Shush



No.

This is my space.

My corner of the world that is just for me.

I created it to have a place for me to leave the good.  the bad.  the funny.  the unpleasant.

Because life is like that.

It is not always neat, pretty, creative and cozy like a spread in a magazine.

Remember?  I'm not p#^!*#t.

And neither are you.... or you....or you

Because there are a lot of 'you's' out there

You came here looking to commiserate or celebrate

You came here looking for ideas, to feel superior, or (hopefully) to laugh

and more significantly, nod your head in agreement.

Life in recent months has not been easy.

Lots and lots of drama

and I brought it all here, to lay it down and sort it out,

and shout it from the rooftops when I was mad as hell

or as proud

I will not gloss life over and pretend my kids never pick their noses, that I don't have piles of laundry on the floor, that my bills are all paid on time, that I am never late and that I have never disappointed my friends or family at some point and time. 


Some people have that one best friend.  Or a jogging partner.  Or a sister.  Or a cat that will ignore you but you just carry on and pretend she is listening.  Anyway: Somebody to turn to when the troubles hit.


For me, I prefer to write about it.  That is what helps me the most, because I absolutely hate confrontation.  I think of this space as my personal pensieve - free from censorship - to let me drag out those thoughts that give me the most grief and give them a place to rest. OUTSIDE MY HEAD.  I may call a friend or two and ask for advice on occasion (and vent... - many thanks to a certain few - you know who you are).  And most importantly I have my husband to talk to, who knows exactly how I operate.  He knows to give me a bag of chocolate when I've been too quiet (ie. silent treatment), and I'll talk his ear off.  I might even admit that I was wrong.

What can I say?  I am a Leo. 

I am a passive-aggressive dramatist.

Okay, I'm done ranting now.  Thank you for reading.

We will now return to our regularly scheduled program of schoolwork, food items in muffin tins, kids in karate outfits, a random recipe series that I will forget to finish and ideas and opinions about anything and everything under the sun.  Some of which will likely piss people off.  Just the usual stuff.

Regret

It is with great sadness and regret

that I share with you the tragic news

of the death of my spine



I don't get it...



On Saturday, Rylan and I made a quick visit to the library to grab a couple of books.  She requested a video, so we checked out the movies in the children's section.  We have watched most of the them, but I spied a title that we had yet to see: Where the Wild Things Are.  I would like the Universe to know that, in the future, I would appreciate a little more guidance when it comes to picking out movies, because this one just sucked all life out of the room and left us confused and feeling sad that we had just wasted away some very precious minutes of our life watching something so completely pointless.

Oh I know...  "It's art".  "It's an expression of how difficult the transition is from childhood to adolescence".  "It's a boy trying to sort out some very intense feelings".  Blah, blah, blah.  It's either some screenwriters on a really bad acid trip, or a sad attempt to work out some long over-due childhood issues.  It is by far the worst film adaptation I have ever seen of a children's book.  Children will not understand this movie.  I'm an adult and I don't even understand it.  It's violent, sadistic and depressing.

Now for the good parts.   The cinematography is beautiful. (like the image above, for example).  Jim Henson's Creature Shop did an amazing job with the costumes.  I love the character of Judith.  She has a wicked dark side and I actually found her quite funny.  I also sort of like the randomness of some of the parts.  Like the giant sheepdog running through the desert, or the two owls - Bob and Terry, who get knocked out of the sky by KW.  Sometimes, if you are in the right frame of mind, random sh!t like that is hilarious.  But not in the middle of the afternoon, when you are watching it with your 5 and 11 year old, and they are lost and confused about what is going on.

Jordan requested multiple times that we just turn it off.  He got especially upset when Carol (the main Wild Thing), ripped off the wing of Douglas (the bird).  A whole bunch of sand poured forth from the gaping wound as he did so.  Jordan was up and out of the room at that point... and Rylan was non-plussed.  I thought it was absolutely unnecessary to include a scene like that.  You're marketing this film to kids, remember?  How many dirt clod wars has this movie spurred on - and how many kids went to the emergency room with head injuries because of it???  I do have to say that in the later scenes, whenever you see Douglas, it's pretty funny that he used a spindly little stick as a replacement for his wing.  Sick and wrong, yes.... but funny all the same.

To add to our misery of the day, Rylan chose (from among her library books) a book called Thirteen Words by Lemony Snicket as her bedtime story.  I have not read any of Lemony Snicket's other stuff, as of yet.  I do have the entire selection of A Series of Unfortunate Events left over from my classroom days.  Jordan has yet to show any interest in reading them - which may be a good thing since I hear the storyline is dark and has questionable subject matter.  This particular book that Rylan picked out - a picture book, was just released in 2010.  Again - flowery reviews about the ingenuity of the writing and stunning artwork.  For me, it just left me confused all over again.  I don't get it.  Rylan thought parts of it were funny - so maybe to just read it through a child's eyes is what you need to do.

Here is what I think happened when this book came to fruition.  I think Daniel Handler (aka Lemony Snicket) took a bar bet.  Someone wrote down a list of 13 random words and bet him that he couldn't make a story out of them.  I guess you could say that he won - because he did write a story...per se.  Unfortunately it doesn't make any sense.  This experience, however, is not a total loss.  It gave me the idea that this could be a fun and creative writing/dictation assignment for Jordan and Rylan.  Jordan can write his story, and Rylan can tell me hers (and I'll write it down) and see what they come up with.  I'll use the same list of words, but have them work on this separately, and then read their stories aloud at dinner.  Hmmmm  (wheels are turning...)

One more aside that could fit here under the 'I don't get it" heading...

Last Saturday Rylan and I were out selling cookies.  We were walking down one side of the street, while two sisters were riding their bikes down the other side.  A fight broke out between the two, and the little sister stormed off down the street.  Big sister goes into their house and informs their mom that the little sister is 'running away'.   Mom comes out and yells at the little sister to come back.  Little sister keeps on walking, claiming that big sister is too mean.  Mom takes off after her, yelling all the while.  She threatens that she will call the police and report the little sister as a runaway.  She repeats this threat about three more times.  Little sister just keeps on walking/crying/screaming "NO! I won't come back!".

Rylan just watches this whole event unfold, amazed.  (Under my breath) I inform Rylan that the mother made a bad choice in telling her daughter that she was going to call the police.  That implies the little girl is a 'bad' girl and that the police are something to fear.  What a screwed-up message!  The mother doesn't even hear what the little sister is trying to tell her - that the big sister is being mean to her.  I hate that Rylan saw this ugly scene, but it was a good chance to have a discussion about:

* don't run away from your problems

* don't run away PERIOD

* The police are in our community to help us, not punish us

* don't threaten your family members - love them enough to listen

I just don't get it when parents act like that.  I grieve for this little girl and the amount of therapy that she will need in the future.

So.  For today's agenda... a little less culture (movies and books) and a little more nature.  That ought to set the world right.



Simple Woman's Daybook Entry

Okay.  Hair pulled back in a ponytail, tall mug of hot coffee and headphones are in.  Let's do this!  My thoughts are so jumbled and running wild with emotion... I need some framework so that I can keep my tone in check.  Hence...

Outside my window...   Dang!  Front shades are closed.  Just a sec....  I see three mommas with their kids walking a combined total of four dogs.  It is such a nice, mild sunny day.

I am thinking...  A number of things and most of them are about unpleasant shtuff.

I have come to the conclusion that I am not very good at sharing.


1. I was on my cell phone with my husband yesterday, as Rylan and I were leaving a neighborhood after wandering around selling GS cookies.  I noticed a mom and daughter, with a wagon loaded with cookie boxes, knock on a door of a house that we had already hit - (but nobody answered our knock).  I saw the front door open as we drove by, and I unleashed a verbal tirade about what I was seeing into the phone and that didn't make me sound very grown-up - especially when my own daughter was in the backseat, listening.  I need to remember that my daughter isn't the only girl out there, selling.  Share!

2. I ate the last Thin Mints in the box.  And I didn't feel guilty when I told the kids they were all gone.  Um... do I have to share?

I am thankful... For good friends who are willing to listen to me as I sort out my interpersonal issues.

 
From the Learning Rooms... We did a reasonable amount of schoolwork this week, until Friday hit.  That day I had the pleasure of spending an absolutely unreasonable amount of time stewing and sorting out issues that as of yet remain unresolved.  School cannot take a backseat to this kind of crap.  I'm really mad at myself that I cannot find a way to say what I need to say and get this business dealt with once and for all.


In the kitchen... I made some orange-cranberry muffins earlier this week.  I have two bags of cranberries in the freezer that I threw in there (last November!!), so I was thrilled to find a way to use them.  The recipe showed up on my Facebook feed from Taste of Home.  I left the computer, and 27 minutes later we were enjoying the muffins.  Everyone except Owen.  He picked out the 'yucky red things'.

I am wearing...  (too embarrassed to say)  okay, okay.... pjs?


I am creating... still working on the birthday placemat. I had an epiphany that felt will come in handy. Can't wait to start working on this tomorrow. This upcoming week is our 'off' week, so I have all week to play with it.

I am going... Where else?  Out to sell cookies in little bit.  Such is my life right now.  At least it is a sunny day.


I am wondering... Why, why, why can't people proofread their posts, texts and so forth? Even in their email program - where they have a spell-check available, do they not use it? So. annoying.  What is even worse is when the mistakes are made by a homeschooling parent.  If you are your child's principal teacher, it conveys a negative image about all homeschoolers when you use bad grammar, incorrect spelling and horrific punctuation - especially when you are communicating with other adults and your email is meant to disseminate important information.  Gee whiz... write like an adult pleze!

I am reading... The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, Sink Reflections


I am hoping... For wisdom


I am looking forward to... Next weekend - My baby turns two!!!  No.  Wait.  I am not looking forward to my baby turning two.  I will rock this little boy to sleep every chance I get this upcoming year, because the holding, cuddling and rocking will soon come to an end.  He is already talking in sentences.  I am not ready for this.

I am learning... I just figured out some of the settings on my iPhone.  I was wondering why I wasn't receiving some alerts in a reminder app (Jog My Memory) that I had installed months ago.  I also just discovered the pull-down 'shade' that lists all notifications.  I am an idiot.  Technology is not one of my strong-points.  I am also investigating Pinterest.  Not enough time in the Universe right now, for something like that.... I'll just leave it to my friends to funnel good things my way!  (Thanks Shawn!)


I am hearing... George Michael's Listen Without Prejudice, Vol 1 on my headphones. This is one of my go-to albums for background music for writing. Despite having headphones on right now, I can hear that the kids are playing with the vacuum. Let's just assume it is Colin, and move on with this missive.


Around the house... "off week" this week!  Lots of prep work for Dean and Jordan this week, as they prepare for the boy scout Klondike campout this upcoming weekend. Today we are sorting through the camping gear and getting it stored away again in the basement.  It is currently in the garage, and in very real danger of getting run over by the van when I pull it into the garage, if I am not careful.  Which is most of the time.

I am pondering... Why speaking up for yourself can be so hard.  Be kind to yourself.  If a situation grows so uncomfortable, you need to look our for yourself and diffuse it.  It's just the doing it that is so hard.  I don't like confrontation.


One of my favorite things... This music.  I haven't had the pleasure of hearing this whole album in several years.  Headphones are a luxury in my life right now.

A few plans for the rest of the week... Finish the birthday placemat for Colin.  Get the camping gear packed up.  Send the boys on their way on Friday, and enjoy pizza with the little kids that night and play some games.  Saturday will be a fun, low-key day and an early bedtime so I can enjoy a chickflick I've DVR'ed for just such an occasion.  I have How to Make and American Quilt and Eat, Pray, Love  to choose from.  Sunday is Colin's second birthday.  We are going to the aquarium and then out to dinner with family.  It sucks that it coincides with the SuperBowl, but since the Broncos aren't in it, I don't really care.  We'll record it on the DVR and enjoy the commercials later.


Here is a picture for thought I am sharing...

Jordan took this picture two weeks ago, using his new camera.  I love the tilt-shift effect.

To read more entries and visit a variety of other blogs, go here...

Seeing stars

Yesterday, Monday, was Art time.  Another one of my New Year's Intentions is to increase the amount of time we spend on art.  Considering in the past two years we were averaging 1, maybe 2 art projects a year... anything will be an improvement. 

A long, long time ago I purchased one single unit of Meet The Masters from Rainbow Resource.  I think it was something like $27 at the time.  I got the very first one, 'Track A', Ages 5-7.  The entire program consists of Tracks A, B and C - with 3 units (7 artists and techniques are profiled in each unit) each, so there are 9 units all together.  If you purchased all nine, you're talking about a $300 commitment.  So I just bought the first one to see what it was like.  Homeschool Buyer's Co-op does feature a deal from Meet the Masters every once in awhile.

I really do like it.  It only took us about a year to complete the very first project.  I really am lame when it comes to art, and I have no idea why.  I love doing art.  I don't mind the mess.  I am just the queen of getting side-tracked by all the other things that come up in life...

The first project that took us so long to complete was Van Gogh's The Starry Night.  This really is one of my all-time favorite paintings.  We watched the online presentation about Van Gogh and his life as an artist, that comes as part of the curriculum.  We learned about texture and practiced making drawings using different kinds of texture.  The we practiced making spirals and concentric circles.  Finally, we were ready to make our own versions of The Starry Night, using oil pastels on black construction paper.

Here are the final results:

Rylan

Jordan

Mine



I have found that sitting at the kitchen table during a sunny afternoon, with soft music playing in the background (yes, we listened to Don McLean's Vincent... several times over!) and painting/drawing/sculpting with the kids to be one of the most pleasant and therapeutic activities in recent memory.  We will be doing this much more often - it was just so "nice".

I found that as I was listening to the music, I was transported back in time to my high school Humanities Class.  I can remembering picking apart the lyrics of Vincent as part of our studies of Van Gogh.  I also tried to recall art classes during my school years.  I can't remember a thing!   I remember my elementary art teacher's name, I can recall sitting at an art table in Jr. High drawing with pencils, and making Raku pots in Humanities in high school.  That's it.  That's sad!!  I am so thankful that the Meet the Masters program gives some detailed instructions about what we are to do - I could not do this otherwise!

We did learn some interesting facts about Vincent Van Gogh. 

* He was interested in art all of his life, but he only painted during the last ten years.
* Van Gogh produced around 2100 works of art during those ten years.
* Van Gogh only sold one painting during his lifetime - The Red Vinyard, for about $80
* Self-Portrait Without Beard is one of the most expensive paintings sold in all time - it sold for $71.5 million in 1998.

We also went on a virtual field trip to 'see' The Starry Night, where it hangs on a 5th floor gallery wall, at the Museum of Modern Art in NYC through The Google Art Project.  This link will take to you to the exact painting, and will allow you to zoom in so close you can see actual brush strokes, the weave of the canvas and small cracks in the paint.  At the top left of the page, you see two drop boxes - one that indicates you are looking at The Starry Night painting, and the other indicates that you are currently in MoMA.  Click on the MoMA box, and you will 'back out of the painting' and will once again be standing in the gallery.  Now you can move about the entire gallery and look at other pieces of artwork.  You can click on other paintings, and learn all about the artist that made them.  We explored MoMA for a good thirty minutes. Jordan also figured out that you could exit the museum (through the entry/exit doors) and then look around on the city streets outside the museum.  When I was showing Dean the site last night, we left the museum and then actually got lost on the streets of NYC.  Even if we left the page and came back, if we clicked on MoMA, we were still sitting at the same intersection as before.  We had to look up the address of MoMA and read the street signs to navigate our way back.  It was funny, weird and exasperating all at the same time.

So, if you have some time to spare, explore the museum - it's fascinating!  And then, go and explore the several other museums around the world that are a part of the Google Art Project.  Wouldn't it be wonderful if they had the Louvre? 

Simple Woman's Daybook

Outside my window... A windy cold day.  Today is the day we start selling Girl Scout Cookies door-to-door.  I am not looking forward to this.

I am thinking... I am very troubled by some behind-the-scenes bickering going on in our homeschool group.  One individual in particular is making life rather unpleasant for the group.  I wanted to avoid things all political, but that isn't happening.  I keep getting sucked in even though I have nothing to say about the subject.

I am thankful... That my husband has the know-how about fixing all things electrical.  Last Monday we figured out that the dryer's heating element was broken.  He pulled out the dryer, located the broken part, purchased a new one, replaced it, cleaned out the dryer vent and put it all back together in just a couple of hours.  It saved us from a massive repair bill.  I am so very, very thankful that he has the skills to do this.  I hope our kids continue to watch and learn - it is such an awesome thing to be able to repair things yourself.


From the Learning Rooms... We have had a pretty standard week.  We had some fun on Wednesday building stomp rockets, and we've signed up for our homeschool group's Science Fair in March.


In the kitchen... Pancakes as soon as I am done with this!

I am wearing... I am dressed for the day already.  Standard sweater, jeans and sneakers. 


I am creating...  A quilted birthday placemat for Colin. It will be an aquarium theme. I picked out a blue watercolor background yesterday at the fabric store. Today I will search through all of my greens to find what I want to use for seaweed.  I also created a new blog this past week.  Check it out!

I am going... With Rylan in just a few minutes down to our church (well, okay - after pancakes) to drop off five boxes of Girl Scout cookies that her grandparents wanted her to donate to homeless families.  Our church is hosting IHN (Interfaith Hospitality Network) this week.  All week homeless families will be spending the night at our church, and volunteers come to cook dinner and play with the kids during the evening.



I am wondering...  How on Earth any person could think that Newt Gingrich is a respectable individual?  What is South Carolina thinking???

I am reading... The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, by Stieg Larsson.

I am hoping... That the wind will die down.  I hate wind - it saps all joy of being outside.



I am looking forward to... March 4th, when cookies sales end. 

I am learning... About rocketry.


I am hearing... Colin shuffling across the kitchen floor in his footy sleepers and Rylan and Jordan mixing up the pancake ingredients as I give them instructions, one at a time. See? I'm multi-tasking here!



Around the house... Rylan and I will begin bagging up cookie orders this afternoon, after we come home from selling around the neighborhood.  I need to sew a lot of patches onto Jordan's new gi for karate, and begin the birthday placemat.  This might even spur me to sort out the craft closet, since most of my fabric is in absolute disarray.

I am pondering... sad feelings this week.  My grandma Bobbie's birthday is in a few days.  It will be the first birthday since her passing in October.  We always got together for a large family meal on her birthday.  I am feeling a deep sense of loss.  It helps to know that we will see at least some of the family in a couple of weeks, when we celebrate Colin's birthday.


One of my favorite things... Is the realization that my kids can make the Sunday morning pancakes from now on!!

A few plans for the rest of the week... Nothing other than karate lessons and scouts.  LOVE that.


Here is a picture for thought I am sharing...

Future Engineer

To read more entries and visit a variety of other blogs, go here...

The Hard Sell



By virtue of being homeschoolers, we are part of a demographic that online marketers have only recently discovered.  Even in the paltry five years that we have been homeschooling, the home-based curriculum market has gone through a massive growth spurt.  I spent hours, HOURS!, combing through all that was out there when we first started.  For the entire months of June, July and August of 2007, that was how I spent my days.  And this continues to be how I spend my days.

We have had numerous hits and misses with the stuff that we have used over the past few years.  Whenever we make a purchase from a company, we are, of course, added to their mailing list.  I am on the mailing list for Rainbow Resource, Pandia Press, All About Spelling, Knowledge Quest, AppSchool, Core Knowledge, Homeschool Buyers Co-op, Universal Preschool, Classical Home Education... and that is all I can think of off the top of my head.  I get 3 -5 emails per day, advertising some sort of new education product. 

I'm not exactly complaining  (I could easily remove my name from the list) because there is a lot of good stuff that comes our way because of it.  Every week Homeschool Buyer's Co-op sends out a listing of different curriculum items that are currently being offered at a steep discount to co-op members by the supplier.  Lots of beneficial things have been purchased that way.  We have purchased annual subscriptions to Reading Eggs, The Happy Scientist and Discover Education Online  - and I have been really pleased with them.  I am currently considering Brave Writer and a Junior edition of Financial Peace University....

Last week a new science package was being offered.  In order to protect the names of the GREEDY*, I will just refer to them as 'Weovercharge Science'.  As always, HBC wants you to try out the curriculum before you buy, so they provided a link for members to see the site, and get a sample of what they offer.  I was curious, so I did so. 

It is no secret that I hate spam.  I am already at my wits end with Fly Lady emails (10 -15 daily!!), so when I started receiving tons of email from this science site, I was already a little put out.  This past weekend an email was sent out inviting interested parties to join in on a live tele-class on rockets, that was going to be offered on Wednesday (Jan 18th).  It was Monday evening when I clicked on the link to sign up.  I got four reminder emails that we were signed up for the class.

The class looked really cool.  There would be a 'talk' about rockets, and then the instructor, 'A*', would take questions and lead the kids through the steps of building their own stomp rockets.  In theory - this would be time well spent.  We decided to miss out on our homeschool's afternoon group game time (older kids play board or card games) in order to do this.  I actually got both Colin and Owen down for their naps before the class started - with about four minutes to spare.

We had all of the required materials gathered up, ready to go.  We had even sprinted out the door earlier in the morning to go to a bicycle repair shop to get some old tubing.  We logged in, turned up the volume and anxiously awaited for the class to start.  At one o'clock, 'A' came on and welcomed us.  There were 1,700 participants she said.  She had mostly web-chat people, but a few were on the phone.  She put them on speaker and we could here several kids saying 'hello'.  That was pretty neat.  This was the first time we had ever done anything like this - and it felt so neat to be connected.  She began by introducing herself (5 min), and then showed several slides of different rocket types and designs.

That was neat.  There weren't a lot of slides, though.  She talked about Newton's Laws, and then asked a funny kid question: "If you farted in space, what would happen?"  (answer at the end)

This went on for about 25 minutes.  Then she asked us to set a timer for 8 minutes, and during that time, play the video she had set up that demonstrated how to build our rockets - and build right along with her.  So we frantically put our rockets together.

We could stop and start as we needed, but we were not done by the time she came back on.  She had said that she was going to talk about something to do with lasers, but instead - she launched (no pun intended) into a sales pitch to purchase a monthly subscription to her site. 

<<< 45 MINUTES LATER >>>

She showed a teaser to a video on lasers that you could view if you signed up for the online curriculum program.  She answered question that were coming in through email - and several were (surprisingly?) about the online program.  She repeated the web address to the site over fifteen times.  It is a great program, but I just don't have $57 a month (!!) to toss to the wind like that.

I'm more than just a little annoyed.  We sacrificed a full afternoon to do this, but I came away feeling duped!  It felt exactly like it did when Dean and I were on our honeymoon, and the hotel encouraged us to attend a *free* meeting with a hotel employee about purchasing a vacation time-share type of thing.  We had no idea what the meeting was going to be about - and felt very cheated with the precious little time we had for our vacation.

We did end up making our rockets.  In regards to this activity (the stomp rockets) - I will say  - it was well worth it.  We had a lot of fun, and it spurred a lot of new design ideas.  In fact, it even prompted us to sign up for our homeschool group's Science Fair in March.  When the little boys got up we were finally ready to launch.

I wish it were easier and cheaper to connect to the online community like that.  The day is coming - and for some it is already here.  I just don't like the hard sell aspect of all of it.  I also don't appreciate hearing the message from marketers that if I care about my kids' education, then I will buy their product.  That just leaves me feeling sour.  Absoultely the wrong approach, Miss 'A'...

In answer to the question "What happens if you fart in space?", the gas leaving your body (burp or fart) acts as a propellant, and for every action there is an equal and oppostite reaction.  So if you fart, the gas will push in one direction, and you will move forward in the opposite direction.  So if your tether ever detaches from the Space Station, just fart a lot and you can propell yourself back to safety.  :)  No consensus though, between Jordan, Rylan and myself, if the farts, in fact, stink or not.