mad, although like any good Southern girl I have a hard time letting them get red. Mmmmm, fried green tomatoes. That's really what it's all about, isn't it?
I've got a baby bell pepper, some teeny strawberries, and some parsley that has finally sprouted. Looks like some thin carrots, too. Why do I always have such bad luck with carrots?
I also have one HUGE thing that I think/hope is echinacea (well, I planted echinacea, anyway). Susie the Crazy Breastfeeding Lady thinks it's a weed. I will not be happy if I have given this much garden space to a weed. It's a monster, though, probably three feet tall.
Susie came to spend the evening with us, and left me with a stack of Miquon books. Whee! Do regular school teachers get this excited over new curriculum?
Susie also told me about Operation Special Delivery, which is providing free doula services for women whose husbands will be deployed at the time their baby is born. Please spread the word about this wonderful resource.
OK, it's lunchtime. I don't know what's wrong with me this morning. I've done housework. Wow. No school so far as we are impromptu babysitting.
'Bout time I blogged something, eh? (I'm being Canadian tonight)
I've been reading about what everyone else did on Memorial Day. We went here to see an airshow. It turned out to be a very small airshow. The boys had fun, though. (And I guess Jeff did too, because after all, there were airplanes there.) The Civil Air Patrol had some model airplanes rigged on strings so that you could hold the ends of the strings and "land" the planes. Endless fun that was :)
Speaking of the Civil Air Patrol, I keep looking at their program with an eye to my boys as teenagers. Does their cadet program sound great, or what? Hmmmmm ...
Tonight was Connor's last baseball game. The tournament game. They lost. Ah, well. They played a very good game, and only lost in the last at-bat. Connor struck out twice tonight. He is disappointed but, I am so proud to see, he is not more than that. This was his first experience with a team sport, and although his team lost the vast majority of the games, I know he had a great time.
To ramble on ... I have had it with our carpets. They must go. I don't care if I have to walk on cement. I've been researching what to do with the cement, and I think something like this stain will be doable.
More rambling in a bit, eh.
Our power went out today. For two hours. For no reason that we could discern (no storms, at least).
Of course, Jeff was working from home today. Of course, my TV-addicted Griffin screamed for what seemed like years, because I had just told him he could watch something when the lights went.
It's amazing how many things beep in this house when the power goes out. Alarm. UPS. Phones. How very helpful, for them all to beep, at different rates and in different ways, to let us know that the power is out.
We called the power company to try to get information. We said "Our power is out ..." and they basically said "Yes, thanks, we know." Ah.
Oh, well. I got some quality time playing out in the sun with the kiddos. Water is a good diversion, and our lawn must have been watered six times over today (but mind you, not the garden, which still needs to be watered).
Griffin and I made up for our rough time this afternoon by playing his favorite game this evening. This consists of him excitedly announcing that a "big giant rarr!" (dinosaur) is heading our way. We grab a blanket and hide underneath, whispering and giggling. Then he decides that the big giant rarr has gone away, and it's safe to come out.
Repeat 20 times.
He is the sweetest child ever. He's the only one who launches himself into my arms, at top speed, and hugs me with his whole body. Then he backs up and does it again. Two year-old hugs are the best hugs ever. Have you noticed that?
Changed the name of the blog/blog banner again. Like it? :)
I'm planning again. I love planning. Don't you?
Planning is nice. Look at all the things I want to do with my kids! I even made a lovely planner, based on one that Sarah in Manitoba (as she's known on the WTM board) created in Word. I used her format, and just tweaked it for us. You can look at it/use it, if you like. (Replace the "Moon School" slot with your own religious lesson, or take it out completely.) It's very flexible. I plan to pretty much fill it out as we go, and also use it as a log of what we actually did.
Isn't it pretty? Look at all the clean, white squares. Planning is clean, orderly. It is promise and expectation. It is potential. Orderly potential.
I think I like planning because it has so little to do with what actually happens. What actually happens is messy and chaotic. Kids make messes. Kids get sick. Schedules get thrown off. Mommy has bad days. Kids have bad days. And in reality, if we did stick to the plan perfectly, I'd go nuts in a couple of weeks. I love to make schedules, but I hate to keep them.
But everything looks so nice in the planner ... sigh.
I just realized that I made the doc with a font you probably don't have. So maybe I'm not doing anyone any favors by uploading it, lol. The font I used is the one I always use in my website banners, too (at least so far). It's called Candlemas, and I got it from The Scriptorium. They have the greatest fonts, and lots of free downloads. The font on the banner of Jeff's blog is one of theirs too: Stonecross.
We're going to take a picnic lunch and go play in a park somewhere ... even though there's a 50% chance of rain with a chance of severe storms forecast. Ah, Texas in the Spring :)
Our discussion with the kiddos this morning started with magic. Connor and Aidan don't believe in magic (where did I go wrong that my kids don't believe in magic?). Jeff and I explained to them that we do, and that the world itself, and the existence of the world, and of us, is a magical thing. That led us to the possibility of life on other planets. Connor thinks maybe there's one planet in each solar system that can support life. He also explained to us how Venus had had a chance to support life, but the sun burned away its water; and how Mars could possibly support human life.
This led to a discussion about space. Aidan says that he wants his job to be finding out where space ends, but he thinks that space never ends. But on the other hand, he thinks maybe space is surrounded by black holes, and if you go through one you come out in one giant black hole. So we discussed space, and the nature of the universe for awhile. We tried to discuss dimensions with them, but that's a bit over their heads. I wonder if it would be a good time to read them A Wrinkle in Time? I haven't read it in forever, so I don't remember the age level.
Connor said that "Maybe God is space. 'Hello space, let's get bigger!'"
Now, I hear them in the living room, imitating Mrs. Weasley chewing out her kids ("Where have you been?!"). They're doing the lines in English, while watching the DVD in Spanish. Heh heh.
Kids are cool.
I'm going to put up a link to Kolbi's Blog because I think it's so darned much fun to read.
Yep, that's what it is.
Do I sound like Hank Hill?
I never get enough sleep anymore. What's up with that? Not only do they sap your brain power, but each kid robs you of the ability to sleep. Soon, my entire grocery budget will be taken over by the amount of coffee Mommy needs to stay awake.
Today Jeff taught the boys to do laundry. Aren't those the nicest words you've ever heard? They're very excited and proud of themselves. Dare I hope that it lasts, at least until they're married?
We're going to the bookstore today. Mmmmmm, bookstore. I'm hoping to find a copy of Pagan Homeschooling by Kristin Madden. And I might go ahead and pick up Beowulf: A New Telling by Robert Nye. I'm really looking forward to reading that one to the boys. By the way, I'm reading an old Marion Zimmer Bradley right now, The Heirs of Hammerfell. I have come to really enjoy the Darkover novels. This is an older one, and it's not written nearly as well as the more recent books in the series. But it's a nice escape. I'm also reading Great Harry, which is a goldmine of information about Henry VIII.
Ah, yes. I'm writing a children's bio of Henry VIII. Since I've started, I've written lots of blog posts. I've also gotten halfway through writing our science program for next year, I tell you what.
Off to clean my room, since my children are doing laundry.
Should be banned. How is it that I have cleaned for hours, and you'd never know it? You'd still walk in here and wonder how I and my family could live this way.
In terms of health, that is. Not mental state. That wouldn't be new enough to merit a headline.
We are all sick. All. Every last one of us. The last one of us, Lachlan, started last night. He's got a constant fever, my poor baby. We all have the hacking cough, etc. etc. We are having so much fun, I can't stand it.
Yesterday, though, we went to Scarborough Faire. I always think this kind of thing should be more educational than it inevitably turns out to be. This time was better, though. We took the kids into the butterfly house, where they got to see several different species (and Connor read their names off the guide sheet we were given - it still amazes me when I catch him reading!). They also got to see a demonstration of a printing press. I didn't get to see that, as I was outside with the stroller, but they sounded impressed.
Griffin rode the elephant. He insisted. He was the only one who would! Then, later, he saw this (scroll down to the hippogriff swing). And again, insisted. My two year old. (He called it a beep-beep - his word for "bird".)
Scarborough is huge. I haven't been to many ren faires, but this one is huge. It's worth going to. The entertainment is usually good, and there are plenty of things for the kids to do. At various times we've seen printing press demos, hawking, swordfighting, elephant and camel rides, sheepherding, collections of arms and armor, and blacksmithing. There is much more (including jousting). Go, if you're in the area.
My oak tree is covered in these things. They move in masses up and down the tree trunk. Really wild. I hate killing things, but if it's them or the tree, it's going to be them.
I had another dream last night that we'd lost Griffin. This time we lost him in some building, and Jeff wanted to go home to fix the car rather than look for him. What is up with my subconscious?
I'm restless. I need a change. Or a vacation. That's a down side to homeschooling. We could take a summer break, but what's the point, really? Even if I announced a summer vacation, Connor would still want to do history. And science. And I would still want him to read. And not forget all his math.
I want someone else to watch the kids while I renovate the house. And I want Jeff to quit work so that he can just hang out with us too. I want two more rooms added to our house, and I don't want to spend any money to get them.
My house is such a mess, and it's such a beautiful day...
All right, /whine.