NaNo Eve

This may be Halloween for most people, but for over 100,000 crazy souls, it is NaNo Eve. The night before NaNo begins. Am I ready? No way! We somehow acquired a Miss Munchkin on Saturday afternoon for an extended stay. She went home this morning. So I am exhausted from lack of sleep (she does not sleep through the night when she stays at Grandma's), shell-shocked from her continual (and improving) efforts at talking, and hurting from being pummeled by a 20 month-old toddler climbing all over, up and around me. Somehow, until I saw the announcement in my e-mail box this morning, I had forgotten that November 1st was just around the corner. I mean, I had almost a whole week right before Miss Munchkin arrived … but time seems to have slipped away.

One good thing about time slipping away is that I have not spent hours and hours contemplating my plot and characters. In fact, I have the barest of outlines and only a slim idea of my main character. Last year I had so much planned ahead that I felt burnt out by the whole thing before I even began writing. We will see whether not knowing everything in advance (or thinking I know everything) will work better.

Another good thing is that Penelope is home! She was home again for a couple of days last week, but then her check engine light came on, so she had to go back to the shop. But it was just a vacuum hose or some such thing easily taken care of, so she is back home today. That means that David can take himself to class and I no longer have to drive people everywhere. More time for writing!

The goal for NaNo is to write 50,000 words in 30 days. That breaks down to 1,666 words per day. And since I already know of a few days here and there where I will not be able to do any writing, I figure I need to do at least 2000 words per day, and it would be way better to do 2500 words per day. Wish me luck! I'll try to keep my count updated here, but if you don't hear from me for a few days, hopefully it is because I am busy writing the Great American Novel!

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.

Homeschool Chat on Friday's

For several years now, so many that I've lost count, I have hosted a weekly homeschool chat on IRC. Every Friday I "meet" other homeschoolers from across the globe and we chat. What do we chat about? The list is endless. Here are just a few topics that we have touched on recently:

• Handwriting skills
• Math curriculums and websites for the elementary aged student
• Changing food diets
• Field trips
• Co-ops, what they are and how to find one
• Finding social avenues for homeschooled teens
• How formal learning should or should not be for Preschool and Kindergarten
• Parenting techniques
• Housecleaning tips
• New pets
• Decluttering ideas
• How to begin homeschooling
• How the weekly chat has helped some members get through the burnout state of mind
• Having a schedule vs. not having a schedule
• Planning for college
• Online virtual schools

As you can see, we do not stick solely to homeschooling topics. As long-time homeschoolers know, almost everything that affects homeschooling also affects our daily lives, and vice versa. So homeschooling becomes life. Maybe I should promote my chat as a "Life Chat" in the future? What do you think?

Our chat members come from the fifty states along with several countries, which is why I call it an "International" homeschool chat. One of our regular chatters is from London and is currently visiting the U.S. with her family. We had fun exchanging ideas of places she and her family should see on their visit.

We meet every Friday, 9 a.m. US/Canada Eastern time, GMT -5. You will find the details for joining on my Homeschool Chat page.

Do join us! We love assisting new homeschoolers and talking life with the long-time homeschoolers!

The Red Tent review

The Red Tent is celebrated it's 10th Anniversary this year, yet I just got around to actually reading it. It was well worth the wait. Anita Diamant takes a biblical character, Dinah, who is mentioned very briefly in Genesis, and weaves a tale of what her life might have been like. We meet Jacob, his four wives and twelve sons. We discover with Dinah how inconsequential she is in the scheme of her father's life and beliefs. We learn what the red tent means to the lives of the women of Jacob's (and other's) tribe. And sadly, we see how changing beliefs and attitudes on the part of the men at that time lead to the eventual disappearance of the red tent and all that it meant to womanhood.

The first few chapters were a bit confusing to me as I tried to follow the genealogy presented. Thankfully Diamant includes a page of family trees, to which I was continually turning back to consult. But after those first few introductory chapters, once Dinah's story really began, this was a book that I could not put down. I found the culture, the people and the settings all fascinating. The only addition I would have like to have seen was a geographical map so we could follow Dinah's travels over her lifetime.

I found myself frequently flipping to Diamant's biography on the back cover, almost in disbelief as I read The Red Tent. Diamant is the author of many books on contemporary Jewish life and I found it surprising that she was able to present a Biblical story from such a non-biblical viewpoint. Or maybe not exactly non-biblical, but non-conventional. A story that revolved around the women of that time period rather than the men and a story that did not always present the biblical figures in the best of light. I have to wonder if she came under some criticism from the ultra-conservative of her faith.

On another note, I will be picking Penelope up this afternoon. Hopefully she'll drive fine and we will be back to have two vehicles!!!

NaNo Creator Interview

One of my favorite blogs lately is Writer Unboxed. Their October 19th entry is Part 1 of an interview of Chris Baty, founding father of NaNo. If you want to know more about how and why he started NaNo, check it out! I particularly love his viewpoint when asked how many people who have participated in NaNo in the past have actually sold their books:

"I think that nobody has it as bad as aspiring writers. Look at the world of sports. If I went out and played a round of golf, when I came back from it, none of my friends would say, “Oh, you going to join the PGA?” The sense is that you do it for fun and you do it regularly, and it doesn’t have to be something you make your living at. My goal for the last decade has been to make a living as a writer. And I think there are other people in National Novel Writing Month who share that ambition, but I think that represents 10% of the overall population, and the other 90% are doing it for completely different reasons."

My friend Tammy wrote about the Baty interview on her blog, Just Enough, and Nothing More, "Homeschooling Is Like Music". Can you tell we've been discussing this interview on a list that we're both on?

To Heck With Diamonds

You know the saying, "Diamonds are a girl's best friend"? Rubbish. Crockpots are a girl's best friend! No homeschooling household should be without one. Or two. I have two crockpots and I use them several times a week, often both at the same time. Just now I put a pork roast in one and sweet potatoes in the other. This afternoon we are helping a new co-worker of Bill's move into her new home and I know I will not feel like making anything for supper when we are done unloading her moving van. But we will all be hungry! With supper in the crockpot, the temptation to pick up fast food or spend a fortune at a restaurant on the way home will be much less.

Since I use my crockpots all the time, I am always on the lookout for new slow-cooker recipes. Here is a new favorite, which is in my crockpot right now:

Crockpot Glazed Sweet Potatoes

• 5 medium sweet potatoes
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
• 1/4 cup apple cider
• 1 dash salt and pepper, to taste

Peel sweet potatoes and cut into 1/4 to 1/2-inch thick slices; place in crockpot. Whisk remaining ingredients together and pour over potatoes. Cover and cook on low 7 to 9 hours. Stir a few times, if possible, to keep them coated. Serves 4.

It's very sweet, so I am lowering the amount of sugars used this time around. Next time I might try just one of the sugars, rather than both.

I do not remember exactly where the above recipe came from. Most likely from Chet Day's Crockpot Recipes, one of the blogs on my Google Reader. There is a Lentil Soup recipe from just a few days ago that I am going to try next, maybe Monday. The weather is a bit cooler here now, so soup might be worth a try.

Two weeks ago I broke one of my crocks and that day went out to replace it. No way was I going to be without two crockpots. In fact, I am thinking of finding a replacement crock, since I still have the outside unit and the lid. I am sure I can order just the inner crock at the Rival website. Three crockpots would be handier than two, wouldn't they?

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!

Made in USA

Made in USA is a phrase that has taken on new meaning over the past several months. With recalls in food, toys, makeup, etc., many of us have been having second and third thoughts about purchasing items that are made in China. Not too long ago there was a news story of a family that went a whole year without buying anything made in China. Their book, A Year Without "Made In China": One Family's True Life Adventure in Global Economy (by Sara Bongiorni; ISBN: 0470116137) sounded like it would be an interesting read.

So lately I have been checking the labels of items I want to buy just to see where they are made, mostly out of curiosity to begin with, but now with more concern. For several months I tried to find bath towels that were made in the USA and fit my budget, two seemingly disparate criteria. Finally I found some at Sam's Club, of all places! And just yesterday I was looking at potato mashers at Publix. They had three different brands, all made in China. Now a potato masher is probably not going to have lead paint on it and likely is pretty safe to buy, no matter where it is made. But still! Is there anything still manufactured in America?

With all that in mind, I have been thinking ahead to Christmas and what I might want to get for Miss Munchkin. She recently discovered baby dolls, but a trip to Toys R Us a couple of weeks ago was not real fruitful in that department. So I spent part of this afternoon looking for dolls made in the good ole USA. And actually found a couple. And some others that were made in Europe. Research indicates that the EU (European Union) has more stringent quality controls that the US, so likely any toy made in the EU is going to be as safe, if not safer, than any toy made here. That's good to know.

I liked the Corolle dolls found at Kazoo Toys. Their website indicates the dolls are "designed in France" but does that mean they are made in France? I guess I will have to contact them to be sure.

The Kinder dolls at www.usmadetoys.com are cute.

Nico & Zoe has some cute cloth dolls.

If you are looking for toys made in America, or at least not made in China, here's a couple of websites that will be very helpful:

10 Lead-Free Toys Made in USA.

Toys Made in America -- Extensive list of American toy companies, brands and products.

I am definitely looking for a baby doll suitable for an almost two-year-old little girl this Christmas, so if you know where I can find one that is not made in China, leave me a comment! Thanks!

Volunteering

For David's Speech class, he has to volunteer at a non-profit organization and then do a speech about his experience. Being the out-going people-person that he is (do you hear the sarcasm?), he chose to volunteer at the Friends Of Gypsy Feral Cat Rescue.

So far, he has volunteered eight of his required ten hours over the past three Sundays. He thought his work would consist of helping to socialize the cats, but instead he has been doing a lot of cleaning and grounds keeping as they prepared for an Open House held yesterday. And only in spare moments has he been able to really interact with any of the cats. Even so, he has enjoyed working there and it sounds like he intends to continue his volunteering even after his class commitment is fulfilled. Good for him!

I only had one caveat for David when he told me about the group and I looked over their website. I did not want him telling me about any cats that might need homes! There's a couple of really cute cats (is there any other kind?) on their website that are up for adoption, but we do not need more animals right now. Two pets in our apartment are just the right number.

This is Penny. A lot of people wonder what breed she is and we tell them she's a white shepherd mixed with who knows what! She's a good dog, even if she is afraid of her own shadow.

And this is Copper. She's a little over a year old and has adjusted very well to being an indoors cat.

So you can see, we really do not need any more animals in our apartment. So I won't be volunteering with David!

Penelope's Home, For The Moment

Today's entry will be a short one, as it is race day! The NEXTEL Cup night race at Charlotte. It should be exciting! Hopefully Jeff (Gordon) will do well and keep his points lead. Only five more races in the Chase after tonight's race! I have enjoyed this race season … it's the first where I've been able to watch all the races on television (the perks of cable!).

We picked up Penelope yesterday. After a month of driving the Neon, driving Penelope sure does feel odd. It's hard to decide whether what I'm feeling in the steering is simply the difference between the Neon and the Town & Country or if it is something more. But definitely Penelope is not feeling 100% well. She makes this very disturbing moaning sound when you turn the wheels either right or left while driving. And she badly needs a front-end alignment.

So Monday I will have to make an appointment with the Chrysler dealership so they can check her out and verify that the noise was not present before the accident. Then the insurance company will approve whatever further repairs are needed. Or so they say. We shall see!

The Dive From Clausen's Pier review

As I mentioned yesterday, I first heard of Ann Packer a couple of weeks ago on NPR. She was being interviewed about her newest book, Songs Without Words. Since I'm too cheap right now to go out and buy her new book, I instead added it to my wish list on PaperbackSwap.com and then ordered one of her older novels, The Dive From Clausen's Pier.

As the title might suggest, a diving accident is the beginning plot element around which the rest of the novel is written. Packer gives us a cast of characters that are well developed and believable. As I was reading The Dive From Clausen's Pier, the characters became almost more real to me than those around me in real life. I cared about how they were reacting to the events in their lives, worried about the directions in which they were headed, was saddened by changes in their life-long friendships, and rooted for them to find their way back to some sense of normalcy and acceptance.

Best of all, Packer gave an ending that was believable and not all neatly tidied up. I usually like nice neat endings, but Packer wrote an ending that was not what I expected, having the main character make a choice that seemed almost disappointing in the short run, but infinitely more realistic. Based upon my enjoyment of The Dive From Clausen's Pier, I am eagerly awaiting Songs Without Words. I look forward to richly developed characters and believable situations in which the characters must work through to some new self-awareness.

Penelope Update

Penelope is still at the shop and we do not have a clue when she'll be done. Her bodywork was finished last week, but there was a noise the shop couldn't pinpoint. She went to another shop and had her front end aligned, but that didn't end the noise. Now the diagnosis seems to be a new steering box, but since that is over a certain dollar amount, the shop has to go back to the insurance company for approval of additional expenditures. So there Penelope sits, waiting for approval. And here I don't sit, because while we're down to one vehicle I get to be the chauffeur, driving Bill to work, driving David to college, picking them up, taking people here and there to appointments, etc. David has taken the bus a few times to college, but for an 11:15 class he has to leave here at 9:30, and it only takes 20 minutes to drive there. So most days I drive him there.

There is an upside to all this driving, though; listening to the local NPR radio station. For some reason I do not remember to turn the radio on at home, preferring to listen to Folk Alley. I get more accomplished at home when I listen to music. But I love NPR for all the great interviews, book reviews and talk shows they offer daily and it's great company in the car.

Of course, there is also a downside to NPR; it spurs on my reading habit. After listening to interviews of authors who have new books coming out and listening to book reviews, I now have more books that I want to read. I have to keep a pad of paper handy in the car so I can jot down author names and book titles of those that sound really interesting. And when I get home, I head to PaperbackSwap to see if I can acquire a copy. If reading is my habit of choice, PaperbackSwap is my enabler. Most of the books I have read this past year have come from PaperbackSwap, and when I am done with them, I relist them and swap them back for more! If you like to read, check out PaperbackSwap. And if you decide to join, I would greatly appreciate it if you would use my email address ( wdkmg@pipeline.com ) as your "sponsor." That will gain me a book credit! Thanks!

NPR and PaperbackSwap are the reasons for no blog post yesterday. I was engrossed in The Dive From Clausen's Pier by Ann Packer, an author I listened to a couple of weeks ago on NPR. But more about that tomorrow, when I post my review!

The Historian book review

I have never read Dracula or any Ann Rice novels, much to my daughter's great dismay. Whatever knowledge I have of Dracula's story probably comes from some Saturday afternoon "Monster Movie Matinee" television version that I watched as a child. Vampire lore has just never really appealed to me. But something about the blurb on the back cover of The Historian (by Elizabeth Kostova) intrigued me, even though the story revolves around the search for Dracula. Maybe it was the mention of the fifteenth-century, a fascinating period in European history. Maybe it was the words "dusty libraries" and "capitals of Eastern Europe" that appealed to my love of books and travel. Whatever it was, I am very glad I picked up Kostova's book!

Kostova writes with an evocative voice, describing people and places with a surety that leads the reader to believe she is relating actual experiences from her own past. The story intertwines three different searches for Dracula and missing friends and/or family members spanning sixty years. Each search is dependent upon the knowledge acquired from the previous search and at times it does become confusing deciphering which search one is reading about and in which time period. As search builds upon search, ultimately the reader discovers that Dracula is not the only quest, but also Kostova's mother, whom she had thought was long dead and whom is now feared to be among Dracula's undead.

The pace of The Historian seemed slow to begin with, but by the last third of the book I only wanted to keep reading until I discovered the ending. I found the writing wonderfully detailed and rich, the historical settings compelling, and the Middle Ages history fascinating, even if it did pertain to Dracula! As a first novel, Elizabeth Kostova has set the bar high and I eagerly anticipate reading her next book.

A Note from the Universe

Daily I receive my own personal "Note from the Universe" email and today's was so good I wanted to share:

Actually, Karen, it's not that you want stuff that you don't have, but that you want stuff that you think you don't have.

And the best way to change this is to begin thinking that you have it.

"Oh, there's my electric, fully loaded, 2008 Habitron cloud maker!!" -
The Universe

To subscribe to your own personal note from the universe, visit www.tut.com.

Exhausted Grandma

I suppose everyone is wondering what happened to my declaration last Monday. You know, the one where I was going to blog daily for the month of October? I'll tell you what happened. Miss Munchkin happened.

Shortly after I posted my blog entry on Monday, Kat called to see if she and Miss Munchkin could come early and spend a few days, instead of just Miss Munchkin coming on Thursday and staying till Sunday, which was the original plan. Well, what's a Grandma to say?

So they arrived Monday afternoon, then Kat went back home on Thursday and Miss Munchkin stayed here. Kat and Shawn arrived last night just before Miss Munchkin went to sleep and they all left this morning. Wow, is it ever quiet here today!

Miss Munchkin is now nineteen months old and she does still take a nap, thank goodness. Sometimes it's an hour, sometimes longer, but if you happen to be doing a lot of driving around town, like I have been, and Miss Munchkin takes her nap while in the car, that means she is wide awake the whole time at home. Which means that Grandma does not get any quiet time at all! That means no e-mail time, no writing time, no shower, etc. Just getting things like meals and laundry done can be a stunt. I really do not remember my three children being quite that busy as toddlers. I know the older two were not that busy. Maybe Charles was, but by that time he had two older siblings to play with and annoy, so maybe I just didn't notice it quite so much. But Miss Munchkin definitely is Grandma's girl and that means she wants Grandma to do everything with her! Thanks goodness for uncles that will play ball with her a bit.

What I do remember from those early baby years of my own is how overwhelming babies / toddlers can be, both mentally and physically. Mentally you are on call 24 / 7, always listening for that baby cry, always aware that you are responsible for this little being's welfare. Even now, after all these years, just knowing that Miss Munchkin will likely wake up in the night means that I sleep ever so lightly, awakening upon the slightest stirring in the next room.

Physically my body feels as though it has been through boot camp. And I think it has. This could be a new obstacle course for any military boot camp. Carry a thirty-pound squirming toddler up and down the stairs. Pick her up whenever she wants "up." Let her crawl in and out and over and around your lap whenever you sit down. Have her walk on top of your feet whenever you are standing at the kitchen counter so she is taller. Reach quickly to remove items that are now too close to the counter's edge (she's grown just a bit taller since her last visit). Bend over to clean up spilled plants. Race to the potty and then the bathtub because the race to the potty was too slow. Oh, and did I mention the constant fulfilling of the "eat" demand as the seemingly ever-hungry toddler pulls at the refrigerator door? Definitely not an obstacle course for the faint of heart, let alone weak of body!

Playing Peek-a-Boo on Grandma's bed.

Eating grapes on the balcony, Miss Munchkin's favorite place to be.

"I need more grapes, Grandma!"

Grandpa and I have decided that a two, possibly three-day visit from Miss Munchkin is just the right length. Anything longer than that and Grandma will need a vacation at a spa to recover!

October Already?

Where did September fly off to? If this is how quickly months go by at my age, how fast are they going to whiz by when I am ninety? And yes, I do plan to live at least that long! Many of the women on my dad's side of the family lived to be well into their nineties and I do not plan to be the exception.

So we begin a new month, October. And November is only one month away. November is National Novel Writing Month. Last year I participated in NaNoWriMo, but did not succeed in completing 50,000 written words. This year I will try again. No, what is it Yoda said? "Do, or do not. There is no 'try.' " So this year I will DO (write) 50,000 words.

To prepare for said feat, I will be writing here daily for the entire month of October. So enjoy the feast of posts this month while you are able, for next month it will be famine here as I write for NaNo instead!