Tis Cold!

Brrr! I had to dig out my winter coat this morning to walk Penny. It was 41 with a cold wind blowing. I wish I had had some mittens to wear. And this is the morning that Charles got up early and went out to throw some hoops! He is crazy! But he wants me to take him job hunting today, so maybe crazy is a good thing! First on the agenda, though, is a hair cut. Maybe I should take a picture of how long his hair has gotten in case he ever thinks about growing it long again. He has not had a hair cut in over a year!

I came across this fun vocabulary site today. Free Rice. "For each word you get right, we donate 20 grains of rice through the United Nations to help end world hunger." That is a quote from the site. I do not see advertising on it, but the site states that is how they pay for the rice. The vocabulary words are quite challenging and adjust to your level, up or down, as needed. I spent a few minutes on it this morning and found many words that I could make educated guesses on and some that completely stumped me. There is a setting you can make on the site so that it will keep track of your vocabulary level and the amount of rice you have "donated" from visit to visit. Right now my vocab level is at 41, with my best being 46, and I have donated 1180 grains of rice. Try it out!

Is anyone watching the Sci-Fi miniseries Tin Man this week? Way cool! I always loved The Wizard of Oz but this is a much more grown up adaptation of Frank L. Baum's novels. I really should put them on my "to read" list.

I guess I had best get working on my Christmas cards, since it appears that I will be on the road some today. And no, I have not forgotten that I had promised to write some pithier posts here this month. I am mulling over a couple of different ones concerning unschooling, and also an addendum to my Joy post earlier this month, so stay tuned.

Happy Birthday to my step-father George in sunny south Arizona. Hope you have a great day, George!

Joy

I recently read a topic on Amy's Live, Learn, Knit blog titled What Brings You Joy? In her post Amy mentioned a book she had read, Let Your Life Speak by Parker J. Palmer, which I have added to my "must read" list. During this past week's marathon NaNo writing, I found myself often distracted from my story and thinking about joy. I began to wonder what the difference was between joy and pleasure, since I could easily think of many things that brought pleasure to my world, but not so many things that seemed to bring joy. So today I looked up the words "pleasure" and "joy" online and found an explanation that suited me at Dictonary.com.

Pleasure, enjoyment, delight, joy refer to the feeling of being pleased and happy. Pleasure is the general term: to take pleasure in beautiful scenery. Enjoyment is a quiet sense of well-being and pleasurable satisfaction: enjoyment at sitting in the shade on a warm day. Delight is a high degree of pleasure, usually leading to active expression of it: delight at receiving a hoped-for letter. Joy is a feeling of delight so deep and so lasting that one radiates happiness and expresses it spontaneously: joy at unexpected good news.

So what does bring me joy?

My first thought was writing, but writing is not always joyful or even pleasurable. It can be difficult, painful and emotionally revealing, none of which brings me joy. Writing is something that I have to do, like breathing and eating. It is a rare day that I do not write something, whether a blog post, an email or a letter to a friend (sometimes those are even handwritten!). It does not matter to me whether anyone reads what I write or not. The possibility of an audience is not why I choose write.

Reading also comes to mind, but again, it is more of a need I have, like an addiction to caffeine or nicotine. A day is not complete if I have not had my daily fix of word input and output, reading and writing.

Crocheting gives me pleasure and satisfaction. I find it relaxing, soothing. But crocheting does not give me joy. The act of giving a crocheted item away, knowing that it will be used and appreciated by the recipient, that gives me joy. I never really understood why we needed to save an item that someone had made, pass it down from generation to generation, never to be used. To me, the value of the item is in knowing the person who created that item. If I did not personally know great-grandma Tilly, I am not going to value something made by her nearly as much as I am going to value something made by my Grammy. And so it brings me joy to know that items I have made and given to others are actually being used. That was the reason I made them in the first place!

Here is a picture of the baby afghan I made for my niece's new baby boy:

Knowing that Aiden's older brother loved his afghan and carried it around with him for several years gave me great joy. I hope Aiden enjoys his half as much.

Here is another thing that gives me joy:

Copper has taken to sleeping on laptops and computers. When it was ninety degrees and better outside, she preferred sleeping out on our balcony all day long. But when cooler temperatures came in September, she ceased wanting to go out on the balcony and now sleeps away the day on top of laptops or any other computer she can find that is running and warm. Anyway, just seeing a cat gives me pleasure, but having one (or more) of my own that I can interact with gives me joy.

Photography brings me joy. Amy mentioned photography and art in her post, too. Unlike Amy, I have never been interested in the darkroom and developing of pictures. What I love is the hunt for a good subject, the art of framing the subject and the sense of accomplishment I feel when I capture a moment in time. That gives me joy, knowing that I have saved some essence of "now" that can easily be recaptured in the future simply be looking at the picture.

My children, of course, bring me moments of joy. Their individual births were three such moments. Add to that my granddaughter, Miss Munchkin; I was lucky enough to be present at her birth and one of the very first to hold her. Miss Munchkin brings me joy almost every time I see her. There is just something about a toddler who is happy and curious and loving that is joyful, especially when she is related to you.

I feel joy when we hit the road for a road trip, whether it is just a day's jaunt somewhere or a vacation. There is something truly joyous about leaving behind the every day world for a bit and looking forward towards possible great adventures. And I feel joy every time I step onto a beach. Hearing the waves crashing onto shore and the cry of the gulls, feeling the heat of the sun through the sand on your bare feet, the smell of the salt spray, it all fills me with joy. Oh, and the skirl of bagpipes bring me joy. If ever I were to come across bagpipes being played on the beach while I was walking barefoot with my granddaughter, my heart would likely burst from experiencing too much joy all at once.

Amy's post talks a lot about finding joy in your work or rather work that you find joyful. I know this is the goal of many unschoolers, to find a way to turn their passion into a career. That is a great goal, although I know few that have been able to truly realize it. The only possible work-related thing that brings me joy is being able to find answers and resources for others. I love to research; I love to hunt for the perfect gift, for the perfect book, for that needed quote or just the right word that will complete a project. I think that is why I continue with my website, since HTML and web design certainly does not bring me joy. On the contrary, many days it fills me with stress and frustration. But I love to know that a resource I have reviewed or something I have written has provided an answer to someone's quest. That brings me joy.

So, what brings you joy?

I'm a Great-Aunt, again!

I just received an email notifying me that I am now a great-aunt, again! My niece, Melanie Gibson Webster, gave birth to a second boy this morning.

Welcome to the world, Aidan Ansley Richard Webster! Mommy (& Daddy) and baby Aiden are doing well.

Ansley is a family name on mommy's side of the family and I assume Richard is a family name on daddy's side.

Now, I am off to do some NaNo writing. I seem to have a case of vertigo this morning, so I believe I am going to take the laptop and plant myself in the recliner and do nothing but type. Even sitting here at the computer I find myself leaning to the left. Hopefully the laptop idea will work. I have a lot of words to write today!

Finished projects

Finally! At Last! It's About Time!

My niece graduated from high school last May and I just last night finished her graduation present. The weather is getting cool enough now, maybe she'll need it at college!

The pattern is called "Southwestern Cables Afghan" designed by Karen Wolfram. My niece didn't care about pattern or size; she just wanted something with yellow and bright colors. What looks like red is actually a Red Heart's Shocking Pink. Why is it that pics taken inside do not always show the true colors?

Here you can see part of the reverse side.

It fits a full-sized bed just nicely. I hope my niece likes it. It is tightly wove, a very warm afghan! Should keep her warm at that north Georgia college.

I also found this scarf that I crocheted last spring. Miss Munchkin was going through a phase of wrapping ties and scarves and other pieces of clothing around her neck, so I made a scarf for her out of Bernat's Softee Chunky, Circus.

There was enough yarn to make two, so this one is going on to my E-bay Store later today. The rule is a six-inch ruler, just to give you an idea of how long the scarf is.

FlyLady Influence?

Did you notice there were no posts Wednesday and Thursday? Wednesday we had unexpected company. Miss Munchkin's daddy had the day off from work so the whole family came to spend the day. When Miss Munchkin visits Grandma, Grandma gets no work done! And barely any computer time. So no writing, no posting here.

It is amazing the increased number of words that Miss Munchkin was saying Wednesday as compared to ten days earlier, the last time we saw her. Then it was "eat" and "car" that were very clear and "Pe-eey" for Penny and "Pa" with the appropriate ASL sign for Grandpa. Now it's all of those, and Penny almost has some n's being pronounced, along with "Daddy" and "Bye" and the sign for Uncle. And a lot more talking that sounds almost like real words, after several months of not so much jabbering. It won't be long and she will be talking a steady stream.

So that explains why no writing on Wednesday. Thursday, though, that was a cleaning day. Miss Munchkin told Grandma that her house was dirty. Well, she didn't come right out and tell me that, but she certainly demonstrated it. Kat has been following a FlyLady schedule the last several weeks and Miss Munchkin has been helping. Obviously she enjoys cleaning, since when Miss Munchkin was here she did the following:

• Swept the balcony with her little broom.


• Took one of Grandpa's handkerchiefs and tried to "sweep" or "mop" the living room floor with the cloth.


• Picked up any tuft of dog hair and returned it to Penny, setting it on top of Penny.


• And the one time we left my bathroom door open, she found the bottle of Ivory Liquid and proceeded to dump a large portion on the floor. Then she took a wash cloth that was on the edge of the tub and began scrubbing the bathroom floor.

So yesterday I swept, mopped and vacuumed floors. Of course, that did not take all day, but it did take a fair portion of time that I normally would have spent writing. And since I still do not have Penelope back, the rest of my writing time was spent driving! Arg!

My Nice Clean Desk!

For weeks I have been trying to clean off the top of my desk. You wouldn't think it would need cleaning, since we just moved in here a little over 4 months ago. But flat spaces seem to accumulate stuff in my house, with myself as the chief offender. It's a lifelong work in progress, keeping flat spaces clean. Any, all I seemed to accomplish was moving piles, or parts of piles, from one side of the desk to another, but never really making a dent in the total massed accumulation.

Then earlier this week I read an article over at Zen Habits titled "Simple Living Simplified: 10 Things You Can Do Today to Simplify Your Life." Item #7 was "Clear your desk" and I immediately saw that the process it outlined might just work for me. It said to remove everything from the top of the desk, putting everything either in a pile on the floor in into a box. By doing this, I could actually get my organization plans in place and then deal with the items one at a time.

So this morning I found a box and put everything in it. Now I had room to set up my nice color-coded manila folders and envelopes I had purchased and get organized! Hopefully now I have a place for everything. Of course, I still have the box to work through, but at least I can see my desk top and I feel like I have a method in place to deal with everything in that box. So the goal for the rest of this week is to tackle that box, dealing with each item one at a time, until the box is empty. And I think I have until Thursday to accomplish that, since it sounds like Miss Munchkin is coming to visit Grandma again!

See how nice it looks? I should have taken a "before" picture, but believe me, you could not see any desk top and it was piled almost as high as the bottom of the monitors.

While I was working on my desk, the men were installing a wall mount and hanging our flat-screened TV over the fireplace in the living room. Again, I wish I had taken a before picture. The TV was sitting in front of the fireplace on top of an unfinished wooden chest. This looks so much better!

We are not quite done with the project. Now we have to find some sort of component unit that will hold the receiver, DVD player, etc. and also somewhat contain and conceal all the cords that seem to accompany all these wonderful electronic gadgets. Hopefully we can find what we want this next week and be able to finish this project up by next weekend. Then the old kitchen table can go into storage or be used elsewhere. And we'll have a nice orderly living room!

It feels good to be working on some of the projects we've left undone from our move. I still have a few things I want to finish:

• Hang my seashore quilt in the living room behind the couch
• Hang curtains over the window I bought for the dining room
• Get some matching picture frames to hang family pictures in a couple of spots (living room and dining room)

And here is a pic of Bill as he "watches" the Busch race.

I usually try to wake him if there were any exciting parts so he can watch the replay!

Poor Penelope

Penelope was involved in a traffic accident Sunday afternoon. No humans were injured (other than maybe some self-esteem damage), but Penelope suffered major cosmetic damage and is going to need extensive work done at the body shop. The estimate I received today was for just slightly over $3800. I think that is likely the most expensive pizza run we have sent a child on! (For those of you who don't remember who Penelope is, check the October 2006 blog archives for pics. I won't post pics here of how she looks now. She would be too embarrassed!)

So we are down to one car to use to get everyone to work and college and karate. David is learning how the local bus system works. It looks like we might be without the van for most of two weeks, so we'll have to decide whether we can continue the "car shuffle" or if we need to rent something to drive for the duration.

This weekend was a good one, even with the accident. Miss Munchkin stayed with Grandma and Grandpa from this past Thursday till Sunday. She is getting to that fun stage where she can somewhat entertain herself for a short while. She especially likes going "outside" (one of the few words you can understand) and on Saturday Grandma let her "discover" our balcony. She spent most of the rest of Saturday afternoon and all day Sunday going in and out, taking her cars and her ball and playing "outside."

Grandma and Grandpa learned some new signs this weekend, like butterfly and watermelon. Signing helps the communication issues, since Miss Munchkin is not saying very many words yet that you can really understand. She's funny ... When she wants to sign something and has her pacifier in her mouth, she takes the "passy" out of her mouth, either giving it to you or throwing it down, and then she signs and speaks at the same time. She does not seem to realize that you can sign without speaking.

I took some pictures of Miss Munchkin while she was here, so hopefully I will get a chance tomorrow to get them off the camera and upload a couple here! So watch for pics tomorrow!

Still Hot?

While I write about a hint of fall weather (the forecast mentions night time temps below 70 later this week), my daughter seems to be suffering from an overdose of heat and humidity. Read The Rebel Cause for a unique perspective on the effects of a Southern summer.

Tractor Pulling

My dad seems to be fully recovered from his heart surgery in June. I visited with him last week for a few days and it sure was nice to see him in a setting other than the hospital. He had lost some more weight, but I think that was the plan. Better yet, he was looking fit and tanned and had started back to work in the shop. He has an appointment with the cardiac doctor in six months, but otherwise is cleared to resume life. Hurray!

My brother Eric went with Dad to a tractor pull last week. Dad recently joined a local club and they meet the last Saturday of every month to compete. Here are three pics that my brother sent me of Dad competing.

Good Eats and other Food

I recently discovered the Food Network show Good Eats with Alton Brown. What a lot of fun that show is! I have watched about five episodes and learned a lot, even though I have been cooking for a long, long time. I did not know why russet potatoes work better for baking than red potatoes. Last night's episode was all about scallops. Now to go get some scallops and see if they will taste better than the last time I cooked them! I hope to convince the boys to watch a few episodes. Maybe it will get them excited about cooking.

Speaking of cooking, I tried a new recipe last night that turned out very well, California Cod. It is a Publix Apron's Simple Meals recipes. Bill was a bit apprehensive when I mentioned it was cod, which he remembered as not liking as a child. But we both liked this. The only thing I can see that I should do differently is peeling the lemons so that they are more edible. Try it and see what you think!

California Cod

Ingredients

• Cooking spray
• 4 cod fillets (1 1/2 lb: thawed, if needed)
• 3 tablespoons white wine (or white cooking wine)
• 1 teaspoon seafood seasoning
• 3 plum tomatoes (rinsed)
• 2 lemons (rinsed)
• 1/2 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
• 1/2 cup shredded Swiss cheese
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

Steps

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Coat 13- x 9-inch baking dish with cooking spray. Arrange fish in baking dish (wash hands); drizzle wine over fish and sprinkle with seasoning.
2. Tomatoes and lemons can be peeled, but no necessary. Slice both very thinly; layer over top of fish, alternating and overlapping slices.
3. Sprinkle with cheeses and then oregano. Bake 11-14 minutes or internal temperature reaches 145 degrees F (or flesh is opaque and separates easily with a fork). Use a meat thermometer to accurately ensure doneness. Serve.

CALORIES (per 1/4 recipes) 180kcal; FAT 10g; CHOL 90mg; SODIUM 360mg; CARB 5g; FIBER 1g; PROTEIN 38g; VIT A 15%; VIT C 35%; CALC 25%; IRON 4%

Tip: If cod is not available, use another firm white fish like snapper or orange roughy.

If you have not seen the Publix Simple Meals cards, look for them the next time you are in the store. Publix highlights a different 30-minute meal each week. The recipe card includes a shopping list and needed items for a complete meal. This week's card included Baked Potatoes and Fresh Asparagus along with the California Cod. The menu cards assume that the reader knows next to nothing about cooking and so explains everything. And best of all, every ingredient that you would need to prepare the complete meal is all in one section of the store. I have tried a few recipes from different menu cards and usually they are very tasty. Tasty enough that I always check out the new week's card!

End of July Update

Can you believe it is time to wrap up July? Here are some brief thoughts, pics that didn't get posted, and updates on various items mentioned earlier this month.

While Kat and Miss Munchkin were here two weekends ago, we visited the beach. I did not think to check for beach advisories before we left, so we were rather disappointed to discover one when we got there. That meant no swimming. It was hot and sticky and there was no breeze and it was not much fun if you couldn't get into the water. Miss Munchkin played some with her sand and shovel and chased some birds, but we did not stay very long. Next time Grandma will remember to check online for advisories.

I keep telling her Mommy that she needs a haircut!

Penny Update - I took Penny back to the vet on the 23rd for a follow-up. She was doing better and then she wasn't, so the vet decided to do an x-ray to see if she had any kidney stones. Good news: no stones. (Bad news: wasted money on an x-ray!) The vet decided that she likely has a leakage problem that is fairly common with spayed females of her age and size. So she is now on a twice-daily dose of something to prevent bladder leakage. It does seem to be working, which is good news for my carpets! Now to retrieve my rug cleaner when I go back to Alabama next month.

We had a lot of rain yesterday, maybe close to two inches. The pond in the apartment complex is much higher this morning and Mr. Alligator is having fun cruising around. He seems to be enjoying the higher water level. And I notice this morning that the bird that has been fishing around the pond the last week was now staying out of the water, just fishing from the stone bank. Maybe Mr. Bird is more concerned about Mr. Alligator now that Mr. Alligator is getting around the pond more quickly? I don't know what the bird is, maybe a heron or egret. I will try to get a pic tomorrow.

The boys signed up for Kenpo Karate last week. Now they just need to get into a routine again, hopefully one that will not involve me doing all the driving! With David as a driver now, it would seem like I should be able to stay at home when they go.

I have been working on updating my Alabama Church School listings the past several days. Each summer I contact every church school listed (and many, many that are not listed) in my attempt to have the most up-to-date listing of church schools online for Alabama homeschoolers. It is a lot of work, but necessary. There are just so many lists online that are not up-to-date, with inaccurate URL's, e-mail addresses that no longer work, and church schools mentioned that no longer exist.

David's Freshman English class ends next week. It appears that he is doing well in it, perhaps even a B average. That would be great, compared to how he did last year at Evansville. We are keeping our fingers crossed.

And I think that is it for the updates! Tomorrow is August 1st. That is my Grammy's birthday, or would have been if she were still alive. I should make molasses cookies in her memory; she always made the most delicious molasses cookies! I wonder if I have her recipe with me or if it is packed away back in Alabama?

Harry Potter Mania

I know, I know. All the non-HP fans around the world are tired of hearing about Harry Potter mania. I'm sorry. I tried not writing about it, truly I did. But since we are all immersed here in HP, I couldn't seem to come up with anything else to write about.

Charles and I have been rereading the series in preparation of Year 7 coming out. I just began Year 5 yesterday and Charles is on Year 3. Both of us are determined to finish the series all the way through. We did that the when Year 6 came out and that is what we are doing again this time around.

Kat was visiting over the weekend (along with Miss Muchkin) and she became so caught up in our conversations about the previous books that she began to read the series. She had read the first three or four, but none after 2003. So she started Year 1 and took Year 2 home with her.

David, on the other hand, just dove in Saturday afternoon when our copy of Year 7 arrived and began reading. He finished Year 7 yesterday afternoon and now walks around with the smile of a superior being that knows how the series ends. And the frustration of not being able to talk to anyone about it!

It is amazing how many books this HP series has sold! The first twenty-four hours of its release it sold 5,000 books per minute! Per minute!!! Can you imagine? A book! A children's book at that! It is simply amazing.

I would love to be reading the series right now, but as a responsible adult, I am doing adult things instead. I have taken my morning walk, balanced my checkbook, answered a couple of e-mails, and repotted several plants this morning. Instead of 10 African violets, I know have 15. I ran out of potting soil or I probably would have turned 10 into 18 or so, since I still have two plants which need repotting. Potting, Potter, hmmm… I do believe I have HP on the brain, a disease for which there is an easy cure. It's lunchtime … I do believe it is permissible for a responsible adult to read during lunch! Cheerio!

Another Chat Success

About three weeks ago, maybe four, someone on chat mentioned that they had used the Signing Times program with their toddler with good success. At the time my daughter was experiencing some difficulties with Miss Munchkin's temper and I thought that might be due, in part, to Miss Munchkin's inability to make her needs known. So I checked out the Signing Time website and ordered the Baby Signing Time gift set and had it shipped to my daughter. It seems they are a big success! Check out Adventures With Miss Munchkin, July 15th post, for Kat & Miss Munchkin's experience with them.

And a big thank you to the chat member (sorry, I don’t remember who it was) who mentioned the Signing Times DVDs.

Visit Two

The boys visited The American Karate Studios. They had a quick private lesson to learn a couple of forms and then joined in on the evening Adults class. This dojo has a much different style than the one they visited Wednesday evening. Again, some things are similar to what they are used to doing at their old dojo and other things are very different. If they were to join, it would be the same as the other, they would need to begin at white belt and would work their way up the ranks as quickly as they were able to catch on. The cost of each place is about the same. I have not heard a final verdict yet, but I think the boys are leaning towards going with the first dojo they visited.

Visit One

Last night the boys joined in on an hour class at the Kenpo Karate & Kickboxing Center. They were assessing whether they wanted to join there and, at the same time, the instructor was assessing their skills and style. The style of karate seems very similar to what they are used to, but not exactly the same. Charles tells me that there is no such thing as a standard karate, that every dojo has it's own style. If they decide to join there, they will have to begin at white belt level, even though they both have black belts already. But Master Ingle (the owner) said that, based upon the skills he saw, they would move up through the ranks very quickly. They rank based upon accomplishment of skills and not based upon any time frame.

I was pleased that both boys said they should still try the second dojo we checked out, even though they were favorably impressed with this first place. It's been nice to listen to them explain what they are looking for and the plusses and minuses of each place we have visited. We have left the choice up to them, as they are the ones with the experience and knowledge upon which to base a choice. Tonight we will visit the second place and then the boys will make their choice.

I am still figuring out the traffic patterns here in Tallahassee and how to judge how long it will take to get somewhere. So much depends upon whether it is rush hour and how many red lights you hit. Tallahassee has the longest stoplights I have ever experienced. You can sit several minutes if you pull up to a light just as it is turning red. Tuesday when we went to first check out the two dojos, it only took us about 25 minutes to get to the first one. Last night it took 45 minutes, which meant that we were just a bit late. Part of that was because it was later in the afternoon and we got caught in rush hour traffic. And part was due to the fact that I took what appeared to be a more direct route, which was obviously a mistake. The side streets would have gotten us there much faster. I am still trying to decide how much time to give for getting to this second place tonight. It is further away, but there are fewer side street options.

On another note, Penny is feeling better. She is more energetic when she goes outside and less smelly inside. This morning we took a very long walk, going around the whole complex once. We usually take that walk in the evening, but I am trying to up her exercise level (and mine!). By 7:15, when we began our walk, it was already 78 degrees and 80% humidity. We have gone several days now without any rain, so this weekend's forecast of 60% chance of rain sounds good. Of course, that means thunderstorms, not just a general rain. Supposedly July is the wettest month of the year here, but like most of the southeast, we are still in a drought situation. So any rain sounds good!

Anniversary Update

So, did we do anything special for our anniversary? Yes and no. We got Chinese take-out for supper, not the cheap buffet places, but take-out from an expensive, sit-down restaurant, the Ming-Tree Chinese Restaurant on East Lafayette Street. That was where we went to eat our very first night in our apartment here. David likes it because they have lamb dishes. Spicy lamb dishes! Anyway, we brought our take-out home and watched the Daytona 400. What an ending to that race! Bill's brother was supposed to have been in the grandstands watching and it certainly would have been a good one to see live! But it was equally as nice watching it at home sitting next to my hubby of twenty-eight years.

Fourth of July

I meant this to go up on the 5th. Oh well, better late than never.

Here's the way to celebrate July 4th. Spend a couple of hours at the beach with your children and grandchild, walking, wading and swimming. Pick up some steamed crab legs, shrimp cocktail and cheesecake on the way home. Eat supper. And then enjoy your granddaughter's delight as she experiences her first firework. Priceless!

Smoke Alarm Test

Charles decided to test the smoke alarm system in our apartment last night. Not intentionally, mind you, but the end result was the same. They work very well. Guaranteed to wake you up from a dead sleep at 1:45 a.m. I promise!

It would seem that cooking hot dogs directly on the burners of an electric stove causes a lot of smoke! Can you imagine? Bill was dumbfounded that anyone would even try! But Charles assured us that you can cook them on the burners of a gas stove! Oh my. I think that maybe we need to invest in a small, electric hot dog grill!

Driver's Edge Review

Here is David's description of his participation in the Driver's Edge program last Saturday:

So, Saturday I got to attend Drivers Edge in Atlanta. If you're not familiar with it, Drivers Edge is a non-profit driver's education program based in Las Vegas that travels around the country, run by professional race car drivers. It holds that in America today, people are not truly taught how to drive, but merely how to pass the driver's license test, and it therefore seeks to teach new drivers the skills needed to actually drive safely.

All the participants were given a short test on their knowledge of driving and car care in general, and then we were divided up into four groups, to move through the four different portions of the program. I first attended a talk given by a local police officer on traffic laws and safety, and his personal advice. It was mildly interesting, but the highlight was one of the fathers asking the officer if he should teach his daughter to obey the speed limit or follow the flow of traffic. I'm sure you can guess what the answer was.

Then we moved on to the oversteer portion, where I got to drive a very nice BMW vehicle through a wet portion of the parking lot and learn what it feels like to spin out a car, and how to prevent it. That was fun, and the cars were air-conditioned, which, considering the 95 degree heat, was quite nice. The primary lesson here is to look where you want to go, not at what you want to avoid. After that we moved on to the driving posture, safety, and car care lecture/comedy act. The speaker did an excellent job of making a somewhat dull subject more interesting, and taught me to Wash BOATS.

Finally it was back to the cars for the braking and avoidance course. The idea here was to experience what ABS feels like when it activates, and it does kick a bit. The second portion was a small jink in the track meant to simulate a rapid lane change on a highway. I got a bit of a lecture here on proper steering, and how to keep a firm grip on the wheel at all times.

Finally, there was a post-test to be compared to the pre-test, and some awards were handed out. I got one for scoring in the top two of the group on the pre-test, and there were awards for the driving portions for best driver and most improved. Then they handed out various, free, merchandise, and certificates of completion, and then we were done.

Since taking the course, I've done a bit of driving, and have noticed myself paying more attention to the road, particularly farther ahead, and keeping a better grip on the steering wheel. Overall, I'd say it was a worthwhile experience, though the day and a half on the road there and back might have been a bit much.

Driver's Edge and stuff

David and Bill just left for Atlanta. David is signed up to participate in the Driver's Edge program tomorrow afternoon. They will spend the night near Macon and be back late tomorrow night. For those of you not familiar with Driver's Edge, it is a youth driver's education program founded and developed by a professional race car driver. Here's a quote from their website:

Young drivers are placed through this half day, four hour program at no cost, making the program accessible to young drivers from all economic backgrounds. With professional driving instructors at their side, the students … participate in customized behind the wheel driving exercises developed to address the most common driving situations that can lead to collision.

I'll post next week to let you know how it went and whether David found it to be worthwhile.

So what have I been up to this week? Mostly playing with Miss Munchkin. I drove up to Albany Wednesday morning and brought Kat and Miss Munchkin here for a few days. They were getting housebound. Not sure yet when I'll take them home: possibly either tomorrow (Saturday) or Monday. I could do it Sunday, but Sunday is race day and the four-hour round trip would cut into my race watching!

It appears like David is ready for Orientation on Tuesday at Tallahassee Community College He's spent quite a bit of time online and on the phone and visiting the college, trying to get all the needed paperwork submitted. He plans to take an English Composition class this summer and then begin full-time classes in the fall. We are hoping that this works out better than Evansville did last year.

Oh, and I found a great natural foods place yesterday. New Leaf Market.It has a deli, organic and local produce, and best of all, it's a co-op! I'll be joining after we get next month's paycheck!

There are also three different farmer's markets in the area, on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. The one on Monday is less than a mile from me! I hope to get there next week. Last Saturday we visited the one downtown and bought loads of fresh produce and some cut zinnias. It's so nice to have fresh flowers!

Digital Natives

Wow! Another great article at Life Without School

Unschooling and the Digital Native by Laureen

What is a Digital Native? From Laureen's essay:

The term digital native was coined by Marc Prensky, who explains it like this:

They are native speakers of technology, fluent in the digital language of computers, video games, and the Internet. I refer to those of us who were not born into the digital world as digital immigrants. We have adopted many aspects of the technology, but just like those who learn another language later in life, we retain an “accent” because we still have one foot in the past.

Laureen writes:

I've read through some of the literature on this phenomenon, and I'm convinced that it falls short, because it's being written by people who self-identify as professional educators. As an unschooler, I don't believe in educators, I believe in learners. My personal paradigm rests firmly on the assumption that children are self-starters, and that the information they absorb is the information most necessary to them in the environment they inhabit, so I'm exploring this digital native idea with that in mind.

Prensky states,

Today’s students have not just changed incrementally from those of the past, nor simply changed their slang, clothes, body adornments, or styles, as has happened between generations previously. A really big discontinuity has taken place. One might even call it a “singularity” – an event which changes things so fundamentally that there is absolutely no going back. This so-called “singularity” is the arrival and rapid dissemination of digital technology in the last decades of the 20th century.

Today’s students – K through college – represent the first generations to grow up with this new technology. They have spent their entire lives surrounded by and using computers, video games, digital music players, video cams, cell phones, and all the other toys and tools of the digital age. Today’s average college grads have spent less than 5,000 hours of their lives reading, but over 10,000 hours playing video games (not to mention 20,000 hours watching TV). Computer games, email, the Internet, cell phones and instant messaging are integral parts of their lives.

Her family sounds much like ours! Check out her essay and see what you think!

Double the Wishes

Today is my youngest sister's birthday. Happy Birthday Jen!! Jen is a great mom and a wonderful person and today is one of those days that I wish we lived a lot closer to each other. But she is in Colorado where it snows! And I am in Florida, where there's humidity. So the likelihood of us ever living very close together is not very high! Enjoy your Colorado summer, Jen!

And today is also Father's Day. A day of special meaning this year, since we (my siblings and I) almost lost our father earlier this month. Heart attacks. Triple By-pass. I think we've always thought our dad was invincible, since he's always been so strong and healthy. He's doing great now, though, walking several miles each day and his doctor gave him the okay earlier this week to drive again. It won't be long before he's dancing again! Happy Father's Day Dad! I love you!

Am I Home Yet?

I know I have not made an entry here in over a month, but I've been busy! It sure would be nice to be able to stay at home for a few days and begin to settle in here in Tallahassee. Here is a brief recount of the past couple of months:

April 5th - Drove to Evansville to pick David up for Easter weekend.

April 9th - Drove back to Evansville to take David back to college.

April 11th - Drove to Tallahassee, Florida

April 12th - Bill's job interview in Tallahassee

April 13th - Drove to Jacksonville and St. Augustine, Florida

April 14th - Home again to north Alabama

April 18th - Bill received the job offer, but had to wait for all forms to be processed before giving notice.

April 19th - Bill accepted the job offer in Tallahassee.

April 30th - I drove to Tallahassee, looked at a lot of houses and apartments to rent, settled on one apartment complex and came home on May 3rd.

May 1st - Bill gave two weeks notice at his current job.

May 5th - Drove to Evansville to bring David home for the summer.

May 10th - Son-in-law (Shawn) received a promotion and notice that his new job was in Albany , Georgia.

May 11th - David went to Kat's to help her pack up her apartment.

May 13th - Shawn left for Albany, Georgia, to begin his new job the next day.

May 14th - Kat arrived, with Miss Munchkin and their cat in tow, to stay with us until we go to Tallahassee.

May 15th - Bill's last day at work.

May 17th - Picked up the moving truck.

May 18th - Loaded the moving truck. Discovered that the a/c system on my van was not working properly. Left it at the dealer so they could order the parts and fix it. Picked up a rental van to drive for the duration.

May 19th - Finished loading the truck. Went to the Hobo Dance and stayed up way too late considering how early we had to leave in the morning.

May 20th - Drove to Tallahassee. Shawn arrived in the evening to pick up Kat & Miss Munchkin. We kept their cat.

May 21st - Unloaded the truck.

May 23rd - Bill began his new job.

May 25th - I drove back to north AL to return the rental van and pick up my van. Drove back that same day (arriving in the wee hours of the next morning). Saw my dad, who had just gotten back from vacation, a vacation he cut short because he wasn't feeling well.

May 26th - Drove to Albany, Georgia to pick up Kat and Miss Munchkin. Life in a motel was not working out so well with a fifteen-month-old!

May 27th - Received a phone call from my dad that he had had a heart attack and was in the hospital, scheduled for a catheterization on Monday and possible installation of a stint.

May 28th - They were unable to do the stint on my dad as he had too many blockages. By-pass surgery was scheduled for Wednesday.

May 29th - Drove to north Alabama to see my dad before his surgery.

May 30th - Dad's surgery.

May 31st - Dad moved in to a private room less than 24 hours after the completion of his by-pass surgery. They did a triple by-pass. I visited with him there before heading back to Tallahassee; he was doing great.

June 2nd - Took Kat to Albany, Georgia, so she and Shawn could go back to north Alabama to move their stuff. Kept Miss Munchkin with us for a few days. Dad called to tell me he was back home, having been released several days early due to how well he was progressing.

June 5th - Drove to Albany to take Miss Munchkin back to her Mommy and Daddy and also to help unload their truck. A long and exhausting day.

June 6th - Today! Slept late. Have done little to nothing. Hopefully I will have more energy tomorrow. There are still boxes to unpack! And things to do! A new life in Tallahassee to begin!

And The Beat Goes On … Unschooling Adult-Style

Unschooling is child-led, interest-led learning, or at least that is my quick and easy definition. Sounds pretty simple, doesn't it? But lately I have been thinking that my definition does not fit our situation anymore, since there are not very many children left in the house. It is difficult to have child-led learning without a child!

So I have been contemplating on what my current definition of unschooling should be, now that my children are adults. How does this sound? Unschooling is individual-led learning that occurs on an as-needed or as-desired basis. What? That isn't unschooling! Isn't that just life? Exactly. Which is why unschooling as a homeschool method held such appeal to me when I first heard of it. It was exactly the way we (my husband and I) already approached life. It was the example we were already setting for our children. It was the way every adult I knew operated. Why should the way our children learned be any different from the way all the adults around them learned?

I am often asked for examples of unschooling in action. It seems silly to tell others what we do, since unschooling is just living your life, whatever your life might be. My life is going to be different from yours. I can tell you about my typical unschooling day, but it really won't bear any resemblance to what your unschooling day will be like. But I would like to share a couple of examples of our adult lives and how we are learning as we go; not our children, but Bill and I, the parents in the family. Because I consider us unschoolers also, unschoolers for life, unschoolers of life.

To read the rest of this new LeapingFromTheBox.com article,
please visit Unschooling Adult-Style

Accompanying that article,
How to Conduct an Online Job Search

Catching Up

I can see I should have set a goal for writing daily in April! Goals. Must have goals! And deadlines! All procrastinators work better when there is a deadline looming.

Here are some pics of Miss Munchkin from Easter Sunday. She had fun gathering Easter eggs at my dad's, even though she did not have a clue what was going on. Once she got one egg in each hand, she just grinned and watched all the other kids running about, picking up eggs.

And here's a pic of the handbag I crocheted for Miss Munchkin. I had troubles with the handle and will probably have to redo it, but she seemed to like it.

It's been a busy April. On the 5th I drove to Evansville to bring David home for Easter break. And on the 9th I drove him back. And then on the 11th we (Bill, Charles and I) drove to Tallahassee. Bill had an interview there on the 12th (his birthday!), which we are still waiting to hear the final verdict on. Hopefully we will get word soon.

Friday the 13th we drove to Jacksonville, just to see. There are more job opportunities there, but none of us felt at all comfortable there. It is just too big of a city. Way too many people. Way too much traffic. We drove right on through and headed for St. Augustine, spending Friday night there. On Saturday morning (the 14th) we visited Castillo de San Marcos and walked the beach long enough to get the beginnings of a nice tan. It was lovely. Saturday afternoon we headed back to Tallahassee and then for home, driving through some very nasty storms but arriving safe and sound in the wee hours of Sunday morning. It was very nice to be home. And it was a good thing we came home earlier than planned. Bill had turned off the power strip to my fish tank before we left. I had some very cold, hungry fish in dire need of some oxygen! The tank was down to 62 degrees and most of the fish were just lying on the bottom, slowly fluttering their fins / tails. But I did not see any dead ones. I think they must have been practically hibernating from the cold and lack of oxygen. By Sunday morning they were looking much improved, swimming around the top, waiting for their breakfast!

Dogwood Winter Sucks!

I hate dogwood winter. Just when you think that warm weather is here to stay, old man winter blows his icy breath and we get several days of cold weather. I know you all in the north country are thinking that fifty degrees and a north wind is not cold. It is, though, when it has been in the eighties for two or three weeks. It is not nice to have to turn the heat back on and bring all the plants back inside so they don't freeze.

Yesterday I drove to Evansville and brought David home for a few days. Two days driving (yesterday and Monday) so that he can be home three days. Crazy. But it is nice to have him home, even for that short a time.

I haven't posted here this week because I have been trying to concentrate on writing a couple of articles for my website. Almost done and then I have to convert them to HTML and get them all linked up to the site. I will post here when they are up.

Next Thursday is Bill's birthday and also, coincidentally, the day he is scheduled for a face-to-face interview for a job in Tallahassee. So he is going to use a couple of vacation days and we will spend Thursday through Sunday in Florida. Most of that time will be in Tallahassee, but I think we will try to get in at least one day in Jacksonville. There seem to be many more job possibilities in Jacksonville, so we would like to see the area before we decide whether to submit a resume to any of those opportunities. Hopefully this interview on Thursday will work out and we can get under motion, begin to get out from the limbo of waiting and actually begin moving and living again.

Today was pay day and I should be paying bills instead of updating blogs! Bill paying is always so much fun. NOT! Wouldn't it be a blast if just once there was a huge surplus of funds left over after ALL the bills were paid?! I am sure that is just around the corner for us!

Job Opportunity

Yesterday Bill was offered a job opportunity that really bears some looking at. We spent all day yesterday talking about it and today I am making a list of pros and cons so that we can make an attempt at coming to a decision.

Basically, this is a year-long contract to upgrade and maintain computers and networks of an online gaming business. Everything they need, Bill can do with no problem. And everything that Bill asked about, such as budget control, etc., did not seem to be an issue with the contractor. So the job is very doable.

The pay is excellent. Heck, the pay is beyond excellent. We could pay off all our existing bills, pay David's college tuition for the next three years, and still put away a sizeable chunk into our retirement savings. And living expenses for the full length of the year-long contract are totally covered by the contractor.

Sound too good to be true? That is because the job is in Canada. Not just Canada, but some small Inuit Nation town in north Canada. I mean, really north Canada. So small it does not even appear on any maps that I can find. The recruiter sent us a .pdf map that shows where the town is. I did not realize people lived that far north!

So, here is my list:

Pros

• The salary. It's huge. Five times what Bill normally makes in one year. Since we do not have much of a retirement fund, this money would be really welcome.
• Living in an Inuit village, learn the customs of the natives.
• Charles likes cold weather and wants to learn to ski.
• All living expenses paid for the entire family while living there.
• No cooking for the entire year (they have a communal cafeteria)
• David's college would be paid for, with no outstanding loans when he graduated.

Cons

• A year away from Miss Munchkin, Kat and David. We would not be able to come and go. Once you are there, you are there for the duration.
• We would only be allowed a set weight amount of items to take with us (everything is flown in), so I would have to really plan ahead for books and such. But we would have Internet, so we could read whatever we could find online. And e-books are available from the town's cyber-library.
• The darkness. The job begins July 1 and we would be there until June 30, 2008. The summer months of sunshine are fine. It's the winter months that worry me, as both Bill and I need sunshine. We've been assured they have sunlight-replacement bulbs and such for those people that are affected by lack of sunlight, which is both Bill and I.
• The cold. Both Bill and I have seen enough snow to last a lifetime. But it's a dry snow up there, right? So our joints wouldn't ache so much?

Can anyone else think of any other pros and/or cons? Things we should consider while thinking over this job offer? Anyone have any experience living where it's so cold for long periods of time? And if you really think that we would seriously consider such a thing, you have obviously never heard of april fool's day!

Fast Food / Junk Food

Monday Charles and I watched the documentary "Super Size Me." (I love Netflix!) It was a good documentary and I would highly recommend it to everyone and anyone.

Here is the DVD blurb:

On the heels of recent lawsuits against McDonald's, director Morgan Spurlock takes a hilarious and often terrifying look at the effects of fast food on the human body. For one month, Spurlock eats nothing but McDonald's food, ordering everything on the menu at least once and "super-sizing" his order if asked. With obesity on the rise, Spurlock's film begs the question: Where does personal responsibility end and corporate responsibility begin?

We try to avoid fast food, as much for monetary reasons as for health reasons, but still we tend to eat out way too often. Last week as I helped Kat freshen up her old place for resale, I had fast food for lunch four days in a row. And I also bought some junk food (store bought granola bars and blueberry muffins that contain way too much refined sugars and flours) for snacks. I did have some healthy options. I drank only water and brought along cheese sticks and bananas. But still I ate way more fast food and junk food than I normally do. The result? Four pounds of weight gain in those four days.

I have been working hard to lose some extra pounds over the past several months, managing to lose ten pounds in seven months. That is just a little under 1.5 pounds per month. They say slow weight loss is healthier and you are likely to keep the weight off longer than if you lose it quickly, so I have been happy with that rate. Luckily, those four pounds gained last week are temporary ones; by yesterday I had only one left to see disappear. But it was eye opening how little time it takes to sabotage oneself. I could have just as easily packed salads or sandwiches to eat last week. Instead I took the quick and easy way out.

So, last night when we went out to dinner to celebrate Charles's 17th birthday, I remembered and ate sensibly. Broiled blackened salmon, steamed broccoli, brown rice and water. For dessert a slice of cheesecake with cherries (not cherry pie filling!). So this morning when I weighed myself, I was the same as yesterday. That's a good thing! By the end of this week that last pound should be gone and then I can begin April with a ten pound loss and begin working on the next ten! And maybe I will watch "Super Size Me" one more time before I send it back to Netflix. Fix it firmly in my mind how very bad fast food really is for my health!

I Just Do Not Understand …

There are many things in our current culture that I do not understand.

• Rap and HipHop music (although upon closer listening, there are some similarities between rap and bluegrass)
• Chainsaw / gory / psychological thriller movies
• The fascination with certain "stars" who have done little to nothing to deserve that term
• Preschool

Now I realize that many parents have to work and they figure their children will be more prepared academically for kindergarten and be better socialized in a preschool setting than in a daycare setting. Doesn't that sound odd? "Be more prepared academically for kindergarten?" Not all that many years ago Kindergarten prepared you for first grade. You did not have to prepare FOR Kindergarten.

What I do not understand is why a parent who chooses to stay at home to raise their child should feel that child would be better off enrolled in a preschool. If you can read and interact with your child, then you can teach your child everything he/she will need to know. It really is not that difficult. Read to them a little bit every day. Talk to them like they are an intelligent human being, rather than your puppy dog. Well, maybe I should not say that because I have seen some people who talk to their dog on a higher vocabulary level than they do their children. Just don’t baby-talk all the time to your child. Involve your child in your every day activities. Let them help with the laundry, sweeping the floor, changing the baby's diapers, whatever your daily tasks may be. And talk to them while doing so. Explain what you are doing and why. Involve them. Interact with them. It might be fun!

As for socializing, children are much better socialized from being around adults, especially their own family members, and especially the first several years of their lives. Did our pioneers worry about their children's socialization? For that matter, did our grandparents have preschool? Did our parents? I certainly did not have preschool and I was more than ready for kindergarten when the time came. At what point did preschool become a standard practice? I guess I was bucking the trend when my children were that age, almost twenty years ago. Some days I sure am beginning to feel old!

Spring Break Over

Tomorrow we take David back to college, which means another long day of traveling. It is really an easy trip, with the only really heavy traffic going through Nashville. And even then, we are usually making the trek on either a Saturday or Sunday, so the traffic is not all that bad. But it is still a long drive. And with tomorrow being the beginning of Daylight Savings Time, that means we will lose an hour's sleep tonight. I love Daylight Savings Time and am very happy that it is starting earlier this year and lasting longer, but I hate losing that hour's sleep!

I spent most of today working on creating a list of all the math and science books that I sorted off the shelves on Thursday. All day, but I have only about 1/4 of them on the list. That means a lot more work next week before I am ready to post the list to any group. After I get the list made, then I have to go back through the list, looking up comparable books on e-bay and/or Amazon and see what the used price should be for each one.

This evening we met Kat and Miss Munchkin in Cullman for dinner. Steak! Yummy! Miss Munchkin ate a fair share of my green beans, along with some french fries and a small bit of cheesecake. She definitely prefers to feed herself now, although with only two teeth, you have to really watch what she tries to eat.

It was a nice dinner out, with all three of our children there. But every time the past few months that we have been able to all be together, I cannot help but wonder how long it will be before we are all able to be together again. Life is changing. David in college. Kat with a family. Us looking to move further south. So many changes. And no way of being able to look ahead to know whether they will be good changes or not. No guarantees in this life! Just sight your course and hope for smooth waters and good times ahead.

Time for bed … I am going to have to arise much too early for a Sunday morning!

Miss Munchkin's Birthday

I did not post an entry yesterday because it was Miss Munchkin's first birthday and I was very busy! I began crocheting a YoYo Bunny back in early January, but somehow, like usual, it came down to the wire and I spent five hours yesterday finishing it. And finish it I did, with time to spare (a whole half an hour!). It looks sort of cute, in a disturbing kind of way, but I am not sure how well it will hold together. If it falls apart, probably the yoyo's will be more fun to play with than the bunny!

Miss Munchkin had a small first birthday party, with just family there, grandparents and uncles and aunts. She loved the black cat that we had made at Wack-a-Bear or whatever that store is called. Most of all, though, she liked the balls that Uncle Charles picked out. They were one of the first gifts she opened and after that, she tried to bounce every other gift. If it did not bounce, then back she went to the balls!

And, of course, there was the obligatory chocolate cake with frosting! Mommy and Daddy just could not understand why both grandmothers thought that a little girl covered in cake and frosting was so cute! When we left, Miss Munchkin was headed for the bathtub for a thorough cleaning.

Something Meaningful

Well, here it is the sixth day of my 30 Day Trial and I have not a clue what to write. I have already missed one day, so I really need to write something for today. But today has been one of those non-eventful days and I feel rather brain dead tonight. So meaningful this likely will not be.

This afternoon the boys and I went to the mall to find Miss Munchkin's birthday presents. I bought three board books:

• Goodnight Moon, by Margaret Wise Brown
• Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?, by Bill Martin Jr & Eric Carle
• Good Dog Carl, by Alexandra Day

All three books were favorites of her mother's, so I am sure they will be well used.

In addition to the books, we went to Build-a-Bear, or whatever the name is for the one at the mall, and picked out a black cat with green eyes. Miss Munchkin has a thing for cats, so I know she'll like that. And then we found a couple of small bouncy balls, since she seemed to like Uncle Charles's basketball the last time she was here.

Tomorrow is the big party day. We will go over to Kat's in the late afternoon for dinner and birthday cake or whatever the dessert of choice will be. Miss Munchkin will be one! A year ago tonight I was walking the floor with Kat, wondering when/if Miss Munchkin was ever going to make her arrival. And now she's one. Simply amazing!

All Tired Out!

I know I did not write yesterday. I will have to make up for that by writing two entries another day. Miss Munchkin and her family have been visiting for the last 48 hours, from Saturday night just after we arrived home with David until tonight. So yesterday was a busy day with all of our children home. We played on the Wii, watched movies, and were generally entertained by Miss Munchkin. I was so busy that I just plain forgot to write!

Today I have been babysitting, from 7:30 a.m. till 6:15 p.m. I am barely coherent at 7:30 in the morning, let alone capable of taking care of a one-year-old! Miss Munchkin was good most of the time, but she sure is busy and she jabbers almost continually. She took only one nap, which lasting little more than an hour. Grandma is one tired gal tonight!

I have gotten very accustomed to a quiet house, with morning all my own, and just generally not having to think about a wee child every waking and sleeping moment. There is a reason why older women do not conceive as easily as younger women. Little children are just plain exhausting and best left for the young of mind and body to raise. And this particular old body is going to go soak in the tub and go to bed!

December update

I just checked when I last wrote here and can't believe it was so long ago. Where did December go? It's been a month of ups and downs and not one I'd like to repeat for a long time to come.

Mr. Algae-Eater seems to have recovered nicely. I bought some sort of aloe juice medicine that was supposed to be for sores on fish and added it each day for a week. It seemed to do the trick. He's back to his old self.

We did take a trip to Tallahassee last week and Bill interviewed for a position with a company there. He liked the company, so now we are just waiting to see if they liked him enough to hire him. Or if they thought they needed his experience enough to hire him, as they have a huge mess to clean up. Hopefully we'll hear soon. Bill and I really liked it there. The sunshine, the warmth, the beach, the seafood. It was very nice.

Christmas was a quiet day. Several of us have colds, others have been stressed and working too many hours. So we just watched movies and played with Miss Munchkin and tried to keep the wrapping paper out of her mouth. The best gift seemed to be the Flexible Flyer horse we got her. It didn't take long for her to figure out how she could move to get the horse moving. It is going to be a while, though, before she'll be able to ride it herself.

And I bought her a stocking that had the head of a cat at the top of it. I was going to make her a stocking. I got all of 4 rows done on it. I'll have to finish it next year. But the cat stocking was a big hit. Miss Munchkin loves "fluffies" and all day long she'd carry that stocking around and put her face right down into the cat's face and make her "kitty cat" noise, which is sort of a cross between a meow and a purr and a dinosaur growl. Very cute. That's what she's doing in these pictures, in addition to trying to eat the nose of the cat!

Weather changes

Looks like November is going to go out with a roar … and December come in with a brrr! We've been enjoying some lovely warm days this past week or more; 70s in the day, 50s at night, lots of sunshine and gentle breezes. But from the weather forecast, that is all going to end tomorrow. Lots of wind and rain, possibly some thunder and lightning (but hopefully no tornadoes) going through tomorrow afternoon and evening. And then turning much colder on Friday, with temps down in the 30s and 20s at night and not much warmer during the day. So far no forecast for any of that white stuff, at least not this far south, and let's hope it stays that way!

Thanksgiving was a nice quiet day. And then on Friday Kat and Miss Munchkin and Shawn came to spend a few days, going home on Monday. It is nice to have them all here, but nice when they leave also! The house seems to much bigger after they leave!

Miss Munchkin is trying to walk. She actually took a couple of steps on her own while she was here. She will be nine months in another week. Nine months! That's too young to be walking!!

Bill and I took David back to college on Sunday. We had a nice visit, but I think he was ready to go back. We have to pick him back up on December 13. On our way to Evansville Sunday we spent some time driving around Nashville, getting the lay of the land, scouting out some possible areas for housing, just in case that is the area we end up moving to.

I've been working hard on my website and it is beginning to pay off! I've also been trying to clean up some of the piles of books around here. Putting more on auction at e-bay rather than on my e-bay store. And either they sell or I donate them to the library. Too many piles, too many bookshelves. If we are going to move … no, when we move I do not want to have to move all these books!!

Needless to say, from the word count showing here on my blog, I will not be completing my NaNoWriMo Novel this month. I did get over the hump I was in last week and had a great writing day on Thanksgiving. But with all the additional company and taking David home on Sunday and everything else, I have not had the time to write. Today I have gotten a little bit done. But I am going to continue working on this novel, as I like the premise and I love the main character. So maybe by this time next year I will have two completed novels - the one I am working on now and one for next year's NaNoWriMo.

Crazy Day

Well, Bill ended up going to Evansville by himself to pick up David. Charles was sick enough yesterday that I didn't feel comfortable leaving him alone today. He was much improved by bedtime, but still had a pretty rough day yesterday. And after his improvement on Sunday and then relapse on Monday, I wasn't going to leave him alone. So Bill went by himself.

He had two appointments in Nashville, but the directions to the first one were not very good and he got lost. By the time her found the place, did what he had to do there (which took longer than it was supposed to), his second appointment time had come and gone. Unfortunately, the second appointment's time was booked up for the afternoon, so I guess he'll have to make another trip to Nashville to meet some other time.

In the meantime, David is calling at 11 a.m. to let us know that he is ready! I told him he better get some lunch, because it's going to be around 3 p.m. before Bill gets to Evansville.

It's been a quiet morning and I've updated two more e-mail lists pages on my website and fine-tuned some other pages. Also washed some dishes and done some laundry. And now it's time to go begin cleaning a path to David's bed! Actually, what I wanted to do was make room here in my office for Miss Munchkin's port-a-crib so that Kat could spend the night Friday if she wanted to, provided we're not all sick with the bug by then. Shawn's work schedule becomes pretty hectic for the next month or so, so I thought she might like to stay here one night while David is here to spend more time with her brother. To do that, I've got to remove a huge amount of stuff that is piled on the floor in my office and then move Miss Munchkin's things from David's room to here. And then maybe there will actually be room for David in David's room!

Guess I better get started!

November update

I checked my blog yesterday because I could not remember when I had last written. November 1st! Imagine that. What a busy month November has been. As you can see by my NaNo count, though, I have not been busy writing my novel.

So what have I been doing? Mainly updating my website. Rewording some pages. Making better intros. Checking links. Adding ads. Trying to make my website pay me back something other than just the satisfaction of knowing I have helped other homeschoolers.

I did write a small amount (500 words) yesterday on my novel. And actually got another 500 words written early this morning. Charles woke me up at 6 a.m., sick again. So after Bill went to work, I stayed up and worked in my office, which is right next to Charles's bedroom. He was quiet for about an hour, resting, but not sleeping. So I was able to write then. But since about 8 a.m. he has kept me busy: needing drinks, vomit pails emptied, covers on, covers off, baths drawn. I am not accomplishing much today!

Charles came down with this nasty stomach bug on Saturday. He was sick, sick, sick on Saturday. Stomach cramps, vomited, diarrhea, fever. He was better yesterday. Slept most of the day and woke up hungry. Announced he was going to karate on Monday. But this morning he is worse again. Not as bad as Saturday, but still sick. The one good thing seems to be that Charles has not had a violent recurrence of his post-tetanus vaccination reactions. He has had a couple of mild reactions, which were quickly squashed with some antihistamine, so hopefully the after-effects of that vaccination are slowly receding.

Tomorrow we are supposed to go to Evansville to pick up David. Bill took the day off and we were both going to go, but with Charles still sick I am not sure whether I'll be going or not. It will be a long day for just one driver. Of course, David does have his driver's license, but it's been a few months since he's driven. Penelope is a nice easy car to drive, so maybe he could help out some with the driving back home. He'll be home until Sunday, when we have to take him back to college.

So I guess that's all the news today! I need to try to get David's room cleaned out a bit. We have been using it for the "catch-all" room since he went away to college in August. I'm sure he would appreciate begin able to actually get to his bed, let alone lie down on it!

Halloween / NaNoWriMo

It's Halloween and all my children are healthy, I think. When they were little, it seemed as though every Halloween at least one of them, if not more, were sick with a fever, cold, sore throat, something. Of course, Charles is just getting over a cold, so maybe he counts? Nah. And I don't really know whether David is sick or not, but he sounded just fine on Saturday when we talked to him. So I'm going with "It's Halloween and all my children are healthy."

Kat was over on Sunday with Miss Munchkin. She had picked up the cutest Halloween costume for Miss Munchkin. A strawberry! It had a little stretchie hat that looked like the hull of a strawberry on top. The suit part was red, with velcro in the back so it went on and off easily. Sleeveless, so it wouldn't be too warm. I'm hoping Kat will get a picture of Miss Munchkin in it this week, as she didn't bring my camera with her on Sunday. If (when) I get a pic, I will post it up here. She looked so cute, although I do agree with Shawn that it was also mildly disturbing at the same time!

Miss Munchkin had a new game Sunday. She is now waving all the time as people come and go, or just when she looks around and "discovers" they are still there. Sunday she would crawl from her mommy to me, get on my lap, turn around and wave and grin at her mommy. Great fun!

I added a NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) participant link to my description here on my blog today (check the right description column). I've never done NaNo before, never finished a novel before (although I have a couple partially written), so we'll see. The plot and characters all came to me within about 10 minutes of reading about NaNoWriMo back in September, so I think I was meant to write it. You have to write at least 50,000 words during the month of November. No editing, that comes later! That's almost 2000 words a day. With all my job hunting for hubby and updating of my website, I'm not sure I'll have time to write 50,000 words. Probably my posting here will be a bit sparse, so check my progress reports (clicking on the the links to the right) and give me heck in an e-mail if you don't see an updated word count each day!

Vacation Observations

Our recent trip to New York was a memorable one in many ways.

Penelope turned out to be a great van to travel in, providing a comfortable riding experience.

I had forgotten how vivid the fall colors are in the north. While the tress do change colors here in north Alabama, we do not get the multitude of vivid oranges, yellows and reds. And the leaves smell so different in the north. Here, when they fall, it's a moldy smell and they don't crunch as you walk on them. In the north, the leaves have a pungent smell to them and make a stirring, rustling sound when you walk through them. Altogether a more enjoyable experience!

I was struck anew by the number of roadside markets. It seemed like every third or fourth house either was an organized market or had a few winter squash, some Indian corn, bright orange and red mums, and/or pumpkins set out by the roadside to sell. That is not a common sight here in north Alabama. Bill and I have often talked about the reasons why this might be, but for whatever the reason, I do miss the ready availability of fresh produce. And New York apples are still THE BEST!

Charles still does not enjoy traveling. He tolerates it better than he used to when he was younger, but that's only because he's figured out his coping mechanisms. Stay up as late as you possibly can during the night so that you can sleep all day while on the road. And earbuds with music playing help a lot too!

It was nice spending long periods of time with Kat and Miss Munchkin. Kat is such a patient mommy. Several of my cousins remarked to me during the party how at ease Kat seemed to be with motherhood.

Miss Munckin has the most beautiful smile!

Watching Miss Munchkin and her second cousin Steven play together was amusing. I have never seen a three-year-old so intent upon sharing his playthings with another baby. And such fun to listen to him sing! It's a good thing his grandparents on the Gibson side are not spoiling him any!

It had been several years since I had seen any of my cousins. None of them have changed, and yet we've all changed. Linda looked healthier than the last time I saw her. We didn't get enough time to spend together and I was very sorry to miss that last evening's get-together at Jeff's.

My cousins' children are all growing. Nathan has become such a self-aware young man since I last saw him. I had never met Justin or Leah before and didn't really get to know them this trip, they stuck so tight to their daddy! It was interesting to note that Reb's boy was interested in his grandfather's iron pile and the building possibilities therein, while Becky's children were much enamored with their grandmother's horsies! I am always intrigued by how individuals inherit certain family traits in each generation!

It was enjoyable to see all my extended family on my dad's side all in one place, celebrating. I sometimes envy the Pendleton's, still all living close by and able to organize a dinner together in a day or so, rather than having to consult calendars and vacation schedules. I do miss that part of living in New York, the closeness of extended family. Then again, I well remember that there are some drawbacks to having extended family so close too!

And finally, this vacation reminded me anew how much I really do love traveling. Driving. Seeing new places. Pouring over maps and planning routes. There must be a wagon-train traveler in my blood a few generations back! Or maybe it was an Irish lass, leaving Ireland and emigrating to the new country. Or maybe further back, a Viking warrior raiding the coasts of Ireland.

Vacation Trip - Part Three

We planned to spend Thursday night with a friend who lives just south of Youngstown, Ohio. Thursday morning we were still debating just what route to take to get there, until I heard the weather report on the radio! Lake-effect snow flurries were forecasted for Wyoming County, New York. The snow wasn't supposed to stick, just flurries. A flurry was more than I wanted to see, so we headed south on 15 into Pennsylvania, taking 220 west and picking up I-80 across to Youngstown. The area around Lock Haven and further west as you join onto I-80 was real pretty. I've often thought Pennsylvania was a pretty place to visit, in the summertime or early fall, but not somewhere I'd like to live. As we got closer to Youngstown, we ran into some brief snow flurries. Ack!

As for the "non-sticking lake-effect snow" in western New York? Seven days later they are still talking about it on the national news, reporting that there are still large populations without power. My aunt said that the Thruway was closed for over 24 hours on Thursday / Friday. It seems some places west of Leroy received up to 24 inches. That's a lot of snow for early October and a lot of sticking!

Our stay with our friend's in Youngstown was very pleasant. She has a beautiful house and certainly pleased Charles with her mashed potatoes and gravy! We met several members of her family and just had a nice visit. Friday morning we were on our way bright and early (7:30 a.m. Central), as we had a long day of traveling ahead of us if we were to get all the way to Evansville, Indiana, by nightfall. By two in the afternoon it seemed like we were making good time, so we decided to take the scenic route across Indiana rather than staying on the Interstates. Wrong decision. Lovely countryside, but a bit longer trip than necessary, especially when we hit a traffic jam the first few miles and only drove about 10 miles in 45 minutes! It was 7:30 p.m. (Central) when we rolled into Evansville, meaning we spent twelve hours on the road.

Poor Miss Munchkin, she was getting so tired of her car seat (as were we all!). After darkness fell, she really began to fuss. She would only be quiet if Kat learned over and stroked her or talked to her. Finally the kids turned on the DVD player and she quieted down. We don't think it was the DVD, just the light from it enabling her to see people around her again. She did the same thing Saturday night after it got dark, fussing until Kat turned on one of the inside back lights. Then Miss Munchkin seemed happier.

Friday night we picked up David and his friend Ashley and all went out to supper. It was nice to visit with David, although I think he was more interested in food than seeing us! Miss Munchkin seemed to remember him, even though it had been about two months since she'd seen him. At least she didn't fuss any when David held her.

Saturday morning David gave Kat (and the rest of us) a tour of the campus. He needs a bit more practice with that! "Here's a building. I think they do art classes in here. I never come to this building, so I don't really know." Very informative! After lunch and winter coat shopping for David, we loaded up and headed for home. We dropped Kat off at the mall so she could ride home with Shawn when he got off from work. Then we dropped Charles off at karate so he could be a part of the last bit of graduation. And we got home about 8 p.m., in time to watch the last half of the Nextel race and see Gordon suffer another late race DNF.

Nine days of vacation, six of them on the road, traveling 2370 miles. Are we crazy or what? Everyone did really well until Friday. By then we'd had enough togetherness. It's a good thing Charles was able to sleep at David's dorm Friday night. Another night of sharing a motel room with Charles and there's no telling what Kat might have done to him with the TV remote as he channel surfed!

Vacation Trip - Part Two

We (Bill & I) spent four nights (Sunday through Wednesday) at the hunting lodge where the 50th Anniversary Party was held. The hunting theme was a bit overdone for my taste, but then I'm not a mighty hunter! We removed some of the pelts from the walls, as their tails dangled down the back of your head when you sat down in certain chairs. One of the young children said we put earrings on the deer. One wall had the front end of a bear sticking out one side and the back end sticking out the other side!

The 50th Anniversary Party began at three on Monday, the 9th and went on until long after dark! Everyone enjoyed themselves, especially the guests of honor.

Tuesday Charles had the bright idea that we should all walk up (and back down) the glen at Watkins Glen. It's 1.5 miles each way, with over 800 steps going up, depending upon the path you take. It was a nice day for such a trek, not too hot, partly sunny, not raining. And October is definitely the perfect month as far as the color of the leaves. Surprisingly, I wasn't as sore afterwards as I was afraid I might be. Miss Munchkin had the right idea, though, riding in mom's sling!

Wednesday we just hung around, taking more pictures, gathering up squash, apples and cider, and doing a little reminiscing along the back roads of our youth. The area has changed so much in the last thirty-five years. Someone told me that Yates County is now the second most Mennonite-populated county in the nation, right behind Lancaster, Pennsylvania. Amazing when you consider the first Mennonite family moved to Yates County around 1970!

Vacation Trip - Part One

We had a late start to our trip. I left too many things to accomplish for Friday morning. And then we had to make a trip to Charles's girlfriend's home to return her glasses that "somehow" ended up in his karate bag the night before. From there we attempted to find a "quicker" route to Kat's house, so instead of only taking twenty minutes, it took us an hour. By then it was time to eat lunch! It was 2:00 in the afternoon (Central) before we left Alabama!

We drove as far as Knoxville, Tennessee, the first night. We were lucky to find two rooms, since there was a softball tournament in town. We took Kat & Miss Munchkin shopping for swimsuits and enjoyed the pool and whirlpool at the motel that night. I wish I had gotten a picture of Miss Munchkin in the pool. She sure enjoys water!

Saturday it was much cooler weather, down in the 40s for most of the day and snotty rain. Bill and I suddenly remembered why we moved south! Virginia is a long state to travel through on I-81. We began looking for a room in Hagerstown, Maryland, only to discover that there was a soccer tournament in town! Sound familiar? We finally found a motel with an indoor pool, got the last two rooms available, only to discover that it was full of eight to twelve-year-old soccer players who took over the pool.

Miss Munchkin traveled very well. We usually had to stop every couple of hours for a diaper change or feeding, but then we old people needed to stop that often to get out and stretch!

Sunday morning it was cool and sunny, but warmed up as we traveled further north. We arrived in Dundee about four in the afternoon (Eastern), visiting with family and enjoying a perfect October day. Miss Munchkin met her cousin Steven for the first time and they seemed to enjoy each other. Steven was a cutie and he loved showing Miss Munchkin all his toys at his Grandma's house.

After a nice afternoon and evening with Bill's brother and sister-in-law, we left Kat and Miss Munchkin and Charles there and headed for our bunks at the hunting lodge. More on that tomorrow!

Pics of Great-Uncle Eric and Miss Munchkin

These were taken Labor Day weekend. When Miss Munchkin first met great-uncle Eric Saturday evening, she was not at all sure she wanted to know someone with all that facial hair! At first she screamed, then she just gave him looks and tried to keep her distance. But, by Sunday afternoon he had won her over, as you can see!

David update

It sounds like David has settled in well at Evansville. I called him last night and then passed the phone around so everyone (Bill, Charles, Kat) could talk to him. He told me about the robot he has in Computer Science class and a bit about the Japanese alphabet (or it's three alphabets). And also said I should see the movie "Accepted" because it was funny and had a very unschooling slant to it). He told his dad that everyone seems to gather in his room and he's not sure why. It did sound a little bit like there was more than one or two people in there! But definitely it sounds like he is having a good time and not terribly homesick.

We're still trying to decide whether we'll go up for Family Weekend later in September or combine visiting David with a possible trip to New York in October. I guess the first decision to be made is whether we're going to New York or maybe the decision to be made is who is going to New York. It's my aunt and uncle's 50th wedding anniversary celebration, so I definitely want to go!

Sunday my dad had a get together at his house and my brother Eric drove over from Atlanta with his family. Daniel spent Saturday night here playing X-Box with Charles and Shawn. I took lots of pics, so maybe later this week I'll get one posted up here of Eric with Miss Munchkin. She was frightened of Eric when she first saw him Saturday night, but my Sunday afternoon she was having great fun with his beard.

Oh, and it looks like my kittens have all found homes! I just need to decide if I want to keep one of them or not. We've been talking of possibly moving in the semi-near future and it is going to be difficult to find a place where I could have my six cats roam freely outside, let alone adding another one to that number. Do we really need to keep any?

Miss Munchkin is 5 months!

I can't believe Miss Munchkin is five months old already! I took pictures when she was four months old and it wasn't until yesterday that I even had a chance to go through them. So here are a couple of more up-to-date pictures of Miss Munchkin and family.

Miss Munchkin on her four month birthday with Mommy and Daddy!

And here is Miss Munchkin two weeks ago, July 27, 2006. It's getting very difficult to take good pictures of her because if she's awake, she's moving! Hence, blurry pictures! This one didn't turn out too badly.

Counting Down

Twelve days until D-Day. Delivery Day. Deliver David to College Day. And I don't feel like I'm coping very well. Bill says I've been micromanaging everything this summer and haven't let David do enough of the preparations. He's probably right. It's been easier to focus on the preparations, keeping busy with the minutiae, rather than dealing with the knowledge that life is going to change.

It is going to be a huge adjustment not having David around on a daily basis. Of our three children, David is the one most like me in disposition and attitude. I'm going to miss having that even keel, come-what-may-we-can-cope attitude around. Heck, I'm just going to miss having a live body here during the day. Even though Charles is still home, he spends so much time at karate that some days it's like he's not here at all.

It was a full year before I really adjusted to Kat's being gone when she moved out, but at least she did so with no warning. I didn't have time to obsess about it before hand. And the six months before she moved out she was gone a great deal of the time anyway, having a car and license. So I was more used to her absence. David has neither car nor license (although he is going to take his driver's test this week). This past year, especially, we've spent so much time together commuting to his college classes.

But I know David's ready to experience new things, ready for new challenges. I'm pretty sure that Evansville is going to be a good experience for him and he is excited about going. It's the anticipation, the waiting that is so hard for me to deal with. I always handle a fait accompli much better than the lead-up time to anything. There shouldn't be so much time between being accepted to college and actually going to college!

To sleep, perchance to dream

Another night of interrupted sleep, another day of hiding yawns and thinking of a nap! Normally the cause is the occasional bout of night sweats or the more frequent waking up in the middle of the night and not being able to get back to sleep. But not last night, or rather, early this morning. This morning at 3:45 my cell phone rings and I know instantly that it has to be Charles. Which means that he's having troubles again with his "funny feelings" in his head that preclude full blown episodes of violence. Luckily this time he woke up before it had reached the full-blown stage, so a dose of antihistamine, some talk about how he was feeling, how long he had been awake and how long he had been asleep prior to awakening, and then he went back to sleep. But I didn't! I was wide-awake from then until Bill's alarm went off at 6. And only then did I begin to doze off for a few minutes before I had to get up and made Bill's breakfast.

I had been worried about the possibility of Charles having another episode. Sunday we went over to Kat's and mowed her lawn. Bill got into the kudzu on the edge of the property with the weedeater and had Charles go behind him with the push mower. Unfortunately, Charles found a bee's nest and got stung on his legs several times. He seemed fine yesterday, but still, I wasn't surprised when that phone rang this morning. The episodes seem to hit when his immune system is working hard to overcome illness and so I thought bee stings have the same effect as a fever.

May 26th was the last time Charles needed the antihistamine to ward of an episode, so it's been less than two months. Prior to that he went just about three months. I had hoped that the time between would have lengthened, not shortened. That would have fed my hope that this whole nightmare would just eventually fade away, that his body would recover on his own from the tetanus vaccination. But it doesn't appear as though that is happening. Time to make that appointment with the naturopath, since both his pediatrician and the neurologist he was referred to were not able to find anything wrong. And I'm hoping that the pediatrician will agree with me that David doesn't need a tetanus vaccination for his college physical. The college indicated that they might accept a letter of medical waiver from the doctor. I've got to double check next week when the person in charge at the college's health department is back from vacation. But I am very leery of unnecessarily exposing another child to that vaccination! It certainly has wreaked havoc upon Charles' body.

Happy Anniversary to Us!

Twenty-seven years ago today Bill and I tied the knot. Twenty-seven years! Wow. I'm not sure whether I'm amazed that we've made it this far or amazed at how quickly the years have flown by.

July 7, 1979 was a picture perfect day; sunny with a brilliant blue sky filled with fluffy white clouds. You couldn't have asked for a more lovely July day. The day went smoothly, no major hitches in all the proceedings, and all the various branches of the families got along well for the day. Or at least, I never heard of any problems afterwards!

So, what will we do today to celebrate? Let's see … hubby went to work. I stayed home and ran my IRC homeschool chat all morning, played with Miss Munchkin, washed some dishes, boned out some chicken, the usual stuff. And tonight we will do our regular Friday night square dancing. Maybe we'll do something special tomorrow night to celebrate, like go to a movie or dinner out, or maybe we won't. The company Bill works for is having their annual summer "do" at the local water park, which includes a bar-be-que dinner and water rides. Somehow I'm underwhelmed at the thought!

Now's the time to plan something big for our 30th! If I begin saving now, a dollar a day, let's see ... that would come to $1095.00 in three years. Wow! That would certainly cover more than a movie and dinner out! Think big! We could travel to the coast and have seafood, although the south coast is a bit warm this time of year. Maybe Maine and lobster!

Miss Munchkin is 4 months old today. I took a lot of pictures of her and Kat and Shawn yesterday. Now to find the time to sort through them and get some actually printed for family members. I've not had any printed since she was a week old. She sure has changed since then!

Crossing Things Off My Lists

The last several days have been busy around here! Bill and the boys built new steps to the entrance off our living room over the July Fourth holiday. We rarely use that entrance and haven't been able to for quite a while now due to the steps having rotted out. But it's good to have it fixed and be able to use it, just in case we have an emergency and need another exit. That project has been on the "to do" list for quite some time now. At one time we had planned to greatly expand that small deck entrance area, turning it into a screened-in covered porch, but whenever funds get set aside for the project, they get diverted for some emergency expense. Probably it'll be one of those things we do just to fix it up around here when we finally get ready to move and sell the place.

I finally finished David's high school transcript over the long weekend and yesterday mailed it to our church school administrator. It was already mostly done, since he had to have one in January for college applications, so all I really had to do was add this last half of his senior year to it and get it in the proper format. But I had to wait for his last grades at Calhoun Community College to get posted, which was done mid-May. By then I had gotten out of the "school" mode and just never quite found the time to sit down and finish the transcript. Now it is done. The last thing I needed to do for David as homeschool mom and teacher. Now I can just be college mom!

And yesterday I set up a brokerage account with E*Trade. We knew we were going to have to cash in some stocks for David's college tuition and the first payment is due August 1. Somehow I didn't think it would be a huge deal to set up an account and get the stocks traded and cash into a money market fund. I also didn't think doing it locally with a broker would be as expensive as it turned out to be when I called for quotes. So instead of going the easy way with lots of hand holding and someone else doing the grunt work, we went the cheaper route and I will get plenty of new learning experiences! Isn't that what you get when you don't get what you wanted? Experience?!

So three things done off my lists . . . and hundreds more to go, or so it seems. Last weekend I had David set up FreeMind on my computer. It's a mindmapping program I discovered last winter and showed to David. He took right to it and uses it all the time. I am not so sure it will be as helpful to me, but I'm willing to try it. One good thing about it is that I am much better organized on my computer than I am on my desk or with my filing cabinets. So instead of many paper lists floating around and never where I remember putting them, I simply have to open FreeMind and there my lists are, ready to be shortened or ignored, whichever the case may be!

Here's the link to FreeMind: http://freemind.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Main_Page

Cooperation

Just when you begin to despair that your children will ever be able to work together, they surprise you! I told David and Charles (our two teenage boys) Monday that the gutters needed cleaning this week and that the weather would be better for it (cooler, less humid) the first part of the week. Amazingly, yesterday afternoon they just got at it and did it without me reminding them a gazillion times. Not only that, but they worked together without much disagreement and got the job done rather quickly. Of course, I did discover last night that there's some clean up that they seemed to have missed, so they'll have to do a bit of cleaning of the deck today. But all in all it was nice to see them working together, getting the job done without me having to do a lot of supervising.

That said, I have given up on having them wash the dishes. For the last several years it has been their job to do the daily dishes and clean up the table, stovetop, counters and sinks. They have done it well at times, so I know they are capable. But I've decided that the stress incurred while having them do this job is not worth it. I get too annoyed knowing that they are saving all the dishes up till 2 in the morning. And then I come out in the morning and see glasses stacked on top of all the other dishes in the drainer. Gravity put to the test each night! It's just too much. I can't take it anymore. I know they can do the job, so it's time to teach them something else, I think! And I'll do the dishes my way, washing a few several times a day, washing the glasses first and the pans last!

So what will they do instead? David will be doing his own laundry this summer so that I am sure he knows how to do it when he goes to college. He has washed things before, on occasion, so I think all he'll need is just a refresher on how to separate the loads and what temperature water to use, etc. Even so, it won't hurt him to do his own all summer and get used to figuring out how often he needs to wash. At Evansville last weekend, the Dean of Student Living told us a story about a freshman (male) who never washed his clothes. It got so bad that, after several weeks, his roommate complained to the RA in the dorm. So the RA talked to the student about the laundry situation and the student agreed to take care of it. So what did he do? Shipped all his dirty laundry to his mom in Colorado via UPS! Can you imagine the look on her face when she opened those packages?! The Dean said that the mom just repacked them up, dirty, and shipped them back to her son at college. I guess he finally got the message that he needed to wash them himself.

Doing your laundry at Evansville would be almost fun. You can go on a website to see how many washers and dryers are being used in your dorm's laundry room and how many minutes before they will be done. Not only that, but when you put a load of wash in the washing machine or the drier, you can set it so that the machine either sends you an e-mail or a text message to your phone to let you know when the load is done! Can you imagine?! For a computer science student, it seems like that would make laundry almost like a game!

So David will be doing his laundry this summer. And he's already gotten pretty good at vacuuming the floors daily, which we have to do in the summer because Penny (our dog) sheds so much. When he goes off to Evansville, Charles will have to take over that job.

Perhaps the boys should learn to clean their bathroom! That sounds like a good trade off, cleaning the bathroom once a week for washing dishes daily. And, of course, there's always the outside reclamation project with the push mower and weed eater! We didn't have a lawn mower for all of last year and so the woods has tried to work its way back towards our mobile home. It's beginning to look better since we got that push mower last month, but there's still a lot to do. I think a half an hour for each of them several days a week should do the trick.

Know Home Schooling, history, and Harry Potter

I received an e-mail this morning from a friend, telling me about a new site, Know Home Schooling. It's a homeschooling wiki. I added my blog listing to it this morning. Looks like it might be a real help to new homeschoolers as more veterans add their info to it. Check it out. http://knowhomeschooling.com

Yesterday we actually got back to reading our world history book, "The Outline of History" by H. G. Wells. It seems like we've been working on the final chapter for months! I read for about an hour yesterday and we're down to the last three pages. Hopefully we can finish it today. Then we can pick back up the Richard Maybury book(s) I want to cover this summer before David goes off to Evansville.

Darn J. K. Rowling and her announcement yesterday about her next (and final) Harry Potter book. Here she hasn't even gotten it all written and she's already telling us that two characters (main characters!) will die in the final book. And her wording was such that it certainly seems possible that Harry could be one of those. Something to the effect that no one else can write more books in the future about Harry if he dies in the last book. So whom will she kill off? My boys speculate that it will be Ron and Hermoine. Surely she wouldn't kill them off? More likely Hagrid and maybe … maybe … oh, I can't even begin to guess! I only know that I'll be extremely saddened when the series ends. And hopeful that Rowling will write more. Although topping the HP series would likely not be possible. And certainly she doesn't need the income! It would just be interesting to see what other areas her writing brain might find appealing to write about.

SOAR Part II

David pretty much got the classes he figured he would, as most were freshman year requirements for computer science majors. He will be taking World Cultures (a Freshman requirement), Chemistry, Calculus, Japanese, and Computer Science 101; 18 credit hours altogether.

When he goes back on August 19, it will be only freshmen on campus for 5 days. Those five days the freshmen are divided into small groups of 20, the members of their World Cultures class, and they do all activities, meals, etc., together. The World Cultures class is required of all freshmen. So by the end of the 5 days, they will know at least those 20 classmates fairly well.

Overall, the weekend was very worthwhile. The only part I didn't like was that, now that we've been there for a couple of days and I saw how well David seemed to fit in, how much he liked the campus and how quickly he made some friends, I'm even more apprehensive about his going. Well, not his going, but his leaving here! It seems so much more real. Two months from now he will be there full time and we won't see him for weeks on end. I'm so used to him sitting at his computer in the living room, always there with ready wit or an acerbic comment about some news item or wanting to share something he discovered on Wikipedia. I am so going to miss him!

SOAR - 2006 Summer Orientation and Academic Registration

What a busy couple of days we spent in Evansville. We left home Thursday around 10:00, which was the game plan. It's a 600-mile round trip. Factoring in a gas stop, a lunch stop, and a rest area stop, it took about 6 hours. Our first stop was on campus to find out where David was bunking. We delivered his gear to his room and then left campus to locate our motel and unload our gear. We all then had supper at Smokey Bones, which was very good and only just a wee bit on the pricey side. After supper it was back to the campus with David, as the evening "mixer" activities were scheduled to start at 7 p.m.

Friday morning we met back up for the first session after breakfast. We had to call David on the cell phone to see where he was. We finally found him and discovered he had not saved any places for us and was sitting with his new friends. His first words were, "Do you mind if I don't go to supper with you?" It seemed that one of his new friends had a car and they had all made plans to go to the mall for supper. So much for any worries that David might not make any friends. Not only that, but his friends were Eric, Ashley, Autumn, Heather and . . . Do you notice a trend there? I think Ashley was definitely the leader of the group, as later on she was the one insisting that David and Eric WERE going to the evening dance.

After the first opening session, we parted ways with David. His schedule sent him to various placement tests (David had to take the math placement test) and then several interest sessions and to the security building to get his student I.D. We parents could chose 3 of 5 different sessions in the morning and then 3 of 5 different sessions in the afternoon. We did meet back up with David once in the afternoon when we attended the Harlaxton College Overseas Exchange Program session. At 3:15 we met up again for the beginning of the Academic Registration session for a short time. Then the students went to meet with their advisors and we parents got to listen to a long session titled "Letting Go" given by the Dean of Students Dana Clayton. After all this, we did get a two-hour break for dinner on our own, then to meet back for another session in the evening. And then the Dessert Reception (loads and loads of ice cream) where we did get to see David again for a brief bit! Then we went to our motel room and David went on to the Student Dance and to play Snooker in the Underground (modeled after a London Pub).

Saturday morning we did meet back up for breakfast on campus and a brief session together again. Then the students went on to receive the results of their placement tests and to register for their fall classes. The Engineering department (of which Computer Science is a part) had given their students all the scheduling info they needed (class numbers, times, etc.) and so David was able to complete the registration process fairly quickly and painlessly. Bill and I finally finished our last sessions about 10:30. We found David outside the registration area and then headed to the Bookstore and Smoothie Shoppe with two of his new friends. By the time we covered all those bases, got back to his dorm, packed up and checked him out, and loaded up the car, it was after noon. The trip home was uneventful, but long, long, long. Everyone was tired. I know we've rested a lot today, just recovering from the previous three days. In fact, I think I'll head for bed and finish this up tomorrow!

Black Belt Tests

Last night our two boys (Charles and David) participated in a friend's Jujitu Black Belt test. They were two of the three ookies (sp?), the helpers in the test. Charles just did his own jujitsu black belt test about a month ago, with most of the same group of kids participating. Last night's test resembled a "last man standing" competition, with one ookie gone from injuries, a second somewhat impaired, and blood coming from the nose of the third. I know our two will be moving a bit slower today. Whenever I see our boys volunteer to help out with a black belt test, I am amazed. They know they are volunteering for a minimum three hours of kicks, rolls, punches, grappling and sparring. They know that in all likelihood someone is going to get hurt (although usually not seriously). And yet they always step up and say yes. What makes someone do that? But then, I've never quite understood why they (and our daughter Kat) enjoy karate as much as they do. I'm usually one to avoid doing something that I know could end up being painful! Karate and Jujitsu have been very positive experiences, though, for all three of our children. It has been one of the few sports that David, the least competitive of the three, has been willing to participate in and has enjoyed. We were all, David included, quite pleased and just a bit surprised when he tested for his Black Belt in Karate last year and passed. It was quite an accomplishment for our non-physical child! Kat has been practicing the moves she remembers from when she took karate/jujitsu to get herself back into pre-pregnancy shape. And, of course, Charles still plans to make martial arts his career in some way. So I guess karate has been a welcome addition to our lives, even though I feel sometimes like I've put in way too much seat time in the dojo! But then, I use that for my reading and crocheting time, so I guess that's a good trade-off.

A New Beginning...

Today, while I was reading another blog, my daughter told me I should begin my own blog. I've thought of it. I even began one a couple of years ago on my own website, but it was a lot of work to write something, put it in html format, and then upload it to my website. I enjoyed the freeform writing and it did spur me to write other things, but the mechanics slowed me down and it's been too long since I even looked at that first blog.

I named my first blog "The Writing Well" and I almost named this one the same. Here's the very first entry from "The Writing Well:"

March 1, 2003

Why "The Writing Well" you ask? Because I am a well of writing that needs priming. I know I have writing ideas and material just waiting to be brought to the surface, waiting to be put on paper, but for some reason they are just not coming to the surface.

When I was a young girl, my grandmother's home was the most magical place. Even though it has been over fifteen years since I was last there, I can still smell and almost taste the unique perfume of Grammy's house: molasses cookies, fresh wildflowers, and that musty, damp smell that comes from a house that is closed up all winter. Outside her flowerbeds were in colorful bloom, the grass always needed mowing, the maple trees spun their helicopter seeds, and the profusion of lilacs scented the air for weeks.

What I remember the most, though, was the water well and its pump, an area conversely fraught with danger and delight, fear and fulfillment. The well pump was on a small shady knoll. As I would walk up the path to the well, I had to be careful not to slip on the moss covered stones that surrounded the well's wooden platform. Even more dangerous to me, though, was the possibility of snakes. On any day there could be several snakes enjoying the cool shade and dampness of the well platform. They were nothing more than green garter snakes, but for a child petrified of any snake they might as well have been boa constrictors or rattlesnakes. The mere sight of them would cause me to freeze with fright, back away slowly, and run for the house. And the next time around I would be doubly apprehensive about going to the well. And yet, go I would, because there was nothing better on a hot summer day than a drink of cold well water!

Some days, though, the water didn't come simply by moving the pump handle up and down. It needed priming, which meant that I had to go back down the slippery stone path, keeping an eagle eye out for snakes, get a glass of water from Grammy's house, make my way back to the well, and then pour the water down the pump while moving the pump handle up and down. If I was lucky, one glass of water would do the trick and I'd cup my hands to catch the cool, sweet water. If not, I would have to run back inside and get another glass of water and prime it again!

You might wonder why I didn't just drink the water from the house instead of going through all that effort to get the well water. After all, it was the very same water! As a child, though, I knew there was a difference. The well water from the pump was sweeter and colder, more refreshing. Or maybe it was just that the danger and excitement, the sense of accomplishment, made the water taste sweeter and feel colder.

My writing needs priming … a few common words trickling down the well to get the steady flow of cool, sweet words flowing again. Ahhh …how welcome that would be!

We'll see if this blog fulfills it's purpose better than my first effort. Quite honestly, I've not written much in the past couple of years other than lots of e-mails. Maybe I should spend less of my energy on the homeschool e-mail lists and more on my own writing!